Paint colors

I love this brown living room.




{photos via here}

When we were in Orlando a few weeks ago, we stopped by Ikea to pick up a few odds and ends I needed for organizing the apartment. One of the model rooms was painted Benjamin Moore's XXXX (wrote the name down and can't remember it or find the note I made---) and Aaron loved the room. I jumped at my chance to figure out what, exactly, this guy was interested in decor wise, and found out that he loved the brown with white couches and trim. Now refer to the "bones" of our apartment. Things we are making work include our white couches and the moulding and trim work that is finished in a pretty bright white. I love the images above, though I'm afraid the chocolate brown would be too much in our small apartment, especially because the living room and kitchen are one open area.

I also love the wooden shades in the above picture. I'd love to get them to replace the awful white blinds we're using now. Since this apartment isn't our permanent home, I'm hesitant to spend the money to get the wooden shades, but I know they'd make our place look a ton better.

I also like this color – Benjamin Moore Texas Leather. I think this is the exact color of my parents' living room, and I love it. I also love the gallery wall going up the staircase in this picture too. From here. What do you think---could we do a darker brown in a smaller area with standard (low) ceilings? That is one concession I have to make about Gumby. Though the rest of the place was a disaster, the ceiling height was fabulous. The room felt enormous. I'm sure that wouldn't be fun pay the bills to cool in the summer, though.

And I saw these chevron throws and absolutely love them – especially this Island blue color from Garnet Hill:



However, at $268, it's a little more than I'm willing to spend right now. Lands' End has something comparable on sale for $39, and though the blue isn't exactly the perfect blue like Garnet Hill's, I love it.


So, that's my brainstorming for today. I hope you all had a lovely Thursday. I'm looking forward to the weekend and getting some projects done. TGI (almost) F!