How to Paint an Ombre Wall Technique | Pretty Handy Girl

How to Paint an Ombré Wall Technique

How to Paint an Ombré Wall Gradient | Pretty Handy Girl

Ombré painting is EVERYWHERE. Clothing, home décor and even wall paint techniques. An ombré wall is the paint technique I chose to create a misty and ethereal look in our master bedroom. It started when I fell in love with Kendall Charcoal by Benjamin Moore but didn’t want to make our entire bedroom too dark (I have a hard enough time waking up in the morning.) I decided a good solution was to use the dark charcoal gray color on a focal wall behind the headboard. But, I didn’t want to stop the color in the corners and create a sharp line.

How to Paint an Ombré Wall Gradient | Pretty Handy Girl

Instead, I wanted a softer edge that would make us feel like we were being hugged by the room.

How to Paint an Ombré Wall Technique

How to Paint an Ombré Wall Gradient | Pretty Handy Girl

I used Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore to paint the other three walls in the bedroom, but created a random ragged edge where the two colors meet.

How to Paint an Ombré Wall Gradient | Pretty Handy Girl

This is how the side walls look in preparation for the ombré wall technique.

How to Paint an Ombré Wall Gradient | Pretty Handy Girl

Materials:

  • Dark latex paint color (Kendall Charcoal by Benjamin Moore)
  • Lighter latex paint color (Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore)
  • A small container with a mixture of the two colors to create an in between gray
  • Paint brush
  • Dry brush
  • Water-filled spray bottle
  • ScotchBlue Painter’s Tape
  • Damp car wash sponge
  • Rubber gloves
  • Wet wipes or wet rag

Instructions: Read more

DIY Aged Chippy Paint Technique | Pretty Handy Girl

DIY Aged Chippy Paint Technique | Pretty Handy Girl

This is another one of those tutorials that I’ve been dying to share with you! Like sitting on my hands and anxiously waiting to type it out. But after taking 2 weeks off from blogging, I’m back and ready to give you this fabulous tutorial for achieving the aged chippy paint look on your next project.

DIY Aged Chippy Paint Technique | Pretty Handy Girl

Before I give you the chippy gritty, I want to give you the background story on those gorgeous corbels.

If you’ve been following along, I finally completed my 13 month kitchen renovation. The last task was installing two open shelves on the full tile wall. Finding the perfect corbels to use as shelf brackets was not an easy task. I scoured eBay, Craig’s List and salvage shops. I was really getting discouraged. That was when I met Garlan from Southern Accents Architectural Antiques at Haven. We talked for a few minutes and he showed me some of the corbels he had in his store. There were some wonderful old ones, but I felt a bit like Goldilocks. One was too tall. The other not big enough, but the biggest problem was that I needed four of them. Garlan showed me some new corbels that he had. He told me he has a guy that can duplicate any corbel design and can customize them to meet any size requirements. It was as if the heavens parted and angels sang! I was elated and couldn’t wait to find an image of a design I liked. But, again, the Goldilocks in me couldn’t find the “perfect” corbels. So, I opened up Adobe Illustrator and started to design my own unique corbels.

Chippy Paint Technique

PHG Corbel Design for Sa1969.com

 

I designed a scroll pattern based off of one corbel I saw, but also added some relief portions inside the corbel. I sent the image to Garlan and a week later he sent me a picture of one of the corbels. It was love at first sight! I quickly approved the initial one and waited anxiously for the corbels to arrive. When I opened the box, they were beautiful and exactly as I had pictured them in my head.

Southern Accents Architectural Antiques corbels

I set forth to give them an appropriate aged chippy paint look to fool people into thinking they were actually antique salvage. Here’s how I did it. Read more

Video Tutorial: How to Paint a Giant Abstract Ocean Painting

As promised, I created a tutorial to show you how you too can paint a giant abstract ocean painting. The easiest way for me to show you how was to share the video of the process. If you are viewing this post in your email, you will need to click on the link to view the video.

