Dragonfly is the New Peacock?

It’s starting.  The era of bold, saturated color.  I fell for Benjamin Moore’s Dragonfly as soon as I saw it.  In an effort to step out of my comfort zone and go with my instincts, I decided to buy a gallon of Dragonfly, color matched in Glidden paint.  Where is this going?  I decided to test the water, um, paint in the master closet.  Boring cream walls and shelving are a perfect starting point.

I started by painting the shelf supports with Wal Mart’s bright white exterior paint.  Why?  Three reasons.  1.  It’s bright white, no need for color matching.  2.  We already had it on hand from a few mailbox touch ups.  3.  I hope exterior holds up to wear and tear better.  Back to the fun paint.  After slapping a coat of white up, I started with Dragonfly.

And I’m even more in love with it on the walls.  It’s bold, but not too bright.  Saturated, but not overwhelmingly dark.  It’s blue, it’s green, and it’s lovely.  Now I have to find time between packing and cleaning to finish what I started.  I feel confident using this on the walls of the master bedroom, too.  Happy camper, right here.

What do you think?  Is Dragonfly the new peacock?  I think we should start a trend.  Ha.

Gimme a Giveaway Winner: Chasing Alila & Design Samples

Last Friday we asked what you were ‘chasing’ or planning.  Until last week, we were chasing our new house.  Not that we’ve closed, we’re chasing moving into it and closing on our first house.  The winner of the Chasing Alila giveaway, Wendy, is chasing after a new job and house.  Good luck, Wendy!

Now, let’s talk design samples.  I borrowed the sample board from the tile shop to see which colors looked best in our bathroom.  Like I thought, I want Cebu Aqua on the floors with charcoal gray grout (to hide dirt from little feet) and Cebu Moka with white grout for the shower surround.  While I think the Silver is pretty, it’s just too dark for dim our space.

I haven’t landed on a paint color for the bathroom yet.  Maybe a pale gray?  Perhaps a very light tint of the vanity color?  What I do know is the color I want for the main areas.  Wood Smoke by Glidden.

It was my second choice for the living room at our first house.  And it looks perfect in here, on the sample.

Not terribly dark, but not pale.  I grabbed a few dark gray swatches too, to see what I thought of those.  Seal Gray (also Glidden) is no darker than the red accent wall, but it’s too dark to paint the entire living and dining rooms with.  No accent walls either.

However, I do want a dark color for the master bedroom.  The current blue is both dark and ugly, but I don’t mind the dark.  The room is bright enough with sunlight streaming in through those south and east windows.  Especially once we add a king bed with white bedding, pale floor to ceiling curtains (maybe white with detailing?  maybe a different light color?), and white trim and doors.

Dragonfly by Ben Moore (left) is my first choice for the moody blue-green.  If we’re playing it safe, I’d choose Caribbean Teal (the middle color on the right strip).  Basically it’s a darker version of the color we have in the kitchen and dining rooms at our first house.

In this house, I don’t want to play it safe.  I want to go with my first choice, even if it might look terrible on four walls.  It’s only paint and can easily be changed, so why not take a chance, right?

And really, anything is better than the current poor coverage blue.  Eek to those sconces, too.

When I ask V what color he wants his new room, half of the time he’ll say green.  The other half he says yellow.  Green is his favorite color, but I think he wants yellow because that’s what his other room is.  I think I’ll split the difference with a yellow-green.  I prefer Refined Tan, an Ace Hardware color (on the bottom left).  It might be a tad bright, but I like the general color.

Perhaps I’ll get a 75% tint.  Or maybe I’ll get full color and temper it with other neutrals.  I already have a plan for curtains.

All I know is I like it and so does V.  Ben said he doesn’t care either way.  Sadly, we can’t paint either of these bedrooms right away because we (ahh hem, Ben) has popcorn ceiling to scrape off.  I’m sure the walls will get dirty in that process and I’m too lazy to paint the walls twice.  So not looking forward to painting those heavily textured walls in our bedroom.

What do you all think?  Do you have a favorite yellow-green color?  Which blue would you choose?  Do you prefer light or dark colors in a bedroom?