Nothing says "Grandma's House" like her paint colors

White walls, white ceiling, white trim....argh!

At a minimum, I've got to paint the living/dining room and FAST, before I go crazy. This of course does not bother Martin in the least, as he does not like color. At most, I know I'll be able to have one beige-ish color and an accent color. Strangely, this makes the decision process much easier.

I'd like a dark accent color, but due to the lack of lighting in Ballardia, the house won't support it.

I have my fan deck ($10 from Sherwin Williams), and the Sherwin Williams site also has this lovely Color Visualizer online, which I've never actually used, but I like knowing that it's there. After looking at the colors that I'm not changing in the house, I've chosen Heather (SW0086) as my shade of beige, and Mocha (SW6067), both in Eg-Shel, and Downy (SW7002) as a complimentary white for the ceiling.

Why Sherwin Williams? As I'm doing the painting myself, and planning on living in the finished product, I love their zero VOC Harmony Interior Latex paint. Check out the dangers of VOCs on the EPA web site.

I have a few painting tips -
1) a really good 2" angle sash brush is an absolute must. I like the Sher-Tip brushes, and have had mine for years (and at least 5 full interior paint jobs).
2) tape to carpeting with masking tape, wood floors with blue tape
3) Home Depot carries rolls of 3' wide heavy paper in the painting section. This is the best stuff to protect floors as you paint the walls - fix a line of tape on the floor, then tape the paper to the tape on the floor.
4) If you are planning on stopping the painting activity for hours, days, or months (guilty!), wrap the roller in plastic shopping bags and stick in the fridge. This prevents the paint from drying on the roller, so it can be just taken out of the fridge when ready to resume painting.