New old couch and new decorating challenges!

My husband told me last week that he was getting a couch from a friend, which would replace our old one that was falling apart. He told me it was in great condition and was tan and would work well with my proposed  SW Sea Salt or Rainwashed wall color. So last night the old couch goes out and the 'new' one comes in. NOT what I expected. First of all, I was planning on buying a couch that looked like this:

or maybe this:

But definitely not this:

OK, nothing looks good with the ugly pink carpet. In this picture the sofa actually looks brown/gray. In real life it looks dark olive green. It is actually in great condition. There are two things that are driving me crazy. The first is the color~ it clashes with many of the light aqua colors I have been drooling over. Second, notice there is no arm on the right end of the sofa. I like symmetry and balance. This will drive me insane. Also, my husband LOVES it. So do the kids..and the dachshunds. I am clearly outnumbered and need to make it work (until I can save up enough to buy a new one).
     I got out my beloved paint chips and fabric swatches and put them on the sofa. It isn't as bad as my mind imagined, but it is going to take some creativity to make it work.

The big bottom paint chip is Restoration Hardware Silver Sage. This looked too cool gray on my wall. It didn't show any of the beautiful subtle blue/green colors like it did in Beth's kitchen. Above that is SW Sea Salt, which is the direction I am  was heading in. It has a little bit more color to it, but enough gray to be neutral.Click here to see it in Beth's sunroom . Beth obviously is very talented! Her blog is called Unskinny Boppy. Go visit.

This strip is from Sherwin Williams.  left to right: Topsail, Tradewind, Rain, Interesting Aqua.
I decide to look at colors that are more blue than green. Green seems to clash with the brown/olive of the couch. (I know, this is getting ridiculous, it will be 2013 before I even choose a wall color!).

Well, after all is said and done, I STILL like SW Sea Salt. Now, I have to convince my husband to help me rip up the pink carpet...stay tuned....

I've got the Palladian Blues!

I finally narrowed my color choice for the living room. I chose SW Sea Salt, SW Rainwashed, BM Palladian Blue, BM Woodlawn blue. I went to the store and got a sample of Palladian Blue. This was my first choice. I painted a piece of art paper (specially treated for acrylic paint) and taped it on the wall. I moved it to different spots in the room and looked at it for several days in different light. The verdict? It looks completely different on the wall than it did on the chip and in all the pictures of rooms online that were painted Palladian Blue. How disappointing. On my walls it looks bright green/aqua....no hint of the beautiful blue I see in these pictures!! This illustrates the importance of buying a sample, painting a board and then looking at it on your walls in different lighting conditions. It is amazing how light effects the color!

BM Palladian Blue

http://www.caitlincreer.com/

Little Green Notebook

Aren't the pictures above beautiful? I love the subtle, soft blue/green. Now look at what Palladian Blue looks like in my room. Not so pretty. It looks like a bright seafoam. Its hard to find any blue! This picture was taken in the morning in natural light, no flash. At night, under artificial light it looks even greener.

So its back to the drawing board. I stopped by the Sherwin Williams store to pick up a few samples and was overcome with sticker shock. They were charging 6.99 for a quart. I asked if I could have a small sample. Nope. The quart is their sample size. Well, I was really not happy. Benjamin Moore sells sample jars and I only paid 2.88 ! I only used about a quarter of the jar to paint my paper that you see in the picture. There enough to paint a large board. Restoration Hardware sent me a good sized sample jar too, for 2.95 and free shipping.  About time Sherwin Williams gets on board and provides its customers with a real sample sized jar for a reasonable price! $7 for a sample jar? CMON!
Anyway, I am going to try a sample of BM Woodlawn Blue. It looks a little bluer than Palladian. I will post pictures later.