...She's Going to Paint you A Stylish Picture of Color Choices and Room Designing

Lest you think I'm the laziest wife ever, I've been packing, too, but more than anything else I've been decorating in my head. 

Color choices.

Rug decisions.

Shower curtains.

Wallpaper.

Duvet covers. 

CHEAPLY. 


Every single room in the house needs to be painted.  Not because they look like crap but because we want them to be our own.  And since that's the case, we're having a painting party on Sunday.  We've invited friends and family over to help us paint the house and they will be rewarded with endless thank yous, food and drinks, and the promise to help them at their own homes whenever they need it.  But because the party is planned that means I actually need to acquire the paint.  Which means I actually need to choose colors.  Which means that my husband and I are going to argue.  A LOT.

My husband and I have very different styles.  Well, no, not really.  I have style and he likes to think that his agreeing with my mother on everything constitutes his style.  Our wedding would be case in point.  The two of them agreed on almost EVERYTHING.  And disliked almost EVERYTHING I chose.

The goldfish swimming in mini bowls on the tables? AWESOME idea to me.  To them? No.

The simple plain china with a platinum ring around the edge? Classic, elegant, to me.  To them?  Boring and plain.

Chicken Francaise as a main course choice? Delicious and right up my lemon and butter coated alley to me.  To them? Ridiculous choice when Chilean Sea Bass was available.

I could go on, but I won't because it's Valentine's day and I want to remember that I love my husband and my mother and I don't resent them one bit for not allowing me goldfish and Chicken Francaise at my wedding!

At any rate, though, my husband and I tend not to agree on color choices, furniture decisions or names of our children.  Until we've argued so much that I either A) make the decision myself or B) we ignore the change (paint, new couch, etc.) until we absolutely have to do something about it!

We've been in our current home for close to 7 years and since we built it, we also got to choose every little detail.  THAT was enjoyable.  But since moving in, I have painted every room- except the kids' rooms- no less than 2 or 3 times each.  Why, you ask? 

BECAUSE I CAN.

and I wanted to.

I figured, though, that since I was doing the majority of the work that I should get to pick the colors.  Which, in reality, my husband pretty much agreed with as long as I wasn't painting our living room or bedroom in hot pink!

DEAL!

So, now, Sunday is bearing down on us quite quickly and while I don't need to have the house completely decorated and redone in a matter of days or weeks, I do want to pick paint colors that will allow for me to have a neutral palate with which to work.  BUT I also want to make sure that I have one or two pieces in each room that I can pull design from.  For instance, the eventual dining room will have the Pottery Barn "Nora" curtains.  And I just got this rug for a STEAL from Urban Outfitters:

The "Big Garden Print" Rug, as it is so aptly named, will take it's place in our kitchen.

Isn't the wallpaper lovely?  No? Oh, yeah, you're right it's downright HORRENDOUS!  You can't see it too clearly but I do believe those might be small teapots on it.  I could be wrong....I HOPE I'm wrong!  At any rate, the rug is going in there and the wallpaper?  Well, that will be going in the local dump, hopefully.

And so begins the decision of what to paint the walls in our kitchen.

What you need to know is that 1) the kitchen counters will be painted black (trust me) and the cabinets will be painted white, 2) the fridge may or may not be changed out for a side by side stainless steel one that may or may not be working in our current home 3) my husband has NO IDEA I purchased the above mentioned rug and therefore he has no clue what I have planned.

So, the other night when I sat down with my endless paint chips and inspiration rooms and little notepad to jot down my ideas my husband looked at me and said, "Don't even bother asking because you and I both know this will end with us arguing and you just picking what you want."  Healthy way to start a conversation, right?

Sadly, he was probably right.  He tends to veer towards more explosive colors than I do.  Although, I don't think he realizes I'm looking at a lovely green for the kitchen....it's right up his overly eccentric and outlandish alley!  I did try to consult him on the color for the living room/dining room/hallway but he kept picking the wrong color.  So, I guided him gently towards my suggestion of a light gray that will provide a lovely palate for our pictures and eventual artwork.