Dear Laurel,
My husband and I recently purchased a darling farmhouse (circa 1900) on a beautiful piece of property in Western Mass. Or Massachusetts, if you’re not familiar with the term. Western Mass is what folks from Boston call it. We raised our kids in bean-town, but realized a few years ago that we longed for a simpler, more quiet life.
And that is what we have; uhhhhh… except for our building contractor who I’m about ten seconds away from firing because he has a yap on him that never quits.
Never mind the arguments about our “unkitchen” renovation. HE DOES NOT GET IT. Every time we discuss my disdain for upper cabinets (which go over counters) and look stuck to the wall, I get a condescending lecture like I’m in kindergarten or something.
Oh, and I’ll spare you the comments he made about some of our paint color palette ideas.
Obviously, he doesn’t read your blog, Laurel.
Okay, enough whining about him. The real reason I’m writing is to talk about my paint color palette.
I love that post about your 16 favorite Benjamin Moore paint colors. After reading that, I realized that I had to get your paint and palette collection guide. It is a total game changer and worth at least ten times what you’re charging for it.
And, it’s not just the colors; there’s so much useful information about everything having to do with choosing paint colors–including the best white trim colors for each of the 144 paint colors. I love that. It gave me such peace of mind not to have to stress about that one!
When we tested, we felt that white dove was just a tad too bright, but Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee is sublime. But now, I’m also loving Ivory White.
Oh, and we redid the floors too and went with your recommendation in the paint palette guide.
I love that chapter about the “6th wall” which was a bonus, amongst many I wasn’t expecting. And the hardwood floor stain is glorious! The perfect floor color.
In fact, to get our home in Boston ready to sell, we painted EVERYTHING. Oh, I wish we had that contractor for the new place. He loved the paint colors we chose, or if he didn’t, he knew when to keep his opinions to himself! Really nice guy.
This is the board from the palette collection that made up our minds, the paint color palette we wanted in our home. And we want the same for our new home.
more inspiration from Mary McDonald from this post
Do you know that we actually went out and got most of the items in this image, including the Chesterfield from W-S Home?
Well, no of course, you don’t, but we did. And we get so many compliments on the furniture. BTW, we take advantage of the sales you post weekly. Love your Friday Hot Sales pages!
Unfortunately, the rug above was sold, but I just noticed that you have some gorgeous new rugs in your rug page featuring those warm-rusty-reds and warmer blue colors. And what I love, especially, is that everything is on sale.
And of course, we chose our paint color palette from the Laurel Home Paint Guides. (yes, per your instructions, we tested all paint colors first) Everything looked amazing; some of the spaces were more neutral. Can I tell you how much I adore Cleveland Green??
We used Corlsbud Canyon in the guest bedroom after you showed it off in this post about numerous shades of orange and coral paint.
One thing that was especially helpful is that you created the palette families. That way, there were many more colors to choose from and a few more great shades of white paint.
I am dying to do this in our new home.
This is one of my favorite posts where you featured all of the different ways to do Chinoiserie panels including making your own designs with a pre-made stencil. Also, love the work of Summer Thornton who uses these colors in many of her interiors.
Ever since you showed this image of racing orange paint color (below), I’ve been in love.
photo by Laurel at the High Point market Spring 2016.
ohhh… I spy a beautiful window transom!
Another thing I love is that the guide isn’t just a bunch of colors and paint color palettes. There are 40 of these paint color palette boards with links to sources. Quite frankly, Laurel, if you charged $500 for the paint collection/palettes, it would be worth it. I realize that most people won’t pay that much, but knowing what I know now, I would.
Our realtor asked who helped with the paint colors. haha! (You can’t make this shit up!)
Well, our house sold practically before the realtor could put their sign in the ground!
I’ve just made my decision. I realize that the contractor is not right for us. He hasn’t actually done any work. I’ll pay him for his “insultation” time. :/
I’m sure there’s one out there, who gets us and our vision.
Sincerely,
Fanny Ovue
Well, actually, I have to confess, you CAN make this shit up, because I just did. haha!
And if it seems a little self-promotional, it’s because it is. But I’m doing it for your own good. Sure, and mine too. Think of it like when public TV does those annoying seasonal fund-raisers. Only, hopefully, this isn’t quite as annoying.
