Coming together (in my head)

First of all, hook 'em horns! Congrats to my Longhorns on their win Saturday against OU. It wasn't pretty, but I will take it! Keep it up, guys!

As far as the house goes, I only have mental progress to report, but there's a lot of it. And know that almost all of the mental images I've described in the past have changed quite a bit!

The week before last, I spent every evening after work at paint stores agonizing over swatches and what samples to take home. The walls are looking pretty schizophrenic around here with rashes of various colors splotched about. Last Sunday The Redhead and I finally collected some gallons of paint to have ready for whenever we can get to them. We weren't able to do any painting last week or weekend, but hopefully we can at least do some spackling and taping this week and get some accomplished after work...someday... Here are the colors we purchased (keeping in mind that once we get the rooms painted, we may adjust our ideas [again]).

Living room: Popped Corn by Behr


I actually never bought a sample of this, but I did buy samples of a white that was cooler than Popped Corn and one that was warmer. I wasn't totally happy with either of those I tried so I thought Popped Corn was a good compromise. By this time I was so tired of trying samples and looking at swatches, I went ahead and bought the gallons without sampling first. So there.

I decided on white for the living room because there are so many rooms that come off of it (study, kitchen, dining room and the stairway wall continues into the room in columns around the entryway), it really needed to be a neutral that could have accessories that tie those rooms together. I think white walls can be so crisp and fresh and make furniture and accessories pop. Plus, knowing me, I will want to change out the accessories from time to time to change the feel of the room. White walls will make that so much easier to accomplish.

I just love the color blue, but couldn't bring myself to have a totally blue living room. I mean, that would be A LOT of blue! To incorporate the color without it being overwhelming, I decided that the kitchen and study will be blue, then I can bring their blue into the living room with curtains, which will look so fresh against the white walls. Here's an example below from Cote de Texas. The room itself has a much different feel than our living room will have, but the contrast between the curtains and the walls gives you the idea.


It looks like there we may also decide on a dark couch (either a taupe or dark gray) with dark wood legs and probably have a couple of my grandmothers chair recovered, which also have dark wood on them. I think they will look great against the white backdrop!

Kitchen: Surf by Martha Stewart (her colors are at Lowe's, but I had Sherwin Williams do colormatching because I've heard that Lowe's paint is of mediocre qulity)

(I couldn't find a good online swatch I could retrieve for you, so this will have to do)

The kitchen's limited wall space will be this color blue. There is one wall that hides the fridge and that will be painted in chalkboard paint, because I thought I thought it would be a nice contrast and because it's just fun! This picture from design*sponge got my wheels turning for that:


I've also been thinking about this Martha Stewart project:


The kitchen seems like a good idea for this...if I could keep it neat. :)

Study: Sea Spray Blue by Martha Stewart

Flash player, again, shut me down from copying images, and I couldn't find a good picture of it online. However, it's basically a little lighter version of the kitchen color.

Both The Redhead and I liked the idea of a blue study. The rub lies in that it's a small room with a big, vaulted ceiling. It will be very interesting to see what the walls do to the paint color! The other challenge is making sure the blue compliments and doesn't detract from the pool collage that we want to do (The Redhead was a swimmer for most of his life and an NCAA waterpolo player). I got that idea from this picture found on beachbungalow8 a while back.



I think we will have so much fun together finding pictures for this project!

Dining Room: Mindful Gray by Sherwin Williams


Ok, ok, so I know I said I'd paint the room soft bluey/greeny then have red accents like Marie's dress. Turns out my china is way more green than I thought, which was clashing a lot with the colors I was trying (Tidewater by SW spoke to me). After much agonizing, the walls will be gray, and I'll have my chairs covered in turquoise to compliment the china.


Oh and at Round Top a few weeks ago I got the coolest light fixture for the dining room. I'll make sure to post all those fun finds next!

Upstairs hall/Stairs/Entry Columns: Repose Gray by Sherwin Williams


Master Bedroom: Dovetail by Sherwin Williams


I think the Dovetail flowing into the Repose will look really lovely. Hopefully something like this house I saw on d*s.


