Black Magic [or is it blue?]

Now that D.C. is back to 67 degree sunshine (really?? It's March), I can finish what I started here, which is sharing our room color.

I'm traditionally a Home Depot girl- the people are so helpful, their Olympics commercials so inspiring, and their aprons so orange. However, we received a bunch of coupons when we registered to forwarded our mail, Lowes included. Since paint can get pricey, and we were getting about 4 gallons for the entire apartment, it was worth having a 20% off coupon.

Things you should know about me: I collect paint chips. When paint chip projects made the blog rounds a year ago, it felt like I had already hit the jackpot. If the prize of the jackpot is shit you already own in bulk. (I have a few uses for paint chips, but more on that another day).

So I giddily ran around Lowes pulling down vibrant hues of Valspar paint, and brought D some reasonable colors I thought we could compromise on. After showing these, I pulled out my trump card: a deep, moody, is-it-teal-is-it-blue-is-it-green shade called Everglade Deck. The NAME is refreshing for gods sake! I said, "someday, can we have a color like this in our home?", and D goes, "sure, why not now?" (this would shock you if you knew how practical, analytical, and traditional D is, in design and life). It was a happy ending, and we came home with semi-glossy everglade deck:

This is what I consider the cheapy version of Hague Blue, the iconic color by Farrow and Ball (which is on the right). The depth is really amazing- depending on the lighting, there is a completely different color experience. At night, in warm artificial light, it's almost black, but the sunlight through the day changes the perception. The night we painted it, we freaked out, since it honestly looked like black and actually lightened as it dried, contrary to most paint-lore. Here are a few images of our room in the morning light- these were all taken within the same 10 minute period. The direct sunlight reveals a vibrant teal, indirect sunlight probably gives the best representation of the actual color, and the shadows are very deep.

Now let's get to the good stuff- examples of Hague Blue. While Everglade Deck is a great (and cheap) alternative to Hague, there is no replacing Farrow & Ball (particularly not with a $16 gallon of Valspar). Someday I'll have the real thing, but for now, below are some of my favorite inspiration images of the great hague. 

Elle Decor

Apartment Therapy

House & Home

Miles Redd

Lonny Mag

Windsor Smith Home

Doesn't every one seem to be a different color???? It's magic. Feel free to pick me up a can or eight in appreciation for introducing you to your new favorite color.