Last month we opened our first store in California (yay!). It’s located in Costa Mesa at South Coast Plaza. When we set out to design the space, we knew we had to do something inspiring. The shopping center is filled with luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Prada and Harry Winston. And they spare no expense in making their stores gorgeous. Also, we have tons of fantastic, loyal customers in California who have been waiting years to see Nod in person, and we didn’t want to disappoint. 

Certainly we wanted our latest collection of home furnishings to be the star of the show, but the space itself needed a little something to make it Nod. As soon as I saw the brick wall behind the front counter, I knew just what it needed….COLOR! A riot of colors to be more exact. So, I decided that we should paint each individual brick in a rainbow palette, but not your standard rainbow, something a little more updated and a little unexpected. To pick the colors, I first looked to our product and was inspired by our Pop of Color Pendants. Starting with those hues, and a Sherwin Williams swatch book, I finally settled on a color scheme.

Coming up with crazy ideas is one thing, but figuring out how to execute them is usually the bigger task. Now that we’d all fallen for this idea, just how on earth were we going to do it. I distinctly remember my conversation with our Managing Director, Michelle. “So, you know that brick wall we want to paint multi-colored at the South Coast store? Tell me if I’m nuts, but I’m thinking I’ll just paint it myself.” Luckily, “we’re a little nuts” is one of our principles of being a Noddie, so she agreed it was a perfectly fine idea.

Here’s what the wall looked like when I arrived. 

We’d had our contractors paint it a light mint green (Sherwin Williams Gratifying Green SW6435), which would eventually become the “grout” color of the wall. I have to admit, when I stood in front of the wall, paint-brush in hand, it felt a lot bigger than I remembered it when I proposed I’d paint it.

At this point, a contractor we’d hired to do some other work looked at me and said, Him – “You’re painting this by yourself?”

Me – “yes”

Hime – “Each brick? Individually? All of them?”

Me – “yes”

Him – “and you have HOW LONG to do it?”

Me – “A day and a half.”

At which point I think he just decided that I was off my rocker and walked away shaking his head.

If you knew me, you’d know I don’t like to be told I can’t do something. So, challenge accepted. I snapped a photo and got to work. I decided to start with the lightest color and go from there, figuring that the darker colors would need fewer bricks to feel balanced. And, if I needed to paint over any, it would be easier to paint over the lighter colors.

First up, a pale pinky-purple (that’s the technical name). Sherwin Williams Queenly SW-6977

Then a mandarin orange. Sherwin Williams Mandarin SW-6891

Next a bright grass green. Sherwin Williams Outrageous Green SW-6922

Followed by a vibrant, orangey-red (a great color for lipstick or nail polish BTW). Sherwin Williams Gladiola SW-6875

Then a color Sherwin Williams likes to call Decisive Yellow. LOVE! SW-6902

Last color, a deep turquoise blue. Sherwin Williams Blue Nile SW-6776

You may have noticed that the top row isn’t done in any of these. Here’s the thing, I couldn’t reach it, even on my tippy toes. And, I was afraid to stand on that ledge you see here. (Full disclosure: I’m 5’10” and afraid of heights, not even high heights, any heights higher than 5’10”, really. I have a theory that tall people aren’t often picked up so are, therefore, not used to and uncomfortable being any higher up than they already are.) We didn’t have a ladder that could reach across the back counter, and no scaffolding was available, though I’m not sure I’d have gone on it if it was there. So, I used the next best thing, one of our Storage Play Chairs. 

Now, I definitely don’t recommend doing this at home. But, I did first check the product info and saw that this chair is rated to hold up to 200 lbs! Wow, that’s one sturdy kids chair, impressive. So, I stood on my tiny chair and finished the top row.

Then I went back and did a little touch up to the grout. Which, oddly enough was the most satisfying part of the process.

Before heading back to Chicago, I couldn’t resist hopping up on the counter and getting my pic with the wall. 

I was sad to leave it behind, and have been trying to convince my husband to let me replicate it on the outside of our brick house, but, as you can imagine, he’s not having it.

By Danielle Kurtz

Danielle is the Creative Director at Nod and an over-protective mother of two. She’s also completely obsessed with Pinterest, Twitter and her Kindle, but not necessarily in that order. Danielle loves to craft, sew and crochet, but all her supplies have a layer of dust on them about 6-years-thick, wonder if it's just a coincidence that her oldest kiddo is 6 years old?