Not All Blacks Are the Same

I love black—have for years. My closet has always been loaded with it. My ever-so-stylish (now ninety-six-year-old) grandmother was always a picture in black in her glory days. She still even dyes her hair. When I think of black, I think of Grandma Topsy.

I prefer the blackest of blacks. Black velvet and—the crème de la crème—black suede. I have had either black suede shoes or boots in my rotation for as long as I can remember.

My fondness for color that reflects comparatively little light and has no predominant hue has recently overflowed from my closet and into our home. I still have plenty of chocolate brown—our sunroom walls, our espresso dining room table, the zebra stair runner that leads to the second floor. Only a keen eye would notice the carpet I chose is really a dark brown and ivory—not black and white. (It still bugs me that though Marshall Field’s agreed to finish the edge to match the dark part of the carpet, they used black and not the dark, dark brown that it is.)

If you’ve been following my blog, you know of the recent addition of Absolute Black honed granite countertops. The honed takes that gloss down, reducing the glare. We love it.

Last spring my in-laws brought over a '70s-era low cabinet to sell at our garage sale. I quickly pulled it aside. It was dated and not a great color of wood. My husband knows me well enough to know I had a “vision” for that cabinet. Now it sits in our new mudroom and holds lots of little shoes, mittens, and hats for the girls. The cupboard doors are right at their level. It’s been painted black. But the funny thing about that black is that it’s not black enough. Benjamin Moore must have a dozen blacks. My fabulous father-in-law has been doing all of our painting. He offered to also paint the cabinet. I told him to get black and I specified the finish—pearl. Though he chose Black—it isn’t black enough. I decided to let that one go.
Our new powder room has a gray granite basket-weave mosaic floor with small black squares that are part of the design. I blogged earlier about paint colors that I’ve been pondering. You may recall I thought about pinks . . . then grays. Then I found some hand towels at Anthropologie that I felt were the missing link. The cream and gold scrollwork design added the sophisticated touch and warmed up the space. A paler version of the cream in the towels became the color of the walls. It’s not coincidence that it's the same color of the upstairs bathroom walls. I’ve known for a few months that I wanted the ceiling to be the surprise. I chose a color the same as the gold in the towels. Awful. We stared at it for a few weeks and it never grew on us. One day my husband said “Let’s paint it black.” We had talked black a few months ago after our friend Larry had stopped by. Larry immediately told me I should paint the ceiling black even before I told him I was thinking of something unconventional for the ceiling. (Always listen to your gay friends.)

So now our ceiling and cove molding is Benjamin Moore’s Jet Black in a semi-gloss. Yesterday the final coat was applied to the walls. We’re ready for one of this weekend’s house projects—installing the new towel bar and toilet paper holder from Restoration Hardware so I can finally hang those towels.

Comments

[Susanne Aspley]

I am thinking you need some red accents with all that black? Speaking of red and black, try something fun, do this. Instead of using a black eyeliner for your top lid, use a deep red lip liner. Then above that use the black.

[jayne haugen olson]

I love red...but feel red and black is too predictible, for me. I'm experimenting with orange. I bought Benjamin Moore's "Orange Juice" this weekend. Hmmm. Think I need some help-it's too orange. But it's a "true" orange. If I continue to strike out with the oragange I'm going for a red--but as with the orange, it needs to be the right red. Anyone have a red or an orange paint they have used and loved?

I also bought a can of Deep Grape that I might use on an large wall mirror.