Home Design | Home Design Ideas | New Home Designs

i am totally a ben moore gal...maybe b/c the designer i worked under for seven years only used them and b/c its the only paint brand that gave me two complete designer sets to take to appointments. i could never do paints by purely using a fan deck. i thought i had my paint colors nailed down...got to the house i am working on and the yellow undertones in the preselected tile totally didn't feel right w/ some of the colors...back to square one. what are y'alls favorite colors right now?? i am leaning over to the colors w/ grey undertones but unfortunately that palatte won't work in this house. looks like paint will again dominant my day! have a wonderful weekend!

*my spell check no longer works when i write the post (kind of scary)...has this happened to y'all??

* i didn't stage that picture...and you are probably thinking what kind of designer is she...that tile is only in one tiny bathroon and its broken up into smaller tiles b/w big 18 x 18 ...got to go my daughter is using the blue prints as her new toy at this very moment!!!

to paint a precious antique?? i have loved these painted chairs since they appeared on the cover of Charleston Home last sept. which brings me to my dilemma...is it okay to go there...there begin taking an antique that has been in your family for decades and painting it!! my finger tips sweat a little just thinking of that thought!! i am all about painting an antique that you pick up at the local antique mall but what about one that has meaning and a past w/ your family??!

lately, i have been having this epiphany that i can do anything if i set my mind to it...well i want to be oscar...aka the man with that spray can featured in the picture! (ha, for people that know me, they would get a real chuckle out of that!) i don't know if it is me reading style court's guest blog this week (she is doing the best posts), but man i am obsessed w/ wanting to find the perfect flea market bargain and making it something sassy like Lee from Pieces or Ruthie from Chapman Radcliff. and i think if i had this spray can and of course the gas station shirt w/ my name on it, i could create some real masterpieces!! we have a garage and my father-in-law has that spray can tool...why couldn't i. i called my husband at work yesterday and said, i want to paint our china cabinet! he wasn't too excited about this idea (maybe b/c our garage has the bookshelf that he built over thanksgiving still sitting in it needing another coat of primer and 2 coats of paint...but wouldn't it be so much easier if we sprayed it) i also want to paint my DR chandelier, our LR armoire, and my foyer console....i need to be oscar. plus, i think you look a lot cooler w/ a spray can vs. a paint brush!

as i flip through magazines the color that is really standing out to me is gray. i see it used in a ton of design elements right now. i use to feel like this color was cold and i couldn't imagine using it on the walls but i have a new outlook on gray. it seems so peaceful and pairs beautifully with blues, browns, corals, etc. i will say, i tend to lean to the brownish/ gray version of the color...i think that the added brown pigment gives off a warmth that makes the color not seem as well, how do you say it- gray! i was thrilled when a client/ indecisive friend of mine wanted to use the color. we looked at a ton of paint for her walls. we wanted the house to feel neutral but not look like a "spec home" where the walls seem like an institution. i can't wait to see how it reads on the walls.

so every time i get a new Cottage Living, i get another inspiration. last month, it was fran's letters (which i need to show y'all) and this month it's kitty's dining room. i love the diamond wall treatment....however, i think it's over my head. the homeowner, kitty, did this by hand, three times until she finally got this result- which i think is stunning. i would go absolutely crazy trying to perfect this look. for pete's sake, i went crazy trying to paint 6 letters...can you imagine the stress i would be under! plus, it's all about the straight lines, good painter's tape, and math. i love the white and chocolate...my dining room would look more like a tiffany's box b/c it's robin's egg blue and i can visualize the diamonds in white....my husband would kill me...i can see me now, on a ladder attempting to get a straight line...yep, this project isn't going to happen. but way to go kitty!

i love the look of white painted floors. there is something about them that make me smile. maybe because it reminds me of a cottage beach house...i don't know. i just don't think you can beat the clean and simplistic look of these beautiful floors. if i were able to build a new house, i would love to have white floors. if you like the look of these but don't want them all over your house, you could put them in the sunroom or have them in the main areas of your home and put wall-to-wall seagrass in the bedrooms. i think these floors paired with great geometric print chairs or draperies would be divine....