To ask DH to decorate again (He finished today and I HATE it)

[SunflowerOwl]

DH has painted our bedroom this weekend. The tester looked nice but now that it's all done I hate it so much I could cry.

We have lovely new bedding and curtains and the walls just spoil it, it doesn't suit the room at all.

I want to go to Homebase tomorrow and paint the whole thing again but I feel TERRIBLE. I'd happily do it myself but I'm pregnant so he didnt want me doing it (Might also explain the crying)

Would I be a total cow to ask him to redo it? I've not confessed that I dont like it yet as he seems pleased and it feels a bit wasteful. Or should I just try and live with it?

@MariposaLilly

This attitude really surprises me. I thought MN was full off strong independent women. I'm in my late 60's and have always done all the painting, gardening, growing veg, tree trimming, mowing lawns etc. I love it and I'm good at it. All the farm wives around here (western US) do those jobs. Men do men's work.

We pay someone to do it. We’re both useless.

"I wouldn’t ask him to repaint, didn’t you notice that you didn’t like it before he had completed it! "

It's absolutely classic though. Paint looks totally different in a small amount or on a wall - and then when it's completely covering the whole room. Paint colours look totally different when against undercoats or white than they are when they've covered every bit of undercoat. So I don't think it's weird of the OP at all. It's just normal and things like light and overall effect can be very hard to judge.

@hadtocomment absolutely, you don't know how dark it'll look overall til you've painted over the last pale bit of wall.

@moonfacebaby what a stunning room! The tomatoey colour bedding I'd never have thought of but it works beautifully. You need a really good eye for that kind of thing.

That colour looks almost exactly the same as my car.

It's a whole new experience every morning, it looks different every day depending on the weather and the light. It goes blue when the sun's out. Other days, if it was parked up against a battleship you'd never find it.

Much better to speak up now and repaint before the carpet is in! I would also redo it yourself, or at least do it together. I think most people woukd understand it was just a mistake and be ok with it. You can make it clear how much you appreciate his effort.

I love this colour and was thinking about it when we do our bedroom. I have cream carpets and have seen it looking great with light coloured flooring. Maybe go for lighter flooring?

Is there anyone else that could repaint for you. I had mine done and hated it and I repainted as it will just annoy you everyday.

We had this colour in our living room. I really liked it. We had black Ikea Hemnes furniture with it which worked well. I could see wood looking good but not white.

@MariposaLilly

MariposaLilly

This attitude really surprises me. I thought MN was full of strong independent women. I'm in my late 60's and have always done all the painting, gardening, growing veg, tree trimming, mowing lawns etc. I love it and I'm good at it. All the farm wives around here (western US) do those jobs. Men do men's work..

It doesn't mean a woman is not 'strong' and 'independent,' just because she doesn't do her own gardening, and painting and decorating. What a bizarre statement!

You wouldn't say the same about people who pay other people to cut and style their hair, or fix their computer, or car, or washing machine, or gas boiler. People have different skillsets, and talents.

Someone choosing to pay others to do their home decorating and garden, are not paying someone else because they are not independent and strong.

And you say 'men do mens work...' What exactly is 'mens work?'

I'm not keen on that exact shade - too grey for me. But I have a darker more petrol colour in my bedroom called Hobgoblin by Valspar and i'd disagree with those saying you need to accessorise with light and white stuff. All our furniture is dark wood and the soft colours on the bed and blinds are vibrant jewel colours, mainly a burnt orange, but also reds and acid/mustard yellows. We also have vintage deco silver lamps with salmony pink glass shade. It compliments it really well. I think white will definitely look more teenage boys room. With these strong dark colours you have to go all in or it looks a bit half hearted.

The problem is you probably did not consider the daylight that comes in to your room. It is all very well liking a colour and trying to replicate something you have seen in a magazine or online, but in reality it can look quite different due to different room dimensions and sunlight.

SunflowerOwl You say you're pregnant, are you nesting? I started nesting about a few weeks before I delivered, nothing about the house felt right and I wanted to change everything and move all the furniture around.

