I often know what I don't like and not sure of what I do like. Someone here once suggested collecting many pictures from magazines and the internet without any preconceived notion of what you are looking for. Then start looking for the one thing that is in common or what attracted me. You will start to see a pattern of what you like. Doing that has helped me tremendously.

They hope to age in place, but realize that eventually that may not work. Their house is all on one floor, with carpet only in the living room and bedrooms. For now, fortunately, mobility is way down on the list of concerns.

Check out benjamin Moore ballet white. it’s a warm sand color. it will contrast with the white trim and look fantastic with the rugs. Definitely NOT a yellow but warmer than most beiges and greiges.

It has more presence than photos online would suggest.

Wondering about suggesting a cream colour carpet and layering a funky rug over top. The neutral for resale but she still gets the colours that she wants

Try Edgecomb Gray by Ben Moore. It’s not gray btw, but more a light neutral beige. Goes with just about anything.

It’s really hard to pick a paint though without knowing the carpet color. You might need to look for a color that coordinates well with the maple cabinets first if you are planning to paint everything the same color. Maple can be difficult to work with.

Would your mom go for a tone-on-tone carpet? It might be a way to incorporate some texture in the room. What size is the living room?

Would any kind of a blue work, with cream or beige carpet?

I had SW Accessible Beige in my family room. it’s a warm neutral and a chameleon color. Over several years I switched rugs and accent colors and it always worked well.

She's always liked blue, and the living room was blue originally, until she had me paint over it in yellow. The carpet is almost navy, and they have always regretted it. It shows everything. They definitely want much lighter.

The living room is fairly large, may be 15 x 20? I don't know. 9' ceilings and lots of windows.

It occurred to me that its dumb to decorate around the sofa. I did poster boards of Agreeable Gray, only because I had some. She loved it, everything looked great until we got to the sofa. Then, yuck. A whole house decision based on one piece of furniture.😖

Her birthday is Sunday, I wonder how much a color consultant costs?

Can you have slipcovers made for the sofa? Or do a search in houzz... a number of nice rooms with blue sofas.

The sofa is maybe slightly lighter than the drapes in that last picture. I don't think she'd go for a slipcover, it's fairly new. There is a dark blue chair.

I browsed Houzz for oriental rugs, and found a couple of pictures. Hers are very similar to the one above, but what carpet if not in the brown family? I'm going to show her this picture, it has all of the elements.

Sorry...somehow I thought the sofa was blue, not cappucino. It would be helpful if you could post pics of the furniture pieces that will stay.

She could always go with a honey-beige carpet with texture. I have it in my bedroom and used the same in the guest room and it looks nice.

Here's a design seed that might help for color inspiration...

How do you do a design seed?

I have a picture, but technology got the best of me. I may try to take some todaty.

This isn't a design seed I did...it's a website called design seeds where she pulls colors out of pictures to use as inspiration color schemes. https://design-seeds.com/

If you have a photo you'd like to get colors from, there are a number of sites that do that including some from the paint companies...but here's one: https://labs.tineye.com/color/

Once you get the html codes, you can type them into encycolorpedia which will show you shades and such as well as give you paint colors and brands with the closest match.

https://encycolorpedia.com/

If you show me the photo here, I can run it for you.

I ran the photo above of the living room and here are the colors that tin eye saw:

I put the first color code into encycolorpedia...the c0b3a7 and came up with this as being a close brand name paint...and it shows tints, shades and so much more.

Wow, Annie, thanks! We're going shopping this morning, so I have a direction to shoot for. She just suggested a creamy white that leans brown instead of yellow, so maybe one of the ones posted above will work. We really need to look at carpet, even if they don't have it installed just yet.

I guess the good new is, her eye for color is like mine. I don't see the minute differences. Unless it's dramatically off, I will be happy.

Sherwin Williams has color snap that does it for you with their paint colors...

You say she loves blue and call me crazy but I think a light blue can be a lovely whole house neutral. If she's a summer, like me, and most comfortable with blues, a whole house yellow or warm beige might not feel comfortable. My whole house was painted BM Mayonnaise (or similar) when I moved in and it's like nails on a chalkboard for me - meanwhile I was getting compliments and requests for the paint chip from others!

I think this palette could work with a brown sofa. You can see how a cream or light beige carpet would play nicely. Depending on your light you might get a similar effect with BM Whispering Spring or BM Iceberg.

Classic Family Home · More Info

Iceberg..

Here's another room that mixes deep browns with light blues.

Lake Michigan Remodel · More Info

Here's a room with green-blue walls and a lovely beige carpet. A little strong for whole home but check the following pic for a better neutral...

Photos by Gridley + Graves, Moulton Layne, P.L., Spectrum Interior Design · More Info

Here's a watery grey-blue that plays nicely with browns and again, a light beige or cream carpet. Check out BM Titanium for a greenish version, BM Horizon for a cold version. They're both listed as greys but in my light (Canada - cold) they read quite blue.

