Loving the dark side

It will come as no surprise to astrologers that I like a bit of the dark side from time to time. I'm an Aquarian, you see. We are individual, free-spirited types with some rebellious tendancies (never fear, we are also rational, open-minded, honest and loyal) so you can only imagine how happy I am to have finished painting the dining and kitchen area BLACK. Since this look has come up again and again in interior mags recently, I hadn't thought of this as a bold move until people's eyes would widen when I revealed my plans and they'd call me "brave". I'm not joining a bikie gang just yet people. See, look, it's nice...

Much better than BEFORE:

The only brave part about it was painting all the black against white. Plenty of near-disasters and a lot of touching up with a little artists brush! If the rest of my house becomes white on white you know why.

This is the kitchen at the opposite end of the room - painted Whisper White.

We painted a strip of Domino over the purple that was on the tiles. The purple may be covering a row of ducks in baskets or similar. How do I know this? Because I stood there gleefully one day with a paint scalpel hoping to get rid of the strip altogether for a clean, white look and with one small scratch I could see a hideous print so I downed my knife and patted that paint back into place with a new appreciation for purple.

Excuse the blind hooks above the window. I'm yet to return the venetian blind because I've decided it ruins the look!

So only two walls are Dulux Domino, the others are Dulux Whisper White. As described in my previous post on black inspiration, this is called a colour wrap. The trims around the windows and doorways are also Whisper White but in a gloss finish. The French doors leading outside (not pictured) are still a natural timber similar to the floorboards. When I have time, I'll remove them to sand and paint white also. This leaves only the floorboards. I'm tempted to stain them dark or whitewash them but after the mess of painting, it sounds chaotic. Plus they match the floorboards at the front of our house so I that gives me an excuse to leave them (for now!).

The real finishing touch is going to be a feature light shade above the dining table. Perhaps a white chandelier, a cluster of bare light bulbs dangling from the roof or even a big, industrial light shade. If I was a true Aquarian, I would get something yellow. That should make the oldies eyes pop! What would you do? Do you like the safe-route or do you prefer the road less travelled? Do you listen to the experts or do you get swayed by the unqualified opinion of family and friends? I'd love to hear...

And happy new year! Here's to finding comfort in your own skin and enjoying the journey in 2011.