Basement Paint Palette--Brand and Colors

As if choosing paint colors isn't hard enough, there's the whole question of which brand of paint to choose. Most of our main floor is done with Olympic from Lowe's. This is a zero VOC paint that is very affordable (under $20 per gallon) and can match any color. That said, it is only zero VOC in the base paint, the pigment does contain VOCs.  For the basement project, we wanted to something with  zero VOC base and pigment, and optimally a paint that was overall less chemical and formaldehyde-laden. There are options like milk paint, but that is the kind of product I would want to experiment with myself on a small job before spending big bucks to have professionals paint it over a large area.  So, we looked at what Amicus sells to start our search, but decided to go with a brand that was available closer to our home so if our team needed to run out and get more, it wouldn't be a long, gas-expending hassle. One brand that Amicus sells is American Pride. It turns out that Mythic Paint is also made by the same company, and Mythic is available at Ace Hardware, which is just down the road from us. From looking at the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for each, they seems to be the same product, just marketed differently. We loved that Mythic can  match any color while still remaining zero VOC in the base and pigment.

At about $50 a gallon or $215 for five gallons for the Mythic Classic line, this is no bargain paint. But, we felt that it was worth it. Our team is well underway with painting and we have so appreciated that there is almost no smell. Not only will this benefit our family's indoor air quality both now and down the line, we are happy that it facilitates a pleasant and safe working environment for our crew . I should ask them how they think application and coverage compares to other brands.

To help us pick colors, we checked out a fan deck from Ace Hardware so we could look at Mythic's 1,232 colors in our own space. To check it out, we bought it, but we can use it and then return it for all of our money back. I am so grateful that Ace offers this service!

Now, on to the colors!

Click to see a larger image

 

Main Room:
We decided to pick a wool rug as our starting point and then design the wall colors around that. After looking at over 9,000 wool rugs online (yes, I am picky when it comes to rugs), we settled on an orange one from Overstock.

To complement it, we chose:
Banister Beige (Eggshell) - Walls
Navale (Eggshell) - Accent Wall
Trim (Semi-Gloss) - Warm Welcome

Bathroom
Our inspiration for the bathroom was the glass accent tile we selected for the shower (which deserves a whole post of its own): Piedmont from Florida Tile's Harmony line as well as the Jovi Home Woodland shower curtain and rug we've already purchased.

For paint, we went with:
Antiqua (Semi-Gloss) - Walls
Warm Welcome (Semi-Gloss) - Trim

Walk-In Closets
Pale Blossom (Eggshell) - Walls
This was originally our trim color for the main room and bathroom, but it turned out looking like a very pale electric green in our space. It was odd out there, but we kept it in the walk-in closets hoping that it will keep them looking bright and cheery.