I Dream in Shades of Gray

Peppercorn (Left) and Sterling White (right)

When you look at Pinterest you look for inspiration and wonder if you can pull something like this off. I remember looking at pictures of bedrooms and living rooms for new home inspiration. I have a whole board to inspire me for my new home. I picked out my paint colors at Lowes from Sherwin Williams. The first color that I picked was Peppercorn (a dark gray color) for my sneaker room / creative space and the second color I picked was Sterling white (white color with a hint of gray). Both colors were picked for specific reasons. I always wanted a gray color but not gray in the majority of my home (and the name of the color does hold a huge significance to me) and then when I saw the Peppercorn color I knew that was going to be the color for my sneaker room. I wanted my sneakers to stand out so that color was not black but close enough to it that it would mix well. As I was making plans for my first home from decor to color choices. I had to walk away from the first condo that I put an offer in on after weeks of back and forth and other reasons that I do not want to discuss. Then when I walked into what became my first home the colors fit just right.

The stark contract from the old color on the left to the Sterling white on the right

After being in my home for over 2 months I finally took the plunge and started painting starting from my entryway and finishing up in my main bedroom where I made the color change of instead of Sterling white like the rest of the house I painted the room in the Peppercorn color and made the sneaker room Sterling white. I made the switch because my bedroom has massive windows and the sneaker room does not so I wanted that room to be lighter.

I remember the feeling of taking the roller to the walls for the first time and stepping back to see the finished product a wave of…..I don’t know how to describe it. I guess you can say a sense of accomplishment came over me. To see my home transformed from the pictures that I first saw on Zillow and when I took my first tour to now really made me feel overjoyed that I did this and by myself. My sister and niece did volunteer to help (only if I paid in impossible burgers and fries) but this was something that I want to do on my own and in my own time.

Bedroom finished.

Now let me tell you by the time I got to my main bedroom with a risky color like Peppercorn I could have just said no thank you and pulled the other can of paint from the kitchen and kept on with my original plan but I could see how it was going to look in my head and when the roller hit the wall there was no turning back on it. By the time I finished the room it was like I just finished working an eight-hour shift with a lunch break. I look into that room every day and do not regret making that color change. The color against all the black furniture and gray bedding makes my heart sing.

For those of you that do not know I do have a degree in Interior Design and I always wanted to be a designer ever since I was young. I would look at magazines and wish I could do that and live in a home that looked like that and now I do.