DECORATING WOES

Decorating, renovating, rehabbing... it's supposed to be fun, exciting if you will. Then you start to run into problems. You look at paint colors, magazines and end up flinging them into the air. At least that is how it is going for me.


We have started on the family room, second bathroom and hall. Stripping wallpaper and priming the walls. Our painter has left me with 2 books of paint colors. 2000 samples in each book. I have had them for 2 days and haven't even taken a look. I am so indecisive, I am afraid to look and not like anything. Out of 4000 samples. I think that is color overload. But bear with me. We aren't just painting, I am trying to redecorate these rooms that have been dull and brown and boring. My head is swirling with ideas and visions of how I want it all to look and how to make it look the way I want it to look.
This is our funky bath. None of my pictures were staged, however I believe I put the cap back on the toothpaste. Do you save caps in case one gets lost? I do. Anyway, note the wood on the walls. The previous owners had lofty ideas. It has been a love/hate situation. Let me know which side you are on.
When we wallpapered 20 years ago, I tried to feminize the bathroom a bit (which is the 2nd bath and across the hall from the girls room). I have a pale pink marble~look vanity top and the wallpaper is a trellis pattern with all sorts of pastels. I think I worked too hard against the existing look... not good. But I have lived with it. The cedar is definitely being painted white.
Of course you can click on to make the pictures larger. In addition to trying to feminize the room, I have a sort of rustic country look going on that is outdated. Where has my mind been? I guess I was just trying to work with what I had.
Now this is the family room. The wallpaper is above the chair rail and it is a very faint beige with tiny blue flowers. The couch is various shades of beige and the chairs have a bit of green.
The woodwork is oak and I have encountered a problem with The Husband not wanting to paint it. I thought it would look very pretty painted white. But that is a no go. The carpet is a light beige frieze. And all of this has to stay. All of it. The furniture came from my husbands office when he moved to a smaller suite and didn't have room for it. I don't think I would have ever picked this out. But again, I have to work with what I have.
This is my crafting corner with an oak table. It stays.


So my dilemma is: What color do I paint? How do I decorate this room in a way that is pleasing to me? What sort of style do I like?


Last night I went through a ton of my old Romantic home. Romantic Country and Cottage Style magazines. I also had visions of blogger's homes and remodels. This process helped (when I was not flinging things) and I have some very good ideas, but I will elaborate on that in another post.

This is the work in progress. It only took 2 days to strip the wallpaper. Next there is some patching.
And horrors of horrors, we found a lot of wall and ceiling damage in the bathroom that has to be fixed with new drywall. Additional time and money.


Am I still excited? Yes. I am forging ahead like a soldier. I will whip these rooms into shape and I will love the results. But I appreciate any ideas you may have as far as colors and ways of giving these rooms personality. Fun, fun, fun!


Hope everyone is having a great weekend!