Thank you, Flo.

The smoky taupe would be gorgeous!

Flo do you think that Sherwin-Williams alabaster could be a nice paint colour for Dsimber to sample as well if and when she would like to paint the interior? I believe it would not have a tendency to go pink as some of the taupes can? You may need to correct me on that, but I have read that they can. Or is it too creamy?

Alice, with the relative low natural light in dsimber’s rooms I would not recommend Alabaster. It is a great off white but can go a little yellow in lower light. I think she also wants a bit more color?

Hi Dsimber 👋 I hope you’re doing well and had a good weekend.

Hi Alice. Just very tired. I love my days with Baby Girl, and do just fine while I'm there. However, I crash when I get home. Thanks for thinking of me!

Was getting a little worried about you. I wonder if your son and his wife could give you a couple days off and start daycare with Baby Girl. I think you need that. Say they take her to daycare Tues. and Thurs and you do Mon. Weds and Friday. That helps everyone.

Dsimber that is certainly understandable. My grandson’s spent the night here and although they are not babies anymore, they wear me out LOL. I was just thinking we hadn’t heard from you and thought I would check in.

Agree on the childcare. The old grey mare etcetc its amazing how tiring young kids are. How did we do it, back then?

Adult children often don’t realize therefore, that mom is not still 40…lol.

Even part days, maybe.

Oh no. Sorry. I should have explained. I have an ongoing medical issue. (I'm trying a new treatment that will hopefully help.) I did absolutely nothing but read most days this summer because I felt too tired to do anything physical. Taking care of my granddaughter actually motivates me to get up and do something! When I said I crash, that's what I always do when I get home from anything. I need to exercise! 😩

Kind of you all. Thank you.

Oh so glad you are getting treatment and I will pray for healing.

Oh no I hope you improve in your treatment my daughter has long covid my Internet is slow or house h o u z z is slow something's going on and I hope your treatment helps my daughter crashes too she was diagnosed with long covid even though she don't currently have covid it's what happens from having covid repeatedly repeatedly you know number of times and sometimes I don't know what's going to happen next

Dsimber, thinking of you and hoping that your treatment works out favourably for you. I know just how fatiguing it can be to look after small children, however. I hope you are also taking care of yourself!

In the past week, Monday through Monday, we had more than ten inches of rain! It's been an exceptionally wet, record-breaking September.

On Tuesday, there were two drownings that may have been related to the excessive rainfall. A fifth-grade class was on a field trip near a dam spillway, and a child entered the water to wash off his shoes. A teacher went in to rescue him, and tragically, both drowned. It's heart-wrenching.

How awful 😢

Trying to move on from the tragedy. It's hard. Maybe because I was a teacher?

Update on sofa shopping: I’m looking at the Norwalk sofa again. I like the straight 90 degree angle of the back. Hadn’t looked at the back of the Sherrill, but when I finally did, I didn't like the curve in it.

Still, the obstacle is fabric. I wish I were brave enough to choose a color because I can’t find a neutral I like. I know I would like a color for a few years, but not sure I would like it long-term. Ordering fabric online seems scary. I'm going to try the Des Moines shop again.

I wouldn’t order fabric online…have you tried even looking at colour swatches?

The point being it may not be any easier to find a coloured swatch. When I picked out the samples for my couch there were hundreds of choices but very few options that I actually liked.

Hi dsimber, I was just reading a holiday thread on houzz and thought of you. One poster mentioned she has two Christmas trees-her main one and another one that is for her grandaughter with ornaments that they have made together through the year. Maybe a thought for the future.

That's a great idea, Kcooz! Thank you so much for sharing!

Lia, I'm guessing that when you mentioned looking at color swatches, you were referring to colors other than what most consider "neutral." Some include blues and greens. I keep wondering about considering them.

This week I took a screenshot of a room with the arrangement I'm planning to use. It's considerably larger than mine, mostly due to the space between the living and dining areas. What appeals to me is the balance of colors. Off-white on each end, with a deeper, contrastting color in the middle.

Since I practically live on my sofa (resting my back) I know I don't want leather. It feels too cold, as I learned with the last sofa I had. Otherwise, I loved it. Since the chairs will mostly be used by guests, which is to say infrequently, I think I can live with them in an almost-white performance fabric. That leads me, once again, thinking about a blue sofa.

I need to look at what is available in blue.*

Note that I very much liked the AI image shared by Molly. I just can't find a light-colored "performance" fabric that is as soft and smooth as I want for the sofa. In fact, I don't see very many performance fabrics offered among the walls of fabrics in the shops. I also what 100% polyester for its benefits. With those criteria, my options are terribly limited.

*I love green, but blue will work better in this home that has so much gray in it. Blue can be the thread throughout. (I already have three bedrooms in blues.)

Blue is also somewhat easier to work with I find, as a background color. Green is supposed to be a neutral but… When it comes to furniture there’s so many different shades of green and the olive greens really don’t work very well with a minty green. Plus I could see the blue working very well with warm wood tones and anything with caramel in it would be complementary on your colour wheel. Because of the touch of orange.

But you know I am biased… I love Colour.

I love pale blues and medium to saturated blues. Definitely doable for your sofa. A medium blue would be fantastic. Darker fabrics show every thread etc. So I would go with medium. Any good washable fabric will work for you and your lifestyle. Go for it!

Well, I had expected the opposite reactions! Thanks, Flo and Lia. Before I spend more time with this idea, I'm going to see what is available. It's hard to give up on shades of beige or taupe, but I have to at least look. (Already I've thought about the limits of pillow colors on a blue sofa.)

I'll get back here once I've had a chance to shop.

Love the idea, my vote here too! At least you get to look at some different colors and perhaps have more options. You can go anywhere with the pillows, even blues with black plaid or anything to tie in if you are going for the black in the chairs with a neutral. Good job Dsimber and thinking out of the box is always refreshing when we feel like we’ve come to a stalemate.

