Last weekend I went out and got a sample of Whitall Brown (if you recall, it was Megan’s recommendation) and another lighter shade of brown that I pretty much just picked willy-nilly (’cause that’s how I roll).
I got home and had my husband roll samples of the paints on several walls of our living room. We lived like that for several days as I hemmed and hawed and hemmed some more.
Then I went back and got two more DIFFERENT shades of brown to try out.
Oh, our living room. It is a showpiece, I’m telling ya. Everyone who walks in goes WAHHHH???
After living for several days with different shades of brown swabbed all over my walls, I have made an executive decision.
WHITALL BROWN.
See? I should have just gone with it to begin with.
I’ve also been pillow shopping. There are a lot of pretty pillows out there, in case you weren’t aware!! It is VERY hard to choose. Everywhere I go, I take pictures with my iPhone and send them to my friend Holly, who is helping me with my Living Room Project. (That’s a brave woman right there.)
These are the only ones I’ve actually purchased. I love how earthy and soothing these leaves are with the brown walls. I might keep them. Or I might not.
I’m not crazy about the brown pillows, now that I see them all together. They will probably go back to Target.
And I will probably end up replacing the sofa slipcover with something cream or white, but I’m waiting for the paint to go up to decide for sure.
Oh how I wish I could put that beast out to pasture (or in the basement) and get something nice and new and, you know, NOT slip-covered. But it’s not happening this year, so we’ll continue to make do for a while longer.
The painters are scheduled to come paint next week! I can’t WAIT!!
LOVE the leaf pillows!
THANKS!!!!
Yay for Whitall Brown! You have no idea how much I love picking paint color!
You have no idea how much I love when someone picks a paint color for me. 😉 This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. 😉
So. A red for the powder room? 🙂
Those leaf pillows are perfect!
You think? They are growing on me. 🙂
I was looking at the chair too. I actually love the brown you chose for the wall, and also think a light cream or tan slip cover would look beautiful. But I like the idea of working some red and green into the room with the pillows. Then you flow easily from your office red to entry to your living, then into your dining room. The colors should play off on another so your eye can relax a little. I know these pillows are expensive… but I think they are earthy, fit your style and work. If you could find something similar for the sofa it would pull everything together and all your choices will look even more amazing. See below:)
http://www.potterybarn.com/products/suzani-embroidered-euro-shams-warm/?pkey=e%7Cpillows%7C147%7Cbest%7C0%7Cviewall%7C24%7C%7C124&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-Sku_Top_Marketing_Rule%7CPillows-_-
that’s gorgeous! I agree about bringing red in. But then, the dining room is all green and yellow and blue, so the pillows work off of that. i could maybe replace the red/green checked chair. we’ve considered putting that in our bedroom.
So sad to see the other pillows go;-) keep one of the brown pillows for texture-are they a knit?
I like your color pick! As far as a slipcover, I love white because it is easy to clean( I know-3 boys & 1 wild girl and I still love white), but cream might look great,too. Maybe a different style slipcover and you may like the sofa again.
Can’t wait to see the finished paint job.
You know what you are getting for your birthday gift, don’t you??? 😉
Can’t wait;-) I could probably make them pretty.
I was going to suggest a different slipcover too. There are online tutorials for sewing and reupholstering a couch. But I’m not gonna judge if you don’t go that route – – I can barely use a sewing machine. 🙂 P.S. I love brown walls. Way to bite the bullet and pick a color.
Hahahahahahaha. Yeah. That. 😉
I’d say go with cream for the couch so it doesn’t blend into the wall. Keep the leaf pillows. Although, I like the knit texture of the brown pillows I think you need more color. Try to find solid or a texture pillow that has one of the colors in the leaf pillows. Or don’t listen to me because I struggle as much as you about which colors to put in my house. A color specialist I am not. I also noticed the chair on the very right of that picture. What about getting pillows to coordinate with the colors in that chair to pull the whole room together? Pillows are relatively inexpensive so if you change the chair down the line you can always get different pillows.
Yeah, that is the only thing that bothers me about the leaves – that chair really won’t go. I may replace it though. (I hope to!)
Thanks for the shout out friend, it’s been fun so far and I hope you’ve found my tips helpful. I’m excited to see your room come together. I’m really excited to see how the room will look all freshly painted. See you tomorrow!
It’s been nice to have a professional opinion!! I can’t wait to see how it all comes together when the paint goes up this week.
I love the warmer, richer brown tones but remember that it will get darker when all the walls are painted. Make sure you have plenty of natural light before you put too dark of a color on the wall. Another option, if you don’t think you have enough light, is to do an accent wall or 2 and paint the other walls a lighter shade of the same color… just my 2 cents 🙂 I love colored walls!!!
There is actually a lot of light in that room, and the ceilings are high, so I think it will work. I really love dark paint colors. 🙂 I can’t WAIT!
oh – and I love the texture of the brown pillows!
Just found this one too… It has yellow in it like the dining room.
http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Decorative-Park-18×18-Down-Pillow/6428394/product.html
If you haven’t noticed I love to decorate:)
Have you checked out the blog mariakillam dot com? She’s a color expert and has great tips on making color choices!
Thanks! I will.
She teaches that It’s all about the undertones. If the undertones don’t work with your existing flooring, etc. it doesn’t matter how much you like the paint color on its own, it just won’t look as good. She really does have good info.
I love the leaf pattern too, you seem to be really drawn to that pretty blue (light teal/sky?) that’s in it. Here’s a great segment from the Nate Berkus show about coordinating patterns on pillows.. I hope the link works!
http://www.thenateshow.com/videos/detail/3185/design-101-patterns
oh fun, thanks!
I was JUST wondering what the status was!! Which swab on the wall is the one you picked?
the one on the left over the middle pillow. 🙂
I like the paint swatches, kind of reminds me of the wall in my kitchen!!
The pillows are great, and i thought that teal and the color in the paint swatch from the pother post and your current blog background are all kind of similar!
I think if you do go with the white or cream slipcover then see how you like the solid brown pillows, I’m thinking they’d work.
At the risk of echoing a bunch of the comments already here: The leaf pillows are awesome. I like the texture of the brown pillows, too – but with the brown walls they might be too dark. maybe something similar on the lighter end of your palette?
YES! I was actually just thinking that – 2 ivory pillows might be nice, if I keep the green couch cover.