Yeah. We've been talking about this for a while. He wanted the walls above and below the chair rail to be jet black. The gray was our compromise. (the light and rug are both from IKEA).
And yes, he got home (well to Richmond anyway) about an hour and a half ago.
Yeah, all black would have been VEY depressing!
When I was a teenager, my parents let me have my own color scheme in my room. In fact, they did the changes while I was away once, also! It was royal blue and emerald green. Even the carpet was fleck of royal blue and green! I loved it! The walls stayed off-white, but I was able to paint the bed royal blue, and put royal blue shutters on the windows as 'curtains'.