While I have been away from blogging I caught a cold and have been caught up in spring cleaning. My husband has been painting the living room and dining room. Over the Christmas holiday we moved our bedroom downstairs and painted our new master bedroom a lovely autumn color. Pleased with the results I picked up a few more color cards from Walmart of the same brand of paint and found the perfect color called “Herb Tea.”
The Kilz brand paint card says One Coat to Beautiful - muted shades of green are relaxing and peaceful, so they’re perfect for bedrooms. The combination of warm greens with orange and yellow tones gives your room a distinctly earthy feel, reminiscent of warm autumn days.” Perfect, I think to myself- I love Autumn.
It looks good going on and I am feeling smug that this shade will really cover up the issue we were having with crayons on white walls. The thing is the longer the paint is on the wall- the more it starts to look oddly familiar. My husband first put his finger on it while making guacamole for us with fresh avocados one night into painting.
“Our living room look likes avocados,” he says.
“What NO – that can’t be- the card says green tea, I mean herb tea…” I start to get defensive.
I go back into the living room and examine it- I examine the guacamole… umm guacamole. I stuff my face with chips; munch munch munch… “It will look different when it dries, I say between hand fulls of chips.”
It does look different in the morning. It’s like rolling over and looking at the person you brought home from the bar while drunk. They look really different in the sunlight- eh? I look at our new living room in the sunlight, I examine it again as the sun goes down. It looks odd on the first overcast day since we painted it. Oddly familiar- strangely retro… I no longer get the relaxed, peaceful vibe I was longing for. Something takes over me- I feel the need to quickly find harvest gold curtains and orange swag at Saint Vinnies for my new swinging pad. I stifle the urge to call our cat KEY “huggy bear” and pop in a vhs tape of “Car Wash.”
I have now entered the Retro Seventies Zone…
Postscript- it’s been almost a week and I sort of like our new avocado green living room. However, there are two lessons to be learned if the color card says perfect for a bedroom- it means perfect for a bedroom, may look like 70′s kitcsh in your living room! Number two, don’t pick out paint colors when you have a head cold, head colds have been known to make people lose their ability to have a sense of taste in decorating, fashion, or in general.
Well it could always be worse, here are some “real” examples of avocado green from 1971.
This living room is described as “eclectic and budget conscious.” The wallpaper reminds me of a bad trip I got from buying budget conscious acid in the 80′s. Taken from the July 1971 Woman’s Day.
Here we have Thomasville’s take on the avocado green dining room. Surely this room is an appetite suppressant in itself. Don’t want to eat what mom cooked up- try burying it in the deep, avocado green shag… no one will ever know.
I happen to LIKE your avocado green living room!
I like it too actually- I just need to find new curtains and hang pictures, etc.
I like retro, except for that–dare I even call it that–chandelier above the dining room table. I mean, you buy nice furniture and then get your chandelier from Chuck E. Cheese or something? Maybe Jungle Jim’s?
I like it a lot, I agree with Dan about the chandelier in the second retro pic. There are so many direction you go in with that color. The golden rods of course or browns or leathers etc. Have fun with it:)
LOL! Oops – I think my mom had that Thomasville dining furniture. The chandelier does take the cake though. I had to laugh at DCR’s comment. Anyway, at least YOUR avocado green is better than those other examples. The wallpaper was hideous! Oh, and it looks like you guys did a nice, neat job. Did you do it yourself or hire out?
I had to google monkey chandeliers after you all dropped by. The results were disturbing…
There are so many combinations in the world that make up class, sophistication and taste-
putting together monkeys & chandeliers is not one of these winning combinations.
I for one do not like to dine with monkey decor. I hate monkeys passionately- my kids think it’s a riot.
Monkeys should be eaten and not seen…
I rather like your avocado living room too.
I can’t bear floral wallpaper though – that stuff makes me feel dizzy. We had something only slightly less garish when I was growing up. I used to find scary faces in the curls of the leaves on the flowers and upset myself regularly!
The last picture is so classic … there are millions of retirees that still have that SAME look in their houses.
As for your paint, maybe adding some pimento stickers all over would be cool.
he heee
This post has been imortalized by DCR and his wild contests.
Hi from Pimento Hollydallian
I bought avocado golf pants today, and will model them for the blogosphere ……….
I cannot help but notice one more comment LOCKs me in.
(sorry)
YHEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAWWWWWWWWWWW
Who is this speedcat fellow?
Eric WHY did you BRING the SNOW back!!!! I know you Minnesotan’s are jealous of our smooth cheesey ways over here.
I think I tried some of that budget conscious acid back then too, it really messed my mind up and I still see pink elephants twirling through the air haha! I have my bedroom painted industrial gray, for a vintage Nazi death-camp vibe. I like the green more and may go buy a can. It really would be difficult to eat in that final picture! It looks something like my grandmother’s house
Bobby- Your grandma is one classy lady.
Ok so no that green isnt quite my taste but I have seen more than one of those green dining rooms in my day. I guess it is all a matter of taste.