I made an incredibly ugly shed this week. I didn't mean to – it was supposed to be fabulous. In fact, I secretly pride myself on having an incredible color sense. On my mom's side there were generations of Scottish weavers, and I imagine myself to be the beneficiary of their collective artistic magic. I don't announce this to people, but I think it, when I'm all alone.
So we have this shed in our backyard. A standard wooden shed, which doesn't have to be painted, but had weathered to kind of an ugly blackish brown. I followed Martha's advice and picked out colors after lots of deliberation. I painted swatches to see them in all kinds of light. I looked at it for days, soliciting opinions and only listening to the ones I liked. (Isn't that always the way?) Then I painted and I got help from a variety of inexperienced young painters.
Check out my ugly shed! Everyone's been really quiet about it - a sure sign that it's ugly. Finally today I got a comment that I think kind of sums it up. My friend had called me artistic a few minutes before. Then I showed him the shed.
"Wow! What are you going to paint it?" he said.
"I just painted it. I think I don't like it," I replied – to give him room to say he liked it.
"It's awful – someone else picked the colors?"
"Nope – all me - and you just called me artistic, remember?"
"Yeah...well your artistry is really with words, you know?"
I don't always give myself permission to have the big ugly failure. I'm worried about what people will think of me and hate to draw attention to myself. I make the small quiet tidy choice, instead of the bold, potentially horrific one. And I'd like to thank my sweet husband for being pretty nice about the ugly shed. I am trying to fix it, it just might take me a while to figure out how. Now that I'm properly humbled, I'd love your suggestions.
One poorly chosen color doesn't take away your sense of style. Every fashion designer has a bad collection. Not every painting by an artist works.
ReplyDeleteThe wrong blue is just wrong. I don't know why that is - a little too warm, cool, light, dark - and it doesn't work. The one you chose a nice enough color, but doesn't match the purpose and style of the shed.
My father painted our living room/dining room L combo a similar blue. He never liked it, but didn't repaint it. So we lived with it for twelve years. Don't let this happen to you!
Good luck! (I've always been partial to a blue-gray.)
Thanks for the suggestions. No time to really fix it at the moment, but I have done a quick fix - painting the doors all white - that makes a huge difference to me. I think you're right on the blue. I only hope I won't wait 12 years for the fix!!! Ok - commit to not waiting 12 years. Will post new pic - you can tell me what you think.
ReplyDelete