To add insult to injury, the trim is painted in the same shade of blah off-white, so nothing pops.  Kris thinks I’m crazy to put so much work into a place we are renting, and he thinks I’m even crazier to do this knowing that I’ll have to paint back over it before we move, but to me, it’s worth it.  Step one will be to paint the trim a sharp, bright, glossy white.  Step two will be to paint the walls a contrasting shade in a warm tone.

I’ve decided on something in the “tan” color family for several reasons – while a dark color would make this room purposely cozy, it will inevitably be so difficult to paint back over when we move out.  This was a valuable lesson I learned in past apartments.  I will NEVER do that again – no matter how awesome navy, or a dark mink color would look 🙂

Looking at these on the wall, I’ve already decided that the bottom four are out – they are too light, and too similar to the disgusting wall color we currently have – even though they do have a bit more yellow, and they are overall brighter, I’m looking for more contrast against the crown molding.  In this light, I really like the darkest one – it’s second from the right in the middle grouping – however at night, it looks dark… really dark… and I’m worried it will give the room a cave-like feeling on cloudy days.

**As a side note, doesn’t our new rug look fabulous in the hallway?!  I don’t think I’ve ever photographed it in our house – pretty awesome.  It’s the indoor/outdoor Saybrook Runner from Ballard Designs – it is an insanely good deal and I am so happy with it**

I really like the one at the very top, along with the one farthest to the right in the middle.  I’m going to give it a few more days to make a decision.

The other thing I was thinking was to paint three of the walls a lighter color like the paint chip farthest on the left in the middle row, and painting the wall behind our bed the darkest color.  Is that weird?  Should I stay consistent on all the walls?  Maybe Kris will have something brilliant to say on the matter…