I visited TJMaxx today during lunch hour in search of candles. I found what I was looking for - and also this:
It is a not-so-great rendition of a Tang Dynasty horse, but representative of the genre. I am partial to Tang Dynasty horses. I didn't see this fellow during my sweep of the store, and I'm wondering now just what it was that led me to walk through that particular aisle just one more time on my way to the check-out at 12:45 p.m. When it caught the corner of my eye I made an abrupt turn and - there it was - standing in front of me. The only one of its kind on the shelf.
The price was right - $19.95. But it was the color that grabbed me. I bought it without thinking twice.
And - on the walk back to my office - I had a brain storm. Literally! KA-BOOM! That pale celadon color. I'd had a dream of it a few nights before. I kept seeing a wall done in a -- not sure what, exactly because the vision was blurry (damn!) -- but perhaps it was a damask print in very pale colors, close to but not white, in shades of greyish-blue and blue-greens and green-blues; or perhaps it was a large paisley print...
After I had that dream I confess, I wasn't so sure any longer about the colors I intended to paint the family room.
But tonight, after I hurried home and quickly took the photos of my new faux-Tang Dynasty horse treasure, I took the paint cards I had selected (posted about previously) and put them up against the pale celadon of the horse and it was like magic!
So, now I know I'm going to go from absolutely safe neutrals - fresh painted and new but still - boring - neutral -- to something with just a bit of a color twist that I had not ever considered before.
Until the dream of that long solid wall in my family room covered in a magically colored paper a few days ago, and until today, when I was walking through TJMaxx and saw this horse!
Pale celadon.
Celadon is a very difficult color to describe because sometimes it shades a bit to blue, and sometimes it shades a bit to green; but in its lightest versions, it looks nearly white - but with breathtaking undertones. The thing about celadon that is most wonderful is that almost all of its various tints and tones go together very well, from the palest to the deepest. They look fabulous against dark taupe, black, chocolate brown, and white.
Pale blue celadon
Pale green celadon
Palest celadon. Is it green? Is it blue? Somewhere in between?
WHATEVER IT IS, I WANT THIS COLOR.
Okay. That means at a minimum ditch the current area rug and replace it when I can afford it. New curtains will be required but there is only one window (albeit rather large) and if I can find the right kind of tablecloths, sheets or on-clearance curtains, it's doable. I can sew, too, although I'd rather not. The throws can be removed and replaced if I can find something with the right celedon accents and/or color. Everything else pretty much will stay the same, as was the original plan. Light to medium taupe furniture stays.
The only issue will be WHAT colors to put on the walls. I believe that Dutch Boy's "Family Tree" medium to dark taupe will work on the upper part of the walls. Should I follow the vision of that dream from a few nights ago, and go with the most noticeable wall in the room done in a great grand heavenly-colored pattern that coordinates? I seem to remember shades of what looked like silver and palest blue, as well as white tones...
Should I introduce, instead, a subtle stripe in the lower portion of the walls I'd intended to paper in patterned anaglypta and paint Dutch Boy "Superhide White?" Woodwork will also be painted in Superhide White, BTW.
Or instead of wallpaper, paint the lower portion of the walls in that mystical pale celadon? How could I ever hope to get something not too green and not too blue, but the perfect balance of borth?
ACH! HELP!
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