Saying goodbye to favorite decorating trends.

Parent Cafe
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Our old house has open arches between rooms on the first floor.

I have a very poor track record when it comes to picking paint colors on my own.

Regret, teeth-gnashing, stressful real tears kind of poor track record.

So when it was time to paint all the rooms on the first floor, I chose a Benjamin Moore suggested palette.

You know, one of those paint chip cards that have 3-5 colors on them, guaranteed to not clash.

The living room is a lovely dark brown. The kitchen & stairwell a warm beige. The trim a stone off-white. The dining room & study are a rich brick red. All from the card.

Just about the time GREY came on trend, I started to look at the brick red paint color and think — oooff — now that’s dated.

But as others have said, I still love it!

We have warm colors on the first floor and cool colors upstairs.

Does anyone else have trouble picking paint colors?

I would love to update some light fixtures but can not justify the expensive at this time.

One project I want to make progress on this year is to hang more art and pictures on our walls. I’ve already collected a few pieces that give me so much joy.

One is a large watercolor one of my daughters painted of the Great Lakes. It’s in blues and greens. I took the budget route to framing it and it’s hanging above our fireplace now. Love it.

I also printed and framed some favorite photos of our little terrier.

My other daughter paints as well, and I’m hoping to get my hands on something of hers. In the meantime, I have some of her pottery on display — because I really do love it!

Many things around the house I know we will not fix or change because I’d rather use the money to go on a hiking vacation!

Fun thread!

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@Midwest67, I too have trouble picking paint colors, at least for common areas. We are going with boring “greige” and white trim. Since we hope to sell in next couple years we went for very neutral.

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With paint colors I often will buy some samples (the kind that isn’t ACTUALLY paint but will show you the color on the wall. Could be a waste but much cheaper than wasting a gallon of paint - good paint is not cheap!

I also will spend time on Pinterest looking at lots of photos of rooms or surfaces with the color of paint I’m thinking about. That is often eye opening to me. And always remember that most times, paint looks darker on the wall than that little sample square!

Last paint hint is to simply look up the “10 most popular whites” or “10 most popular Benjamin Moore colors” or that kind of thing. I figure they are popular for a reason.

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The light in the room can also affect how a paint color looks vs. the paint chip.

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I jokingly tell my kids that I’m color blind. One of my daughters will describe the undertones in colors and I just smile and nod like she is speaking a foreign language.

Although I understand the concept of undertones, I just cannot “see it” with any kind of accuracy for a real life application.

In fact, I ordered swatches from The Company Store for some solid color sheets and ran the choices past her before finalizing the order. Of course, she picked just the right color that compliments the room!

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I am terrible with paint colors. When I redid my kitchen I went to a Benjamin Moore store that had a paint consultant. I showed her samples of the cabinet wood, granite countertop, tile backsplash, and tile floor and she picked a color. Actually, I think she picked 3 colors and I got the samples (paper swatches) and picked the one of the three I liked best.

Last time I painted my living room/dining room/hall (they are all connected), I again went to a paint consultant in the store and showed her a “white” I was trying to match and she nailed it.

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I’m terrible with paint colors, too. A few years ago H and I wanted a “refresh” of our house so we hired a professional stager for a few hours. It cost a few hundred dollars and she recommended paint colors for every room, helped pick new carpet. I love the new colors and she was worth every penny.

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Just don’t pick out paint colors if you have cataract surgery scheduled!

We had several samples on our walls…I liked one with a slight yellow hue. My DH usually hates yellowish but oddly, he quickly chose that sample.

Well…guess what? There was NOT a trace of yellow in that color at all…which I found out after my first cataract was done. ??‍♀️

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Oh crud @thumper1 I’m aghast, so sympathetic, and cracking up all at the same time!

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So today our builder sent us a photo of the wall in the breakfast room where there are some glass blocks. Not only is the interior dry wall rotted, but there is rot all the way to the exterior stucco walls.

I HATE glass blocks.

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We took our house as it came five years ago and there are some old trends that I love and some I don’t. We have a curved glass block wall in the corner of our living room that I love. It lets in lots of light but maintains privacy. During a good sunset, it gleams with the colors. It’s under the eaves so doesn’t appear to have any water issues.

We also have vertical blinds - thin white ones. Although design wise I might prefer shades, I like these blinds because we can tilt them to let in or block direct sun as desired without cutting off light, and they kind of fade into the background when tilted open.

We have white subway tile on kitchen and bathroom counters, which I hate. So hard to clean. A kitchen renovation would be great but as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, that could result in divorce.

We have thin board wood floors, which look fine.

We have a front door with prism and frosted glass panels, which made a flipper friend blanch when she first saw it. But again it gives light while providing privacy - plus it bounces rainbows around the room in the afternoon. Both the glass block wall and door panels have a glass art feel and I love glass.

We have a 9x11 Chinese rug that we bought (among other things) when the John M Smyth store went out of business on Michigan Avenue 40 years ago. It’s been in a dining room, bedroom, and now living room. It’s starting to get faded and worn in spots but we’re used to it. There’s actually a lot of old furniture that I’d like to replace but my husband doesn’t want to get rid of old worn out broken down stuff as long as it’s functional. Which is why we’re still together after 45 years ;).

