Finding the perfect Yellow Orange

Since giving my furniture to my daughter, my wall color, Pineapple Grove (BM), is far too cool for the current inhabitants of my great room.  When we built our house in 1985, we were way ahead of our time--we had an open floor plan where 75% of the downstairs was open:  foyer to great room to kitchen.  Only my office was securely walled off and included the half bath.

Pineapple Grove

My former sofa was black with vibrant yellow, green and red floral pattern with two guest chairs that complemented.  Oh how I loved it!!! However, once the sofa fabric wore out (and I was on the 3rd reupholster), I decided that we would get a leather sofa--and the two chairs would just no longer work with that.  I gave my daughter the set of furniture which she was willing to have upholstered to suit her needs.  It was a smaller scale that worked perfectly for her home.  Sniff...how I miss it.

Hannah Banana

In the transition time between the old and the new, we sat on a terribly uncomfortable couch (in an off white that quickly turned dingy from dirty dogs and people!) that I had bought in brand new condition from a thrift store to stage homes with. A reminder that quality construction that melds comfort with durability is worth paying for.  But, with staging, I need good looks and cheap price, and this sofa had it.  I paid $150 for it and I used it to stage 3 houses.

After months of looking, I found a beautiful gently used high-end leather sofa on Craig's list in a a reddish tan leather.  It had not sold because they were asking too much money for it.  When I inquired, it was still for sale, and they were eager to find a deal.  Unfortunately there is no indication on the manufacturer's color on the leather swatch on the seat.

Shortly thereafter,   I had to throw out another piece of beloved furniture (green, sueded leather love seat) where 17 or so years of sitting wore out the seat.

After much searching (prior to tossing the current occupant!)  I found a beautifully upholstered couch at a consignment shop that complemented the Classic Leather sofa's colors. (No small feat).  I like buying used furniture.  With the exception of the leather love seat, nearly every piece of furniture in my home is second hand.  Any I never buy anything unless it is steeply discounted.  Consignment shops are great--there are so many beautiful things that were never used.  I have to say, that just about everything in my house gets used with impunity!

With the new occupants in place,  I was then left with a paint scheme that was garish--too cool a color on the walls for the warmer colors in furniture.  I also have 4 large framed liquor prints which had all of the vibrant colors of my prior upholstered pieces. I did not want to replace those, but rather keep them.  The daily jarring too my eye was just too much.  I had been putting off finding the right paint color because I know that finding the perfect color (though many seem to do it with ease) to me feels Quixotically like jousting with windmills.

Hannah Banana appeared to be (at that time yesterday!) the perfect color to tie in the old with the new.  It had more red It is considerably darker on the walls than Pineapple Grove--a light reflective value of 77 v 54 for the new color.  However, the room is such that there is very little wall space although the room is quite large.  I have very large windows on the north, west and south side.    So there is probably 60/40 wall/window--so darker colors work. . . or not....

My husband has been making indirect comments about the color. Frankly, after having had the Hannah Banana color up on the test spaces for 12 hours, and then visiting it again this a.m., I began to have some doubts myself--my commitment to bold color flagging mightily. I called my Benjamin Moore store, and picked a color in a lighter shade:  Yellow Topaz (CSP-945) for a test run.

Compared to CSP-955  I got the warmth that I was looking for and boosted the LRV to 62.9.  I went with the pick for the trim paint--Crisp Linen (CSP-305).

I painted the color here, there and the everywhere on the area framing the large door unit going to the deck.  My daughter came by (who although a teacher, could have been a designer as well).    She agreed with me that the Yellow Topaz was a good pick.

Now I simply have to prepare my surfaces and get ready to paint.  My wood trim is painted in an oil base, and I'm not going to continue that.  So, I will sand out the imperfections from the last painter (who did not prep so well nor paint so well (she was the girlfriend of the painter), ensure that all of the surfaces are deglossed, and then paint away.

Oh Boy.

My advice to any is to to go ahead and pay the money and get samples of paint (after you do some research and narrow the field) that you have narrowed as your finalists.  Paint it on your walls in different places so that you can see the effect of light on the paint in your room, amongst your furnishings.  Though a pain, it is worse to invest in paint and find that you are just not happy with the overall look.  It's like dating a color before making a commitment.