However. Everything here has been said in one way or another to me by some kind soul. You can read the testimonials on the paint palette page if you don’t believe me. There is also a paint collection page because they are actually two separate products that are sold as one product. They were released six months apart because it would’ve killed me to do them at the same time.
The same kind comments can be seen on my other two products Laurel’s Rolodex and the new blogging guide.
I’m so proud of all of my products and very grateful to so many who’ve purchased them.
So, here’s the surprise that if you’re on my email list you got notified about.
I’M HAVIN’ A FLASH SALE OF ALL LAUREL HOME PRODUCTS!!!
that’s a link to the product page, above. :]
please help me get the word out by pinning to pinterest, if you’re able.
This is more rare than it getting to 100 degrees which it might today, here in New York.
So, for those so inclined, here’s the skinny on the discount.
- If you get any one of the three products, you’ll get 20% off.
- Any Two products 25%
- All Three products 30% which is almost like getting one of them for free!
***But, this flash sale is only until 11:59 PM July 4th, 2018.***
After that, the price IS going back up to where it was yesterday.
And just so you know, in the fall, the price is going up for everything!
Rolodex owners do get FREE lifetime updates.
However, if you aren’t interested in any of that and even if you are, the store sales this weekend are OUTRAGEOUS.
And yes, one of them is Serena and Lily. 20% off the entire freakin’ site! (through the 5th) And there are other great deals too like one of my favorite sitewide sales on One Kings Lane.
For those who are interested in purchasing my products, a bit of info that will make things go much smoother for both of us.
The process is super easy. There is a brand new page with individual links for all seven options.
PAYMENT. Yes, it’s Paypal. You do not need a PP account.
Please do not use your husband’s PP account OR yours IF the email address is one you are no longer using. Please use your CC card and put in the email address you want it to go to. It is completely safe and secure. Or, you can use your PP account if you’re still using that email address.
If you forget, I won’t take your head off but just know that husbands often delete the updates.
As a public service announcement. You CAN forward your email. Many people do not realize this.
If you don’t get your guide within an hour, please check your spam folder. If you don’t see it there, do a search for SENDOWL. (my shopping cart service)
Thanks so much guys!
Happy Fourth of July Weekend! (more like 10 day weekend!)
I hope it’s okay to say that. Somebody took my head off the last time I wished y’all a happy holiday weekend.
But, seriously, as a reminder. The heat can be deadly so please drink plenty of (non-alcoholic) fluids and carry a salty snack with you if you’re out in the heat.
xo,
Related Posts
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Color Of The Year 2018 – And The Winner Is…
The Trick To Mixing Modern and Traditional Furniture
My 16 Favorite Benjamin Moore Paint Colors
Does Your Living Room Furniture Need To Go On A Diet?
24 Responses
So funny! As I was reading this I kept thinking, WOW this gal has the same sense of humor as Laurel!!!
haha
Squeeeeee! I just bought the Paint collections! I’ve been thinking about it for a while so check out this math: Thursday is my birthday + flash sale + home renovation looming = YAY ME!!!
Happy Birthday Jenn! What a wonderful present you got for yourself! I always buy myself a birthday present too. That way, I’m sure to like what I get. haha!
Your sale looks great but you have an error on your pricing. The bundle of all 3 items is regularly $597, not $497. The discounted price is $418 for all 3 as stated.
Love your sense of humor and all your great info.
Oh Blimey! Thank you so much for picking that one up Sandy. I’ve already fixed it.
Please consider setting up an Instagram account. I follow most designers now there. I find it is becoming one of the best and easiest ways for bloggers now to get my attention.
Hi Diana,
I have had an instagram account since 2014. https://www.instagram.com/laurelberninteriors/
Please feel free to follow me, however, insta is a completely different animal than my blog is. My strategy has been to build a platform on my own website, not someone else’s.
And, it has paid off handsomely. I don’t need instagram. If they went out of business tomorrow, it would make no difference to me.
Facebook, the same thing.
Twitter. I’d LOVE to shut my account down.
Pinterest is the only one that would sting if they went away.
