Choices, Choices

Since we're wreaking havoc in our bedroom in order to put in the new closet, we decided that now is the right moment to repaint the whole room. This part of the project presents a new problem, however: choice of colors. (I write colors because we agree that it's cool to have a main color and an accent wall.)

Here's the real core of the problem: I tend to choose loud, flamboyant colors; Sara tends to choose subdued, gentle colors. And each of us harbors a not insignificant distaste for the other's taste.

We did agree, however, that it would be cool to choose the colors based on the poster-sized photos we'll be hanging in our bedroom. These photos come from our Europe travels, and have already been chosen and printed. But that doesn't quite get us to agreement on the colors themselves.

When my brother and I were kids, we used to argue about everything. Everything. And I think, like Sara and my color antipathies, we did it simply because it was somehow against The Rules to be at peace with each other. So when it came time to split the last piece of cherry pie, my brother and I were instructed by a generation wiser than we that one of us would split the piece in two, and the other would choose. This proved to be as reliable a method as any in heading off sibling competition.

Sara and I agreed that I would go to the paint isle at Lowe's and pick out four pairs of colors, each based on one of the four photos from Europe. From those four palettes, Sara would get the right to choose which scheme actually made it onto our walls. So I took the photos--one from Paris, one from Oslo, one from Prague, and one from Venice--and pored over the cacophony of paint chips searching for the pairs that worked just right with each print. Here are the four I brought home (lighter color for the main tone; darker color for the accent wall):

I taped the pairs of chips up around the room, and watched while Picasso deliberated:

Of course, it wasn't so easy to make the final choice. In fact, we still haven't made it fully. We'll only be committed once we tell the guy across the counter at Lowe's which colors to mix. And you'll likely read about the outcome on this very blog. Until then, here's a preview of the poster-prints on the bedroom wall:

We're excited about new color. The Cream-Poured-Over-an-Eggshell-on-a-Sandy-Beach color that clings to our walls now just ain't cuttin' it any more.

~emrys