Part of the order of business today was making some decisions about paint colors, since we're getting ready to paint the whole first floor.

Unfortunately, color decisions paralyze me.

Maybe it's my personality...maybe it's all my years of living in base housing and rental homes where color was not an option; even when we owned our own home we had to think about selling when we PCS'd and so it was easier just to live with neutrals.

On the other hand, I am the kind of person who looks at someone else's creative color choices and thinks, "I LOVE that!" Then it comes time to make some decision about a wall or a room or a whole floor in my own house and I become catatonic. What if I choose the wrong shade? What if it clashes with something else that I love? What if I end up hating it? What if we had to put the house on the market and the realtor says it would bring the value of our home down by $20K? AAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!

I am determined, this time, to shed my history of fear and remember that there is no wall that can't be painted over! A few bucks, a couple of hours, and I can return it to its former shade or try a new one. Right?

THEN HOW COME CHOOSING COLORS IS SO HARD FOR ME?!

Oh, I love the paint chip aisle. I love the PROCESS of choosing colors and going home laden with folders, cards, and brochures. I love taping chips on the walls and looking at them in different lights and shadows. I love painting a piece of board and propping it up to see what it will look like with the furniture.

What I hate is making that final decision, as in, "YES! THAT ONE!"

I am not a good visualizer. I will never again build a house, because I have to see it to know if I like it. I can't look at house plans and know whether I'll love it or hate it when it's done. And I'm that way with color, too. Only when it's up will I know if I made the right decision.

And speaking of house plans. Granny's House is nice in lots of ways...some interesting architectural features, opportunities for dramatic interplay between light and shadow, etc. But it was NOT built to be more than one color. It is full of rounded corners, archways, and strange transitions. A wall becomes a ceiling; one room flows into another; the line of sight blends rooms that I don't necessarily want to blend. There's no such thing in this house as painting the dining room one color, the kitchen another, the family room yet another. Every time I think I've made a decision about where to stop one color and start another, someone says, "Mom, you can't stop the green right there, look up!" And I look up and realize that the green would have to go all the way up the wall to the second floor, and I want that room a different color.

Square one.

Thankfully, I have a daughter who loves color and who ISN'T afraid of some big changes. So today, she and I "walked" through every wall and corner and ceiling, discussing strategies for making the colors harmonize and flow.

And I've discovered some great tools on the paint sites, features that let you pick a photo of a room similar to yours, and then drag paint colors to different walls to see the effect. For a non-visualizer like me, this is an incredible help!

Still, my son-in-law, who is also going to be our painter, is going to have to be very patient with me, because some of these decisions are going to have to be made on the fly, as he rounds a corner with one color to hear me shout, "STOP! PUT THE BRUSH DOWN AND NO ONE GETS HURT!"

Just thinking about it today has made me as tired as if I were doing the painting myself.

And then there's the business of choosing new carpet once the painting is done.

Oh let's don't even go there.

Labels: Decorating