Materials: Read more

perfect_gray_grey_greige_colors

Work is progressing in the kitchen and I finished painting the upper portion of the wall a very light greige (a cross between beige and gray.)

aesthetic_white_upper

Light Greige
Our Kitchen Command Center – Sherwin Williams Aesthetic White

With the abundance of light colors in the kitchen, I was craving a little dark paint for some drama. A small accent wall near the mudroom and pantry seemed like the perfect spot. I knew I wanted a chalkboard wall, but my sister (my interior design consultant) worried that black might be too dark. I filed her feedback in the back of my head as I headed to Lowe’s to buy primer. The paint gal tinted my primer with black to achieve a 50% shade of gray. (It is easier to paint dark colors if your primer isn’t a stark white.)

After applying the primer, I thought, “Hmmm, I kind of like this.” But decided to sleep on it. In the morning, that wall had a message for me: Read more

 

I admit it, I’m a color snob. This is not to say that I don’t love color — quite the opposite. But, I am particular about the colors I choose for my home. I have specific desires for an emotion that I want each room to invoke.

Our bedroom must be restful and relaxing:

Glidden Limoges Blue #A1948

Our kitchen has to be cheery and sunny:

Glidden Orion #A0835

And our living room has the perfect balance of warmth and comfort:

Glidden Thyme #A0948

As an artist (I majored in illustration), you might think that picking colors comes easy to me. Actually yes and no. I can usually narrow down the color family that I want for a room, but finding the exact shade, hue, and saturation can be tough. I am drawn to colors that are bold, but when they are large scale on the walls, I find them to be overwhelming.

This is why I’m in love with the new My Colortopia widget from Glidden! My Colortopia asks a few simple questions about personality, mood, design tastes, etc. Within minutes, it dishes up a suggested palette to explore.

When I took the quiz, I was rewarded with these suggestions:

Powder Blush 70RR 65/053

Rosy Mauve 10RR 22/178

Black Mahogany 70RR 07/100

Imagine my surprise! This is the color palette of our mudroom! Light neutral lavender on top of the chair rail, a medium lavender-mauve on the bottom, and the bench is a warm mahogany color.

Why don’t you try taking the quiz for yourself?

A few tips for test driving the color:

  1. Pick up a few similar paint swatches. Stick them behind the light switch cover or beside the window and door trim in the room. Try the swatches on different walls and different times of day. A color that looks good on a sunny wall may not look so great on a shady wall.
  2. After a week, do you still like the swatches? Which is your favorite?
  3. Whoa now, don’t purchase a full gallon yet. Now is a good time to pick up an 8 oz. tester of the color. Paint a 2′ – 3′ section next to the trim in the room and repeat on different walls in the room. (If you are fearful of painting directly on the wall, pick up some white poster board to paint on instead.) Live with the paint squares for a few more days to make sure you truly love the color.
  4. If you aren’t quite ready to commit to painting your wall, go ahead and buy some poster boards and paint the swatches on the poster board and hang or prop them up in your room.
  5. A few things to keep in mind while you are looking at a color. Be aware that the color may change as the seasons change. Winter yields brighter and cooler colored light in our home because the trees are bare. In the summer, our light changes to a greener cast and less harsh lighting as the trees fill out with leaves. Personally, I wait for summer to roll around before choosing any colors in the green or yellow family. That insures that they still look good with the light reflecting off the leaves and into the room.

If you follow all these steps you are sure to find the perfect color for your room!

If you are still nervous, try asking the Colortopia Team (a group of highly trusted design bloggers!)

Now, go ahead and purchase that gallon of Glidden paint for your room!

You may be interested in these posts for more tips on painting like a pro:

  1. How to Prep Before Painting
  2. Picking Your Paint and Sheen
  3. Painting and Touch Ups

Best of luck on your color adventure! I’d love to see what colors My Colortopia picks for you! Send me a photo or upload it to my Facebook page or Google+.

Disclosure: I have been sponsored by Glidden brand paint to write this post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.