For me, solid content isn't the only thing to consider. For example, I have a heck of a time getting Aura to look good on the wall in critical lighting situations. I can't eliminate the lapping marks from the roller completely. With Regal, it's easier. Now, the difference in coverage and durability between Regal and Aura isn't much as far as I can tell, so I pretty much use Regal all the time, unless I have a customer that insists on it or wants the matte finish. Regal Matte is a terrible product, so I will use the Aura Matte in those situations. Point is, Aura may be more expensive because what is used to make that paint is higher quantity of expensive ingredients, but so what? Sometimes we need the paint to actually look good too.

Oh my goodness, such wonderful advice here. Thank you all so very much! Well, I got up the courage and put three colors on the walls..... and none of them shouted 'the one'... grrr. Good thing I didn't just pick a chip and buy the paint! DH and DS are no help, they commented all the colors looked the same to them. No, No, No.... can't you SEE that this one has more gray, this one has more brown, this one is too light..... :) olga d - I have to cover a Hunter Green wall in the dining room. Yikes! I am hoping for the good coverage they claim. ainsley (and cat mom) when I googled the Aura paint, I came across a message board where that very same discussion was going on. One poster 'hated' Aura and said it showed roller marks on her ceiling. A BM dealer posted that it was not meant to be used on ceilings. cat mom, I am sorry, I don't really remember the reason she said that. september home - thanks for the directions. I read some of those on this other board in defense of Aura from the *haters* it was ALL due to not following the directions and painting in the old, familiar way of re-rolling a newly painted area. It is a caution I put to the test today :) I started my samples swatches with an el-cheapo brush.... huge mistake, when I tried to clean up the look, I made it worse. I will not make THAT mistake again :) OT question September - do you live in Indiana or near by? I remember a poster with "sept" in the name being very helpful when I had to choose my cabinet paint and my GC was using Porter Paints. If it was you, Thank you! I can't find my old post to see if it was you or if I remembered to thank you for your kind help.

It doesn't matter if it's your first, second or fifth marriage, you have to look out for yourself because nobody else is. A second wife should not depend on a guy anymore than a first wife should. I agree that it's fair to be compensated when you put your career on hold to have children and take care of the family, but it's not fair to think you will walk away from the marriage with a better financial position than the person that is the higher wage earner. It's not fair but life's not fair. If it were, men would be giving birth, not us. Your advice KKNY to not get involved with a man with children and not expect him to provide financial and other support is good advice. I wouldn't date a guy that didn't see or support his children. I also wouldn't date a guy that talked bad about his ex. But, the flip side to that argument is that when you get divorced, you have to accept that when he gets remarried, he legally obligates himself to his spouse and possibly more children. His obligation to his first family don't go away and they shouldn't suffer because he remarries, but if he is able to support the new family by increasing his income, then it doesn't impact his first family. The problem is that when the ex wife sees his income go up (or the added income of his new spouse), then she wants her share to go up too. If his income goes up and he doesn't have more mouths to feed, then maybe it would be fair to give more to the first family. MAYBE. It also depends on the ex wife's financial situation. I agree with Ashley that an ex wife can't sit on her duff demanding increases because he's working his butt off to make more. She's not married to him, she needs to do for herself... how pathetic is that? My husband's ex has gotten spousal support for 12 years on a marriage that lasted only one year. (Well, she hasn't finalized the divorce, probably because the court may stop her spousal support) She will continue to get it until he takes her back to court to stop it. My guess is that he is afraid they will increase his child support and reduce the spousal support (which is tax deductible for him) and so he lets it go.

Thank you, voila, for coming out of lurkdom to help me! This HAS been painful in the sense that I really dislike being in limbo, uncertain, and indecisive, which has also been time-consuming since I have been looking at paint colors off and on for 2 or 3 years, and stewing around about them trying to figure this out. To clarify regarding the Carlisle Cream with the hint of pink: this is not the trim color. I will try to see if I can find the name somewhere in my files, but the color of the trim for all of the house and most of the ceilings has a yellowish cast. The Carlisle Cream is only on the ceiling in the DR & MBR (and the paint chosen for the DR will also be used in the MBR which faces NW), as well as the walls of the mudroom, laundry, powder room, and MBath. You are correct that it fights with yellow, because the tiles have hints of yellow tones, and it does not look good there. Except for the 2 ceilings, the Carlisle Cream will be changed to something that goes better with all of the tiles and countertops that probably need a color with some yellow, rather than pink, in it. When we painted our former N facing foyer with Pittsfield Buff, it really pulled together the colors of the 2 small rugs and tile, which are almost the same as what we have now. But that is a whole nuther story. Wythe & Palladian Blues are on my "possible" list, so I will give them further consideration. The HC 139-141 at first glance under kitchen lighting seemed minty, but the lighting in the LR is halogen, so they look different in there. I will need to see them on a sunny day. Another vote for HC 146, 147, and Gray Wisp is good! And I really like your suggestion of Quiet Moments. It is interesting that you say, "all greens seem to go together", which I had heard before. The reason I got a new LR rug was that my old one had multiple colors of green and greenish gold on a cream field, and to me it clashed with the fireplace in daylight. I moved it into the kitchen eating area that has the same slate tile on the other side of the 2-way FP where it only gets light from the NW which is not directly on it as it is in the LR, and it looks perfect in the different light! Also, if I turned the LR rug around, it would look much better upon entering the room, but to me the green from that direction looks awful with the FP green. I think it will be a lot easier to choose the DR paint than that for the LR. I will definitely pursue looking at grayed colors for both rooms, but I would still like to try maybe a rich tan that does not lean to red or yellow and see if that could work in the LR to pull out those colors in the rug, but maybe nothing will do this? I suppose that would only add to the blendy feeling that I am so good at achieving. I had originally imagined having a sort of rich, dark cream, but I guess that would mean yellow, so it is out. A correction regarding the "drapes." They are actually 4 drapery panels on each side of a 7 ft triple casement that help to set off the piano and a small chest near the creamy beige rug, and at each end of a 4 window bank (each 42" wide) next to the chest and behind the mauve wing-back near the FP. They are not directly next to the 9 x 12 "green" rug. The 2 rugs are separated by the sofa, so you do not see much of the Bokhara when entering the LR. I know that all the detail causes many people not to read this, but I welcome comments from anyone who has the patience to work through them to give me additional guidance. Anne