The One Where I Need Your Best Decorating Advice
March 14th, 2008 by Kateastrophe
Since moving into our house I’ve pretty much done NO decorating whatsoever. I had the living/dining room and kitchen painted three days before we moved and then I got good and lazy and have done nothing else except decorative towels in the master bathroom. But I really don’t think that counts. It stinks because it’s hard to have people over. The last time someone rang our doorbell the first thing they said was “Oh! Did you just move in?” Yeah, no. Almost six months ago.
I’ve got a dining room table and side table in the living/dining room and that’s pretty much it. My hope chest is in there, but, oh yeah, it’s empty because the box of stuff that belongs in it is sitting NEXT to it. There isn’t paint on any of the walls except the aforementioned. I don’t even know what COLORS I want (which is so weird for me). The office is a mess, the guest room is a hodge podge and the empty room is . . . well . . . empty.
This has got to stop. The time has come to decorate. This weekend I’m paint shopping. It’s a difficult task for me because I can’t just pick a color. I have to buy samples of like, ten colors then paint swatches on the walls. My house looks like a patchwork quilt when I do this. It’s ugly, yet effective. Then I’m calling Willy to come paint because once you hire someone to paint, you never want to go back. He’s cheap, it looks fantastic and is ALL DONE in one day. What more could an impatient girl ask for?
I’m going to attempt to get the master bedroom/bathroom and the family room done in the next couple of weeks. I have an idea for what I’m going to do in the guest bedroom (bright and happy and yellow!) and Matt is totally on his own with his study. The empty bedroom shall stay empty for now. At least the part of the house where we spend most of our time will look good. Hopefully.
I’m thinking red for the family room. Well red and tan. It matches the kitchen and I LOVE it and miss it from the old house. Matt isn’t the biggest fan but he can decorate his garage if he wants. For the master . . . I’m not sure. If I do red and tan in the family room and the master is close to it, can I get away with green? Like a nice, mellow sagey green? The issue is that the OLD bedroom was sagey green and ivory and, while I loved it, methinks it’s time for a change, but I don’t know WHAT to change to! Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Calling all decorative minds to help me!!
Should you need reminders of what the house looks like, here is a link to the post with all the pictures of the new house, and just for fun here are pictures of the old house (with the red I love and the green in the master). Beware, the pictures in the new house were taken right after we moved in and still very messy. And yes, the bed has moved out of the family room, despite Matt’s insistence that sleeping in front of the big TV was “what all the cool kids are doing.”
- Posted in Home Deterioration
March 14th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I looooooove sage green. It’s what I was going to paint my living room before I moved. A nice light-medium blue is really pretty for a bedroom, and will look great with the red if they’ll be within eyesight of each other.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
My vote- in other peoples houses, is bright!! You should leave the spare bedroom plain, since I might have to move in, and I mostly feel comfortable in white. Yes…that’s right.
By the WAY, I love the master bathroom theme and the towels, so you’re doing really well so far!
March 14th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
I don’t know what to tell ya. I absolutely loved all of the colors in your old house, I don’t think that you would go wrong using the same ones. I always stick to safe colors, greens, yellows, browns and then we antique them to make them look good. Seriously, I love all the colors in your old house, in fact, I might come after you for some paint codes!! Good Luck!
March 14th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
I think all of those sagey green, yellows and browns sound absolutely lovely! There, that is all of my input.
Oh, and I love, love, LOVE the stairway/balcony and high ceiling action going on in your house. Gorgeous!
March 14th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
I’m starting to think paint colors, too, for when we move; I’m a fan of blue for the bedroom and green for our living room, but that’s just me. I totally think you could get away with green in the Master, and I LOVE sagey green (might be using it myself soon enough!)
March 14th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
chocolate brown in the bedroom. I was not convinced of this myself until I did it, and I LOVE it.
I did 1 wall chocolate (or espresso) brown, and the other three walls a nice beige-ish colour (like espresso foam). It’s gorgeous.
I also like red for a living room - I wanted a red feature wall in our place, but wound up doing a darkish sagey green. Lovely.
But really, go with the 400 little samples and paint samples everywhere, then you’ll be more certain.
March 14th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
I just relooked at all your pictures and basically want your house, haha. And I think sage green is gorgeous, I see that’s a general idea here and there. But so pretty. Good luck!
March 15th, 2008 at 12:43 am
Sage green is one of my faves but it might be nice to have a change. How about a Navajo White accented with an earthy brown of some kind. Something very rich but on the neutral side?
March 15th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
I have to say that I love the fact that you call yourself ‘impatient’ and yet your house still isn’t done. Haha! PS - Don’t even stress that it’s not done - as you said, it’s only been 6 months!! I’ve been in my house almost 5 years and we’re not done. But we have to get close since we’re selling it. Blah. I know what you’re feeling, though. That anxious, exhausting feeling where you just want it done and you just want it to be ‘home’ and it’s not! For color ideas, you are always spot on. For a bedroom change? I would do an orange wall. I’m always a fan for orange when it comes to changes - it brightens everything up and lightens a mood! Just one wall, the rest ivory, dark brown trim…delicious. I have no doubt that whatever you decide will be brilliant! Just remember that it takes time to decorate a house, a LOT of time. Your house is huge, so just enjoy the adventure in each room. Good luck!