Today we are talking about Space and Color, not separately, but as one and how it can impact not only the space but the mood and vibe in room. A year or so ago, we added some beautiful built-ins in our former dinning room, turned office, turned sitting room/library (read about it here).

The space itself proposes some unique design challenges because it is in essence an extension of our entryway at the front of our home through to our kitchen. We enjoyed it as a dinning room, but when it came to eating we were more drawn into the sunroom off of the kitchen. It was very functional as an office being in the center of the house, but it was also in the center of the house, and the office setting doesn’t always promote a clean an orderly setting. We did know that it deserves an anchor in the design flow, to enjoy the true center of the home, with a view off of the deck looking out into our little mini orchard and vineyard. You can read more about the library and see the before of this space [HERE]. The library is an interesting space so it’s worth seeing.

To cozy in this wide space, we wanted to close in the space with changing the color off our built-ins. In the world of design, darker colors can be used to make a room feel intimate and close in a space. Quickly, changing our built-ins from white to blue gray you can see how the depth of the built-ins change.

How white works in a space…

With the white built-ins the depth of the shelvings are “realized” meaning that along with the items on the shelves, the built-in itself is apart of the room.

What darker paint does…

When painted darker, like blue gray, the eye tends to stop at the face of the built-ins, and the depth of the shelves aren’t necessarily “realized.” So now the bookshelves act similar to that of a gallery wall, creating more of a two dimensional wall starting at the front faces of the unit, closing in the space.

Not quite right

Just like I said in my stories, I don’t always get the paint color right the first time, and this is a very big example of that. I love the color, I loved the sample swatch I painted on it a week or so back, but as it is all said and done, it isn’t the right one for these built-ins and this space. Scratch that, it looks amazing if this was someone else’s space. But for us? It wasn’t a match made in heaven. I love light and windows in our home, but with that comes with cast of green grass or cooler blue tones when there’s snow on the ground. The paint we chose was Blue Gray by Farrow and Ball, and as you can see it pulled a lot of green from the grass outside. it was basically green which is not what we were aiming for. While the color is gorgeous, I would see it fitting a piece of furniture that didn’t extend across an entire wall to better fit our home and ecstatic. What I’ll turn to next is something a bit lighter, but with more depth in the color than that of a basic white. My next thought is a warmer white like a cream or almond tone. I this will be a great way to shorten the depth of the shelves and the overall size of the built-ins, while also warming up the space with a more rich color.

Enjoy the ride

Design is a fun journey if you let it. We can quickly get captivated with the perfectly “right” before and after, we typically see on HGTV or social media, but I cannot emphasize enough to enjoy the journey of design. There is often an in-between of not quite hitting the nail on the head every single time & that’s quite alright. In fact, that’s normal. I always live by, painting is one really quick and easy way to change a space, and while there is a few hours into painting these built-ins, its just paint, we’ll change it again and Jose and I will have a lot of fun doing it (again). I hope you all don’t think I always get it right, because I don’t, and I want to inspire your next design, and the number one hurdle I always hear from others is that they are too scared to dive in. Love it or hate it -have fun doing something creative, it’ll be good for your soul. We have learned so much from design hits and misses over the years, and clearly we don’t always get our perfect look right away, but we have a lot of fun doing them. I will be back soon with the new color! And with that a very sincere thank you so much for stopping by the blog today and every other day… it means so much to us! Stay tuned for our next color for these built-ins.

Xx Liz Marie