The color is Benjamin Moore Rockport Gray. I had seen this color in two blogs, In the Little Yellow House and Frugal Farmhouse Design, and loved it. It's a warm gray. It looked beige when I opened the paint can. In fact, I had to check it against my swatch because I thought they'd given me the wrong color! While painting it, it looked beige, then green, then gray. I'm really pleased with it, though I could stand for it to be a tad shinier. It's floor and patio paint; it's thin and goes on easily. I painted the trim Sherwin Williams Extra White in semi-gloss acrylic latex.
Now I want to swap out Neighborly Peach with Revere Pewter, but that'll have to wait--a season of outside painting awaits! I'm also dying to paint the upstairs floors as well. Back in the day (1875ish) a "workingman's cottage" had cheap, random-width pine floors, not the pretty heartwood pine that looks good refinished. These floors were meant to be painted, or just the perimeter painted if the family had carpets.
I ripped up the rug on these stairs in January 2007 but couldn't decide whether to re-carpet, stain or paint. I read that pine doesn't stain evenly or look that great. Also carpeting isn't practical when you have three cats and allergies. So I decided to give it the historically accurate treatment. Hopefully the paint will last a long time.
