We decided to keep all of the paint the previous owner had installed in our new home because she had great taste and the entire house — including the paint — was in impeccable condition. I once read that when picking a paint color, you should never pick a hue that is easily described. It should never be on-the-nose described as “navy blue” or “kelly green” or “hot pink” — it should be “bluish-green with a little gray” or “orange-y-reddish coral, but a little lighter.” You want to go for complexity and elegance. I’d say that’s true of the paint colors the previous owner selected. That said, now that I’ve lived with them for six months, I am itching to add a little interest and drama with wallpaper in a few of the smaller nooks of the house — and for new paint colors in our bedroom and bathroom in particular. (Our owner had selected a soft green-blue-gray color. I’ve never liked green in a bathroom. Blech.) One thing I’m especially intrigued by is the idea of painting or wallpapering a ceiling a different color/pattern — some inspo below:
Some of my favorite wallpapers:
+Karla Pruitt gold foil flowers ($125/roll);
+Rifle Paper Co. green safari print ($135/roll);
+Rifle Paper Co. black and gold cities print ($135/roll);
+Osborne + Little butterfly print (loveee the black colorway, but comes in a few others that are chic as well);
+Osborne + Little heron print;
+Nina Campbell lilac print;
+Matthew Williamson birds of paradise print;
+Nina Campbell bird print;
+Osborne + Little best in show print;
+JP + Baker peony print in the yellow colorway;
+JP + Baker herons in white;
+Cole + Son lily of the valley print in black;
+Anthropologie smokey rose print ($198/roll);
+Graham Brown chinoiserie print ($85/roll);
+DeGournay monkey print.
For nurseries, I am obsessed with this print for a girl’s room, this cottontail print, Katie Ridder’s beetlecat or crane prints, and most of these Jill Malek prints could be good in small doses.