Meeting with a Mastermind

Yesterday I met with a friend who is an interior designer, to help me narrow my color choices.  It was totally awesome to have her help.  Even though she didn't tell me what to do, I was relived to have a professional either confirm my thoughts or gently lead me away from some colors I was on the fence about.  The greatest release was permission to not use Comfort Gray in my living room.

I originally found it at the Nesting Place.  The Nester's home is very tranquil, I think.  And Comfort Gray looks like a pretty gray in her photo, but I found it a little too blue when I painted my posterboard swatch.  sigh.  The problem is, even though it's blue-y, I still think it's a lovely color and I feel a pull to use it becuase so many others on the interweb have used it so successfully in their homes.  But Rachael just had to wrinkle her cute nose at me and say something like, "You'll always think you have a blue room" and I knew that it wasn't right for our living room.  (It might make an appearance somewhere else...?)

Rachael agreed that I should go for something grayer.  So today I got two gray samples at Lowes.  I didn't love their color matching this time.  Conservative Gray turned out a little too green compared to the fan deck.  Aloof Gray, however, was right on.  Here are the old swatches with the new gray swatches.  The lighting is incandescent bulbs, and they give everything a strange hue, but you get the general idea. 

I would like to find a Gray somewhere between Aloof Gray and Conservative Gray, I think.  But then again, maybe I like the greenness of Conservative.  They are all happy, warm, soothing colors, and way more muted than the ones I started with.  (Except for Aloof Gray.  It definitely feels cooler.)

I'll be using Rice Grain for my dining room and kitchen.  I was honestly surprised that I liked it, but I had to give it a try because it's supposed to be a neutral, with yellow undertones.  Originally I wanted to paint my dining room yellow, but decided it would be too much color after painting my cabinets and a mudroom wall, which are all in the same line of sight.  A yellowish neutral seemed like a good compromise, but the color seemed sickly to me in the fan deck.  It turns out that Layla Palmer at The Lettered Cottage was absolutely right in her description.  And I do love it.  It's one of the only two colors I am 100% sure of!  (The other is my custom mix for my bedroom, but more on that later.)

More on Rachael's great help sometime soon.  I am beat.  Not even going to make it 'til 10 tonight.