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I decided to go with a dark brown – Martha Stewart’s Brooke Trout, to be exact. I used the same color in my kitchen and loved it, plus I had enough left over so I went ahead and used it on the porch.

Here are a few before pics…

The old colors – Martha Stewart’s Weimaraner and Tortilla.

First, the floor had to be repainted. I choose Martha Stewart’s Arrowroot.

The new dark walls with the great orange accent lamps I found at TJ Maxx.

A new rug from Ballard Designs…

and some cute accent pillows…

I haven’t finished the other side of the porch yet. Photos to follow, soon!

MyColortopia offers a fabulous new color inspiration tool called My Image Inspiration. What better way to get color inspiration for your home than by uploading one of your favorite images and having a color palette selected for you?

I’m a big fan of the color pink so I simply used a photo of one of my pink orchids, uploaded it using the My Image Inspiration tool and got a fantastic color palette to work with!

You can take almost anything – a piece of fabric, your favorite painting or piece of jewelry, upload the image and voila! you’ll have a custom paint pallet right before you that you can print, share, and even take to the paint store with you!  My favorite thing about this tool is that it takes the guess work out of finding colors that compliment each other. Try My Image Inspiration today. You won’t be disappointed!

 I have been sponsored by Glidden brand paint to write this post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

For me, choosing a color is a bit easier because I have access to a multitude of idea books and color swatches. I often get the urge to change a room color when I see a color scheme I like in a trade magazine or home decorating magazine and every so often I am even inspired by the color of a simple object…such as a piece of beach glass.

When helping customers pick a paint color I like to simplify it by asking them two basic questions:

What is your favorite color and what colors typically makes you feel good?

Now, homeowners and designers alike can use Glidden’s MyColortopia which helps take the guess work out of trying to choose the perfect paint color!

Take the quiz below and find out what colors fit you and your lifestyle!

The views provided in this review are the personal views of Nifty Thrifty Girl and are not the views of AkzoNobel or any other company. I received compensation in return for this article.

It will do…for now. The fun thing about canvas is that it can be reworked and reused over and over!

I bought this horrendous plastic faux gold mirror last month at a thrift store for $6.99.

I originally thought I would paint it a lovely shade of lime green…or perhaps hot pink…but opted to use it at the head of the stairs…

…and figured white would be best.

My child complains that the hallway now looks like a “baby’s room”, but I’m happy with it…for now. That’s the joy of paint, it can be changed in a few short hours!

This year, however, because I am trying to purge I decided I would avoid looking. Ha. When I took my dogs out for a walk early on the first ‘trash’ day they stopped at a roadside pile and sniffed. And what to my wondering eyes did appear…but two vintage basket weave metal patio chairs. I gazed at them, pondered, shrugged them off and decided to go on my way. Hours later I could not stop thinking about them! So…I went back and they must have been meant to be mine because they were still there.

Here is their before and after:

After much scraping, metal brushing, rust removal, priming and painting, I have a lovely pair of pink patio chairs!

And my bedroom…

I adore this color…it is so soothing and classic. Ok, no more pictures of gray walls, I promise – unless, of course, I decide to paint another room this color!

My living room walls have been Martha Stewart’s Hot Chocolate (once upon a time when her paint was available at Kmart) with two accent walls in Wal-Mart’s American Elm, for thirteen years. Far too long to stick with the same color, in my opinion.

I knew I wanted to go with a gray for the living room but, oy, there are oh-so-many to choose from. I love Benjamin Moore’s Chelsea Gray but was afraid it would be too dark. I finally settled with BM’s Galveston Gray, but because I’m so thrifty and refuse to spend an excessive amount of money on paint I pulled out my Wal-Mart ColorPlace fan deck (I’ve heard that Sherwin Williams makes this paint for Wal-Mart and I’ve used it in several rooms in my home without hesitation). Fortunately, (and this rarely happens) Wal-Mart’s Ashland gray was pretty darn close to BM’s Galveston Gray. Twenty six dollars and four hours later…I’m in love with the new living room color!

Cutting in with Ashland gray

Cutting in with Ashland gray, covering American Elm & Hot Chocolate

Love this color!

Pardon the mess, now I need to get my living room back in order and take some proper pictures. Looks like I’ll have plenty of time to do that with this continued humidity.

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As a professional painter I have the luxury of seeing a plethora of colors in each house I”m working in. That makes it so much easier for me to pick and choose colors for my own rooms. I get to spend several days with the new color of someone else’s walls and even though colors look very different in different settings I can get a ‘feel’ for the color I’m working with. I was working in a friend’s house and she chose a lovely shade for her den and kitchen- Benjamin Moore’s Texas Leather (also a featured color in the Pottery Barn catalog). I never would have picked this particular color for my own house, but the more I was around that color, the more I fell in love with it. So, my dining room is now that color! My apologies for the barren walls…I still don’t have my dining room properly put together yet:

In my house the color has more of a green hue. In my friend’s house it had more of a brown hue. I love the white trim and my antique white cupboard against the lush walls.

I also fell in love with another Pottery Barn color (Pine Cone Brown) and decided to paint my bedroom walls. My bedroom has had white walls for 12 years! It was a big change for me but I am so glad I did it. I’m in love with this color. It makes the room so restful and cozy.

I painted the dresser I purchased at an estate sale (for $18!!) white

And one more big change…a kitchen remodel. It’s only a partial kitchen remodel. I have a mishmash of different cupboards in my kitchen – the old built in ones that go from floor to ceiling (which I love) and the newer not-so-great ones that I will have to live with until I win the lottery. I’m adding another set of base cabinets and shelving on one end of the kitchen, getting new countetops, a new sink, and a new stove. I’ll be posting before and after pictures of the progress. It’s going slowly but it will be well worth it when it’s done!