Paint me a picture

Last weekend Rob declared that he was going to paint his office. He had been talking about doing this for years, but the urge got too strong last Sunday when we had both woken with a cold, it was raining outside and the girls were all stuck indoors fighting over what to watch on Netflix. Off he went to Bunnings, appearing back with a tin of green paint (Dulux Armada for those playing along) and promised to be back within 2 hours when he thought the first coat would be done. Two days later, he was done. Whilst I wasn’t impressed with the time it took to do it, or his complete dedication to the cause which meant he was pretty much gone for 2 days, the end result was wonderful.

Office

I would never have been as bold to choose a colour like that, and his blind enthusiasm meant it eventually got done, rather than just talking about it (like I would, hello remember when I was going to wallpaper the bathroom?) And now it’s all done!

I have never really done any painting in our house, the walls were all painted when we moved in and it just never would occur to me to change them, but maybe now I will?

I posted this picture the other day that started quite the conversation on Instagram about the colour white. I was asked what colour our walls are (I had no idea I’m afraid).

Wall

My cousin piped in with sentences like this “I just painted the entire house Dulux natural white with trims Dulux white on white – I had used antique white USA on my old home but it was too cream…” and my world was opened up to the whole concept of there being not just one white. Oh no, ALL OF THE WHITES. Someone else suggested China White, I mentioned Hogs Bristle which I think I just made up and the poor original commenter was probably just more confused than ever.

I have my own paint project this week that I am hoping to tackle – the front door! And I have the pot waiting on my desk with some new brushes and a couple of warm days coming up for me to tackle it.  It’s time to be brave with paint myself I think!

So tell me, have you painted anything lately?
What’s the actual best white colour?
And have you ever painted your front door?

Comments

  1. Ah husbands and their projects bless them.

    We’ve painted all our houses Stowe white. It’s the biz. We got lucky first time when we chose it from 176 different paints at Bunnings.

  2. When we painted our apartment years ago we had a quiet chuckle to discover we both liked “barrister white” (we’re both lawyers). A trick I was told then is to cut a hole in a piece of A4 white paper (which is supposedly true white) and hold the paint samples up against it. It’s much easier then to distinguish the different coloured undertones of “white” paint, eg, barrister white turned out to be a a pale creamy beige, not unlike the colour of a barrister’s wig!

  3. Wow! I’d to paint everything white! especially the window frames and the architraves. They are stained and feel dark to me. Well that will go onto the “one thing” list I guess..

  4. I’m painting the girls bedroom AT THE MOMENT! They are sleeping in the spare room which they think is the BEST. I thought it would be done last Sunday. Ummm. It’s still going. I love painting actually….very therapeutic indeed. Late one night when I was pregnant with Ava I started painting the kitchen…just doing a touch up where a painting had been moved. Ended up painting the entire upstairs…addictive. I’ve matched the girls room colour to the cover of a book…the man at Bunnings thought I was very strange but he did his little computer matchy thing and I love it!

  5. Oh boy YES! The joys of renovating I’m afraid! We built a picket fence which I painted Antique White (love it!) and our interior walls are Hogs Brittle with wood stained doors, arcs, skirts and door jams. I painted our laundry door (that we built!) “pure mint” by British Paints and it is the absolute BEST for a subtle-but-not-so-subtle colour pop. The finish on our exterior weatherboards is murder so once we conquer that everest the exterior of our house will all be Sandy Day with Antique White trim. Good .luck! What colour are you doing the front door? Love Rob’s bold choice for the office walls! x

  6. I’ve just painted our entrance hall, back lounge room and kitchen. I also repainted our bedroom.

    Our back lounge room and kitchen have a feature wall each in a colour called Black Caviar, it’s a lovely deep charcoal almost black colour. The other walls are painted a colour called Grey on Grey – it’s a light grey, which matches the Black Caviar perfectly.

    My breakfast bar [the plaster underneath the bench top] is painted a colour called Black Gold, which is actually a deep plum colour and matches my kitchen cupboards perfectly – yes I have a purple kitchen, which I adore, even nearly 10 years after picking it during the pre-start for our home when we built it. At the time people thought I was cray cray but everyone who sees it, loves it.

    Our bedroom is painted a deep red colour.

    Can you tell I’m not a white or neutral gal? I’ve tried the whole white on white thing and it’s just not me, it’s too clinical and cold, I prefer warmth and personality. Bright and/or bold colours make a home feel like a home for me.

    What colour are you painting your front door? A bold colour I hope! 😉

  7. We painted the inside of our Queenslander house white when bought it 8 years ago and at the time I had no idea about all the different shades of white. It seemed like every mag at the time mentioned Antique USA so I thought that is what I would use however a wise old soul told me that all the whites appear as different shades depending on the room light. She was so right, when I purchased a tester pot it looked really cream in our house. I ended up with about half a dozen testers in various shades of white and even then couldn’t find the right shade. The paint guy at my local Bunning’s then told me about 1/2 strengths so I ended up going with a Dulux White – Fair Bianca in half strength. It looked fantastic!!!! We sold our house this year and it needed a freshen up so we ended up painting it the same shade and only ended up needing to do 1 coat and it looked a treat.

    I also painted our front door in high gloss black and it was a bitch of a job. You need to use oil paint to get an amazing finish and it’s so messy, tricky to use and be really careful of the drips. Prep is really important as well with a door if it’s timber and helps with the final finish.

    We sold the house a couple of months ago. It was a gorgeous old traditional timber Queenslander but I won’t miss the maintenance. Forget Maintenance Monday!!!! It was Maintenance every weekend for 8 years. We have recently moved from Australia to downtown Toronto Canada and I am very much looking forward to low maintenance apartment living.

