If there's one thing I cannot do, it's white walls. To me, they're a blank canvas just begging for some kind of color. And little by little over the 7+ years we've lived in this home, we've splashed color here and there. As they say, a fresh coat of paint is the easiest and quickest way to totally transform a room.

Thanks to my husband, a neighbor, and some friends who are handy DIY'ers, we're currently re-painting the outside of our house and doing some renovations on the inside. Whenever we're thinking of adding a new color to our house, I first add it to our overall house color palette {below} to see how it flows. Now I'll probably stop adding new colors and just use one of the current colors to paint the bathrooms - the only rooms left to be painted!

{click to download PDF}

There's dust on every square surface of our kitchen right now, but when it's all said and done, it's going to be an even brighter and more colorful place to cook with our family and friends. We ripped up the gross, broken tile and found a layer of vinyl flooring underneath. And under that, we found the original hardwoods! They're in pretty bad shape, and I've always wanted a painted wood floor, so....we painted the wood floors a nice, fresh green (Moss Print by Behr). For the kitchen walls, I'm thinking a very pale blue (perhaps Waterfall Mist by Behr), inspired by this kitchen and this one. All the cabinets and trim will be white (goodbye to the orange window trim for now). If you have another idea for the kitchen walls, let me know!

We'll also be painting the hallway a calming, neutral khaki (Comforting by Behr), and all the picture frames will be shades of white to make it like a photo gallery. We'll frame lots of photos of people we love and places we've been to tell the complete story of our journey. It seems we have about a bazillion photos so it's going to be quite daunting deciding which ones will be framed. To finish the hallway, perhaps we'll add a bright runner like this one from World Market.

Currently, the outside of the house is being painted a happy, peaceful combo of grey tones and yellow.

Main part of the house: light grey

Small accent trim: dark grey

Main trim: white

Doors: bright yellow

Can you think of a more welcoming color for a front door than "yellow rain coat"? Um, I think not. The house colors are all Benjamin Moore, but I had Home Depot match them to Behr paint.