Color mania!

It's been one of the toughest things to figure out: How to tie in our furniture, kitchen counters, our new 1970s brick fireplace with a few gallons of paint. The problem is that when you walk in the front door, you can immediately see the living room, dining room and part of the kitchen (which only has a breakfast bar separating it and the dining room.) Oh, and we'd like to avoid painting the brick or buying new furniture. Here's a sketch of the layout:


The goal is to paint as much as possible before the floors and furniture go in - it's just easier. So these are the color palettes I've come up with. (Bearing in mind this space still looks like a complete construction zone.)




The back wall spanning the kitchen and dining room (as well as the rest of the kitchen) will be painted in Sherwin Williams Drizzle or Watery. The long wall running from the dining room to the living room will be painted Sherwin Williams Cachet Cream. This was the toughest color to come up with because it's got to coordinate with all three spaces. The hallway and front wall of the living room I plan to leave untouched for now. I'd like to paint them a shade or two deeper than Cachet Cream, but I want to make sure it's not going to be too much once the furniture is in. Here's a layout with some of the colors inserted.


Thoughts? Ideas? I'd love your input!

Just when it seems it will never end...

We finally made some progress! Our contractor Sean is letting Paul borrow his battery-operated brad nailer, which has increased the speed of the bamboo-floor-laying considerably. On top of that, the kitchen cabinets are being hung, the dining room wall is down, and the bathrooms are being tiled. In short, it's finally looking like a house again.

I'm quite happy with how the tile in the guest bathtub had turned out! I gambled and picked up a box of thin white tiles to make a stripe inside the bath. I was hoping it would tie in the edge tiles (which I could only find stocked in white, and didn't want to special order.)

The next dilemma - kitchen lighting. We've decided to go with a ceiling fan (ugly, but a good move in a house with no A/C), pendants above the breakfast bar, and a light fixture above the sink. Finding them all to match in a style we like is hard work. And of course the pendants I like from Lowe's aren't sold in New York. Next stop - ebay. And tonight, test paint swatches go up in the living room and kitchen.

Kitchen taking shape

Guest bath