The Winning Door Color!
I have to admit that letting commenters choose the door color for the back entry of my studio was a very fun social experiment for me. Tallying the votes took a while, but my mom and I sat in Rosa’s Cafe yesterday afternoon and tallied the votes that had come in to that point.
It was so fascinating to see that there were three very clear crowd favorites. They were the eggplant, dark green, and the wall color.
Those three pretty much stayed neck and neck the whole time. And while I didn’t do a separate count for this, it seemed to me like most people who voted for the wall color also suggested that I paint the trim around the doors the wall color as well so that those doors would pretty much disappear, leaving the French doors and the colorful floral curtains as the focal point of the back entry. So it would look more like this…
To be quite honest, I don’t know that I could have done that for two reasons. First, painting trim, walls, and doors all the same color is a look that I always love seeing in photos and in other people’s homes, but I don’t like it in my own home. I think I tried it once (although now, I can’t remember where I tried it, but I feel certain that I did try it somewhere), and I just couldn’t get on board with it.
But the second reason is that every time I’ve seen that done, all of the walls, trim, and doors in a room are painted the same color. So if the trim around the two doors is painted the wall color, then the baseboards would also need to be painted the wall color, as would the trim around the French doors, and also the trim around the cased opening. All of it would need to be green.
Otherwise, I’m left with awkward stops and starts where visually the white baseboards would seem to randomly end and then start again. White baseboards only make sense if the door trim is also white. And green door trim only makes sense if the baseboards and the rest of the trim is green. So since I want my French door trim to be white, I just think all of the trim needs to be white.
Anyway, back to the vote. What really fascinated me was that when I wrote my post yesterday morning with all six door color options (which you can see here if you missed it), I really, genuinely thought that I didn’t have a preference. I thought that I would be happy with any of the six colors, and I was fully prepared to go today and purchase whichever color was the crowd favorite.
But as the voting and the tallying went on, I realized that I actually did have a favorite. For a while, the light green (wall color) was pulling ahead, and it seemed like it might end up being the winner…and I found myself being disappointed. What I found was that I was cheering on two specific colors — the eggplant and the dark green.
So I guess if you have a decision to make, and you genuinely think you don’t have a preference, give the decision making over to someone else. You may realize that you actually do have a preference!
In the end, the color that I realized was my favorite ended up being the crowd favorite as well. I’ll tell you the winner, but first, just a few points about the vote tally. In total, I counted 686 votes, including the blog comments as well as the comments on my A2D Facebook posts. Each person only got one vote, so if you listed more than one color, I only counted your first choice. If you said something like “Behr Cracked Pepper” (which wasn’t specifically an option), the vote went to the closest option. So in that specific example, the vote went to the dark charcoal gray. And finally, I cut the votes off at 9:30am this morning. There had to be an ending point. I can’t count votes indefinitely because at some point, I actually have to buy the paint and get the job done. 🙂
So out of 686 votes, the clear winner, with 207 votes, is the dark eggplant (like Behr Black Sapphire).
YAY!!! It didn’t take me long to realize that eggplant was my favorite, and I was cheering it on the whole way. When it would fall behind, I’d get worried. 😀 When it would pull ahead, I’d get excited.
In second place, with 172 votes, was the wall color. In third place, with 155 votes, was dark green. And in fourth place, with 78 votes, was charcoal gray.
The poor pinks didn’t do well at all. The cabinet color managed to get 58 votes, but the sad little light pink only got a total of 16 votes.
I don’t know why, but of the two pinks, I expected the light pink to get more votes. Although, my mom seemed to think I was a little bit crazy for even considering the light pink at all. 😀 I liked it, though! And I do think that in the whole scheme of things, seeing the whole room together, light pink doors would have been nice.
