Almost anything can trigger a memory. Would you believe the color of a baseboard in a model home almost a year ago took me back in time? The color was Morris Room Gray. My aunt and uncle in Nocona had the woodwork, including the doors in their home, painted that color. At least, my sight of the color brought the memory of their home to mind. It was the only home I’d ever seen that didn’t have white baseboards and doors.
Actually, turning the pages of the calendar back to the first time I saw their home, I remember it as the most picturesque and by far the nicest home I’d ever seen. My uncle and aunt also owned a furniture store. Consequently, the upscale look of their home was always the highest caliber of traditional style.
Consequently, the thought of borrowing from their color scheme for the house we are building resonates with my memory of their home. The home had actually been my uncle’s boyhood home, and I suspect the baseboards had been the same color since the early 1900s. I guess you could say Morris Room Gray is paint color with a history.
The exterior design of the home we are building is a modern stone farmhouse accented with white board and batten. Windows are going to be in ample supply. Fortunately, the front and back of the home has a North/South exposure, so we don’t expect direct sunlight to be a problem.
They say you live and you learn. We eventually put plantation shutters in our last home because the sunlight was fading some of the artwork. Other than something covering the windows at night in our bedrooms, I don’t anticipate the need for window coverings.
I say that knowing full well that I only have 49% of the vote. We purchased our two postage stamp size lots on the golf course almost a year ago exclusively for the view. I don’t plan to cover the windows.
The exterior of our home is a modern farmhouse design, but the interior of the home will have the look of a Craftsman-style house. I even want raised panel wainscoting on some of the walls.
The cost of oak doors and trim throughout the house is cost prohibitive. Consequently, we will need to use paint. I awakened this morning thinking: “Are we making a mistake using Morris Room Gray color?”
Okay, I’m weird. About four years before we moved from our last home, we had the interior painted Tavern Taupe. I know what you are thinking. You are wrong. Our decision to paint that color had no relationship to the name.
I awakened in the early hours of the morning thinking that the color of the walls in our last home was not that far removed from Morris Room Gray that we are planning to use to paint the baseboards. The walls will all be white. So will our new house have the look of the old house? I can argue both sides.
Okay, so inside my head this morning, I toyed with the idea of having doors and trim painted a dark shade of gray instead of Morris Room Gray. It eliminates the brown tones. The General will think I’m nuts. Maybe she’s right. Only time will tell.
All My Best!
Don
Carpe Diem 