Why is decorating so sodding difficult???

[BigSkies22]

Just a bit of a rant really. I have spent two weeks prepping a room for redecoration - sanding, filling, caulking, sanding again, cleaning surfaces. Used sample pots (Little Greene) in the way directed, took advice on room light and orientation, consulted. Actually, that was probably where I went wrong - went with DH and DS preference against my own.

The results are shit. A pastel abomination when what I wanted was rich, warm and sophisticated. It's quite funny really, but I'm going to have to start again. What is wrong with me??? why is the soft, rich, warm blue I see everywhere on the internet so hard to repeat in my own house.

Anyone else experienced similar gaps between fantasy and execution?

Brighton looks the best option to me.

I'd look at F&B Oval Room Blue too.

I spent £55 on tester pots for the hallway - drove myself nuts. Ended up using the first colour I bought! Celestial Blue by Little Greene which I love. Hate my new stair runner though.

Celestial Blue is not prison like at all- really rich and warm. I thought it would be too dark in the hall but it looks brilliant.

I think that it needs more of a "colour", not necessarily anything dark, but just something with a bit more body. Oval room blue is a good shout.

images.app.goo.gl/fqt1T4wishs1SjxT8

I think the blue you picked is too cold toned.

My problem when decorating is that it takes forever and multiple conversations to get DH to agree on anything. And then when the decorators are booked and you go over the plan one more time... he changes his mind about the colour.

It can turn out to be a good thing - my idea for front room turned out to be something that had just become really ubiquitous and, while nice, would soon look dated and the 'default' colour we fell back on worked out nicely and is less 'fashionable'

I love the blue colour! It reminds me of blue and white china/vases. Also the fireplace is beautiful. I think painting only up to picture rail with colour and the the rest including ceiling in brilliant white. The coving looks very grand as well. Ive tried to attach a pic of my decorating I did a couple of years ago.

If you paint a wall white, it will look different in different lights. Because 3 dimensional world...Posh paint brands try to pretend this is something unique to their 'rich pigments', but it ain't so.

I have a Borrowed Light tester, but the colour is too weak for what I'm seeking. I don't like using F&B in our house - the walls soak it up and the job never looks done. Hence looking at Little Greene - just goes on better, better finish. Were it not for that, Oval Room does look promising....But if I start looking at other paint ranges I really will drive myself around the bend.

Also this one ?

www.edwardbulmerpaint.co.uk/product/natural-paint/cerullian-blue/

Paint is so hard, I can never get it quite light.

We have farrow and ball light blue which I have to say, I love. It's almost a blue green. It's really nice.

Agree that the Delicate Blue is cold. Celestial Blue looks like a prison toilet block in my room, but I'm sure it would look great in another setting. This is what makes me weep. And wish I lived in a Soviet world - you can pick one of these three colours, then go and get on with ballet, and the wheat production targets.

Frustrating and expensive but at least you can paint again OP.

I bought a pale pink to go with some greeny/grey tiles in my new bathroom.
I wasn't sure, took my df home after Christmas and when i returned dh had painted the bathroom and put up a new heated towel rail so is refusing to let me change the colour.
It's OK but pale green would be nicer.

Wow Brighton is gorgeous! Will absolutely compliment the fireplace tiles. Very sophisticated.
Personally I wouldn't paint the coving at all. Keep that edge paler.
But all your work isn't wasted! It's just another undercoat right?

Get 2 coats of Brighton on and it will look amazing.

(And are you 100% sure your male family members are not colour blind in any way? I discovered my DH was, but it's only greys & greens. He doesn't get to choose colours!

I think it's why electric wires are such different colours, to account for (in the past) the male electricians not accidentally electrocuting themselves, as so many men are colour blind)

so many blues tilt into grey - I think that would be the case with the Bulmer one here. Ditto Oval Room Blue. I think the Brighton in the Little Greene range has got a bit of green in it, which lifts it away from the grey. I want to avoid grey and lilac. I want warm, not cool, and fresh without being bright.

@BigSkies22 oval room blue is really quite dark in our southwest facing kitchen, and much more green than blue here!

Colour-blind men! I"m willing to go with that theory.

Should I do an undercoat before applying the new pigment then? (Likely Brighton - I do wish I'd followed my first instinct!)

You have a beautiful house OP. I love all the period features and the height to the rooms. Wow.

That's nice of you @HairyToity, thank you. I must admit the last couple of weeks have made me feel a white cube would be a good option for the next house.

@Bullandbush - Dh painting the bathroom while you were away?!! that is very rude!

No need for another undercoat no! Just get two coats of the new paint on and enjoy!

PS, whichever brand you choose, you can get it colour matched at Johnstons - their paint is excellent in my opinion (I've tried most brands!) and more wipeable/robust than most.

I swear DH is colour blind our dining room he got his way I hated it. He got his way over leather suite we both hated it. He's had no say in the sitting room it's lovely. Argued for two years over hall flooring. I won and he likes it.

Do it your way OP

Just get more paint and paint right over it to what u want! Life is too short to sit in a room surrounded by Colours u hate for the sake
Of a pot of paint and a couple of hours, waiting years till it 'needs' decorated again! Get stuck
In, pick the colour yourself so u can't blame anyone else, and I'm sure if u paint it yourself when the guys are out, they won't even notice when then come in 😂

Surely what you’ve already done will act as the undercoat?

Yay go for the Brighton! It is the nicest of all the colours you posted IMO.

It is proven isn’t it that women can discern many more variations in colour than men can. Pesky sex differences. Apparently they’re better at discerning small movements. Gatherers (spotting edible plant matter) vs hunters (spotting prey in the distance), baked into how we first evolved. Or something.