For all of our trim and doors, I chose to use a soft creamy white that has a slight yellowish tint to it. I love the way it looks. The one we used is Behr's Pot of Cream and IMHO it's perfection. While refurbishing the foreclosure home we bought a couple of years ago, we've added crown molding and replaced every door and piece of trim in the house. Everything is now painted with this same white and I'm tickled with it. It's not something anyone else notices, but I love how it's nice and crisp but easy on the eyes. There are hundreds of whites and when you put them directly next to each other, yes, you can see their differences, but once you pick one and put it on the trim and doors, it will just look white and really only you will probably notice. Our floors are walnut and oak and I've used cool colors and warm, regardless this Pot of Cream white looks great with all of it. I've even painted furniture with it and plan on eventually painting our kitchen cabinets with it too. In regards to the switches and covers I have just used standard white of each. None of them sit next to the trim and they all blend, but there are light switches you can paint to match. The vent covers I'd leave alone. If it were me, I'd never opt for builder anything. Take the designers advise and pick a soft creamy white.

After a long day of rearranging the LR, hooking up electronics, and being w/o phone/ internet service, I am back!!!! Parma - that's exactly what I envision. Since I do sweep fairly regularly I want to find a real handmade broom to keep in the corner in the kitchen. I'm sure that DS1 would call it mommy's witches broom! Martha Stewart did a segment on handmade brooms one time and I wish I'd have paid more attention. And old flooring - I think the more aged, worn and dinged up it is the better for me! Stinky - Gardener (Great name) -I've actually been buying stuff here and there and packing it away for a few yrs. now. The house that we live in is Victorian on the inside but I've known the house we are moving to for a long time and it's more in line w/ our simple comfort level. There's no way that our current bedroom style would work in the other house but I am very happy w/ it and yrs. down the road I'm sure that it too will morph into a French Country Farmhouse style. For now I just want to enjoy the finished product. Tish - that sounds perfect, European Farmhouse! I will def. have to google that term and see what pops up. I'm thinking that Shabby Chic look too but w/ way less cottage & flower prints and a lot more farm and durability! Kmcg - thank you very much for the link. Guess what I'll be doing during downtime at work today after all of my work is finished?! Polly - that sounds so pretty - hopefully you will opst some pics anyways despite living through a reno. A real nice thing about GW here is that we've seen pics of eachother's homes at their worst. One of my favorite threads was one where everybody had to go take a picture of their kitchen in the moment and post it. It was great to see kitchens in their 'disaray state' that were typically posted after having been 'staged' for their GW photo op.! I really want DR chairs w/ rush seats and a farmhouse table but DH is so attached to his grandmother's fancy set that I don't even want to suggest it. Ronbre - both of your homes sound very lovely. I can see where it would be tough to decorate in the exact same manner after such a horrible event. I'd love to see pics of the man room and your MBR. Tina - right now I have much of the hardwired stuff packed away like my chandeliers and sconces. Most of it I'd pick up at deep discounts when I worked at Bombay. Our storage rm. was laid out so poorly that items would get stuck in the most hidden spots and forgotten about until I'd rip the place apart and find things that had been there for yrs. My 2 favorite chandies were only $59. Currently I visit them in my attic and peek in the boxes and dream. I didn't want to hang them all and then have to turn around and take them down to sell this house and put all of the original stuff back up. If things pan out alright I will take pics of the LR after I have some more stuff done. I def. have to paint again. When DH moved all of the entertainment stuff I forgot that I hadn't painted behind it all. There's a big bright blue patch! I'd also like to pick up a ceiling fan and paint out the ceiling after 9 yrs. here. There are just wires hanging from the ceiling now. Someone here had recently posted a photo of their Baby Turtle walls and Limestone ceiling and it was so gorgeous so I am going to follow suit and do the same.

I've grown a lot of salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius) and the seed heads can often be very off white and sometimes down right tan so the exact shade of the pappus is not an identifying trait. If it is in the US, T. dubius is the one you will often find growing wild hence my suggestion of that one. FataMorgana

You can add a lot of color and brightness through the use of accessories. You can add them all in a single color...as here they focused on the coral... ...or gold ...or any other color, preferably a bright one. Or you can add multiple colors such as aqua, orange and acid green as suggested by this design seed. You can even choose stark white as your accent color. Regardless of color, take a look at the pictures above and notice how much interest is added through texture and pattern. And notice how the window treatments are used to reinforce the color theme. Especially in the first one, notice how important the color in the art is to the room as a whole. Here's a room that is all white, beige and brown, yet notice all the textures that keep the room interesting...pattern on the rug, another on the throw pillows, texture on the white pillows, wood, ceramics, pattern on the window treatments, leather on one chair, velvet on the other texture in the sea shells. So there's a lot you can do with brown to make it bright and keep it interesting...just choose carefully what else you put in the room and the brown will become a neutral background for whatever color story you wish to tell.