I do the same thing. There was one posted the other day here that I just love. Thing is, if I try to picture my room like that and feel myself in it at *home, every day, I just don't think it would feel like home and be me!

Sometimes it's good to just experiment in a small room first.

First thing that popped in my mind, before reading your complete post, was "wonder what age she is" - I scaled down the things but didn't get rid of everything when we built a new home, but I did consider it. If we ever scale down, I will shift directions a bit.....I think.

DD1 has always been a Shabby Chic fan. Easy to do living in San Francisco for college. Lots of white and pink. She's about to turn 25 on Wednesday and sold her SC sofa, coffee table and chair. She has ordered a gray linen SC sectional and is getting away from the white and pink everywhere.

Look at Shabby Chic's website for pictures/items/ideas and check out Attic Mag too. The owner of AM loves Scandinavian has has several blog articles you might enjoy seeing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Attic Mag

Maybe it's decorating hot flashes :)

No, seriously, I have several gallons of a carefully chosen red to put on a big wall in our house and I just can't bring myself to do it. I'm thinking I want something now that will not scream as loudly about itself, but will rather flow from one room to the next.

So even though it's not the Scandinavian thing precisely, in a general sense you're not alone..

You are definitely not alone. I got Scandinavian fever at the end of last year. I think it is because we have used so many dark colors in decorating lately that we want something fresh. I still love dark colors though.

Just label me The Enabler. :D

Flyleft you have hit the nail on the head. I never associated being hot all the time to wanting the house in cool colors. so will i paint it all back to yellow and red at 60?

Another one here too! Thinking about repainting my deep dark gold dining room to a cool neutral tone!

We repainted our old condo in cool blues, greys and neutrals in 2003. I'm so much happier with these colours than I ever was with warm ones like yellows or beiges.

We moved to a new house in 2006 and used a cool palette again. Maybe it's trendy right now, but I'm five years in and still loving this look.

We've gone with colours that remind us of those we see here in the Pacific Northwest. I like the connection to the outdoors and my garden. I like how calm and serene these colours are.

I warm things up with carpets, art, and personal "stuff" that has meaning to us. And lots and lots of books. Cool neutrals, blues and grays are a great backdrop for our stuff and don't seem to shout out the way yellows always did for me. With bolder colours I always felt my rooms were too busy, everything in them competing with everything else.

Granted, we have also gotten rid of a lot of stuff accumulated over 15 years or so. Really pared down what we hold onto these days.

Some great posts. I think the pallor colors are certainly calming and relaxing and yep, I get stung by that busy little bee myself. Now that I am too old to learn new tricks, I will just stick to the drabness of wheats and sages. Some of the furniture that I want to hold onto would be at odds with that but for those of you who can do it, more power to you and good for you!

I went through that awhile back but then realized that it just doesn't work for me in real life...not in my climate. So pretty though! Unfortunately I deleted all of the shortcuts that I had to some really fantastic blogs, except for these two for some reason. You might not be able to read them, but the pictures are nice.

http://www.moderncountry.blogspot.com/

http://www.minlillaveranda.blogspot.com/

Here's another one.

I used to have a link to a really beautiful french blog, with lots of grey stuff, and tone-on-tone, but I can't remember the name of it now for the life of me. Try french blogs - you may like that look too.

Here is a link that might be useful: spetscochsnor

I just remembered this blog too, LOL!! I had corresponded with her and just remembered that I had her blog information in my emailbox.

Here is a link that might be useful: Style Campagne Et Patine

I've been trying the opposite. I like the lighter cooler colors and lots of white, but can't stand the dark colors or the bright goldish yellow in the main part of my house. Of course I'm swedish and I think light colors are ingrained in me.

I do have a dark tan master bed and bath and it was a necessity there and I still like it because it was too bright in the white we had due to light reflected too much and with different schedules it wasn't good.

"over 50 need to purge stuff syndrome"

I resemble that! lol Never knew it was a common stage one goes through!

We just dropped our youngest off at college last weekend and since returning home I've been on a purge binge. It's the opposite of the "nesting" instinct when one is expecting a baby, I suppose.

Also took down all wall art in the family room and hubby ad I are really liking it. Very clean, calming and cool :)

You are not alone :)

linda

I've been looking at all the swedish blogs and i love the aqua color of some of the furniture and i would love to repaint the dresser in that color, but I'm finding it hard to match. I've bought some little sample pots and am not having much luck. Any suggestions?

Mix your own - or bring in a picture to get it color matched.

As we age, we continue to change and grow. It's a natural evolution. I'd suggest trying this new color scheme out in a room that will be easy to change; perhaps a guest room or powder room. Who knows, it may be a permanent thing . . . or you'll find that it was just a reaction from hot flashes ;^P ! But, you'll be able to get the feel of the room and know if you want to continue or back off.
When we moved into this house here, I decided to go the cool white route in our living room. The walls were painted a cream color (with dark brick floors). I ordered two creamy white linen sofas and then lived with the room for a while. Funny thing is that I found myself adding dark rich colors with the accent pieces! First the dark tapestry throw pillows. Next the vases on the mantel. By and by, the room has morphed into a cool white room with dark, rich colored accent pieces and we love it. It's perfect for us and I'm still glad that I went with my gut and bought the linen sofas. I know that I can always change the accent colors if I get the urge someday down the line.
My advice is to go with your gut and adapt from there if you need to. Who knows, you may love living in a Scandinavian-inspired cool colored home.
Lynn

Have not left my 18th century English/American taste for Scandanavian, but have definitely turned TAN and even brown with some red accents, whereas before I was very light and chirpy in color. Must just be a mellowing process. I would not worry, go fabric shopping and get a room scheme going in the new colors, see if you can find things you really like. Spend some time on it. That will either work it out of your system, or tell you that your taste has changed -- which is perfectly fine, there is nothing wrong with you.

Well, I get frustrated with the decorating magazines. Their cool-tone rooms always look wonderful, and such fabulous textures too. But in my northeastern home, those same colors and materials look BLAH! The decorating mags' professional photographers know how to light rooms to perfection to bring out the best color, texture, & mood, and they can really make those subtle color palettes sing. My home, on the otherhand, just has light coming in from one window, and it's rather dim light to boot. Now I know why Early American color palettes were what they were -- those strong muted colors look good in dim light.

I've been trying various grasscloths in wonderful sophisticated neutrals, but they just gray out when I put them up on the wall. I could probably get them to look good at night, if I spent a fortune on fixing the lighting.

I think that the trend of rooms that "pop" with saturated colors and dark woods start to get to us after a while. Too much of a good thing maybe. So then we start to long for a restful room. If the trend in home decor goes this route, which it seems to be, then the marketers will milk it until we can't stand the restful look either. It is a cycle.
Diane

I go through craving certain styles and colors as well, I am 50, but have done it for a while. Right now, I really want blue-green/teal - I could add it in my living area, but would need new artwork, curtains etc, and I like what I have, so am treating it like a chocolate craving. I finally finished my Moroccan exotic (90's leftover) look in the bedroom last year; wanted it for so long, and now if I could dump it and just do animal prints, creams, camels and chocolates in simple sophisticated and justify it financially, I would. Some of the need for change is just the changes in me, some of it gets driven by exposure to all of the decorating trends in catalogs, tv etc. craving to repaint is usually mood driven, at perimenopause, I figure I can wait for the mood to pass :) or wait til like Weezy in Steel Magnolias, I am finally stuck in a bad mood -at least through menopause :) come to think of it, I have 4 new teal/aqua tops from summer...

terry