  8. Paint Beth just paint!

  9. I love White Duck walls in 1/4 with Vivid White Trim by Dulux. Looks so fresh but with not too cold or clinical. We just painted out front door a classic red in gloss (Red Box by Dulux). I also love black, turquoise or yellow!

  10. I haven’t painted any rooms so far, but I have painted a pineapple on a canvas and helped my 4 yo paint a plaster snail at the plaster funhouse recently. I found it so cathartic both times, so really, it’s just a matter of time before i put brush to wall. In terms of white, there are so many to choose from. There is no one white that suites all rooms …. you have to choose the mood for that room before you choose the white. But as far as trims go (i.e. skirting, architraves), I don’t think you can go past Dulux Lexicon Quarter. As close to white’s white as you can go. So crisp, so beautiful, complements any wall colour … even white! And front door, well mine was recently painted Porters Paint Amulet. Really pretty. People often complement me on it … telling me it’s my “Tiffanys” door. I love it

  11. Paint, just one of the million owner builder choices that has challenged and overwhelmed me!!
    We ended up choosing Dulux Lexicon white for the walls and quarter strength of it for the ceilings. Kitchen cabinets are white on white.
    There are millions of whites! Put some swatches somewhere where the light changes through the day and watch them change!!!

  12. I’m a bit more motivated to do some painting now. I too have been talking about painting my front door, and the back door. Just need to get up the gumption to be bold with an aqua/turquoise colour that hints at 1960s but with modern edge! Can’t wait to see your pics of your freshly painted door!

  13. I just bought a new townhome and the door is red and I am going to change it to blue.

  14. We have just painted our place and went with Dulux White Duck at 75% strength and it is lovely. I love a neutral base for our all things to sit against and it so far looks the business!
    Happy paint picking. 🙂

  15. I have a giant bucket full of paint in the garage, just waiting for my husband to fix up the interior plastering for me. I keep pestering him but apparently it is pretty far down the list.
    When we bought the house someone had painted “feature” wall out of blackboard paint; every time I look at it I feel a bit angry. It is so messy looking and is never really clean or perfectly black.

  16. helloo! … one job! … well done rob!
    we have dulux opal and many people comment that it is a soft white! … on warm side of palette!
    it is supposed to be the same a solver birch white which is a powder coat aluminium windows and doors colour!
    you should know that sarah from abeachcottage is queen of whites!
    lol m:)X

  17. I have always wanted a red front door. At the moment ours is maroon which is close enough. Though I did see an orangey yellow door which looked amazing. What colour are you going for?

  18. Men and their projects that lead them to vanish! He did a great job! And I just learnt there are numerous shades of white. Who knew?

  19. Hi Beth, long time no see, hope everyone’s well. I’m loving the smiling Maggie pics brightening up my Facebook feed!

    My 2 cents: if you want “white” walls, choose Dulux Vivid White and be done with it. All other shades lean towards the cream, the ivory, the beige or the grey (to paraphrase Ritchie Benauds jacket choice). The sheen of the paint is much more important than the shade, depending on how much natural light the room gets. You could paint every wall a different shade and no one would notice as long as they have the same sheen.

    Hope you all have a great Christmas, good luck with the painting!
    Dave

  20. Tania Simmons says

    Ah the many whites! We have Hogs Bristle bedrooms & Seed Pearl everywhere else, trims (the “white” white) are Fair Bianca 1/2. As someone already commented the whites all have undertones – yellow, pink etc. You need to watch that because al the other major colours in your house or any complimentary and/or contrast colours might not work with it. Then we can consider full strength, 1/2 strength & Saw Jo Swain this morning and she didn’t seem thrilled about the 4 class thing, maybe people are dropping out?1/4 strength! Oi! I like Rob’s study, we once had a feature wall in Wimbeldon (another darkish green) I was initially against it (hated it and said no) but had to admit once done I really liked it. If it’s a whole house a good investment is to get a colour consultant. We once used one who worked for Dulux (the green was her idea) and her fee was returned as credit for our paint.
    T

  21. We just recently painted our front door. I can’t for the life of me remember but we went a little bold and chose a deep navy/turquoise colour.
    I am absolutely afraid of colour so this was a big thing for me.

  22. I started painting the inside of the house (4+ years ago) with the plan being to do the whole house white (I dunno which one of the one gazillion shades it is…. it’s bright white) but after the bedrooms and bathroom, I was bored 🙂
    So the kitchen/dining is a happy teal colour, I love it!
    And I think I have just decided on yellow for the lounge…. yet to decide on a front door colour…. maybe navy?
    I don’t mind the painting part, but the prep is painful!

  23. I love that green, so cosy.

    Mr FF and I outsource painting to the professionals but I do paint my nails every day.

    I find painting with oil based high gloss really hard- I have done furniture with it and it is UNFORGIVING and will drive you to the point of insanity when it comes to drips. Good luck.

  24. Very curious about the front door process. Ours is hideous but I don’t feel brave enough!

  25. Our little old cottage we used to live in I had painted the whole interior in Antique White USA – perfect. Since leaving that little cottage I’ve dreamed of having my whole home again in Antique White USA, although some people don’t like it, it’s perfect for moi. I have also considered China White. Last Summer we renovated our bedroom, painting it my beloved Antique White USA, and it’s my favourite room in the house, the rest of our house is a creamy beige, and although you think it’s not that different to ‘white’ IT IS! Walking into our bedroom from the rest of the blergh beige house is something else. This Summer we are planning on doing a similar project for Eleanor’s ‘big girl room’ (building a built in wardrobe, exposing floorboards etc, same as we did in our room) and I’ll definitely be doing Antique White USA…but am contemplating a wee bit of wallpaper, much to husband’s disgust. I am obsessed with this Anthro one for her room… http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/product/home-wallpaper/20545554.jsp#/

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