I truly get that everyone seems to find having a painter in the house the disruption with the magnitude of an earthquake......but ?

I'd take nothing more than a couple of fan decks with me. Ben Moore and S.W. Narrow it down and then order Sampilize

Get in the house, see the light in person. See what the NEW carpet looks like, or go select that with her. ( Personally, new carpet seems a waste usually, when its the perfect time to rip for an engineered hardwood ? Where young girls with changing tastes could have an area rug easily changed as they age or spill?)

Take the girls online for bedding shopping for their pinks or yellow?

Paint is value big bang change, but it still isn't cheap or free. I'm of the don't rush type : ) A decent painter can paint a couple bedrooms in a single day.

The rest? Even that is not all the disruption in the world. jmho : )

I suggest she have everything (except for the girls' rooms) painted SW Alabaster to give herself a clean slate and get rid of the less desirable existing colors. She can introduce different colors later (maybe in the living and dining room) if she decides she doesn't like the white. But it may grow on her. I don't see how any version of gray is going to work in that house. For the girls' rooms, it's easy to overdo yellow and pink, so try to steer them toward more subdued versions of the colors they want. They will look stronger once they're on four walls. But I agree with Jan, painting when you're living there isn't as bad as you would think. We had our living room and kitchen painted last winter and I was surprised by how painless it was. As long as the contractor has a crew they are in and out pretty quickly.

I agree with kandrews--paint all the trim and walls white. It will be clean and fresh, and then spend some time deciding on whether to change out the wall colors. It's easy to paint walls--I did a bedroom myself in 2 days and I'm not a DIYer by any means.

As a homeowner and design professional, I find choosing wall colors the most difficult task in designing a room. Deciding in haste is never a good idea. It's easier to match wall colors to the furnishings than vice versa.

So none of you have any pinks or yellows that you have used or specified that are softer, not too overwhelming pinks and yellows?

You don't have a few favorite neutrals (not white) that you have specified in the past few years that you think should be included in her selection process?

Nothing comes to mind when someone is looking for a lighter palette that is similar to Revere Pewter, Palladian Green and Wedgewood Gray?

What brand paint? She could have the Revere Pewter cut by 25% or so, since it matches her furniture already. She can take a cushion from her furniture to the carpet store.

Ok, so I used Ben Moore Frosted Rose (044) in a preteen's bedroom and it's a nice muted pink, but not gray or mauve. BM Weston Flax (HC5) and Windham Cream (HC6) are nice yellows that don't scream yellow. BM Edgecomb Gray (HC173) is lighter than Revere Pewter.

However, these are starting points, any color/neutral that works in one house/room may be awful in another.

Unfortunately there's no shortcut when choosing paint colors. For example, one of my clients was repainting a family room and we wanted green. It took quite a while to find the perfect green FOR THAT ROOM. Every green we thought would work was too blue once we put the sample on the wall. We ended up finding a more yellow green that worked perfectly. I actually used Lori Sawaya's Land of Color Paint Color DNA table to find the color. You need a subscription but it's worth the money.

Also, don't ask the paint store to lighten up a color. You never know what you're going to end up with, and you wind up wasting time and spending more money than you need to.

I painted my daughter's BM Mannequin Cream it's a very light yellow. I've also used BM First Light it's very light pink

Gotta disagree on that one!

My favorite for those who want a totally neutral, not sad, goes with ANYTHING gray?

Ben Moore "Wish" # AF 680 at ONE HALF the formula.

Please do not ask how many gallons have left my local ACE. They know the formula by heart.

It's the color of atmosphere...... : ) Gorgeous with white trim.

At one half strength here, both. It's oddly mercurial...

At 1/2 in a bath....

elmwood master suite · More Info

Interior Design Work · More Info

Full strength in a bedroom.....

lake home · More Info

Half strength below

elmwood master suite · More Info

Interior Design Work · More Info

Full strength up a stair

lake home · More Info

Beautiful, Jan, but you're a pro. As they used to say in TV ads, "don't try this at home, kids"!

Thank you ladies! I went to Ace today and picked up a 1/2 strength Revere Pewter. I have used Wish before and I think I have a sample in the basement. It looks lovely at half strength. I will pick that up as well.

@ apple_pie_order - she is open to both BM and SW.

@ jck910 - Thank you for the suggestions for Pink and Yellow.

For pink take a look at SW Intimate White.

Just updating the results

First - loved my nieces comment when she told me that yes, she will miss all the character that her last home had, but she is trading character for insulation and good wiring. (Her previous home was a beautiful Victorian home that was over 100 years old).

Second great find - there were red oak hardwood floors under all the thread bare carpet except the carpet in the family room. I am pretty sure the family room was originally a breezeway between the garage and the house and was converted to a family room.

I wasn't expecting this from a 1970s build.

She will be having the floors refinished with Provincial Stain.

Her main neutral will be Edgecomb Gray and her white will be Oxford White.

Downstairs the Dining Room will be October Mist and the office will be Labrador Blue. She hasn't decided on the color for the powder room yet. It is across the hall from the office and I pushed a bit for the Labrador Blue or a wallpaper that has some of the Labrador Blue in the pattern.

Upstairs will be Edgecomb Gray going up the stairs and in the hallway.

The master will be Wedgewood Gray. The master bath will be October Mist. The Guest Room/Office will be Swiss Coffee.

Kids bath will be Antique White and the two kids bedrooms will be Spring Flowers and Ballet Slippers. (The youngest daughter decided she liked purple better than yellow).

The two bathrooms were challenging but it will be a few years until they can afford to renovate kitchen and baths, so you have to work with what is there.

The kids bathroom has only a small area of untiled wall space behind the door and beside the vanity where the light switches are. Antique White matched the lighter colors in the countertop.

The master bath also has a lot of tile with various undertones and has off white cabinets.

When faced with a lot of different undertones I often find that green is the answer and this was no exception. The October Mist that she was using downstairs in the dining room calmed the room and worked with all three undertones reasonably well. It also works reasonably well with Wedgewood Gray (Master Bedroom Color). Wedgewood gray is her favorite color of all the colors she had in her last home and coordinates with her the area rug, bedding, art and décor that will be coming with her from her last home.