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@Marilyn, you’re too young to have been with your husband that long.
But many of us can relate to the idea :slight_smile:

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I dislike plantation shutters. They cover too much of a window when open. When you have nice views you don’t want them covered! They look heavy to me- not at all light and airy. NOT beachy.

Paint colors. Who knew, especially for those of us with super color vision, how different every variation could be? Latest was outside stucco- repainting the gray with gray. Some too pinky, or greeny, too cold or… Found one (of the dozen or more) we like. Then there was the lightness/darknes. Fortunately you can usually find the light reflected value now. Blues, greens and beiges were the issue before then. Found out light beiges fall under the whites designation- who knew. At least i did not let my H choose the color on the appeal of the name. Boring walls are great for showcasing the stuff in the room.

We discovered that leather feels cold even in Florida winters- takes a bit of time to warm up, then you change position and have to deal with it all over again.

One trouble I have with replacing furniture is finding something I like. I will NOT get any bedframe with sharp corners. Hurt myself one night visiting his relatives- the corner got me. The case for headboards (no to wallpaper one- the wall under the head of the bed was greasy from previous owners).

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Ditto regarding bed frames. We are very picky too and will not subject our guests to frames that cause bruising!

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I’ve been wanting to decorate and watching a lot of HGTV and reading up. I do think that gray’s time is coming to a close (and to think, about 10-12 years ago we bought a new comforter set with some gray in it and literally had to search many stores for gray drapes!) From what I see, a light beige or greige or cream is going to be the new neutral. From what everyone on HTGV is doing, subway tile in the kitchen is also ending its heyday, replaced by patterned tile backsplash (along with brushed brass cabinet hardware, and bathtubs in the bathrooms).

I also think that shag isn’t out…it’s back in, for rugs, at the moment.

I have a kitchen desk that I love and use. However, on the shows, they are putting coffee stations in, that’s an easy change for an unused kitchen desk.

I also think that if you have a good Oriental rug, hang on to it. I see them in all kinds of looks.

We got a quote to get our kitchen cabinets painted and it was $3200, for a small to med sized kitchen. I also had a painter friend give me instructions and it was quite detailed and would be a big job.

PPG paints will mail you 12 inch squares of paint colors for free. I hang these up and live with them for a while, trying to check them at various times of day. Also don’t put them touching each other. It’s worth it to spend time on that paint color, I’ve learned, after a few mistakes!

I also did some research on bare windows and learned that they are fine, decorating wise! And on our small windows such as the kitchen over sink window we have wide wood horizontal blinds, which does seem more updated than a valance.

My house is 100 with wood floors and unpainted trim so we will never have that minimalist, bright modern look. After 23 years of living here, I find myself just wanting to paint the entire interior something light, warm, and neutral. Which should last us until we sell in 6-8 years.

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I never used to have trouble with paint colors until the last time I “updated.” I removed blue/mauve wallpaper in the entry and wanted that warm neutral paint color that was in. It looked like someone had smeared mustard on the wall! Painted it again a cream color. Now two bedrooms, kitchen, and formal dining are that color. The living room is the next darker shade on the same swatch.

I have the hardest time with blues. Painted the kitchen eating area what was supposed to be a greenish blue (I bought the sample and everything.) Looked awful so I repainted it the same cream color as above. Then a few years later, I painted my D’s bedroom another blue that I loved on the swatch. It was a pretty green/grey blue, but in her room it looked like baby boy blue. I repainted it the same cream and it looks yellow in her room. I even changed the light bulbs in there and it still looks different than it does in the rest of the house. Oh well. Not in the mood to paint again.

Regarding the discussion about painting kitchen cabinets, I recently finished painting all of mine. The hard part is the prep. I sanded them down to bare wood as much as possible and used a laquer-based primer (BIN). They have not peeled.

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I painted my cabinets over 25 years ago. The only problem is that the corners on the base cabinets have chipped in high traffic areas. I used to touch them up every so often, but my tiny container of left over paint has long since solidified. I’ll repaint them again before we sell.

For colors, my husband recently joked that I should have my own HGTV show called, “Paint it yellow.” Light putty neutral yellow, darker golden yellow, I like yellow. Glad to hear the warmer tones are coming back in.

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+1 for yellow.

It’s a happy color for me!

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I recently saw a show on HGTV-I think it was a show that helped the client prepare their property for sale after a period of no luck selling-that incorporated a very yellow statement wall into the design. They didn’t do the whole room, just a focal wall, but everyone who came to the open house commented on it positively. So it well may be “in” again now or in the near future.

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I like yellow. I have yellow in my mudroom. I updated the yellow a few years ago to be a little more mustardy. My office is painted with three walls or yellow and one accent wall of blue - we call it the sand and sea room (actually have ceramic fish hanging on the blue wall). My kitchen beige also has hints of yellow in it. To me yellow is a happy color.

I remember when I was young my mother had our dining room painted green, She saw a show on TV where they said green was the worst color for a room in which you eat. She went out the next day and bought blue paint and redid the room.