rosemary on the tv

This story begins with my dad. You see, my dad, being exactly who he is, has been receiving Southern Living magazine for two years because he once agreed to a free issue before swiping his debit card at a local department store. Those tricky sales gimmicks – they don’t mention that what you’re actually signing up for is a free issue followed immediately by a paid subscription. And now that they have your debit card information you must call and cancel your “subscription” after you receive that one free issue. Or you will be charged for it.

Yeah, my dad didn’t call and cancel. He still hasn’t actually. He just receives his Southern Living magazines, then gives them to me, without argument. At first, I thought Southern Living magazine was all casseroles and doilies – a grandma magazine. Oh how wrong I was.

Southern Living is straight dope, y’all. And I bet that’s the first time it’s ever been described in exactly those words.

Well, one month, I opened my Southern Living magazine and saw this:

Oh my mother of holy wow.

I was immediately love-struck. Everything about this room was perfect. Most perfect of all : that paint color. I knew immediately that I wanted to paint our living/dining room THAT color. Such a sophisticated blue-green. Perfect.

The magazine credited the paint as (try not to giggle when I tell you this) Farrow & Ball’s Dix Blue. A little bit of research told me that a gallon of Farrow & Ball’s Dix Blue would cost $123.

Ha. So that option was out.

Next idea: acquire a paint chip, take it to Sherwin Williams and have them match the color in a more affordable paint. Easy enough right?

Uhhhhhhh….no. Turns out, Farrow & Ball paints are available almost exclusively to the trade only. Ugh. I am not “the trade” nor do I personally know anyone in “the trade” to ask them for a paint chip. I searched for Farrow & Ball locations online. Not a paint store anywhere even remotely close to me.

There was, however, a Farrow & Ball showroom in Soho. Yeah, as in New York. So I found myself emailing my New York friends late at night, begging them to take the subway WAY out of their way and get me a paint chip from Soho.

They laughed at my insanity, but a few weeks later, I was the proud owner of not just a paint chip, but an entire pamphlet of Farrow & Ball’s entire paint collection, thanks to my dear lil’ dawg, Elizabeth. Aaron and I wasted no time getting to Sherwin Williams and getting three gallons of Dix Blue matched in a low-sheen paint.

Now, let’s all take a look back at the living room’s journey:

When we moved in the walls and ceiling were a pleasant but too-dark-for-the-space grey. If I had high ceilings and lots of big windows, I would not have minded that color one bit. But it made the living room feel like a cave.

Painting the ceilings helped immensely. When you walked into the room, it felt like a literal weight was lifted from your shoulders.

When we put the paint on the walls, I’ll be honest, it turned out more blue and less blue-green than I expected/than it looked in the magazine. At first, I was unsure, but it has since grown on me tremendously.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand now, it looks like this:

Yes, I chose this picture because I was watching LOST and happened to snap the photo right when Desmond was on the screen.

Also, those couches are OFFICIALLY for sale. Email me if you want.

YAY DIX BLUE!