Adventures in Home Decor

In order to divert myself from the misfortunes of hubby's training, or at least attempt to do so, I've turned my attention even more fully to thinking about our next house. We've decided (although in truth that might be more of an I) that the best option in our next spot is to rent a home. Mortgage rates and home prices are great right now, but it's still a risk and we don't really have the tolerance for said risk. When it's time to go, we just want to go. But anyway, this post isn't about the real estate market.

Nope, this post is about paint colors! I've delved into the world of paint colors and man, is it a complex place! I never knew how many shades of tan/beige/gray/cream there were. Now I know. I used Favorite Paint Colors as a jumping off point to try to explore what I might like in our next home. I was torn between loving the way many of the different neutrals looked on the wall, and wanting to play it relatively safe, with being sad at the idea of basically using just a few different beiges and being done with it. My current "vision" strikes kind of a compromise. Who knows if this idea will stick, and of course I have no way to consult hubby, but I'm daydreaming at this point.

By way of illustration:



It's a very warm, almost southwestern palette, based on my general ideas of what I like and what I've responded to in inspiration photos. From left to right the colors (all Benjamin Moore) are: Etruscan (thinking for the office), Alexandria Beige (living room), Shaker Beige (kitchen and guest/main bathroom), Hot Spring Stones (master bedroom), and Rosemary Sprig (master bathroom). All the colors except Etruscan can be seen at the Favorite Paint Colors site, it's where I discovered most of them. I have very little concrete reason that I've picked these, unless you want me to go into my hours long deliberation pondering all the possibilities (trust me, nobody wants that).

Of course, talking to hubby about this tonight on the phone (we're able to do that just a little these days), I managed to elicit laughs at the idea of me taking this painting project on. Apparently his thought is I will paint more than the walls - the window frames, the carpet, and so on and so forth. Well to that I say... we'll see. In trying my very best to educate myself, I went ahead and ordered this resource:

I'm hoping it helps! It got good reviews at least!

So, that's where my head is at getting ready for the next place. I suppose I could be biting off more than I can chew, but I am just not a fan of the prospect of living in boring white walls for the next few years - I'm kind of tired of the walls in this apartment after just one!

If anyone has home decor blogs they love, general tips on design, or practical tips on painting, I'd love to hear it! Hopefully come August you'll get a chance to see the good, the bad and the ugly right here on this blog!