English Hill Music Room · More Info

Another gorgeous0 barely-there blue-grey-green is BM Gray Cashmere - depends on the light - but definitely runs green-blue, not cold blue.

Transitional Family Room · More Info

Here's another photo of grey cashmere in another room - shows that it can be versatile in rooms with different feelings which I think makes a great whole-home color.

Timeless Transitional · More Info

That is perfect!

Aok, can you post a photo that looks like her sofa, as in color? That would really help. Seems the sofa is the problem to work around.

I am assuming they do not want to replace the sofa?

Robo, she would love the blues, but in the end it has to play well with the deep reds in her rugs. The rug in the photo that Annie did the color snap, that is just about perfectly what she has. Some of her rugs have a bit more predominant dark blue. She has quite a few rugs.😄

One more thing, you are so kind to have helped so much in the past and now again. That is a lot of painting and patience you have in helping her!

I am leaving now, I will take a better photo of the living room.

Looking forward to it! I love a good decorating challenge. Hope to be able to help.

I just want to second panko's suggestion of SW accessible beige. In most spaces, it works well with warm and cool colors. I like it because it isn't muddy like a lot of greiges.

I think blue and oriental rugs are a great mix ... depending on the rug and the blue of course haha.

Agghhhhh, I forgot to take a picture!!😖

We went to the flooring store again, with a sofa cushion and a small rug. I think she has narrowed down the carpet. There were several lines with colors that are very close to sand. They are so close to each other that it will come down to texture. And we got a bunch of paint samples, in the brown/beige/griege family. She has narrowed it down to a few. My SIL is the family artist with an eye for color, and she will offer her opinion tomorrow.

I told her that if my SIL takes it in a whole new direction, SHE can take Mom to the store the next three times!😄

I think the clincher was the picture above, with the blue sofa. I showed and she said "yes, that's it!".

Thank you to Annie, and everyone for your help. You're all awesome.

My Dad has dingy beige carpet in his condo. He puts out all kinds of area rugs over it, so it doesn't get more stained. As a result, he has a lot of slippy area rugs around. Many won't lay or stay flat. It's a tripping hazard but I cannot convince him to make any changes so it is what it is. Whatever kind of carpet you get, I'd emphasize durability and easy clean. We are a family of spillers and my Dad's last contribution to our current home which I inherited, was a fancy cream colored carpet in the family room that has been a cleaning nightmare. It is almost constantly dingy looking despite us cleaning it every week and frequent in between vacuuming. We also have slippy area rugs on it, haven't been able to find a nicer set that we like . . . Think long term practicality, not "Tom" as my dad called it, in the showroom.

I can't count how many times she mentioned cleanability. That's definitely one of her criteria.

They won't have rugs on the carpet, just in adjacent areas. For now, anyway, my in laws are blessed to not have mobility issues. Before cold weather hit she was walking 5+ miles per day. He doesn't, because lazy, but he gets around well.

When it comes to cleanability and carpets, you can't beat the commercial level loop carpeting. It comes in a blend of colors that look essentially solid from a distance. What the color blend does though is camouflage dirt. They come in polypropylene or olefin which won't ever fade and releases stains like no one's business. And the level loop is most cleanable vs. a pile cut where the dirt can get trapped in the fibers. There's a reason we put it in the lower level that gets a lot of traffic and we're glad we did.

She just called. She got excited, and went and bought a paint sample. She painted poster board, and she loooooves it. They'll spend tomorrow moving it around when the sun comes out (rain today.) Shes like a little kid at Christmas.

Wow!!! Awesome!

Good for her!

That is great! What color did she choose?

I hope we get to see the final result.

I don't know the outcome. My SIL was there this morning and gave her input. I do know she didn't veer off in another direction.

So she picked a color, and I started painting yesterday. It's a Behr color called Sandy Clay, but in SW eggshell. She loves it.

We'd love to have an interior designer on speed dial before deciding exactly where and how to hang that new wall art we bought on a whim so we don't make any major mistakes. But until we win the lottery, we'll have to settle for trusting our gut—and taking plenty of interior design tips where we can get them. We've compiled some secrets straight from the pros to help you with all your decorating needs.

Awesome color!!!

What a lovely color! Can't wait for some photos!

good choice! And again, how nice of you to paint for her!

Yes! I meant to say how wonderful and generous you are to paint for her. Painting is hard work. I am sure she is so grateful to you for all of your help (last and now)!

Nice choice. You are a good daughter for doing that much painting. I’m sure it will be beautiful when it is all finished.

Thanks, but please don't give me too much credit. They're paying me.

They're paying me

Yeah, but I hear you give a really good Family and Friends discount!! 😉

😂