When my boyfriend Eric and I got our first apartment together, we wanted more than anything to put our signature on it and make it truly feel like home. I’m a visual designer by trade, so I decided to create a floor plan first to keep track of the color scheme and ensure that it would flow through the entire apartment. After creating it, I had this wonderful visual map where I could just write in the names of colors and visualize how they would look.
To get inspiration and find my favorite colors, I flipped through the Pantone book of colors I use at the office. Then I consulted a Benjamin Moore Color Fan Deck to match up the exact hues. (I had actually signed up online to become a member and received a free Affinity Fan Deck--what a gift!)
Every room in our new 2-bedroom apartment needed rethinking. The kitchen had a really unappetizing shade of mossy green that neither of us liked. So we found a glowing shade of mocha (Benjamin Moore Sepia Tan 1116) that blended beautifully with the wood cabinets.
The light, greenish beige of the living room looked really old, and at first we couldn’t figure out how to make it look younger and more fun. Then we got it--stripes! To get the lines straight, we used a level and blue painter's tape, then painted the wall in Benjamin Moore's Jalapeño Pepper 2147-30 and the darker stripe in Dill Pickle 2147-40.
Our master bedroom took some discussion. The pale lavender on the original walls seemed a little too girly for Eric and he kept lobbying for the kind of dark chocolate hues he remembered from his childhood bedroom. We compromised with this lovely warm hue--Benjamin Moore Deep Royal 2061-10.
In the guest bedroom we went a little crazier, painting the cream walls a warm red (Benjamin Moore Merlot Red 2006-10) and then pasted our favorite LPs on the wall over the bed. (After all, who listens to them anymore?) We thought it was a great touch and all our guests love staying over in this room.
It took some work, but we had so much fun. Now, when we relax in the apartment, we sit back and have so much joy to see our handiwork. It’s really us and we did it--ourselves!