But I’m glad that the eggplant color won. I’m off to buy some eggplant-colored paint today, and I’ll see just how much progress I can make on getting these doors painted so that I can finally free my mind of this project and move on to something fun, like installing the wallpaper in the bathroom. That’s what I’d really like to be doing today! But I’m saving that as a reward for myself for finishing a job that I really don’t want to do. Sometimes that’s the only way I can motivate myself to get through the projects that I’m not looking forward to.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
It’s funny, after I put my vote in (confident in dark pink), I scrolled back up to look at them again and went “hmm yeah I should have voted eggplant, in retrospect” 🤣
Excited to see them painted!
I felt the same way! Great minds (and almost same names) think alike!
yay! A way forward! Love the idea of using this project as a reward for completing a not-so-fun-but-necessary task.
yes, I agree. For me, it works best if I get the most ‘unliked’ tasks done first; then use the others as a reward
What does your Mom think? She usually comes up with the best solutions sometimes ones that weren’t on the table.
Those doors are going to be fabulous 💜🍆
I’m glad you came to a decision on the doors! I often have great difficulty making decisions. I love that you were able to tell yourself you needed to pick a color and move on.
WAHOOOOO!
I think it’s going to be stunning!
Yay!! They are going to look fabulous!
Hooray. Glad you are going to buy the eggplant paint and start painting today.
I can’t wait to see how it all looks.
Woot! Woot! I am so looking forward to seeing them painted Eggplant!
I am so happy. That was my first and only choice! I think you will love it. I know I do.
That was a fun exercise for everyone. I’m sure it will come out great.
Happy painting!
Yay! I voted for Iron Ore but to be true to you Eggplant is the only color that I think works! It will be stunning against the green walls!
Although I apparently missed the actual vote count, and just supported the Charcoal in the comments, I can see that the Eggplant will look amazing.
Yay! I won! I think the eggplant will look great, and you’ll be happy!
Aww, so disappointed the dark pink didn’t win! I think it would have been beautiful. 🙂 But the eggplant is beautiful, too. Can’t wait to see it done!
I’m with your mom on the light pink!
I’m not a fan of the black or near-black colors so I’m hoping you paint eggplant and then down the road realize it was the wrong choice and repaint! (Dark green 😉 )
Still think you would’ve gotten different vote results in some way or other if you had done the mock=ups with a much more pulled-back shot and no wide angle lens (more like a real life view from the middle of the studio). No matter – I’m here to watch for the long haul!
It is a very pretty color, but even looking at the mock up, those doors seem to diminish the patio doors. But a mock up doesn’t tell the whole story and I’m so excited you will be able to move forward.
I would like to suggest painting the frame of the paint swatch cabinet in that eggplant, too. I think it would tie the areas together.
I’m so excited to see your progress!!!!
I thought for sure you were going to back off painting the winning color when you said the wall color was the leader! I had a feeling you would want the Eggplant to win, and I almost chose it for that reason. But I honestly thought the wall color was the most logical, since you didn’t want white. I felt since the french doors were going white, all doors should also be the same. I know you will be happy with the winner.
So the eggplant won. I think after you live with that a while, you will repaint dark green. It just goes better. Your doors.
Yay! I was pulling for Eggplant from the start. It’s a close complement of the green https://encycolorpedia.com/7e8c69 and works well with the wallpaper! Hooray!
You made the right choice. I had quick look at all your samples and it took me only a hot minute to pick the eggplant. I can’t wait to see the finished results!!
I voted for the green wall color and wanted to add this comment, but didn’t:
“This is the color I like but I do not believe YOU will be happy with it!” Ha ha! I’m glad you’re going with the eggplant!
The results are hilarious because while I ended up voting wall color, your top 3 vote getters were my 3 favorites! I think your final selection is great!
Kristi, I wish I had gotten to your posts in time to vote.
Dark green for me.
But it will be amazing in the eggplant
Phew that was a nail biter!
I’m Happy, your happy! now get the job done so I can see ur next project!
Somebody is a trickster 😉 Putting the dark pink option as the post teaser.
I’ll be honest, I missed the vote, but the Eggplant was by far my favorite, so when I saw the teaser I was like “oh no!!!” Then reading the post, I see I was among the majority. Can’t want to see it – the color is so rich, and compliments the fabric beautifully!