First-world kind of “rough,” yes – or more precisely, “cushy first-world in the suburbs with a good job and relatively minor problems” kind of rough, but rough nonetheless.
God, how I suck at deciding. You have no idea. Proudly, I have a handful of coping mechanisms – asking the server to choose my meal, asking my husband to choose the paint, avoiding decisions as long as possible – but I still often end up frozen in indecision. I’m one of those consumers that needs a sale or a coupon or a friend to push me into buying something. I can’t shop alone.
New coping mechanism: asking blog readers for input!
I can’t decide what to do with the stupid fireplace wall, and I’m determined to do SOMETHING with it before Thanksgiving. Yes, in two days (eek)! I’ve painted it gray, blue, white, smoke (seriously, looked like a smoker hacked up onto the walls) and I’m three minutes away from going back to white.
Oh! I forgot about the chalkboard paint. Behold:
Yea, ew. It was fun for Halloween, but the contrast-y drama I was going for didn’t happen.
I like contrast. I like drama. I love that Tulip chair. I half-love the bench (which needs some lovin’, I see). The brown couch stays because it’s indestructible. The big black coffee table and ginormous TV stay because, well, all I can handle right now is paint.
I like Morgan’s place (who doesn’t?) but she doesn’t have original wood trim or badly proportioned fireplaces. Oh! Maybe the fireplace needs a more vertical mantle?
I like Kitka Design’s place (again, who doesn’t?… and again with the lack of wood trim and ugly fireplace):
And I like these (oh, forgive me, I have no sources, so if they’re yours, speak up and I will credit… *gulp*):
I think the one below is my favorite of the bunch, though it’s also the least like mine. And it needs more yellow, or orange, or red, or turquoise, or SOMETHING to give it more life. But I love it, still.
So I spent way too much time (correction: am spending) on Benjamin Moore’s website playing with paint colors, and now I need your help.
Just FYI, the hallway, previously a barely-almost-mint green (ew) is now white. Ultra-white, which I’m now freaking out about, because I could have gone with normal white but then at the last minute I couldn’t decide so I made Joey choose, and he (being a man) could have cared less and arbitrarily chose Ultra White… *deep breaths.*
See what I mean about the freaking out?
So, easy option A:
Oh, I covered the fireplace grate with some random flesh color and now I don’t recall why. Please ignore.
Option B, which would require me to paint the other two walls something other than blue, which would then necessitate replacing of the curtains, which are a dirty cream color and would not at all work with bright white walls:
{Benjamin Moore’s Instinct from the Affinity line = $$} The theory here is that with a soft gray-blue, the redness and ruddiness of the fireplace isn’t as ugly. I’m chickening out about painting it (more on that later).
Option C (requiring the same stuff as option B, but I’m willing if it means I don’t have to paint this room again):
{Benjamin Moore’s Metropolitan}
Option D:
{Benjamin Moore’s Eternity}
The grays look great on screen but concern me, since we’ve already painted gray and then figured out the gray was contributing to many “blah, blah, I just wanna sleep” kind of days.
Liz suggested painting the fireplace all black, which freaks me the hell out, frankly, but here’s what it looks like:
Crap, I hate that fireplace. The proportions are off, or the bookshelves are off, or something. ARGH! Seriously, I think I’m going to just paint the walls white and leave the fireplace alone. It’ll look just like it did when we first moved in, except less “old.” {Cue the freaking out about the Ultra Freaking White.}
Oh, how I hate coming full circle.
Thoughts? (Other than: drink wine; it’s five o’ clock somewhere. Don’t think I haven’t thought that already.)
Oooh, I wish I were physically there to help (and look around). I love decorating (my house, other people's houses before I had my own…and ok, maybe still). Is it bad that I like the chalkboard paint? I like how it ties in with the black of the fireplace. Somehow the dark color seems to make the fireplace and that weird trim blend together better. So if you're just looking for a paint fix? I vote maybe a dark, dark grey for the wall and I'd paint the back of the shelves. Maybe a slightly lighter version of the fireplace stone color (which would make the fireplace look more intentional to me…you know, instead of something you hate)? Maybe a more exciting color?
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i must be weird, but i kind of like the chalkboard paint. my suggestion is thus:save yourself time and money by painting the wood trim and the stone part one of the grays or a brown/tan. i think this is a reasonable thing to accomplish in 2 days. leave the walls until you are sure you know what you want. as is the fireplace looks suburban faux rustic, making a weird contrast with the chalkboard walls. i can't really talk, i have a completely inoperable brick fireplace that is lightly caked with sawdust from when we refinished the floors. i can't get it out with the shop-vac and i'm too lazy to look up how else to do it. and if you are iffy on the paint, maybe try a cheaper paint. we looooooove the sears easy living ultra. all the trim (and we have miles upon miles of trim) is in lavender star (white white with a hint of grey). i swear we bought 6 or 8 gallons of just that color. their flat paint is very cozy and warm (and washable). i swear i don't work for sears.
