If the past eight years of renovating houses has taught me anything, it’s that paint can be house-changing. You don’t need a huge budget or tons of hardcore DIY skills or a garage of specialty tools.
Nope – just a paintbrush and a can of paint. (Or in my case, HUNDREDS OF GALLONS OF PAINT.)
It’s liberating! You can throw on the most embarrassing outfit you own, sit in a pile of leaves, and paint the foundation of your jalopy house. Look – photographic proof!
Or you can spend days painting every last lick of trim in your house. Look – it happened!
All that to say, paint and I are BFFs.
And Behr and I go way back. Years ago, I was the creepy person in the paint aisle at Home Depot who insisted on helping people choose paint colors with my Behr Color Smart app. (I’m sorry, local residents who wanted to choose paint colors in peace.) I became obsessed with Behr Premium Plus Ultra and proselytized on soap boxes on the street corner. (Only a slight exaggeration.)
No one paid me to do this. I just have a really exciting life.
And this creepiness totally paid off. I’m thrilled to be joining the Behr DIY Expert team for a third year. (Check out all my past Behr projects.)
This year, the Behr DIY Expert team is (quite frankly) better than ever. I would use the word epic. Some of the very best and most creative bloggers I’ve known. Check out all the details on this dream team on the Colorfully, Behr blog. (I still don’t know how I snuck into this team. Don’t tell them I’m an imposter who just really loves to paint.)
This year, we’ll have plenty of painting to do – like, painting an entire house?
And to celebrate a new year of projects, I thought I’d share my five favorite Behr paint colors and projects. Because when I love a paint color, I can’t be stopped. It was actually a huge challenge to narrow down to these colors, but I always love seeing colors in actual homes, so maybe you do, too.
Behr Ultra Pure White
This is probably my most-used paint color, and really it’s just the stock white on the shelf. But it’s a bright, pure white and it’s perfect for walls and ceilings. Every single piece of trim (indoors and out) and every ceiling in every house we’ve owned has been painted with ultra pure white. That includes our rental properties and the barn. It looks great and is easy to touch up when needed. I always have a few gallons on-hand. You know – in case of a paintmergency.
Seared Gray
This was a color I first used on our painted built-in shelves, but I soon fell in love with the moody blue/gray and added it to our laundry room and laundry cart. There is a good reason that this was one of Behr’s 2015 Color Trends.
Elephant Skin
We used elephant skin on our kitchen cabinets and these cheeky graphic night stands. It’s a nice, mid-tone true gray and goes with just about everything.
Dolphin Fin
This is such a versatile, pale grey. It’s really the perfect neutral, in my opinion. I love that it feels like a true grey (instead of reading purple or blue or even brown). We’ve used it on all the walls in our barn apartment, on our dining table and on Henry’s kitchen helper.
Starless night
This color was perfect for our barn door – it’s the perfect Americana feel with the red barn. And it also created great contrast on our rolling workbenches. I think navy blue is a hard color to nail, and I like that this color is deeper and darker than other blues.
Looking forward to sharing lots more paint projects in the coming months. And I may even end up with a few new favorite paint colors in the process.
What are your favorite paint colors?
Thank you to Behr for sponsoring this post. As always, I only work with brands I know and love. And thank you for supporting NewlyWoodwards sponsors to help make posts like this possible.
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Katie @ Upcycled Treasures says
Ooooh all of these colors speak to me, and I’m really digging elephant skin. Hmm that sounds a little strange, ha. Pinning!
Abby @ Just a Girl and Her Blog says
Love your picks, Kim! I think we are paint color kindred spirits! 🙂 So excited to be on the DIY Expert team with you again this year!
~Abby =)
Brooke Benjamin says
Thanks to your blog, we fell in love with gray elephant skin color when you did your barn raising project! My husband & I tried sample after sample in our living room, nothing was working.
I got a sample of the elephant skin and it was perfect! We accented the color by painting one wall a darker blue/gray, which really made the room pop! We have big windows that let in a lot of light, and the gray really made the room seem welcome and inviting! Thanks for sharing your ideas and inspiration. Your blog is so great!
Kim Woodward says
Brooke – so great to hear from you! Happy you love elephant skin, too!