Idea Boards

I have gotten all organized and created idea boards for my summer home decor projects. First board features all of the colors in the main living areas, including the new paint color that I think we will be introducing in our long-neglected office/den. Other highlights: a paintable wallpaper (mimicking pressed tin) that may be going on the ceiling in the kitchen and an image of how the living room ceiling will look when I finish painting it a very pale blue.

Paint color for the den is "Stone" by Benjamin Moore and is actually on the same card as the brown in our dining room. Like that brown, it has a lot of purple in it, which is good, because we need to tie in TCU purple as well as burnt orange and navy (Parnell's extensive collection of sports memorabilia includes a lot of TCU, UT and Cowboys stuff). Plan is to have a bookshelf at ceiling height going all of the way around the room, to hold all of his memorabilia plus a lot of our books, freeing up more space down below. There will also be built-in shelving next to his desk, painted white but with oak-stained shelves, a la the bookcase example here. Love that look (thanks, Martha Stewart!). Martha also has inspired me to paint the ceiling in this room the true "Stone" taupe, with a slightly lighter version on the walls. (I know that darker colors are supposed to recede, but when you put the same color on the floor, it wraps the room in color and really makes things warm.)

Current ugly Berber will be replaced with a tonal carpet tile, and the current ugly leather sofa will be replaced with a dark brown sofa (to tie in all of those lovely autographed footballs).

Parnell authorized the Ikat pillow covers, which are darker than they appear here, and he also showed borderline interest in having a custom Jonathan Adler initial pillow made ("as long as it has purple and orange in it"). I soft-pedaled the fact that JA doesn't have a purple so much as he has a fuchsia on his color palette. Hey - this is the most interest that Parnell has shown in throw pillows in . . . well, ever.

Also thanks to various Martha inspiration rooms, I will be staining the ottoman/coffee table a warm oak color and spray-painting various accent pieces a dark navy. Fun, fun, fun!



Living room is also getting a makeover for the summer, inspired by my Liberty of London throw pillow and frames and my "Keep Calm and Snack On" coffee table tray. Love Martha, love Target! Bought some great fabrics to make envelope shams for existing throw pillows (and by "make envelope shams" I mean "beg my mommy to make envelope shams for me").

Love house porn! Love Martha! Love Target! Love idea boards!