Ok, you guys are fabulous! I am really struggling with the fact that dh wants to be SO involved with every decorating decision. lukkiirish - I followed you, I think! Red accent with neutral, not red with gold! I like the idea of the stripe and will have to see what dh thinks of that after what we discussed last night. I think that BM Monroe Bisque looks great with BM Tuscan Red, but now dh is leaning in a different direction, lol! threedgrad - thank you! I always forget about those threads metromom - THANK you! That was the exact description I used with dh the other day and it helps to have someone else agree with me. equest17 - your rooms are lovely! If we decide to go with a red accent, I will keep those colors in mind. After dh went to the BM store last night and picked up 4 more of their large red swatches and one gold, he is more sold on gold than red. I'm not too familiar with EK paint but it looks like ICI paints sells them locally. I am hoping to stick to Benjamin Moore, though since I get a discount there through work. The color he brought home is BM Dorset Gold, which I thought at first might be too dark, but after seeing it in several different lighting conditions, I think might work. There is also a picture of it in someone's kitchen in the Yellow and Gold thread in the Gallery that looks nice. Any experience with that color, or another nice gold in the BM line? Also, I forgot to mention the painted brick fireplace in the room. We are hoping to reface it with stacked stone (or tile if we can't afford that) eventually, but for now I think we may just need to paint it. It's not the most attractive fireplace, but does anyone have any suggestions for a color to paint it if we go with a gold? Maybe something brown??? I initially thought we'd just paint it the same as the trim color, but perhaps we can give it an accent color. I was thinking BM Acadia White, or BM Cloud white for trim. Would those work with a gold? Lastly, I need a coordinating color for the hallway and stairs that is lighter and more neutral. You can see the stairwell into the basement from the LR, which is painted RH Latte. I had been planning on painting the whole stairwell and basement BM Monroe Bisque before dh expressed his strong opinion, but I don't know if that will work in a room adjacent to the gold.

I like the far right one as well. Much will depend on the kind of light the room gets... Here's what I do. When I've narrowed down to three colors, I buy tester pots and paint two mighty boards in each color. (6 total) then I tape them up in various spots...and always in one corner to mimic what the paint would look like in a corner. My local paint store carries MB...but one can also buy them online. The are pricy---but work much better than posterboard. I keep them in a portfolio and they are VERY useful when helping friends with paint decisions. melanie Here is a link that might be useful: Mighty Boards.

Thanks Karen for your comment, and we ended up following your advice! We're just about done with the kitchen, and here's what we went with: We'll be replacing the dining room table / chairs at some point down the road, and countertops (getting installed this week) will be a white & grey engineered stone. We like the blue!

OK. SW Safari has an LRV of 49. The Light Reflective Value LRV has a 0-100 scale so it’s degree of reflecting light or absorbing light is almost in the middle of that range. It has a high level of Chroma and that is how grayed or muted the color is. So it has a lot. That drives it’s lower LRV. It is close to the middle of the Yellow Hue family in the warm segment. So this color should meet your goals quite well. The only other variable is the light in your room. So a nice big sample is important. DO NOT PAINT SAMPLE on your walls. Order sample from samplize.com for best method. Their samples have a peel back so you can peel back corners and stick on your wall and move around to get the light impacts on the color. Order 2-3 colors to help you compare and contrast.