the bungalow files: choosing a paint color

I am so bad at choosing paint colors. I just get stuck in a wash of indecision.  The four colors below were options for our current bedroom.  Guess which color we chose? I'll give you four guesses.

You're wrong.  We didn't choose any of them! The two in the middle looked so light at the time.  They didn't look any different from white. It's perplexing the way a color can look so light and barely there when you just paint a little square of it, but then once you paint the whole room they look so much darker.

Anyway, we didn't choose one of the darker ones either, because they already looked so dark and we wanted to lighten the room up.  I ended up going with one of the same family as the two lighter ones, but that was in between the two.  When Dan and I went back to the store, not really satisfied with any of our options, we settled on one called something like Old French Grey.  Obviously, I was sold on the French part.

No pictures of the final color yet! We need to get our room all set up first. It came out significantly more blue than I had envisioned, but I still like it. 

There you can see the two shades we tried in the living room.  I limited myself to two, because I knew I could have tried 15 and still not been satisfied.  We went with the one on the right.  It really brightened up and modernized the space.  It, too, is more blue than I had anticipated.  Evidently, I'm really drawn to blue undertones. 

Ok, that's it for now!

the bungalow files: bathroom

Stepping into our bathroom is definitely like taking a step back in time.  From the wallpaper, to the light fixture, to the incredibly solid tub (sans shower), nothing feels modern.  However, it doesn't really bother me that much.   I kid you not, but everyone under the age of 40 who has come into the house has touched the wallpaper (it's raised) and said, "I actually kind of like this."  I actually kind of like it too.  

It's a pretty and classic pattern, even if its color leaves a bit to be desired.  Although I suppose if you called it chartreuse or citron, people would be all about it.  I think once you update the light fixture, mirror, and vanity, it would look more modern.  It feels better already with the wall to wall carpeting out ;)

Sorry about how blurry this picture is. But I wanted to illustrate the lack of shower capabilities.  Also, the old people support bars.  All of this will get renovated at some point...I'm just not quite sure when that some point is. It's okay though, our shrunken basement shower is working out surprisingly well. I'll have to show photos of that at a later date.

And there you have it in all its glory! Old people bars, built in cabinets with dated hardware, and all of that wallpaper.  What do you think?