Stairway to Heaven

While my post title may hint at some sublime -- nay, ecstatic -- state of being, I am most assuredly located squarely in the seventh level of hell, a level reserved for poor souls unfortunate enough to buy and sell a home at the same time. Our bank account is hemmorrhaging faster than a hemophiliac at an acupuncturist, and coping with little sleep and loads of msg laden takeout for the last few weeks has left me with a (hopefully impermanent) visage that can only be labeled as cryptkeeper chic.

Let's talk about stairs.

So, fresh paint is up at New House and it's looking jazzy, but the decorating dominoes have begun their inexorable tumble towards complete and total overhaul. Now, please. Ok, not everything can happen now, but the glossy barf oak stairs are particularly offensive, and that must be dealt with. Paint is the solution to every crisis, yes?

This is my dreamboat banister. White balusters, black rails and black... end thingy. I know it has a name? Bueller? Bueller?

Look how much better things can be! I think the mocha stain looks rich with the light floors.

No way am I covering up my fancy new treads with a runner (sorry future baby's knees), but I like everything else about this.

Painting everything black would probably make my life easier, right?

Ok, so my question for you is: how hard is this going to be on a scale of 1 to mf nightmare? Pretty close to the bad side, right? Do I have to sand all that crap?????

Should I paint the balusters white and the rail and end post black? Stain rail and endpost dark? Paint everything charcoal?

Lock myself into a hidey hole and never come out?

[Living Etc, House Beautiful, Centsational Girl, Lonny, Richard Powers]

Battle Royale

So Karly has talked me into going light and bright for the cavernous, north facing family room, and dark and cozy for the smaller south facing rooms. I'm feeling good about my dark and cozy color picks, but super skittish about picking a white -- the subtle differences are so much harder to see when the color is barely there. That's where you come in. Meet the contenders:

Up first is Sander's first string pick (did I just use a sports metaphor? who the eff am I???): Collector's Item.

Yes, I know. It looks baby pink, which is very unsportsmanlike. On the wall it looks... less baby pink. Jeffrey Bilhuber calls it "almost blush." Ahem.

In the picture it looks straight up white. That's because photos LIE.

Up second is another Sanders pick: Farrow and Ball's White Tie. This is decidedly more yellow in real life, so much so that I wonder why I even bother posting swatches online. This whole process would be a lot easier if y'all could come to my house and look at the stupid paint on the wall already.

Here it is in action:

So, what do you think? I'd say that Collector's Item has a little something more going on, but most of what it has going on is pink. Meanwhile, White Tie is a no fail choice, but is it too country trad?

In case you were wondering (and too damn bad if you weren't), I'm looking at Hague Blue and Pashmina (it really is a gorgeous, complex color) for my other major neutrals. That's right -- I just called Hague Blue a neutral. Because it is. Just ask Tandy -- she has a similar color in her living room.

Haguey hotness.

Ok -- pick a color. Any color.

As long as it is one of the colors I just listed.

Color Color on the Wall, Who's the Fairest of Them All?

Yesterday I threw my old ass back out. Not content to just chillax and watch tv (ok, actually I already blew through all of my Project Runway back episodes) I've been whiling away the hours supine on the couch, browsing the internets with laser like focus. I need to pick a paint color for our great room. Yes Sanders already picked one for me and I know he's going to be right, but I just wouldn't be me if I didn't hem and haw and try to second guess him.

Thanks in part to your feedback, I've finally reconciled myself to the fact that white is going to look barfy in that shady room. I realized that I want white so badly because I have a fear of commitment -- white plays well with everyone.

And also because it loves to play with itself. Heh.

Plus I am kind of a colorphobe. This room is actually awesome, but if I had to live here I would wake up with the hives every morning.

So what I'm struggling with is, do I just pick a neutral? I think I have this fear that it's going to go flat, dingy, or Martha Stewart on me. I really wish I could paper the whole room in gold grasscloth (yes I know the picture above is not grasscloth), but with 18 ft ceilings there is just no freaking way.

Or do I pick a pale color to give the room a little something something?

Here is the room again for reference. I want to wash that suburban band aid right out of my hair.

What color is your living room painted? Do you love it?

[Elle Decor, Wreckorated, Ad Russia x2, Elle Decor]