Thanks. I did decide to make a carrot cake in the end. I bought an assorted box of Wilton's paste icing colors... I'm very happy with how vibrant they turned out. We went over there last night and I brought the cake over (on the way I stopped and got a digital camera 100 dollar Nikon at Target, not expensive buy fine for pics of food and vacuums). First we went to dinner at Kobe steakhouse (late b-day dinner for me, was nice) and then met his parents and brother back at grandma's house. His mom also brought one of her 8 birds and her english mastiff (huge drooling, but sweet dog)... that combined with the cats already there, it was a full house! I've never professed to be any good at writing in icing, but I still had fun doing it. She was very appreciative and seemed to like the cake. I used fresh ground cinnamon and added applesauce and nutmeg to the standard Joy of Baking recipe. Also made a double batch of frosting just because you can never have enough. I forgot to toast the nuts before pressing them onto the sides, but it still turned out OK. The highlight of the evening was when granny (who has dementia and cancer and all kinds of other ailments) plucked a dark walnut from the side of the cake with her bare fingers and put it in her mouth, then said, "I thought you mighta cooked a bug in the cake, but I reckon it's jist a nut!" Here's the first picture taken with the new camera. There's even a setting for food... I'm going to have to scroll through the archives and start reading those food photo tips now!

I think your plan to get a sample is good, but if you have a Sherwin Wm.s nearby, you might want to pop for their $5 test quarts instead. They allow you enough paint to pour it into a roller tray and roll a sample on your wall. With yellow, you need to keep in mind that the color will intensify after it's painted on all 4 walls, so you need to go a shade tanner than you might want on the finished product. If you choose something very yellow, your room will be intensely yellow when it's done. I've not seen the BM Straw in person but have read where several have used it and liked it a lot. The Hawthorne I know nothing about. Have you checked the nice thread in the Gallery on yellows and golds? Red

Sorry - I forgot the temp! I have corrected the recipe above. It is baked at 300° - cold oven - no pre-heating. Yes, a LOT of yolks left over! When I was younger, I just made a double batch of my mother's recipe for Swedish cut-out cookies. I'd just freeze the dough and bring it out to make Christmas cookies. Here's that recipe. It's the absolutely VERY BEST recipe for a cut-out cookie in the world! SWEDISH CUTOUT COOKIES 6 egg yolks 3/4 cup sweet butter (unsalted) 2 cups white flour 3/4 cup white sugar 1/2 tsp lemon extract 1/2 tsp salt 3 Tbs heavy cream Preheat oven to 375°. Drop egg yolks into gently simmering, salted water. Simmer until hard cooked. Put through a food mill. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar together. Add sieved egg yolks. Sift flour and salt together. Add dry ingredients to above mixture, alternating with lemon extract/cream mixture. Work into a ball. Chill, if necessary. Roll out thinly. Cut-out cookies using cookie cutters. Place on baking sheet. Bake 6-8 minutes til edges just being to turn light golden brown. DO NOT OVERCOOK! When cool, frost with Cutout cookie frosting and decorate. CUTOUT COOKIE FROSTING 1 box of confectioners sugar (powdered sugar) milk - enough to make it thin enough to spread - add a little bit at a time 1/2 tsp lemon extract Mix ingredients until smooth. Mixture should be thin enough to spread-out smoothly, but thick enough to cover cookies. Divide the frosting into multiple small Pyrex cups. Color each cup with a different color - leave one plain (white). I always used red (Santa), green (Xmas trees), blue (stars) for Christmas cookies. Add sprinkles/silver balls to your taste.

Thanks a lot, jck910! We'll look to swap the bookcases out with white versions and get a white/off-white chair. We've thought about painting the walls a different color, but will probably leave that till a little later, and keep it as-is for just now. Thanks for the color suggestion, I appreciate it!