How do you feel about color?

I was taking a trip down Memory Lane this week, looking at photos of our old house. We moved into our current home five years ago this spring. I took photos of our old house on the morning before it went onto the MLS.

You know how real estate experts often advise that you de-personalize your house and "neutralize" the colors before you list it for sale? That tends to be good advice, and the folks from whom we bought this house had done just that; everything was pretty beige when we moved in. But the first thing I did was to paint EVERY ROOM in the house. Want to take a look around?

Foyer (which leads to kitchen ahead, dining room on left, and library on right. How I loved my black banister!):

Dining room (It was really red. My favorite part was the subtle striping on the walls. I did this by painting the whole room with flat paint, then I taping off stripes and painting every other stripe with high-gloss paint in the same color.):

Study (Including Snickers, the beagle. We did a Ralph Lauren "leather" faux finish below the chair rail in this room.):

Den:

Kitchen and breakfast area (Bright green, anyone?):

Bonus room (with Snickers again):

Upstairs hall (with another glance at the black banister):

Master bedroom (How many pillows could I get on one bed??):

Child's bedroom (He loved his lighthouses back then.):

You can probably tell that I did NOT "tone things down" before we listed our house. I de-cluttered and cleaned, but that's about it. And our house sold the day it was listed.

What I learned from this experience is that buyers do not object to color. They just want color to be used in a way that makes sense. I can share two tips with you about choosing color for your rooms:

• Use a very neutral color in spaces such as hallways.
• Make sure that the color you paint a room coordinates nicely with any adjacent rooms.

Several of the photos above give a peek from one room into the next. I liked the way all my colors worked together. I tried to use fabrics and accessories that would work in several different rooms. And it all made good decorating sense to me. The colors in my current house are a little more subdued; the colors above are all choices I made back in 2002. Still, the guidelines for successful color selection don't change very much over the years.

If you're afraid of color, I recommend visiting a paint store and checking out a paint fandeck. Bring it home and walk around your house, looking for paint chips that work with your rugs or upholstery. Then hold those paint chips all together and see if you like the way they look. Do they make a pretty palette in your hand? Are they pleasing to you on paper? If so, they'll probably be pleasing to you on the wall. You can always buy a sample pot of different colors and give them a try.

**I'm linking this post to The Paint Challenge at The CSI Project. The CSI Project is the collaborative effort of three wonderful bloggers: Amanda (Imperfectly Beautiful), Beckie (Infarrantly Creative), and Jen (Tatertots & Jello). Each of these women is amazing on her own, and now they've teamed up to Create, Share, and Inspire (CSI). Their new site will showcase wonderful projects and host periodic challenges so that we can join the fun. This week's challenge involves paint. Be sure to check it out!**