Too Much Beige ...

I am sitting in a chair that is beige. It features a floral print in plum and amber and a lovely shade of green, but still, the basis of it is beige.

I am looking at my loveseat, which is beige. It sits against a beige wall. Khaki, you might call it, but in generic terms, really, it's beige.

I hadn't realized that I'm so boring.

I thought about replacing the loveseat – at the very least, it needs new cushions – replacing it with something grey, but that piece is too small for the space (love it though I do) and now's not the best time for me to be investing in furniture.

So my brain flipped the idea around and said, "Beth, instead of buying a grey couch to put up against the beige wall, why not paint the wall grey instead?"

Ooh, good job, brain!

So off I went to my stash of paint chips (I really should just invest in a fan deck) and found one I liked. I folded it back on itself so that only my chosen color showed and put a loop of tape on the back and proceeded to stick it on various walls in the room, next to molding, next to trim, next to art. All good. I pride myself on my ability to envision an entire room from a two-inch color square.

I thought I might paint during the blizzard - what else was I going to do? – but I held off on going to the paint store.

And then, a few days ago, a magazine arrived and I sat down to read it, cover to cover, straight through, which I never do, and there, on a page, was a color that I might like even more. It's not from Benjamin Moore, which is the only paint I use, but I can certainly take the magazine to the paint store and find the appropriate chip, or perhaps just give 'em the page and say, "Here, match this, please."

Mmm, paint. I love to paint.

As for the beige chair, I'm thinking a slipcover might be the key, as I do still love this chair and his ottoman friend. It's just too much floral. My friend Nick once said that I live in a Laura Ashley house, which is hardly the case, but my affinity for floral is shifting, not completely, but it's making room for paisley. That's my latest thing. My TV room has three paisley patterns in it at the moment, so it's time to shift my paisley focus to another room in the house, lest I inadvertently conjure Prince. I think of paisley, I think of Prince.

Maybe it's a function of being stuck inside so much these days or maybe it's a function of being a visual person or maybe it's a function of getting to know a designer who recommends design books and makes me look at spaces in different ways, but I'm liking the changes that I'm making to my space.

Not that changes wouldn't have happened anyway. Since I've moved, things have changed. Rooms have been painted (then repainted), furniture has been added, furniture has been replaced, accessories have been bought, art has been bought, art has been framed. I moved from a studio into a one-bedroom into a house, so I've accumulated more stuff over time.

But this feels more active, less passive. More intentional, less by default. More about contrast in color and style, less about, well, beige.