Back still hurts like a mofo. I made an appointment with a local chiropractor for tomorrow right after work, so hopefully that’ll set me on the road to recovery. Every time I try to stand up, I swear vehemently at no one and declare that this is fucking bullshit. I’m looking forward to living without lower back pain again.
Man, WTF. I’ve never fucked myself up this bad before.
Anyway. Not that we’ll be doing it this weekend, being that my back’s still fuckered up, but the next room to paint is the dining room. Home improvement veterans, I could use some design opinion assistance.
Aaron still isn’t sure what to think of Sheryl’s idea to build the color palette around the awesome bachelor pad lamp. I’m having a time of it myself. I have to decide a.) what color to paint the living room and upstairs hallway (preferably the same color, as they share a wall), and b.) what color to paint the adjoining dining room. I’m unsure what would make the space seem bigger: painting the dining room a darker color, so it seems to extend farther back than it really does; or painting the dining room the same color as (or even lighter than?) the living room.
My general idea for the color of the living room is for it to contrast the lamp. Light enough to contrast against the base, and dark enough to contrast the shade. My original thought was the Bagel color (these are swatches from Behr paints), as I was trying to match one particular color on the palette I pulled from the lamp (above — and yes, all those colors were sampled directly from the lamp photo). Now that I see the potential wall shades all together, though, I’m thinking I prefer a tan to an orange. I mean, I spent over ten years of my life hating being stuck with an orange and brown and school, and now what do I start planning for my living room? Yeah.
Anywhozit, I’m trying to create an understated wall and general color palette, so that the lamp is actually an accent against other more muted earth tones. I’m thinking of going back to behr.com and starting with the Chai Latte color as a jumping-off point for other earth tones. I can’t reconcile the idea of having a living room, hallway, and dining room the color of dried pumpkin. Might look nice, but it’s not really my thing.
And for one last Martha Stewart moment: I just started a few more seeds tonight. Three lemon basil, three lavender, and three sweet basil. I’m planning to put them in a planter indoors. Maybe I’ll transplant the lavender outside after it’s grown big enough — like, next year. Until then, it’ll get harvested and eaten like the other herbs.
OMG. The entire weedy area by the house is going to be overtaken by catnip! …And I’m OK with that. ^_^
i like the chai-latte, but i like the Biloxi a little more, it’s a little more “anything would match this.” i love a good neutral in the living room. is there a transition between the living room and dining room? ever see people paint just one wall a different color? sometimes its neat 🙂 you could do the back wall of the dining room (the one you’d see if you were standing in the living room facing the table) the awesome dark red that’s in the lamp, and paint the parts by the kitchen and the wall it shares with the LR the same color as the living room 😀 be careful of going too yellow & red or it’ll be mustard & ketchup house.
ye gods i love that red. 😀
at any rate. i’ve also been meaning to ask you if you’d thought of other cheap-yet-not-cheap decorating ideas, like slipcovers for couches/chairs/etc. it’s a really neat way to recreate your room without buying actual new furniture 😀
I dont remember what your dining room set looks like but you can get neat chair covers and a nice tablecloth once the room is painted (i almost typed “pantied” ..that would be interesting 😀 ) and then reinvent your couch and maybe some of the end tables you could make covers for w/your sewing machine/serger.
just a thought. I’m not saying you have to redo your furniture, but if you want an entirely fresh look without spending thousands on new furniture, then it’s a neat way to go!
ps, i get those bed, bath & beyond and LNT 20% off coupons in the mail all the time, and i’d been mailing them to my mother so she had extra when she redid her house, i can start sending them to you though, if you decide to go that route 🙂 they’re only good on 1 item, so you’d want to use it on something big (like the couch cover) or keep coming back and buying one thing at a time when you’ve saved up a few (careful, they expire).