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Painting Your Walls and Loving Them....!!!!

Browse through just about any magazine and you will find rooms full of color and life. Sometimes you won't even notice the wall color because the shades are so perfect and blends in so well with the furnishings and accessories making the room look complete.

Most of us long to give our rooms a fresh new look and paint is usually the first place you need to start. You will be amazed at the effect paint colors has in a room. Choosing just the right color can be the most difficult part of the task. Then you ask yourself, where do I start. How will I know that the color I choose will be just perfect....?

You know the feeling; we get it every time we start to think about painting our walls. Because of this, so many of us just talk ourselves right out of it and never even try. Or we choose the safe way and once again, bring home the gallons of whites and creams, because we were too afraid of making a mistake. Having beautiful colors on our walls once again becomes a dream and one that we will never have.

All because we were too afraid to .......GO FOR IT....!!!

We recently built our Dream Home and I had the same difficult task of choosing paint colors for not just one room, but for the entire house...!!! YIKES...!!!! Now that was scary...:) I dreaded it and it caused me a lot of stress....!!!

Let me share with you how I went about making the right choices. I simply LOVE all of my rooms now, as they flow together in harmony and each one compliments the other. That is the main focus. Having all your rooms come together for a uniform look is so important, they must all flow through out the home creating ambiance and character of its own.

OK...Let's get started on how I went about tackling this HUGE TASK of

Painting ...... THE WHOLE HOUSE.....!

Some of you may already know that most paint stores now carry small sample containers of paint. They will even mix the color you need or think you need...:)

They cost around $5.00 each

and you get plenty of paint to bring home and test out on your walls.

I ended up with 52 of these sample containers before making my final selection...!!!

Since my home was new and had never been painted, I had the luxury of just putting in ON THE WALLS for testing. However, you may want to purchase some poster boards and apply your sample colors right onto the paper. Let it dry and using painters tape or masking tape, put it up on your walls, leaving it there for a FEW DAYS to be sure it is exactly what you want.

This is the BIGGEST Tip of All....Buy those samples first....!!!!

It is much better to pay a little more for a few samples and end up with the PERFECT color, than to hold your breath, cross your fingers and pray that the one choice you make will be the right decision.

So here we go on a Guided Tour of how MY COLOR choices came about....:)

This is my Foyer / Hallway....
You will see why I had such a task because of my Open Floor Plan...!!!

Below is a nice look at how you can see the foyer from the living room.

There is even a peep into the dining room from this view.

There is a tray ceiling in the living room and this is what I chose to do. We painted the living room wall in the darker brown. The foyer and hallway was a shade or two up on the same color card. Then I chose the hall and foyer color for the tray ceiling.....PERFECT....:)

This green color I chose for the Dining Room was the ONLY room color that I NEVER questioned. I loved the color and just knew it was perfect.

How wrong I was....After this room was all finished it only took one glance to realize that it was NOT going to work. The color was pretty, however it did not blend in with all the other choices I had made...:( So it was back to the sample colors again. I ended up with the same color that I put in our master bedroom...

OK...On to the Kitchen and Family Room...

Standing in the family room and looking into the kitchen and eating area and then on into the living room, you can see what I was up against... I wanted a warm yellow paint in my family room and YELLOWS really SCARE me.....:) I was afraid it would be too harsh and bold. I needed something warm and soft. And I found just that.... Can you see how many colors are painted there. Looks like about three or four. However here is my final choice after it is all done. I was HAPPY......:)

This soft warm yellow was PERFECT and look so good with the green I chose to use in the Breakfast Room...!! See how they just flow together and then on into the Butler's Pantry.

Notice how you can see the Breakfast Room AND the Family Room from the arch in the Kitchen. This is why it is so important to be sure your colors flow and compliment each other. They all need to look like they belong in the same house..!!!

This is the Guest Bedroom and was one of the Most Difficult rooms for me. For some reason and I am guessing it was the way the light was coming into the room, every color I tried there, looked showed up a different hue from one wall to the next. You would have thought it was a different color all together. It really was tough deciding on this one. I wanted a warm creamy beige. It the end it turned out great.

And I had the same dilema in our Master Bedroom. I wanted a warm and cozy classic look, something neutral so I would not be limited with the linens that I might want to use and make changes to. It turned out really nice too and I loved it.

Above is the GREEN that I made the mistake on. Below is the color it is now....

The color is a littler softer with the lights dimmed a little.

And this is the Living Room after it was all finished.

See how the tones of the foyer / hall and the ceiling color blend together creating a warm charming space that says, WELCOME...!!!

OK...Let's highlight the steps to Colors Made Easy....

Decide what look you are after and the color scheme you love.
Purchase SAMPLES of the color and bring them home for testing.
Using either your walls or poster boards, paint an area large enough to really see and feel the effect of the color you have chosen.
It is a really good idea to paint on or use at least two painted posters and put them in different areas of the room. The light will play tricks on you sometimes. This way you will be able to see them from all angles.
Let them stay there for a few days. Study them at various times of the day because they will look different depending on the time of day. And notice them at night with you lamps and ceiling lights on.
Consider how the color looks and blends with all your furniture and accessories. It all needs to look good together.
After you have done this, you will have total confidence in going ahead with your project and find that painting your rooms will be fun and something that you will enjoy for a long, long time.

So get fired up and Color Your Walls....YOU CAN DO IT.....!!!!

No more excuses....:)

I hope you have enjoyed my Painting and Coloring tips and I'll be looking for some Before and After pictures your blogs.

For more ideas and decorating with me,

and to see finished pictures of my home,

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