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.

the retro dresser I found at the local thrift store and made into our tv stand? What are the chances that I would find another dresser just like this one? Apparently, pretty good because I found another at our local thrift store…exactly like the first one! This dresser wasn’t as pristine as the last one but it was marked down to $17. YES, $17!!! I knew I could work my magic for that price. In typical Nifty Thrifty Girl fashion, I was so anxious to transform the piece that I forgot to take some before pics to show how ugly it was. I did snap some photos of the drawers so you can get the idea of its gold/yellow ugliness…

And a shot of it primed…

And…the finished product…

Our new dining room buffet. I thought the original drawer pulls & knobs were pretty cool so I painted them with a satin nickel spray paint and re-installed them.

Not bad for a mere $17, eh? I spent more on the paint & spray paint than I did on the dresser!

Have a project you’d like help with? Don’t hesitate to contact me!  Stay tuned for more re-dos that I will be offering for sale.

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!

I’ve been wanting to replace my giant, cottage-looking armoire that held my tv for some time now and I knew this piece would make the perfect contemporary tv console. So…with a little paint and some new drawer pulls…let me introduce you to my new tv console…

I’m thrilled with the results. It’s a much needed change from the old armoire, plus, it makes the living room look so much bigger.

Luckily, I had camera in hand and took photos before we started painting. The colors were garish. The carpets…blue shag, orange, plaid(ugh) were either glued to the floors, covered in petrified cat poop, or had disintegrated purple carpet pads under them that were the consistency of silly putty. The kitchen was disgusting. I don’t think the cupboards had EVER been cleaned. We chiseled years of gunk off of them with putty knives. My sis and I had a vision, though, and saw through all the awful decor and grime.

Warning: photo overload to follow…

Living room 1996, Mom & sis removing rug pad silly putty (took 3 days!)

Living Room, 2010

We did most of the work by ourselves, including the floors. We rented a sander and had the floors sanded and sealed within a week’s time. The main expense was for new wiring & some minor plumbing (which was done by professionals)…everything else was done inexpensively with old fashioned elbow grease and paint.

Living room, 1996. Dad cleaning out gunky fireplace

Living room, 2010

Stairway, 1996. Zoe cat peeking over the edge.

Stairway, 2010

Dining room, 1996. Gotta love that paneling!

Dining room, 2010

The kitchen was probably the biggest expense and wasn’t completed until 2008 – with new counter-tops, completely new wall of cabinetry, new stove and tin backsplash.

Kitchen corner, 1996. Ugh.

Kitchen corner, 2010

Kitchen, 1996

Kitchen, 2010

Bathroom, 1996, complete with blue shag carpet.

Bathroom, 2010. No carpet, white painted floors!

The bathroom has changed quite a bit. We took out the old clawfoot tub (please don’t hate…it was just too inconvenient with a baby and I was tired of whacking my shins on the side of it every time I climbed in!). We had a stall tub/shower installed, kept all the wainscoting and original towel bars and added wallpaper and a medicine cabinet. I’m still not terribly thrilled with the bathroom. My plan is to take out the tub/shower and have a tiled corner stall shower with glass enclosure and add a sink/vanity using an old dresser or sideboard.

My bedroom corner, 1996

My bedroom corner, 2010...with built in closet

There is only ONE closet (a small walk-in) in my house. Fortunately, my crafty father was able to build some cute corner closets in my daughter’s bedroom and in my bedroom.

The property has changed a great deal over the years with many new gardens, plantings, and even a white picket fence. I won’t bore you with all those photos.

Garage, 1996 - cleaning out the overgrowth with Mom

Garage 2010, with new doors compliments of Dad

Sorry, there are no exterior photos of my house. The exterior is in need of some major re-vamping. The poor house still has its yucky ashphalt shingles which will, hopefully, be removed to reveal old clapboard that I will tackle painting some year!

Happy birthday dear, old house! Here’s to many more years (and renovations)!!

*** Thanks to all my friends & family who helped along the way…it wouldn’t have been possible to accomplish this much without you!***

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.

They needed some major TLC but at a mere $8.99 (!) each, I knew they would be coming home with me.

I cleaned them up, sanded them lightly and gave them several coats of paint. I also sprayed the handles with an oil rubbed bronze spray paint. And here are the little darlings now:

I just love these little tables and I found the perfect matching lamps for them once they are in place in my living room!