emilybeth's Profile

Or, we could stop useless and novelty consumerism and just use a shoelace. I love good design, but come on!

I've been looking for the right paint colors for weeks for my home which has primarily northern exposure and a good deal of tree cover. It's shadowy inside, even on the sunniest days. Two suggestions for others:
1. Go warm -- whatever color you choose, with a house like mine you already have gray on your walls due to the shadows. Choose colors with no gray or black undertones and with more yellow undertones than you would normally be drawn to. The warmth will even out the gray shadows that are already on your walls. A great paint for this is Benjamin Moore's Color Stories. These pigments are mixed with no gray or black in the formula, so they have more depth and luminosity.
2. Because I was hell bent on painting one wall charcoal gray, I found a perfect deep dark gray (Benajmin Moore's Deep Space -- which has a decent amt of navy it in) and then balanced it by painting the rest of the space a very creamy, warm white (Behr's Toasted Marshmellow color matched for Ben Moore paint). It allowed me to enjoy my dramatic gray wall and kept my house from looking like the inside of a prison.

I get it if you don't know who Pantone is, but why are you reading this blog if you don't care? I personally love the 2012 color, but would only say that this year Pantone seems to be following instead of leading on this one. I've already seen this hue all over the place, including being prominently placed in J.Crew's current fall and winter collections.

You should probably give one to your design consultant.

a couple more:

http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=114&f=3033

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=982&f=6297

Personally, I think painting the cabinets would give the place a much fresher, cleaner feel. In their current stain, even with new pulls, I don't think the finish looks modern (but I may be wrong, lighting and seeing them in person may be totally different). In any case, I have seen traditional cabinets look uber modern by painting the lower cabs a slightly different color than the upper cabs. This also serves to "lighten" (weight-wise, not light-wise) the feeling of the room. So many upper cabs can make the room feel imposing, blocky or weighted down. I can email you some example photos if you like. You can contact me at emily b wyatt at gmail.

kelleyk- While your comments about the Austin housing market are likely completely valid (based on the amt of detail you included in your post, you seem well-informed) there is no need to disparage the good efforts of those who are working towards a solution, however small their impact on the overall problem. Their "drop in the bucket" I'm sure means everything to those lucky enough to benefit from their generosity.

From someone living in a first floor Boston apartment (read: over cold basement on wood floors that have no insulation under them), indulge in some nice slippers. It will solve your entire problem. Keep rugs where you will sit on the floor (livingroom) or come into contact with the floor (bathroom), but otherwise, there is no need to cover every inch of your floors for the occasion that you might walk on that particular inch of space. Just cover your feet. Keep a couple different sizes of washable slippers on hand for guests as well (ikea used to have cheap ones, yes, ikea... but you can find cheap slipper socks anywhere). Enjoy!

I am looking for ANY kind of greek key or similar graphic rug...there are a few on sale at Pottery Barn right now that might interested you, but its more like chain links...

I love that table too. If the surface scratches easily, you can always pair are more durable Ikea table top with those same legs and achieve a similar effect. I plan to do this and use it as a desk.