Smithellaneous: The Yellow Wall Saga

As you know, our walls downstairs are painted yellow.

When we moved in, that same bright yellow went all the way up the stairs and covered much of the second floor. Which was okay. For a while.

However, when we painted our master bedroom brown and Nathan’s bedroom tan, the bright yellow right outside the door of those rooms didn’t “flow” real well.

So the challenge was this: How were we to gradually transition from the bright yellow color downstairs to a more muted color on the second floor landing so that the transition wouldn’t be too jarring? (Because we all know that there’s nothing worse than a jarring transition!)

Our first idea was to paint the first floor landing wall with a blend of a couple neutral colors. The wall itself looked great but it didn’t blend with its surroundings. (In other words, its report card said, “Doesn’t play well with others.”)

Then we tried painting the wall going up to the second floor a light tan to blend better with the big brown wall. (Because our first idea was to try and transition to tan on the second floor landing.)

But the first floor landing area looked kind of chaotic with bright yellow (coming from the first floor) a brownish blend on the big wall and then a tan-ish color on the wall going to the second floor. (Did you follow all that? There will be a test.)

So when Plan A didn’t work, we went on to--you guessed it--Plan B.

The first floor landing wall (previously brown) is now a blend of the yellow from downstairs and a paler shade of yellow from the second floor.

Can you see the subtle blending on the “mirror” wall? Unless you’re actually looking for it, most people don’t even notice that gradual transition.

It’s a little easier to see in this picture.

(Oops. Don’t know whose dog that is! He’s so cute I may just keep him.)

Now when the pale yellow “arrives” on the second floor, it flows smoothly into our room . . .

. . . and into Nathan’s room without being too terribly jarring. See? I bet you didn’t feel jarred even one little bit.

I just thought I’d throw in a photo showing the built in floor lights. Just love ‘em.

And even though this last picture has nothing to do with the Yellow Wall Saga, I’m posting it just because I really love our new bedroom. And our wonderfully brown and clean carpet. Ahhhh.