@crimsonlake

The problem is you probably did not consider the daylight that comes in to your room. It is all very well liking a colour and trying to replicate something you have seen in a magazine or online, but in reality it can look quite different due to different room dimensions and sunlight.

Well quite.

My niece's lounge is 12 ft wide by 18 foot long, and she has a medium sized window at the one end (that faces out towards the front garden.) And at the other end of the 18ft long room they have patio doors, that did lead to the back garden.

But they put a 10 ft X 8ft conservatory at the back, (that you enter via the patio doors,) which made the back half of the lounge look quite dark. When she put the dark blue-grey paint on all four walls of the lounge, it made the big (long-ish) lounge look soooo much darker. It looked like a chapel of rest. ✝️ ⚰️

@MariposaLilly What is “men’s work”?

It happened to me once too😥. Farrow and Ball (I know) cool off white colour looked great as a tester but ended up horrible dark grey in my north facing room. I repainted it.

The quality of light in a room can really distort colour. This can’t be predicted. Just repaint it.

We had our laundry painted that colour. It's a nice shade -I'd personally wait for a bit to see if it grows on you, otherwise maybe get someone in to redo it.

I think it's a bit mean tosay it's the OP's own fault for using a paint colour she had seen on instagram. Where are you suppose to get ideas and inspiration from?

And you can't tell after a first coat what something will be like, our bathroom is F&B bancha which is a dark olive green. We had bits of cardboard painted in various colours that we looked at in different locations and in different lights for several weeks before we painted it. When we started painting the first light coat looked the colour of cow poo . We kept painting and the end result looks great and we're really chuffed with it but with all the walls painted it looks darker than we expected. It's pretty normal to find that a whole room is different to a 1m^2 block of paint. Once all the furniture is in it'll look different again.

I had a tester for this colour and I know what you mean by 'teenage' room.

I chose a dark grey dulux colour instead and it is so much better. Very flat pure grey. (Slate grey)

A few years ago I had a decorator paint my bedroom. A 2 day job.
When he had finished I walked in and just hated it. I had chosen the colour and used tester pots. But it looked so different to my vision.

The decorator was very good about it and re-painted it straight away. (Yes I had to pay extra)

You definitely need everything else in the room to pop with brightness. The skirting boards and window & door frames have to be brilliant white gloss, the bedding and curtains, bright colours and if you have a single lightbulb hanging light in your bedroom change the bulb to be a "daylight" lightbulb - not warm white.
www.homebase.co.uk/tcp-filament-classic-coat-60w-bc-daylight-dimmable-light-bulb/12826488.html
That alone will brighten the room at night.

This is why you should use testers, which is suggest if you’re going to repaint.

Teenage room blue doesn’t sound good. Definitely paint before new carpets if you don’t like it today don’t go through loads of angst just buy the paint, wear a 95 mask and you will be fine to help him paint.
You will feel a lot better as soon as you start painting over it. I would be focusing more on what the new paint colour will be to avoid a repeat.
Do you want a true grey?

OP even interior designers have to repaint on wall colours occasionally it is a very normal that a colour can behave in an unpredictable way on the wall. Don’t beat yourself up, just tell him you hate it and it makes much more sense to paint before the new carpets arrive. I have very dark teal rooms and dark wood and gold look stunning against them.

Lighting,plants,big mirrors to make the room seem bigger and lighter,wall art,your room will look lovely,don't change it,instead use the time as an opportunity to challenge yourself to make it gorgeous,you can do it!💐

It is horrible! Like the colour of misery

Not just me then!

@Thelnebriati

SunflowerOwl You say you're pregnant, are you nesting? I started nesting about a few weeks before I delivered, nothing about the house felt right and I wanted to change everything and move all the furniture around.

This! I ended up scrubbing my hallway with bleach. Never felt the need to do so before or since but out of nowhere I had this massive "ick" reaction to parts of the house. My husband was wise enough not to argue with me!