Paint Color Update

I picked up some Benjamin Moore paint chips yesterday. There are so many variations of green paint and they're all so different, it's crazy! So, I'm going to look at these for a while and maybe get some samples to try on the walls this weekend.

While at Benjamin Moore, I took some pictures on my iPhone of the fabric with the big paint chips. Guilford Green was one of the best, although some of the darker shades appeared pretty different on a big sample.

Here's a picture of some of my favorites in the natural light of the living room. I tried to pick colors which had a little more gray and were less intense. I want the wall to have a little bit of color, but not be so in your face, like the Shagreen was ;)

From left to right: SW Celery, BM Soft Ferm, BM Fernwood Green,
BM Camouflage, BM Guilford Green, BM Nantucket Breeze

I think I like Guilford Green the most right now, but I'm not sure if it's still too green. I think this is where it will be nice to see the paint on the actual wall.  You can see how these all stack up against Shagreen, it's the 2nd color on the first strip on the left, they're a little more subdued.

Here are some pictures of rooms I found online with some of these wall colors.

Guilford Green - source

Camouflage - source

Fernwood Green (top) - source

Soft Fern - source

So, it will still be a while before we paint everything, but I feel like we're on the right track... to a calming gray-er green.  

Decisions, Decisions...

I've managed to make some small progress in our living room, but I'm still struggling to pull the trigger on any of the major pieces.  I think a lot of this has to do with not being 100% positive about my previous selections. So, I did some more shopping and browsing this weekend to explore my options. 

As the main color palette inspiration, I have finally decided on the P. Kaufmann leaf fabric for the curtains.  Here's a picture of the pattern in a computer simulated curtain panel:

  

I really like the colors in this fabric. It has a light blue background similar to the walls in our living room and kitchen, gray vines like the color in our dining room, but also brings in creams, beiges and light green.  My original plan for the room was to have these curtains as color inspiration, neutral furniture with accent pillows, and green walls.  However, I might be reconsidering that now.

Fabric with Shagreen by Sherwin Williams

Over the weekend, I got a paint sample of the color green that I picked out to match the curtains. I chose Shagreen by Sherwin Williams. I painted large squares of the green paint on our walls to see how we liked the paint color.

However, I wasn't too thrilled with how it looked. And, to make it worse, I'm not exactly sure why! I love green, but part of me feels like this green is too harsh with the rest of our color palette in the house. When the natural window light comes in the windows, it feels almost neon! So, I have a dilemma. I need to decide if I want something bold or more neutral...  One good thing going for the green paint is that I plan to have a big wall of white bookshelves on the main wall across from the door and by the time I have all of the other accents up on the wall, the green probably won't be as overwhelming.

Fabric with Mindful Gray by Sherwin Williams

I was curious, so I put the swatch of fabric up against the walls in the dining room, and I think it looks pretty good. The thing is, it's just a different style, more neutral colors and makes the fabric more subdued. This way, it brings out the blue a lot more, which I'm not sure if I want that... we already have a ton of blue in the house.

I'm also trying to make some furniture decisions at the same time as the wall color selection. I found a cream velvet sofa that I really like, but it's a little more modern (or maybe retro) than my usual style. I think that's a good thing and will lead to more of an eclectic look in the room, but I'm not sure.  Here are two pictures of the sofa, what do you think?

source

source

If I do buy this sofa, I will probably go with two simple arm chairs that are linen or beige. I haven't found the perfect ones of these yet, so I'm still searching. I did take a picture of the curtain fabric up against a khaki/beige fabric this weekend, I think this will tie in the colors nicely.

While out shopping on Saturday, I did find some cute accent fabrics for pillows at JoAnn Fabrics!  Here's a picture of the curtain fabric with two others that coordinated nicely.

Robert Allen Home-Square Pegs in Mist (L) & Annie Selke-Pearls in Citrus (R)

So, what are your thoughts on these different options? Do you like the green paint (or maybe another shade of green) or should I go with a neutral paint color like the Mindful Gray? Like the sofa or color palette? Any thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated!!

Living Room Update

I'm still in the early stage of planning the living room, but I did manage to figure out a rough floor plan. The room is shaped a little bit oddly, so I'm having to work around that and the window placements.  The furniture will consist mostly of a small couch or loveseat and two arm chairs. I'm going to get three bookshelves for the wall directly across from the door.  I haven't decided if I'll have an ottoman in front of the loveseat, I think that will depend on the specific furniture that I select for the other pieces and how much room there is.

