My Disastrous Search for the Perfect Shade of Black Paint
“I want black cabinets.”
No problem, thought the color expert! (that’s me!) How hard can it be to find the perfect shade of black paint?
Famous last words. Weeks into this kitchenette cabinet refinishing project, I am back to Square One. Well, almost. At least now I know which black paints AREN’T perfect!
Let me give you some background on this unexpectedly complicated project that I have taken on. The redesign space is a kitchenette attached to a living room/”Man Cave,” in a large basement. The space had some serious 1990’s-era finishes. The kitchenette had pickled wood cabinets, tiled countertops, a nondescript stainless steel sink and faucet, and—proof of the age of the space. The homeowner wanted a “cool” vibe, but the current kitchenette definitely didn’t have it!
Defining the “cool vibe”
As a descriptive word, “cool” is not very specific! As my first step in transforming this kitchenette, I interviewed the homeowner with probing questions. Tell me about the finishes that you like. Is there a particular color you had in mind for the cabinets, and what is it? Do you have any photos of other spaces that inspire you? Is there anything that you like/hate about the current space, and what is it?
I referred the homeowner to the houzz.com site for inspiration, and showed him a number of different kitchenette and basement bar photos. After studying the photos that he liked, I finally identified his “cool vibe:” Industrial/Rustic; apparently, it is a thing. Now we were getting somewhere.
First, the cabinets!
As we clarified the vision for the Man Cave, I created a few mood boards to propose “cool vibe” revisions to the kitchenette. The homeowner liked the visual representation of how the space would look with the proposed changes, and he modified a few details until we had the vision perfected. I suggested refinishing the cabinets first, since we wouldn’t want paint to drip onto the new backsplash or countertop. We then began the surprisingly time-consuming process of selecting the right paint color.
We’re still stuck on that step, which is why I’m writing this article today. The very part of the project that I expected to be straightforward has turned out to be extremely frustrating…but if I can help anyone else to foresee the challenges of choosing color for difficult spaces, it is worth the trouble to write about it!
Challenges of a shadowy space
The kitchenette is located away from the natural light of the basement windows, and it remains in shadow all day long. A bulkhead above the top cabinets blocks about half of the downward light from the recessed lighting. There is also an area for barstools, which remains shaded from the overhanging countertop, even with all of the lights turned on.
In a nutshell, there are a lot of shadows in the kitchenette, but the recessed lighting casts glare on the upper cabinets. I realized quickly that any potential paint color needed to be previewed on the bar front (heavily shaded) as well as the upper cabinets (irregularly lighted, with glare). And so we began the search for the perfect black paint!
First Steps in Selecting the Perfect Black
I started by educating the homeowner about undertones. He was surprised to find out that there are so many shades of black paint! We began with Tricorn Black (6258) from Sherwin-Williams (sherwin-williams.com), because it is a deep, pure black. It was a great starting point.
It was too black.
Tricorn Black appeared stark in the kitchenette. I suggested that we try an off-black to soften the impact of the dark color, since the cabinets represented a large visual area. My reservation about a “black-black” was that the basement already tended to look dark and shadowy. I imagined that a deep black set of cabinets would suck all of the light out of the room, creating a visual black hole.
Take two…
I brought out the paint fan deck and looked for more options. To make a long story short, we considered options from Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore. After painting samples of each of the colors, here was the feedback: Midnight Oil 1631 (Benjamin Moore): too blue. Urbane Bronze 2021 (Sherwin-Williams): too brown. Peppercorn 7674 (Sherwin-Williams): too blue, too gray. Grizzle Gray 7068 (Sherwin-Williams): “not at all what I had envisioned.” Black Magic 6991 (Sherwin-Williams): I think it looks purple. Temptation 1609 (Benjamin Moore): Purple.
Honestly, I was losing hope that we would ever find a black paint that looked right in every light.
Third time’s a charm…
My daughter told me that whoever said “third time’s a charm” screwed up the first two times. Nice.
I stumbled upon Iron Ore 7069 (Sherwin-Williams), and really liked the shade. Iron Ore was a warm shade of off-black, and it looked great in the light and in the shaded areas! The homeowner loved it (winning!), and I called my local store to order the paint in a satin finish, because the recessed lighting reflected badly with a semi-gloss finish.
One teeny little problem… There was no paint!
What!?
Yep, be forewarned if you are securing paint for a refinishing job! In the fall of 2021, we have paint shortages!
Sherwin-Williams told me that they have widespread shortages of some of their paints. Unfortunately, the base for Iron Ore, the “Ultra Deep Base,” is currently unavailable in satin finish. They have no idea when it will be available again.
If I were a weaker person, I would be crying at this point.
S.O.S.!
Where does one turn for advice when confronted with such an unexpected event? The internet interior decorating blogging community, of course!
I must give a shout-out to a design blogger, homelikeyoumeanit.com for the article “The Best Black Paint Colors for Decorating Your Home” ( https://homelikeyoumeanit.com/best-black-paint-colors/ ) The blogger suggested the Benjamin Moore color, Wrought Iron 2124-10, as the closest substitute for Iron Ore. I called my Benjamin Moore retailer, confirmed that the paint base was available, and ordered a small sample. After painting it on the cabinetry, it appeared similar to the Iron Ore that the homeowner liked, so I ordered two gallons for the cabinets.
Oh come on…you didn’t really think it would be that easy, did you?
So here’s the kicker. Sometimes the way that paint appears on a smaller space does not accurately predict how it will appear when painted on a larger area. I felt certain that I had painted a large enough sample to see how Wrought Iron would look on the cabinets, but when the second coat of paint was on the first set of cabinets, the homeowner didn’t like it. At all.
What was the issue? “Too gray!”
What next?
I’m a very persistent person, and I am unable to accept defeat until I have exhausted all options! Therefore, today I am going back to the Benjamin Moore retailer. I intend to pick up chip samples of every black shade that they have, and I am going to figure this out. At this point, cabinet doors and hardware are removed, and the kitchenette looks like a wreck. Failure to figure this out is not an option!
Here is my plan: 1) Pick up more chips of black paint options; 2) Bring them back to the space and look at the chips under the lighting of the space; 3) Identify several options that are “less gray” and definitely “not blue”; 4) Order small cans of sample paint for any options that might work; and 5) Paint the back of the cabinet doors to get a representation of the color on the cabinets.
By tomorrow, I intend for my client to have a new, perfect black cabinet color that he can live with!
