One of our recent Lowes challenges was to use the new Pantone color of the year in a project at our homes, so I came up with an idea to repaint some yardsale mirrors that I had in this new lush shade of green. Lowes gave us a paint formula to use for their Valspar paint and it was a little more blue than I was expecting and not quite as emerald, but it was fun to use a pop of color like this in a space.
As a color authority group, Pantone chooses a different color each year as their color of the year and Emerald is it for 2013.
I’m not sure how they go about deciding colors each year, but it totally influences clothing fashion, as well as home decor and you will see these colors make their way into the marketplace, slowly but surely.
Now, to me a great way to add a punch of a trendy color is in pillows and accents, like the above room. This is a sophisticated palette and those green pillows and the chevron green drapes add a fun punch to this otherwise neutral room. Do you like this one?
via Bliss at Home
This blogger found a way to bring in the Emerald pop by painting one single box in Emerald green and it’s totally beautiful with her neutrals. I do like these shades of Emerald, a rich earthy green.
I had a quart of Emerald mixed up at Lowes in Valspar Signature paint. Great paint, by the way! I used the paint and primer in one in my dining room and it covered in one coat.
I taped off the mirrors with my trusty FrogTape. That helps keep the glass clean. This particular Emerald formula is definitely more blue than I would use in my house. It’s a bright pop of color and almost comes off as a turquoise color, even though it’s Emerald. It was fun to see what I could come up with for this project.
After painting the mirrors, I mixed it all up with my existing yellow patterned chair seats, along with a black and white pillow. The flowers added some yellow to the mix.
These bright green frames don’t need a lot of other colors going on.
With neutrals, yellow and green is a nice pop.
I used my Lowes urns as vases and these are versatile pieces too. This was a fun exercise in using color around the house and how adding a pop of one color can give your space a whole different twist. These are not staying up in my house, but it was fun for a photoshoot. I’ll probably end up painting those mirrors another fun color and using them somewhere.
Are you using Emerald anywhere this year? I do like the deeper greens a lot, but probably won’t be changing out my house to accommodate Emerald. It’s a fun color though!
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Disclosure: As a Lowes Creative blogger, I am sent gift cards to spend on projects and blog about them.
Rhoda,
I’ve been wondering how one would paint mirrors without getting paint on the mirror part, now I know the secret..Frog Tape. how long do you allow the fresh paint to dry before you remove the Frog tape? What happens if the paint seeps through onto the mirror..is there a way to clean it off?
I printed off your directions how to frame your builder’s model mirror. I’m keeping those directions for my handyman. We have the original white metal medicine cabinet and we have looked for several years for one that is more stylish to replace it but can’t. Think the builder must have installed the medicine cabinet in between studs and then put the sheetrock/drywall over that. I am all for removing the one in the Main bathroom, finding a piece of drywall to cover the hole where the old medicine cabinet is now, then prepare the entire bathroom for a fresh coat of paint and buy a cabinet that will go over the toilet tank area for any essentials that I now store in the old 1977’s medicine cabinet.. That’s what we did when we remodeled our former home’s bathroom and it added more storage space and looked nice. Now if I can talk myself or the handyman into painting that 1977 vanity which I bet is laminate or fiberboard and see how it comes out. If it would look good, sure would save us a lot of money not having to buy a new vanity, bowl, faucets,etc.
HI, Betty, you can definitely just scrape paint off a mirror or glass with a razor blade. Get some of those flat sided razor blades that fit in those scrapers and it will come right off. That’s what I always do when I’m painting around glass or mirrors.
You can definitely paint over your old medicine cabinet too, just use a good primer and paint it whatever color you want. That would improve it for sure! Best to you on your renovations too!
Pantone colors are all so fabulous and Emerald is a prime example! You did such a great job showing how to use Emerald in your home! We love it so much that we put together a fabulous outfit on our blog to show how to dress wearing Pantone’s Emerald using a triadic color palette. xoxo, WearToStandOut