I agree it's worth a look and I don't think pillows will be an issue. There are many pillows with light color background and blue accents. They don't have to be solid. Take a peek at PB.

Hi dsimber 👋 I don’t know if you remember on my thread when my mom was looking for new furniture. She ended up with a blue sofa and a pair of wingback chairs and loves them. They are from England furniture which is part of lazy boy.

Thank you, Alice, Kcooz and Kjoy. Kjoy, your mom’s room looks very nice. I like that shade of blue. Thanks for sharing the photo s.

That’s just about what I call a “medium” blue. It seems (can’t trust internet on color) a bit too gray so watch out on that score. Good luck!!

How are you feeling dsimber? I am a bit worried about you.

I agree you want to make sure it doesn’t go too gray. It’s hard to tell from online photos with the shade actually is.

It is definitely not gray. I like this “medium” tone. I think it keeps it feeling like a neutral. When darker while still pretty acts more as a statement.

Flo, I'm okay. No need to worry. Mainly, I just have to get more rest than in the past. Thanks for asking, but please don't be concerned. Just know that I can't do any marathon shopping, so progress on anything is slow. A marathon trip for me now is half a day! If I push myself, I pay big time. Then it can be weeks before I go again.

Do you think there is a blue that would allow me to use different green colors, one at a time? I love almost all of them, but I agree with Lia. Certain hues don't work together for me.

What about green teal? I'd really like to use my abstract painting. I'm not trying to match. I just don't want it to clash horribly.

As long as sofa is a blue/gray you will be ok. However, the companion colors will tend to go rust, golds and line greens and purples would be stunning. I am not sure you would naturally go that way so think about that. Been looking for pictures to help but Pinterest has gotten so full of ads you can’t see content anymore!

That looks like a nice art piece for the fireplace

That is good to know, Flo. I may need to rethink this. Thank you.

Don’t get me wrong, I love these colors. And blues are very wonderful to live with. Good art such as yours makes its own statement and that particular painting is awesome and would be great over your fireplace. And create a warm draw from your entry right into you Mr living room. I will play with a mood board for you to help visualize combinations. Bbl

Don’t focus on style per se but you can see how the blue/gray sofa would provide terrific anchor for your room. Notice the velvet (texture) striped pillow. That’s how you can add a bit of raspberry/purple with gentle touch. I used shades of Carmel and light wood tones. Very pretty but functional look. A coffee table with storage or pull up table provides even more flexibility. Enjoy!

And BTW, your kitchen and dining area will blend in beautifully!

With the blue gray sofa colour that Flo is suggesting you can easily pull in some of the brighter colours from the painting and it will be fine. You don’t want a teal sofa. Use the colours in the painting for accents in the room. and yes the dark colour would provide a nice anchor in the room and it would also work with the black chairs. Or the camel/caramel. That’s a great mood board that Flo did up.

Worth a shot checking fabrics… do you have a designer that you’re working with? or a consultant at one of the furniture stores. Maybe you could send them this photo or Flo could send you some photos and you could suggest they send you some swatches of the type of fabrics that you’re interested in so that you don’t have to make some long drives. I totally understand about the shopping thing my stamina is nowhere near what it used to be. Maybe find some ways to explore options without having to make those kinds of time commitments.

Thank you for the mood board, Flo. Please don't go to any more work until I have looked for a fabric I like. I don't want to waste your time.

If I can, I'll try to get to the local shop that carries my Norwalk sofa by this time next week.

No problem. I love helping you. Anything that saves you time and energy. I would also encourage you to buy a less expensive coffee table with little one and feet in mind. Then you can relax and just enjoy. Print out the mood board if you can and a good designer can use it as a step off point to select things that would appeal without going through dozens of choices. 🤗

I am paying closer attention to your thread there because your layout is s very similar to mine, and scale wise as well. I seem to be in the market for new seating as well. I currently have sofa/loveseat and easy chair( DH). The sofa and loveseat were previously in our formal living rooms before we downsized. I believe they wre purchased in 1982 when we bought our first house. Because they spent all those years in the living room ( vs family) they were pristine when we moved 8 years ago. This house only as the lliving room and dining room on the first floor. So we moved the nice stuff to the living room. (We do have a finished basement and I arbitrarily had the familyroom furniture placed downstairs... the basement is the man cave and the gandkids playroom).

Anyway it seems 8 years of heavy duty siting has really worn the living room furntiure out and need to replace.

I have always had blue sofa ( usually more navy) and while blue is my lifelong favorite color ( and every room has tons of blue accents) I am suddenly looking at greens. I always would rule out green in any decor but lately it's very appealing to me. I love green and blue together and I think your painting is a perfect example of how great those colors are, and so so nice to live with. I keep gravitating to deep olive green ... particularly in velvet y fabrics.

I think you have great taste and you've been getting wonderful help here- just shouting in my approval that I think the blues will really pull everything together. Blue with green, and of coue, with caramel /rust/camel .

I will continue to follow along because so much here is helpful.

Salonva, I've always hoped that someone is learning from the valuable information that has been shared with me. I, too, have always loved blue and green together! Funny that green has always been my favorite color, but that I've been thinking blue!

Please chime in anytime! I hope you have an easier time than I've been having!

Hunter Douglas

Designer Roller Lite Rise

Fabric: Maya Pearl

I saw this in someone's home and really like it. The information above is all I have.

The photo appears magnified. Iwas apparently too close, and it reveals more texture than I actually see.

Nevertheless, I like the neutral color. It doesn't look harsh like a pure white or "Snow" I've been shown locally.

Any thoughts on whether or not this is neutral enough that I can get the shades installed now?