Actually "flesh" became "peach" in 1962; and Indian Red became "chestnut" in '99.

Hi, worthy -- I knew I was showing my age. Maybe I can rethink the "acres of brown" we've got and call it something more attractive.

How about "a lovely milk chocolate" ;)

I got ahold of the stucco people; they tell me the stucco will age (within a year) to the color we ordered.

Anybody know how to make wall-to-wall carpet lighten with age? Just kidding.

chiroptera mama, DH is a chocolate fiend; we'll use that for evenings. In the daylight it's really more of a carmel color. Carmels used to be my favorite candy as a kid. Reframing, that's the ticket, and to keep on laughing.

susan, don't fret over the dark carpet. Maybe with the upholstered items and some area rugs, the floor won't be so dark. It sounds very pretty. Can't wait to see the photo's.

FWIW, I'm a big believer that a successful room, like a successful painting or photograph, needs a range of tones from [near] black to [near]white to really work: anything less may be temporarily striking, but can't sustain intrest for the long run.

Thanks again, guys. I'm going to start moving small stuff in tomorrow; we'll see how it looks. It really does go well with the FP. Anyway, as DH says, "we (have to) like it!"

I just got new carpet and I think mine came out too dark, also. It actually is a light brown blend of three colors called Simply Taupe. I had light beige before and everything showed on it.

I am getting used to it and once you get furniture in your home the carpet will look better. I painted my walls a warm beige and the trim white and it helps keep the rooms from looking too dark.

happyladi, thanks. We had a carpet called Summer Blonde before and it was almost white. Spots appeared like magic. Our walls are Aspen White, so I'm sure I'll get used to the carpet and see its advantages, as you have. A blend of three colors sounds nice; I hadn't thought of that. I hope you're enjoying your house!

Look on the bright side. I remodeled my home while I was pregnant with twins (Mistake No. 1). In the remodel, I replaced all carpet with lovely white berber (Mistake No. 2 - what was I thinking - and why didn't someone stop me)? Assuming the twins would always be infants, I did Mickey Mouse babies wallpaper (Mickey Mouse in diapers). (Mistake No. 3) I had built-in shoe racks for the babies for shoes that would fit no larger than a a one-year old (maybe two) (Mistake No. 4) I could go on and on - I didn't have a clue. But after several rounds of in vitro trying to get pregnant, nobody had the heart to reel me in. But I digress. After the twins were born, I would frequently put down a pallet on the floor with plastic underneath and let them lay on the pallet without a diaper to "air out". One of them rolled off the pallet and pooped in the floor. Being a new parent, it didn't matter, I smiled, and said "isn't that cute" and I scrubbed and scrubbed, but it would come out. Oh, well, we laughted, in a few years, we'll look at that spot and laugh about where he pooped in the floor as a baby. Well, the laugh was on me. Within a few months, that carpet was so nasty, it looked like the whole town had come by to poop on the carpet. I bought a steamer and cleaned that carpet about once a month, and it still looked like crap. No pun intended. Then, when one of the boys had his tonsils out at three, he threw up blood clots on the floor - BTW Oxclean did wonders with that. When we sold the house, the new buyers were pulling up the carpet before we were even out of the driveway. Anyway, I have brown carpet in my new house, maybe too dark, but I'm over it already. Just in case.

great story, beachgirlok. Somebody actually recommended I try to get carpet the color of dirt, and I think I've succeeded.

I remember flesh crayons, too. Here's more experience-talking from an old lady who's lived through it all: I had "dark chocolate"--not milk--in the early 1980s. Hired a decorator who said to ignore the carpet color. Used fabrics of peach (very "in" at the time) with some dark green, ivory, and light brown in it. It was gorgeous! White walls saved the day.

Earlier, in the 70s, I had wood floors (real oak from 1938) and a huge dog and GA red clay with a never-wiped-a-shoe husband. In the fashion of the day I covered almost all of the living room floor with an area carpet in a pattern of big blobs of dark brown, deep rust, medium beige. Had a milk chocolate cut velvet couch with rust and black stripes. It was so gorgeous at the time. And everything always looked so clean. Again, white walls saved the day.

And the brown carpet, minus the blobs, would still be gorgeous today. Remember Billy Baldwin's NY apartment all done in classic brown and white? Taste is timeless; fashion fades.

Back again. Just pulled a bunch of recent magazine clippings from my files with lots of brown and pale blue. Pretend you have dark stained wood floors. It's the same thing. Remember when we all had our personal colors done so we'd know what to wear? The lesson there was we could all use every color, just in a different shade. Same thing with your basic brown. Ex., it'll look great with gray, but a warm gray, not a cool one. And blend the two together somewhere in the room with a fabric that contains both colors and maybe another "mixer" color to punch it up. Watch your textures. That gray might not look good in a sleek shiny fabric, but try a nubby one with a touch of another color and it might be perfect.

To see an update on the classic brown and white (not that that's what you want, just to show it never goes out of style) I found it on page 151 of Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams book Let's Get Comfortable; they've got a lot of other mixes with dark brown. It's incredibly versatile. Look at all the color mixes rather than just where it's on the floor. Now that I look, I see it everywhere. It's just your background color, just as if it were a wooden floor. Put small printed or oriental rugs on top here and there if you want to. They're good blenders.

It's smashing with white; less stark with ivory; subtle with beiges and rust; serene with pale sky blue; warm and inviting with all the light to dark shades of peach/apricot/coral. Works with pale buttery yellow, even light olives, aqua/turquoises. Again, blend it all with a pale neutral like warm ivory. I'm excited for you. An unexpected adventure ahead.

And the stucco will age real fast. Not a problem.

bj, thanks so much. It's not even a dark brown except at night and downstairs where the light doesn't shine on it as brightly. We put up a favorite print over the fireplace last night (first thing we moved in) and the LR looks great! I did think yesterday, "Well, what if we had a hardwood floor." It will be fine, and I'll save your post for inspiration.

I don't remember right now where you are in your build; hope all is going well for you.Thanks again!