When I finally settled on the perfect neutral, I may have done a little happy dance and clapped my hands. I'm so happy to be done with this huge step. It took a lot of searching and help, but I finally found a neutral that meets all my criteria.
1. It can't be too pink or too green. Preferably it should be more gray than tan.
2. It has to look great with every color in the house.
3. It has to look okay with our current couch, and be a good color to match future furniture with.
4. It needs to have enough shade options for the tonal look I want in our house.
I found a few colors that fit the bill, but the final winner is the one that's gray enough to make me happy, and light enough to brighten up our dark downstairs.
The winner is....
Benjamin Moore Seattle Mist!
This will be the main color in the living room. In the dining room, we'll either paint the entire wall River Gorge Gray, which is two shades darker, or just use the darker shade under the chair rail. The fireplace surround will be four shades darker than Seattle Mist, which is Roosevelt Taupe (I actually found a scrap of paper in my purse with BM Roosevelt Taupe written on it, so apparently I had considered this color before). The stairwell and upstairs hall will be a shade lighter, which is called Rodeo.
We also firmed up the color for the kitchen, laundry room, and sunroom. The kitchen will be Benjamin Moore Fresh Olive, and the laundry room will be one shade darker, which is G.I. Green. The sunroom will be a shade or two lighter, either Timothy Straw or Mellowed Ivory. We also chose a true gray, Sherwin Williams Stamped Concrete for Brett's office.
Here's my handy little manila folder. From now on, instead of taking four strips to the guy behind the counter and asking him for help, I can confidently put my little folder on the counter and say "that one, please."
And here's a drawing of our home's floor plan with the colors of each room. I love how it flows as a whole, yet each room has it's own definitive feeling.
Now we just have to pick a white. I'm sure it will be just as easy as this entire process has been so far, right?
