Weekend Update

Hey dudes, how was your weekend? Ben and I busted our collective ass painting and cleaning and moving and it still looks an 82 year old grandma with 23 cats and alzheimers lives here. It's kind of disheartening, but you have to break some eggs to make an omelette, right? We did at least completely paint ONE room (Ike's future room) and it's... dark. Like, really dark. Outer space dark matter dark. I think it's going to be ok once we put his furniture and some light window treatments in there, but right now I'm kind of crossing my fingers and hoping he doesn't grow up to be a depressed adolescent who only listens to The Cure and dyes his hair purple.

Oh wait -- that was me.

Anyway, I don't have a lot of time today because Karly's hubs Matt is coming over to rip out the godforsaken built in desk that's encroaching on my soon-to-be beautiful dinette. Anyone need a 24x40 slab of green and rust granite? Didn't think so.

And then I have to decide between this color:

And this color:

To paint the dinette. I'm not conflicted, or anything. These aren't 100% diametrically opposed AT ALL.

Meanwhile, I am dreaming of ripping out the entire kitchen. How did I ever think I could live -- even temporarily -- with honey oak cabinets? The wood grain alone is making me hallucinate. I think it's trying to kill me. (you can see what it looks like in the mls pictures HERE)

Here's what I would like to place in its stead:

Any of these will do just fine, thanks.

Ok, must organize/clean/moon over paint swatches.

Any votes for one or the other color I posted?

[Pinterest kitchens]

How Many Colors Can You Paint a House?

It's getting nervous up in here. I love to make decisions for other people, but when it comes to myself I will waffle endlessly if given the chance. So, on one hand it's probably a good thing that the baby is theoretically coming in four months. On the other hand, I'm starting to panic that we're going to end up with a patchwork quilt of insanity because I have to make too many choices too quickly. Mostly I'm freaking about all the colors I'm slathering all over the walls. Teal, coral, peach, navy, oh probably some green while I'm at it... how many colors can one house reasonably (gracefully) hold?

I'm kind of a colorphobe. My downstairs closet is full of gray and black and navy. But my secret upstairs closet (the going out closet) is full of orange and pink and gold and turquoise and acid green. It seems that I almost always chicken out at the 11th hour when deciding if I should slip into something more colorful -- I pretty much have to be hitting the bars at midnight to fluff my peacock feathers.

But I know that while there's definitely an allure to cool and aloof, everyone wants to party with the crazy girl in color.

Am I right?

Still, I don't want to go berserk in here. Crazy should not equal slutty. I just don't think I'd be comfortable most of the time dealing with that much stimulation... from color. Duh.

I will admit to loving just a restrained shot of color -- that perfect foil for an otherwise neutral and serene palette.

But I don't know... once I get going I kind of can't stop myself.

And then things get interesting.

I'd like to know what you think about "the rules" regarding color in decor. How many colors can you balance in one room? Three? Five? Infinity?

What about in a whole house?

I mean, we're definitely going beyond light beige, medium beige, and dark beige here.

But can every room be a different color?

Please discuss.

[Pinterest, Porter wallpapers/fabrics, AD, Jeffrey Bilhuber, Pinterest, World of Interiors, Luxe Interiors]

The Full Extent of the Dinette Dilemma

So yesterday I revealed yet another thorn in my side, the dopey dinette area. It's really wee and oddly shaped and it sports hideous tile and the light fixture makes me want to vomit khaki green paint into my cheerios. It's an appetite killer, for sure.

My eyes! I'm pretty sure that square beige tile is the eighth level of hell. The suburban pinata light fixture is even more offensive, but far easier to remove -- we'll call it Level Four.

As I said yesterday, when we redo the adjoining kitchen the tile will get sledgehammered into a  fine dust and kicked to the curb, making way for the wood flooring to move on in. But until that day, this is what I have to work with. Did I mention that this is to be our one and only dinner table?

You can exhale now.

So I think a rug would help, but the inset on the window wall is really throwing a wrench into the works. I put the 6x9 leopard rug in there just to see how it would fit, and you can see that it butts up against the wall. I could see doing a custom cut carpet that fit exactly into that space, except that this isn't wide enough...

When I centered the rug under the table, it ran into the walkway, which I think looks kinda funny. Am I crazy? Also, six feet really isn't wide enough for a full size table and chairs. I think seven is minimum, which would create even more issues in terms of the odd window wall and walkway.

What to do?

Mockups, duh.

I painted Board #1 in living room wall color, left the table unpainted, used chairs from Copenhagen, and threw in a hide rug so I could sidestep rug dimension issues. But I have to tell you, I kind of hate hide rugs. They feel so gross... and they are giant dead cows. But I have also heard how durable! and amazing! they are. What do you think?

For Board #2 I painted the room in Gray Gardens, left the table unpainted, added black wishbone chairs, and threw caution to the woven wind with a Nain rug. I did 8000 variations and I'm not sure I'm digging the rug on this one, but I threw it in for variety's sake.

For Board #3 I switched up almost everything... Les Touches knockoff fabric for the roman shades, painted table, Anthropologie chairs, and a more antiquey light fixture to balance the polka dot bizness. I used a warmer rug because I want something natural in there -- be it table, chairs or rug.

So, what do you dudes think? Are there any bits or pieces you love/hate? And fresh new combos you want to see? We've only just begun...

ps: here was my inspiration photo, which looks almost nothing like any of my mockups:

Gotta love Molly Luetkemeyer.

Maybe the solution to all my problems is a kick ass Henri Rousseau inspired mural?

Most likely.