Maybe you could look at the more extensive color charts for artist colors to try to print a color swatch for a custom blend. Or maybe print out a picture of one of those cars for a sample mix. Even try a dealer pamphlet for color choices. Maybe get some opaque artist paint to mix what color you mean yourself. Even grab a black cherry and show him what part of it you'd like him to mix ;) I forget the size chip they need to read a color by machine, maybe 1 inch square? Size of a quarter as I recall. Not shiny. Consistent color area for reading. Might be a starting point, anyway. Actually, a professional mixer such as at BM can eyeball and match colors from a sample you bring. They know their colors well.

Well, what you've done already sounds lovely but can you post a photo or two? I too have a long and narrow living room, 12 x 23 and it's been a nightmare for me so I'm curious as to what you end up doing. One thing I have to add is I'm also concerned about the accent wall because I did exactly what you did with a copperish orange and even though I loved color, within a couple of months I was ready to paint over it. The reason is because orange is a very strong and energetic color and in the end it pretty much over powered the room. It also made it hard to relax in it. I plan instead to bring the autumn rustic colors into the room by way of the rug, lamps, pillows and so on, you know, little bits here and there. Directions for photo posting are here, I'm looking forward to seeing what you've done so far! Here is a link that might be useful: How to page

Sellers who suspect their product's reputation is being damaged should consider selling direct. Many companies do. What's not cool is begging and bribing to get someone who's spent their money, to take their HONEST review down. Also, you really should be sure to disclose that you received a free or discounted product in return for your review, if and when you re-review. Further, the manufacturer can comment on reviews and explain that the product received could be or is a knockoff and that could explain the poor performance. If the buyer turned down a replacement, that could also be noted.

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read through these posts and to post advice and suggestions and constructive criticism. I am taking all of it into consideration and some of it was not what i wanted nor expected to hear, but what I needed to hear. I feel as if a little more explanation is needed. We found a builder that we really like and everyone that he has built for has been really happy. He had several plans that we could look at or if we had any plans he could build whatever we liked. He has a gentleman that could draw and customize a home for us. We thought it was architect at first and the price was so good because we were going through him and he would then be able to have our house plan to use in the future. Upon our first meeting with the gentleman that was going to draw up of dream home so we could make it a reality, we learned that he was not an architect, or designer. He's retired now from 40 years of experience woking on/building homes and is good with the software. He is very kind and has been very patient with the many changes we have made along the way. However, we soon discovered that he really has no design ideas or suggestions. He just draws whatever we ask him to or whatever I draw to send to him. If we wanted something a changed, the standard procedure was to just make part of the house bigger, we had gotten up to almost 4400 square feet! If we didn't like the way something worked and asked for a change, he would fix that issue and cause 2 more. I got so frustrated that we are trying to build our dream home and pretty much the only person I had for design help was myself. Uhm, I really want someone with much more skill and talented and better taste to design my home. I know what I want, I just do't know how to get there. We have been working on this for 8 months. I got so frustrated that I gave up for 3 months. Our neighbors are using the same builder and they had difficulties getting their design as well. However they had found a floor plan that they liked and just had him make changes to it and add a mother in law plan. I firmly believe that we are his first truly start from scratch home. Again, this is the guy the builder sent us to to have plans drawn, not our builder. Giving him credit he has taking my very very basic sketches and turned them into something the builder can build from, but pretty much the design is about 99% me, not that I wanted it that way. Here is where I'm at, so you can see that he is doing all the builder type stuff. We don't want to be difficult, but we want a good design. We don't want the builder to think that we are difficult or indecisive because we just can't get there with his guy. I'm at a loss! Several people wanted to know the lot dimensions. So here they are: It is at the top of a ridge, has some slope to it and has a nice open are in the middle. Of course we want the house to sit about at the arrows part of the lot. There is an utility easement of 20 feet on the right side of the lot, but the utility poles are more like 30 feet inside the property. I really do appreciate all of your insight. It has been eye opening. I'll make another post addressing questions and comments. Sorry to be so long winded.