There you have it! A hypothetical paint tour. :) Now, if we can ever get started... I'll keep you posted. (Get it?! Posted! Ha!) Have a great week!

Dining Room

About the only room I feel pretty settled on is the dining room. This house does not technically have a formal dining room, but it does have a breakfast room that is separate enough that it can be used as a formal dining room so I want to dress it up a little. Here is what I'm thinking (I am sure I will get better at this whole virtual decorating thing as this goes along...bear with me!):

The Room:


I apologize for the poor quality of the picture. It was taken in a hurry the first time we looked at the house.

Second, you need to know the room is inspired by this dress, which you've seen before here:

I am in love with this dress.

Continuing on.

Wall color:

Maybe something along these lines.

Furniture:

I have an antique draw leaf table that is square and has seating for four at its smallest. When it is extended, it can probably seat six to eight. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of it right now. You're not really missing much because it needs a bit of refinishing, which I will work on when I have my very own driveway and garage(!). I would say it has kind of a similar feel and color as the dining table in the original dining room/breakfast room post. I don't want to distract from the room I'm describing here, so I'll just show you that the color of the wood is probably about like the picture below. I also have an antique buffetish piece that is fashioned from an old store cabinet that will probably go in the room as well. It has some neat old hardware on it and looks great with the table.


I have two different styles of antique chairs, but both are still about the color of the table. Four of the chairs DESPERATELY need to be recovered. The other two are already covered in a red and gold striped fabric (my grandmother had them refinished and recovered for me when I was in high school). The first four I am thinking of covering something like this Joel Dewberry pattern.


Maybe not this specific pattern, but it gives you the color idea.

Lighting:

I am still loving capiz shell chandeliers, and I've been looking at this one from West Elm because I like the rectangular shape.


Square might be better for the room, but, again, you get the idea.

I also like this lamp from West Elm. I think it would look good on the buffet.


Other:

The flooring is a neutral-colored linoleum in there right now, which will come out eventually in favor of wood or tile. In the meantime, the linoleum is in fine shape, so we'll deal. Maybe a rug is in the dining room's future?

Not sure about other accessories and wall art. I definitely want to display some of my crystal and china - probably in some neat antique cabinet on the wall (can't WAIT for Round Top in October). I just wanted to get the big ideas in my head for now.

There you have it! I hope you're having a great week!

Tuesday

First of all, I want this pillow from Etsy for the grey and yellow bedroom I think I want.


Please notice that there is an owl in the upper left hand corner peeking at you over his shoulder, a tiger in the lower right corner and a little grey bird above the tiger. Love. It.

I think this pillow would be perfect in the master bedroom in my head: grey (with just a hint of blue) walls and a yellow and white bedspread with this colorful pillow (keeping things not boring) on it.

Second of all, I need a sewing machine and the knowhow. There was this lovely yellow bedding at Pottery Barn last spring. I thought it was beautiful so I told my mom, "I really love this bedding, but since I don't usually like yellow, I have no idea what kind of room I would put it in or what color walls it would require." The rest of the conversation went something like this:

Mom: "That is pretty bedding. I really like grey and yellow together. I think it would look great in a room with grey walls!"

Me: "Ew! Yellow and grey?! No, thanks."

Mom: "I dunno. I like it."

My mom knows more than me.

Aaaaanyway. Now, of course, I can't find yellow bedding that I like, and I certainly can't find that yellow bedding I was drawn to last spring (wouldn'tyouknowit). Therefore, I need the sewing machine (Don't forget the knowhow. I need that, too.) so I can make the duvet cover I see in my head, which incidentally I have yet to come across online or in stores.

I'm still working on finding pictures of inspiration for the grey and yellow bedroom to show you (all three or four of you, you lucky ducks). Will post those at another date. In the meantime, have a great week!

p.s. I like writing things in parentheses (even if it is obnoxious and grammatically incorrect).
p.p.s. I also like the little turquoisey blue chair the pillow is on in the picture.