Sorry about the lighting in the last picture but you get the idea. Anyway, I removed the wallpaper, painted the trim white (it was a yellow-y off white before) and painted the walls beige. We then changed out the chandelier and added hardwood floors. And now it looks like this -
It's perfectly nice. And boring. So, I'm trying to give it a little more life - with a new paint color. It should be a quick project since I only have to paint the top half of the walls and hang new curtains. A trip to Home Depot for ideas was in order. And that's where I found curtain panels that I thought would be more dramatic. They are Martha Stewart Interlined Taffeta panels in Snail Shell. I grabbed two packages. Now, off to the paint department.
Then I noticed the star. Right on the front of the drapery package, there was a star indicating the color group. That's right, I could choose any paint colors from the star group and it will coordinate with these curtains. I'm sure that Martha has been doing this for a long time - but this was new to me. And my first thought was that this was kinda like Garanimals... for your house! Do you remember Garanimals? Those clothes that had tags with various animals designed to help kids match their shirts to their shorts? Any monkey shirt will match any monkey shorts. But I digress. So I looked through the star colors and found a few that I liked. Here's what I picked-
I looked at them together and decided -
- the color on the far right was too similar to the color I already had. So it was quickly eliminated.
- the color next to it (third chip) was too dark. The dining room only has one window so I wanted to keep it light and bright. So that was a no-go.
- the blue chip was beautiful. I really loved that one but I wasn't sure I wanted a blue dining room. I would like to use that color elsewhere and I already have ideas for it.
- the first color on the right looked perfect.
And that's how I chose Flagstone Gray. It will play off the white trim well -
And, of course I already know it will coordinate with the curtains - because they are both in the star group -
I have been a little nervous to take the curtains out of the package until I am absolutely sure about this decision. So that's the best picture I have right now. But here is the funny thing - I am LOVING this Flagstone Gray paint color. I can't wait to get it on the wall. But I'm not really sold on the curtains now - and that's how this whole thing started! Crazy. Maybe the stars aren't aligning...