However, if blog reading isn’t your thing, that’s totally cool. There are still some 3.5 million unique readers a year, who do enjoy the blog posts.
Hi, Laurel.
I look so forward to opening my email and seeing your blog! On Sunday (usually a day off for me), I look for it as soon as I get on my computer and read it first thing. 🙂
Sounds like this fictional lady knows my recently used contractor! During the entire building process I kept hearing, “We’ve never done this before.” Which I should have interpreted as, “Never done that–Don’t know HOW to do that–Don’t want to LEARN how to do that.” The first time should have been my warning to fire him–Would have caused me a lot less stress and disappointment.
I love these “rich” colors. Haven’t had time to use my color palette yet as I was only “allowed” to choose 2 different paint colors in my new home (Oh yes, I could have paid extra to do more, but by that time I was definitely extra-ed out!).
I just can’t wait to sit down soon and choose the perfect palette to add some rich character to my new house.
Have I mentioned how much I look forward to Sunday and reading your blog?
Hi Patty,
The reason for the similarity in stories is because it’s very common. And that’s not to say that there aren’t some terrific contractors. There definitely are, but they seem to go out of business. It’s a tough job! And thank you so much for your kind words!
As for the contractor discussion, I am starting to think women should be the contractors. Now I suppose that includes ME! But I do one small house a year if I can, mostly cleaning, emptying, painting, gardening and working with other contractors to get the systems back on line. On my last house I counted 14 outside vendors and only two were real stinkers, unfortunately that was the crew putting the kitchen in and my plumber! Statistically it was good, for those two BIG jobs it was bad.
Hi Vanessa,
It can be exceedingly stressful when jobs go awry. That’s for sure!
Love, love, love your blog…hysterically funny, interesting and a week full of eye candy for sure. I get really excited when I receive a new post in my email and have been known to be late for work just cuz I had to open it right then 🙂 Anyway, I was thinking as I read you blog today that your vision/mood boards or renderings (not sure what you call them!) are just gorgeous. I am not young and not very “techy” and have had trouble learning how to create these…do you use photo shop? Do you have any suggestions as to how I could learn to create these???? I want them to be as beautiful as yours:) Any advice would be much appreciated. THANK YOU!!!!!
Hi Ann,
Thanks so much! I use Picmonkey for all of my graphics. I am self-taught over the last four years, but I know that there are tutorials available both in Picmonkey and also on youtube.
Thank you so much for the information! Your are one talented gal!
😀
I have always liked Bedford Gray and a color I’ve seen lately in magazines is Green Smoke. I remember one décor that also was very nice had: turquoise, an olive mustard color, black accents.
A shot of turquoise always feels welcome. And I love almost every shade of green. If there was one category in the paint collection that I agonized the most over was the greens. It’s one of the largest with 12 colors, although there are some in the dark colors (not black) that qualify as green. It was very difficult to narrow the field down.
I flipping love your blog! Nobody does color or style this way in a blog that makes my heart go pitter patter. We unexpectedly found out we are getting our house painted and I have spent the last four days painting samples on foam board (which I think is way better than poster board). Hubby thought I lost my mind with 8 different yellows and 8 different whites. At least until he saw how the color changed depending on the light. I do need to order your rolodex though because I need to have fun with color and still have some kind of cohesive house. And my family has high expectations since I am an artist…except color is so different on a small canvas vs a huge house! I would really like to know where the good contractors are. I am about to start tiling my kitchen myself. And I may end up putting the cabinets in just so I don’t have to listen to someone telling me I am doing it all wrong. Anyway, thanks for the dose of inspiration, I really needed it.
Hi Korina,
Thank you so much for all of this! I get a ton of email from people wanting a “piece of me.” But, somebody wrote having interest in BUYING laurel home. Geeezz, that would be like selling one of my children! No wait. Worse! lol
As for contractors. Beats me. I fired the one I hired in April.
Ps, was wondering how your head is, the other day. Cath
Oh, thank you. I wish I could say that it knocked some sense into me. Still have some headaches. But feel fortunate it’s not worse. xo
Haha, I sussed it was you about half way through. We have those colours, the teal and earth colours, at home. Works well.
Thanks Cath. Love teal!