home ideas: paint by color

I‘m particular. Clear minded if you will. Instinctively – I love it or I don’t.

But wait, hold on. It must be mentioned that I selected the most phenomenal couch, which we returned to the manufacturer two years later. It didn’t work within the dynamics of my home. My mother and I spent an afternoon last December meticulously hanging 12 photos on my living room wall. Each image was perfectly spaced and leveled. The photos were hand picked and arranged with precision. This past December we took them all down. The scale was all off. Two years ago on a June summer morning my husband and I walked into Bloomingdale’s out of pure boredom. We left with a dinning room table. I’ve come to hate that table. I hate how the legs bow out. Plus, the chairs are all wrong and not my style in the least bit. I hate them as well. I’m presently in the process of convincing my husband we need to Craig List the entire set. Shrug!

The point is, I know exactly what I like. But when I bring it all together, sometimes things don’t work. I’ve learned a lot about my style through trial and error. And as you can see, I’ve had a lot of error in decorating our current home. So when someone recently asked me for help I felt conflicted. I’m just finally figuring out my style after two years of racking my brain. I’m not certain I should be anyone’s go to person on help but I will try. Tammy wrote:

I would like to do a mini- make-over to my apartment by the spring, lived there for 7 years and have not change the antique white paint on the walls. Any ideas, shall I go for light colors, neutral or dark? I have large windows so I get a lot of sun light, so maybe light colors would not be such a good idea.

The palest green or blue would be gorgeous. I’m thinking so pale that the hint of color is only visible when the light cascades through your windows. Or a bold butter yellow that drenches your wall in color. And I love see-through-pink or sex-and-the-city-teal. My neighbor did an olive green that I adore. Your options are endless but I do think your personality should guide you. I’m listing a few easy steps you might want to follow:

1. First, decide on your style and vision. Then, stick to it! This might be dictated by furniture you already have if you plan to keep it. I think the style you decide on should guide all your choices and thus eliminate error or a room that looks miss matched.

2. Decide on a color that YOU like. At the end of the day it’s about you coming home and loving the space that you walk into.

3. Don’t be scared of color and don’t feel like you need to play it safe. I personally love deep bold colors, I love pale pallets and I think white can be a phenomenal choice. Regarding white, I think it works when that is the color you intended the walls to be.

4. Be open to error. If you mess it up, it’s a pain to fix. I’ll admit that. BUT it’s also *just* paint. Test your color first by painting a swatch on the wall and live with if for a few days. I have skipped this step several times and I deeply regret it. Either way, it’s relatively inexpensive to correct a problematic paint job. Cut yourself slack and know that it’s ok to repaint.

Tammy – I hope that helps. I think you need to figure out the best color for you. For inspiration I’ve included several photos below. All images are from House Beautiful. 

Buena suerte!

 

 

Pale Green

 

Pale Yellow

 

Simply White

 

Sunny Yellow

 

Lavender Pink

 

Tags: green, home decor, paint, pink, white, yellow