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ha! i'm not the only weird one. the chalkboard paint is totally okay.
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I, honestly, think the whole solution is to paint the fireplace black. (or white, but a white fireplace screams DO NOT USE to me)I love the black fireplace with gray walls the best
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I agree – I think painting the fireplace black would make a DRASTIC difference. Look at all of your inspiration pictures – nearly all of them involve white or cream walls with black accents. Since none of your other accent items are currently black, painting the fireplace black would create that for you. And – come to think of it – that bench might look rather sharp painted black as well….
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Cackle – SEE! BLACK FIREPLACE! THEY SAY SO! Commenters must be right, eh? Just do it. It's not that tragic – I mean, you painted your walls, essentially, black m'dear. The fireplace is far less of a situation. (And you hate that stone, right?)
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and I actually prefer the grey walls with black fireplace as well. But that's because it takes the warm wood and throws a big fat splash of cool towards it – which isn't a bad move, it appears.
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Black fireplace all the way! (I know Joey is partial to the wood trim, will he mind if you paint it?)We have a railing between the kitchen and sunken living room. It was off-white as was ALL the trim in our house. As we started converting all the trim to ULTRA WHITE (still in the process 2 years later) the hubby suggested painting the railing black. At first I was like are you f'ing kidding me? Then the idea grew on me and we did it! (Against my mom's protests.) LOVE IT. The railing being black actually makes it blend into the background. You don't even really see it, yet it looks so sharp
Even though I spent two years studying architecture in college I have to admit the hubby is great at design/decorating decisions 
Probably because I'm indecisive too. I won't tell you how many gallons I have of paint we didn't end up using!
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If you are not interested in painting the trim, you should try to pick a grey color that has some brown undertones. On my pc, it looks like if you were to paint the walls BM Thunder and the fireplace BM Sparrow(both from the afinity collection) it would tie in the natural trim. If you liked those paint colors and wanted to paint the trim, I would choose a cream color similar to that chair that you love. No matter what I think that if you painted the built in bookshelfs to match the wall color it would make a huge difference.
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Could you stain the trim a less orangey color? I think if it was a deeper brown it would be much improved. They stained the gorgeous turn-of-the-century railings in our office from the brown wood color to a flat grey (barf!).
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Do easy white walls, and paint the inside of the shelves a fun color, like orange or bright blue or bright green! It would make the shelves pop and balance out the fireplace a little. I've also seen things where you take fun wallpaper and put it inside the shelves – contrasted with white walls, it looks very fun.
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I didn't have a chance to read everyone's comments, so sorry in advance if someone else said this. I don't have many suggestions for colors, but have you thought about painting the backsides of the shelves a color, for a little extra pop with the white walls. And maybe youc ould coordinate the color of the fireplace with whatever color you choose. Good luck!
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Hi, it's chelseamorning from the bee
. I love your blog! I had some thoughts for you…Your inspiration photos say you like cool, minimalist color schemes and bold shapes, particularly rectangles where the length:width ratio is at least 2:1.However, maybe you don't actually like living with a cool color scheme. Your history in painting this room says that grey makes you feel blah, and you didn't like the blues, black/smoke, or white much better either, because you didn't keep them. I suggest you try a warm paint color. Perhaps a rich yellowy cream? Or blue, but a warm blue? Do they make warm greys? Second, ye olde fireplace: It doesn't have a dramatic enough length:width proportion and its color is too warm to go with a cool wall-color palette. Painting over even just the trim (with black, perhaps, but white could also work) would make a huge difference, if you do not want to make the plunge of painting the tile. The tile color would vibe better with warm or cool colors without that trim. Then I would try to find some dramatic mantlepiece adornments to give the fireplace more visual height. If you were doing a bigger fireplace renovation, I would take the facade all the way to the ceiling, filling in the space that is currently your mantle. Then attach a new mantle that comes out of the flat fireplace facade. That would give you the more extreme length:width ratio you like so much. Or (involving no reno), maybe if you painted the fireplace black, you could also paint the recessed wall behind it black, to give the illusion of continuity? Just some thoughts, and I totally envy you having a house to work on. My husband and I live in a tiny apartment and I have major house lust. 
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I'm pretty useless, but I would suggest asking Layla. She seems to be pretty amazing at things like this. http://www.theletteredcottage.net/I will tell you I'm sorry in advance. Her site can be somewhat addictive.
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I'm not sure how cost efficient it would be but have you considered a brick or stone veneer over the fireplace tiles?
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Benjamin Moore's Silver Fox. It's a warm gray and a quiet classic. If it made any sense, I would paint my whole whole Silver Fox, but it's the dining room now. Try it, it would fit with your leaning toward mid century modern decor.
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