Biting the bullet

Well, folks, today I bit the bullet.  Not literally, thankfully, since I declined the dental coverage at work.  But in terms of painting, I bit a big bullet.  I bought 3 gallons of paint.  This required a final decision on colors for the master bedroom, the sewing room/guest room, and the stairwell. 

You see, we had a 10%-off-your-total-purchase coupon for Home Depot.  Basically, we bought everything we could imagine needing to finish projects for foreseeable future.  Which will be helpful in the event of a large snow storm, although I have given up hope for real winter weather.  Yesterday's "snow day" didn't pan out, and we got less than 4 inches.  I feel entitled to just one "I moved North" foot of snow, and then I'll be happy to eagerly await spring weather.

But I digress.  We were talking about paint.

It's obviously pretty difficult to show the colors correctly on screen (a lot got lost in the translation between poor photography and the internet), but hopefully this will give you an idea.

The bottom left is "Sand 3" by Laura Ashley home (color matched into Behr paint).  In the picture, it looks a little yellow, but it's more of a tan.  Think of the color of, uh, sand.  That pretty well sums it up!  This color will be for the stairwell.  The practicality of painting a two-story stairwell made me realize that I'd have to give up my commitment to all-white ceilings (there would have been no way to neatly edge the walls and ceiling without risking life and limb on some sort of scaffolding).  The fact that the color would be on both the walls and ceiling made me choose a little lighter tan than I might have otherwise, but I think that Sand 3 will look quite nice.

The top color is "Bombay Pink" by Valspar (again, color matched into Behr paint, since that's what was recommended by the helpful Home Depot paint guy).  This will be the sewing room color.  I wanted something soft and relaxing and pretty.  A lot of the pinks/roses I considered looked too girly-girly, but I'm hoping that this darker rose will create the perfect creative-yet-restful atmosphere (very necessary for a sewing room/guest bedroom)! 

The bottom right color is "Willow Leaf" by Glidden (yep, in Behr!)  It's a dull green that looks like a muddy tan in some light.  It looks fabulous next to the fabrics I'm using in the quilt for our bed (more on that once the painting is done and the sewing room is set up for quilting!!)

I promise our house won't look as much like an Easter basket as the above photo looks.  They came out looking quite pastel, but there's more substance, mood, and maturity to the colors than my computer screen can currently handle!  Hopefully once they're on the wall, I'll have some better photos to show this weekend - fingers crossed, we'll avoid sewage disasters and get some major work done this time around!

Before I sign out, I'll give you a sneak peak of a few other exciting things that were part of the 10%-off-everything Home Depot coupon shopping spree:

 I love the white porcelain handles on this faucet.  I think they'll perfectly tie in with the other white accents in the upstairs bathroom (for more on my vision for that room, see here). 

And although you can't tell in the photo, these towel rods have matching white porcelain accents ~ another exciting find!

What do you think of today's purchases?  Which of the colors is your favorite?  Anybody else agree with Justin that a pink extra bedroom will guarantee (via Murphy's law) that a future firstborn child will be male?  (Note, we're NOT expecting a child; just laughing about the probability of having to repaint when we are!)