Color my world

Paint chips litter my kitchen table, my mind, even my dreams. I'm trying to figure out the wall colors for the Guesthouse and I'm ready to, uh ... climb the walls.

There is a tiny bit of urgency to make these decisions, since the painters are coming next week (or sooner, if they finish up their current job early). I know that the woodwork and kitchen cabinets will be painted white. But I'm not a painter - do you paint woodwork or walls first?

That's crucial information, since the walls are the bugaboo. It's a backwards domino effect: in order to choose the wall colors, I need to know how the room is decorated. In order to know the decorating, I need the furniture (which is in place at last). But almost all the furniture is being upholstered, so I need to make decisions about fabric. Which brings me back to color.

Let me tell you, trying to envision colors for an entire house without any real sense of what things will look like, is a challenge.

I did it once, when we built our home. Everything in a new house is a blank slate. But in those days, I had control over the fireplace color, the rugs, the ceilings. And I bought new furniture. Over the course of several MONTHS, not days.

This is different. The fireplace is the fireplace. I don't love the color, but I'm stuck with it. The big massive stones are a bit incongruous with my light, airy garden theme. But hey, I'm plunging ahead.

I do have some help. A wonderful and extremely patient decorator named Amy Mannila is traveling with me to furniture and fabric stores. Yesterday, we spent an entire day at Mill Outlet in Raleigh, with a side trip to Discount Fabric Warehouse.

I bought 49 yards of fabric for the loveseat and sofa that will grace the sunroom - the main meeting space for Gardenspirit. It's wonderful -- white background with my favorite flower of all time: lilacs. Lucky for me, there was enough on the roll of fabric. I bought the entire stock!

But the polka dot fabric we found for the fireplace room. Oops. I think it's a mistake. I bought 18 yards to cover the two ottomans. At $14 a yard. Ouch. Fortunately, I didn't buy 40 more yards for the sofa and loveseat. So it's back to the drawing board. Or to the Mill Outlet store. Or Not Just Linens.

Funny thing is that I love shopping for fabric and decorating stuff. But I feel pushed. Which is why I made a hasty decision yesterday. Oh well. Maybe I'll like polka dots better in the morning light. Now where are those paint chips??