What Is Your Color?

I came across the site http://www.colorstrology.com/ and had to give it a try. The web site tells you your birth month color....And your specific birth day color....
Hmm, Aspen Gold and Green Glow..not what I would have guessed for me based on my favorite colors but it was fun to try nonetheless.

If you give it a try let me know what you think, do you agree with your results?

A New Coat Of Paint

When Paula asked me to come help her with her kitchen paint colors I gladly accepted! Not only is she a sweet friend but I had been admiring her home from afar on Two Ellie (look for a guest post from her in the coming weeks). Here is the before:She wanted a change for the cabinets and what a difference a little paint makes...
Lately I can't get away from darker bottom cabinets paired with lighter top cabinets (you will be seeing more soon)...
Another thing I have been loving lately is the Essentials-Black, White, Gray Area in the Sherwin Williams deck. In particular these colors....
Being a long time gray lover I can't tell you how many colors I have tried over the years trying to find a gray that didn't go too blue or brown. My search ended here. The grays and the browns are so versitile, love love love.

For more information on Paula's redo visit her here.

A Bright Light & The Dark Side

This image makes me want to paint something BRIGHT....
Although while looking on West Elm I was drawn back to the dark side...this rug is on my short list...hmmm, so is that lumbar pillow...and the far side table too...
And I love this light even more in gray....I just can't help myself!
Love this room, the whole look, very cool light...
All images West Elm

My Favorite Paint & Opinions Needed

I can already tell this is going to be a random post...I get asked a lot about paint colors and I plan on doing a "favorite colors" post with several of my favorites. However, there is one color that I recommend over and over (and I try not to). It is Restoration Hardware's Silver Sage. Sometimes it is blue, sometimes it is green, sometimes gray. I have it in my office but that is such a disaster area right now I can't show a picture.
Anyhoo, the reason I am mentioning this is because when I would recommend it to clients I would tell them to go to the store to look at on the walls, you could see it in all different lights. Then one day recently a fabulous client called me and said, "Have you seen the wall color in RH?!?!?!?" Since she knows me so well she knew I would be as obsessed as she was. She was correct...I believe it is from the Slate collection, but I will confirm.... It is so pretty.
I know you are surprised that a gray shade isn't my #1 favorite paint color. So moving right along, I do not have my new logo yet and I am sure things will change when I do get it but for now I need some opinions. Do you like the gray background better....
or do you prefer white? And what about grid lines like below? Too much? Helpful to the eye?
I think there is something to be said for both, I would love to hear what you think.
Thanks Laurie for the paint tip!!!!

Is Black The New Pink?

When I saw these fabrics I immediately thought about a client of mine who is pregnant. She actually does not know what she is having yet but I think she is having a girl. I never have these premonitions, but every time I see something that makes me think of a girl's room I think of her. While I don't think she would ever go to the "dark side" or for that matter anything near this funky, I think used correctly these could be so cute.
This fabric I saw in Ikea and I thought it was on clearance for $.99-yes 99 cents, but I was wrong. I was going to buy it all and just keep it around for the right person. Well, it was something like $8.99/yd, which is still a GREAT deal, but I didn't want to buy a random amount for "one day".
With either of these fabrics I would pull out some of the colors in the fabric for the walls and the rest of the room, maybe even a pink. I wouldn't do black on black for a child, but how cute is this wall?
Not that I think this is necessarily childlike. I would use it in an "adult" room too as long as it fit with the owner. I took this at a showroom in Atlanta, in complete stealth mode knowing that I would put this in my idea file to use sometime down the road. I will let you know when I find the right spot.

An Advertiser's Dream- Ralph Lauren Paint

I am sure I have said before that I am an advertiser/marketers dream. Put a pretty ad or fun packaging in front of me and I am done, I must have it. That is the way I feel every time I see one of the Ralph Lauren Paint ads, especially the green one. It makes me think I need an emerald room ASAP.I have never used their paint before but these rooms (with coordinating palettes on the side of the picture) may just make me branch out.
Lately I have been wanting a very pale pink office, which normally is not me at all. This picture is what I am envisioning.


Have you ever used Ralph Lauren? Any color I definitely need to try somewhere?

What I Am Wanting Now- Dark Cabinets

I am in the mood to paint and I am thinking dark cabinets in my kitchen. Image House Beautiful
Image Southern Accents
Image Domino
Image Domino
Image Domino

I don't see this happening anytime soon, but if I were to do it I would pick a very dark, almost black, gray. I know you are shocked!

