When we bought our lovely new settees, we had only one thought in mind - that we needed to buy something that would not show the dirt if bad Bonnie of The Bonnie Trap fame were to sit on them when we weren't looking.
With this in mind, we ordered two lovely heather coloured settees from Next. We were thrilled when they arrived but we hadn't thought it through - our walls were bright yellow and our fireplace had green tiles! Hmm... it was obviously going to be a redecorating job. The yellow walls could go but of course, there was nothing we could, or wanted to, do about the tiles (they are really nice).
This was where the fun began - what colour would go with green and heather. Magnolia, I hear you say. Well we had decided that as all the other downstairs rooms were a sophisticated neutral, we should add some colour in this room...and so began the game - you know the one - where you dab little bits of different colours all over the walls until you have created your own version of Joseph's Technicoloured Dreamcoat.
Having tried out different match pots, (my husband counted over 30!) we opted for one with the fabulous name of Snuggle Up only to find it had been discontinued. Undeterred, we added more colours to the wall even though by this time our eyes were going funny and all the paints had started to look grey. By the way, don't ever trust the colours on a paint chart - they look nothing like it once on the wall!
Eventually, we found what we thought was a perfect match - a lighter version of the settee colour. My daughter came home for the weekend. "You can't have that... it's yuk!" Undeterred we ignored her and my husband painted the entire room, while we were walking Bonnie. When we got back, I looked at the room. There was only one word for the colour - 'Puce'. We all looked at each other and agreed, Yuk! Time to start again.
So now we have a newly decorated room. It is clean and bright and...Magnolia! Oh well.
A sale to Woman's Weekly and to The People's Friend softened the blow though.
Glad the sales brightened things up!
ReplyDeleteIThey were certainly better than the yucky wall!
DeleteI do sympathise with your painting problems. We once painted a smallish room in what appeared to be a pretty pale peach.......it was more orange J cloth when it all came together...needless to say, it was quickly covered with.....yes, magnolia!
ReplyDeleteGood old magnolia - asmy husband says, there's got to be a reason why it is still the most popular aftere all these years!
DeleteA fun post, Wendy! I'm so impressed with your sales success - way to go!
ReplyDeleteHa! You may think it fun, Rosemary but we certainly didn't - after hours of painting and repainting!
DeleteNo (in answer to your question).
ReplyDeleteWe once had a terrible problem with yellow. As you say, not at all the same as on the colour chart!
Damn colour charts - that's why I put them in you room 101, Frances!
DeleteMade me laugh. Though I thought heather, yellow and green sounded marvellous in the first place! I think you have the material for several new stories in here Wendy. Congrats on the sales. I haven't heard a thing in weeks, though no news is not rejection...
ReplyDeleteAnd still waiting on TWN, what about you?
Hi Tracy - no, still waiting!
DeleteOuch! I had a DIY father (the brother of Auntie Sue), who used to buy up old houses and do them up, including decorate them, while we were all living in them – that's Mum, me, my eight brothers and sisters, Pepé the dog and Whiskers the cat! Ha ha! He had great taste - years of pracitce maybe?- but it wasn't inherited by me (I have a sister, though, who is pretty hot on what colours not to put together etc). I have spent many hours painting over puke/ slime green etc. I sympathise with your pain ;o)
ReplyDeleteGreat news about more stories being accepted. Yeh hey! What is TWN?
Hi Marianne - it wouldn't be so bad if the paints looked halfway like they did on teh colour charts. TWN is The Weekly News.
Deleteoops, I mean puce ...;) x
ReplyDeleteHa ha - I think you were right the first time!
DeleteWe had exactly the same sofa dilemma a few years ago, and chose brown with a faint gold stripe in the end - never regretted it. We always settle on good old Magnolia for the walls too, it just goes with everything :o)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the story sales!
Thanks Karen and yes, I think we made the right choice in the end.
DeleteHi Wendy - at least you had a choice - I'm married to a painter and decorator - my house either doesn't get done or has to be done at a moment's notice, and then choice of colour is usually whatever paint he has leftover. Enjoy your newly decorated room.
ReplyDeleteLinda
Decorating must be a busman's holiday for him, Linda!
DeleteI've come round to magnolia myself of late. I've never really got over the time I insisted a very dark reddish brown would look brilliant in the dining room - it didn't, but I brazened it out for a while. It's magnolia now!
ReplyDeleteI've awarded you the Reality Blog Award - details over at my place :-) x
It's funny how we try to convince ourselves that the colour is nice - even when we know deep down that it isn't! Thanks for the blog award, Teresa - that's very kind.
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