More Paint Decisions - This Time, the Living Room

I hate the colors in our living room.  The walls, the baseboards and ceiling are an awful yellow-y greenish tan.  The woodwork around the fireplace is a yellowish cream.  The carpets are a lovely sculpted light gray.  I know I am describing the room is such a vivid way. 

The room has many lovely features. The triple slider leading to the backyard.  The gas fireplace (once it is repaired and made functional).  The built ins with glass shelves.  The antique mantle (complete with secret compartment). The large size of the room.

But all are overwhelmed by poor paint choices and bad flooring.

Since we aren't tackling the flooring just yet, we are going to paint. The only problem, we have trouble picking paint.  It is a problem we have dealt with before in the office.  After perusing Ace, Sherwin Williams, Home Depot and Lowes paint sections, we decided to paint a number of swatches on the wall. 

Yes, I did tape the flooring sample to the wall for the photo.  I will admit I am a bit odd.

Unfortunately, none of these made Hubs or I say,"Yes!  These are the ones."  So back to the chips we went.

And added more colors to the mix.

 

With this last batch of samples, we had two strong contenders for the fireplace wall.  The two dark colors in the second column from the far right. 

Again, we were at a loss for wall color.  That meant another trip to the paint store where I picked out three possibilities that worked with the accent colors.  To make our final decision, I painted both accent colors on the wall, with the white trim, a sample of the flooring and a piece of our furniture.

 Using this technique, we had a winner (thank goodness!).

Accent color (to be used above the fireplace and in the back of the bookcases) Behr Ultra Perfect Taupe - the darker color found above the white in the photo on the left.

Wall color:  Behr Ultra Mineral - the light color on the far right under the Perfect Taupe sample

Ceiling color: White ceiling paint

Trim, baseboards, bookcases and mantle:  Semi-gloss white

And even better, Behr paint has a rebate at Home Depot this weekend.  

Now that we have a color decision, I better get to the store to buy the paint before we change our mind.  Then we just have to find the time to paint.  That is an even bigger challenge than picking the colors.

We also have a plan for the darker accent color we did not end up choosing (Behr Ultra Elephant Skin, in case you were wondering).  It will still show up in the room.  Keep following to see what I mean.