I'm probably going to pick natural and neutral colors for the furniture, like linen, beiges and creams.  However, finding the perfect furniture is proving to be difficult without spending a ton of money. These are a few that have caught my eye, so it will probably be something along these lines...

I'm also on the hunt for some arm chairs that will be nice for sitting and reading in them.  I love the tufting in these two:

   

I'm looking for a new light fixture for this room and I think a chandelier would be gorgeous. Of course, I found the perfect chandelier, but it's sold out everywhere, so the search continues for something similar. This is what the one I wanted looked like:

For the wall of bookshelves, I'm going to get three bookshelves that can be placed flush together to create a built-in look for our space. I've gone back and forth on a lot of different shelves, but right now I'm looking at the large bookshelves from Ballard Designs or getting custom bookcases made and painted white.

 

As for where the color in this room will come in, I've started looking at paints and fabrics. At the moment, I'm thinking of using the P. Kaufmann Leaf fabric in Cloud for the curtains. However, I'm going to check out some more fabric stores to see if there is anything else that I like better.  You can see how the leaf fabric looks with greens and natural linen colors in this picture:

I've started looking at paint for the walls too. I think a light green wall color that coordinates well with the rest of our house will be pretty. I picked up a ton of swatches at Sherwin Williams and narrowed it down to these strips, but I think I will keep looking until I settle on the fabric.

So, that's where things are at the moment. I'm really trying to figure out the overall look of the room before I start buying a ton of stuff. I'm excited with the progress and hope to share more updates with you soon!

Living Room Inspiration

So, we've managed to ignore our formal living room until now. It's been mostly empty, since we moved in, but I've used it to store a lot of stuff out of the way. We're going to clear it out and start work on this room very soon... I'm excited! But, before we get to that, I thought I'd show you some of my inspiration and plans for this room.

As a reminder, this is what the room looks like:

Yep, it's pretty plain, even though you can't see much from this photo. My favorite thing about this room is set of french doors that open to the room, I love how they add separation, but don't block the light. I think they will be a great feature when the room is a sitting room/library, because you can sit and read in quiet, even if there's something else going on in the house.

I have a big Pinterest board on living rooms here that I've used to collect lots of ideas for this room. I also have made some collages of specific furniture pieces that I like and would like to use to bring this room to fruition.  I'm think I want to make the wall across from the french doors book shelves and I'll have a love seat or sofa and two arm chairs in the room for seating.  As for the color scheme, I want it to coordinate well with the other colors we have downstairs, but I want something a little bit different. I'm hoping to bring in some new colors with fabric on curtains or pillows.

Here are some of my favorite living rooms and details that I've collected. If you're interested in a source, see my Pinterest board.

 

  

 

 

 

That was a lot of pictures! As you can see, I have a general idea of what I like, but I think actually choosing the pieces I want is going to be tough! There are a lot of similarities in these pictures:
- creamy, natural color palettes
- mix of seating: chairs, sofas, large ottomans
- feminine chandelier or statement light fixture
- gallery wall of large square frames
- pretty bookshelves and storage
- bright and airy window treatments

Here's an inspiration board/collage of some more specific elements I like:

And lastly, I got some new fabric samples from LS Fabric in Atlanta yesterday. I ordered some fabrics to consider for curtains or accessories. Some of them have really large repeats, so you can't see the whole pattern.

That's where I am with the plans and inspiration for the living room. I'll update again soon when we start making some selections!

So, what do you think?

2012 Goals

Sorry for the lack of posts recently! I've been busy with work and school starting back so I haven't found much time to blog. However, since it's that time of the year when everyone is making and trying to keep resolutions, I started thinking about the things I might want to do this year. So, this is a list of some things we'd like to get done around the house in the next year. Some are a little more realistic than others... But here we go!

2012 House Goals
- Finalize design plan for formal living room
- Find/order furniture, paint, and decorate formal living room
- Tile backsplash in kitchen
- Update landscaping in front yard
- Media room layout and design plan
- Build built-in day bed/ window seat in media room
- Resod front yard grass
- Add better storage and organization in laundry room
- Finish decorating master bedroom
- Paint and organize garage

I'll go into more details on a few of these very soon!

Some of these are big projects, others will have a large impact with minimal effort. I'm excited to see what happens, I hope you'll stay with us and keep reading!