One Day: Art On The Floor

Ever since I saw this floor at market in Atlanta I have been dreaming of having a design on my floors somewhere in my house.

**I can't remember the showroom to give proper credit, if anyone does know please send me a note.
So when I saw these floors in House Beautiful it was love at first sight.
Designer Jeffrey Bilhuber based this design off of the hex signs found decorating old barns in the Pennsylvania Dutch country. He is my new design hero.
So I am filing this away in my "one day" folder. The closest I have come to this is painting the horrible tile on my bathroom floor a solid color. Since I finally ordered a new camera I hoping to have better house pictures soon and I will share the before and after.

Have a great weekend!

Full article HERE.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!!!!!!

Just wanted to say a HUGE THANKS to everyone who helped Jessica and I with our "baby blue problem" as you may remember from HERE or the picture below....I wanted to share with y'all the update on the rooms, for a complete summary go to Under A Green Roof. We decided on the color Smoke by Benjamin Moore and while I have not seen it in person yet, Jessica says it looks great! Here are some pictures....
I will try to get some daylight pictures too, but I am loving it. Speaking of loving, next to her dining room she has an amazing room of windows that was painted at the same time. Here is the before:
Here is the after, I know, you are jealous she has such a fun room, me too. You should see the rest of the house!!!
I (we) really appreciate all your comments and e-mails! It was so wonderful to hear everyone's suggestions, I love this blog world!!!!

A Happier Home For My China

Maybe it is the weather, maybe it is the fact that my bank tells me I should not be doing "personal home projects" right now, but I am itching to do something. I need to keep it small though. Y'all already know I want to paint our front door, but since the weather is too cold, I am looking for other things to paint. Then I saw this picture in Domino this morning....
Be still my heart. I am in a definite stripe AND blue phase right now, I knew what I should do. I need to change the back of my china cabinet (from my Grandmother). It is currently a funky yellow and gray wallpaper, which I do like a lot, but I want a change. So I was thinking about painting it (Mom we will discuss this later, I know I just made you panic).
Let me just pause here to say that this project and the Domino picture above make me think of my friend Brooke. The image below is one of our favorites and another inspiration for this project.
So do I paint it? Do I use another wallpaper (which is just tacked up at the moment)?
I need suggestions. I am leaning towards stripes which would be cheaper to paint than wallpaper, but can this be done neatly without chipping one of the colors? (by me) Help!

*First and last picture Domino Magazine
*Cabinet painted blue inside Cottage Living

Urn With A Twist....

At some point there will be a bigger Market post, that may be a few days because I got back Friday night and left again on Sat. morning and will not be home for a few days, but I wanted to start showing you some ideas....These garden urns are actually made out of a plastic (don't have exact details with me at the moment) and I loved the high gloss finish. I was thinking about all the possibilities with something like this. I think I am going to do a pair of these for my porch or deck in a really fun color in a SUPER high gloss finish. I can't wait for spring to come to start planting flowers again.

Does anyone know of a good source to find these urns (just the regular ones, not plastic) at a great price?

What color? Bright blue or green? Maybe something even more unexpected?

Some Nursery Color Palettes

Okay, I almost didn't do this post because the colors on the paint chips did NOT scan well at all. Disclaimer: THESE ARE NOT ACCURATE COLORS JUST BE WARNED! However, I decided to post this because the color combinations are REALLY GREAT and I if you are looking to paint to you should definitely go to Lowe's and check out these colors from Martha Stewart for Valspar.





These colors are really a pale, pale blue, a creamy yellow and retro green













A sweet cream/white that could turn slightly pink with white and brown/gray accent colors. This would be good in a girly nursery that has a lot of florals, pinks and white.

This combination is VERY soothing. Just the name-Bleached Driftwood-screams my name. It really is a non-color color, a very light gray/blue/brown with a calm green/blue accent strip and a white accent color too. This combination could be used in so many rooms...I would love to see the Bleached Driftwood on the walls and the blue color MS313 on the ceiling...

Love this for a girls room, may have to use this one day... Deep charcoal with a very light milk chocolate accent-MS174 and a very pale pink accent as well-





















It is reminiscent of Jenna Lyons nursery in this month's Domino magazine (I know everyone LOVES her house and I am no different), you need to check out the rest of her article...

And finally, this one is not necessarily nursery, but I love the clean crisp white and gray scheme. The picture I love and it is actually on the front of a paint chip.

**Again, these colors are not accurate, please know they are MUCH MUCH better in person

Paint Chips- Martha Stewart For Valspar found at Lowes
Room pictures from Domino Magazine November 2008