Wednesday, September 16

Decorating


One of the things I was most excited about in owning my own home was painting. I love colors. Unfortunately, the entire concept of painting and decorating has caused me a huge amount of unforeseen stress. We have the main accent wall done, and the kitchen, and I love them both. But now I need to come up with a color for basically all the rest of the main floor, and I'm terrified I'm going to screw it up. I have NO sense of style whatsoever. And any color I choose is going to be present in HUGE amounts with our vaulted ceilings. I don't want it to be ugly, or weird, or too dark, or clash with the other colors. I don't know how to find a balance of fun color without overdoing it and looking like an exploded rainbow. It's like when I was a teenager, and I needed a second opinion before I could even dress myself, but so much worse, because this is my HOUSE. I might like it, but what if people are coming over and going "Wow. This is an ugly house."? I'm terrified!

So basically what I'm trying to say is, does anyone want to come over and paint and decorate for me?

6 comments:

Jules AF said...

Painting would totally also scare me. It's so semi-permanent

heather said...

If you would pay for my plane ticket, I would totally do it! Painting is so fun! But I completely understand the stress of it all. Even with my red wall in the kitchen, and the blue striped wall in L's room, I think we might have some different tastes when it comes to painting walls though. If I were in your spot, I would choose a nice, calm, warming, neutral color for the living room. Bright colors are fun, and they have their place, but the living room is such a central part of your home, you want to be able to relax and feel comfortable in it. My sister in law paints her entire house every time they move - and they're in the military so they move a lot! She's done some really cool tans, browns, grays, blues, and even a really cool dark teal color. I didn't like the swatch at first, but once I saw it on the wall I loved it! Anyway ... just my two cents. But I promise to not be offended if you do go with some bright color - it's just different styles. :) I want to see pictures of the kitchen and the main accent wall!! PLEASE!!!

Kristina P. said...

I am so not the person to help. When we moved into our condo, I was so gungho. I started painting the bottom kitchen cabinets white. And then I was OVER it. I didn't finish them for 18 months!

We finally hired someone to paint for us. I don't love the color. It came out more yellow than I wanted. I wish I has stuck with white.

I'm excited to see you on Saturday!

Julianne said...

An excessively wonderful color that is neutral but not too blah is called Bella Grove Buff by Valspar at Lowe's. It's a tannish with a teensy bit of yellow in it. We used it in our kitchen and a brighter yellow in the living room. I love love love it. If you're painting a bunch, wait for the sales at Lowe's -- they run sales at least on Memorial and Labor Day, and probably other major holidays like Thanksgiving, where you buy one gallon of Valspar paint, then send in your rebate receipt and get $5 back. We've done this with the last 4 gallons of paint we've bought and the checks always show up in the mail eventually. I love that.

Anyway - yeah...a neutral but not to blah brown/tan is always safe. We went with yellow in the living room and bedroom because we first went through a cream, a tan, even a seafoam blue and finally realized that yellow was right for us. It's expensive and obnoxious to figure out color - esp. when you haven't really ever done it before - but you'll get it right. Until then, take advantage of the little sampler cans they sell. And look at alot alot alot of decorating magazines/books, online and at the stores to get an idea of the overall feeling you're going for.

Julianne said...

Also - our friends (he's a painter by trade) swear by the Sherwin Williams Premium brand. The paint's guarantee is that you'll only have to do one coat because it's so thick. You pay like $35 for a gallon, but they've never needed a second coat for anything.

PS - that Bella Grove Buff, or something along those lines, looks really nice with white trim work OR wood. We have natural-colored cabinets and floorboards, and we really like it with them.

Cynthia said...

I'd say from the pictures you sent that you are on a roll! Keep up the good work! xoC