Like many of you, when my husband and I moved into our first home we felt excited and of course broke! We had a baby in toe, we’d used a lot of our savings for the down payment, and we knew we were going to need to do some things to our home to get it updated so that it felt like “our home” not just a home we bought from someone else.
We began like most, we cleaned the carpets while moving in – of course plotting and planning for the day when we would be able to afford to replace them (still waiting for that by the way). Next we moved on to minor things like installing lighting and ceiling fans, since here in AZ it tends to get hot and floor lighting doesn’t do a great job of deterring toddlers from messing with them as well as overhead lights.

Finally, we were ready for paint and boy did our house need paint! I think we purchased close to 15 different samples for the living room alone. For months we sat and stared at samples on the walls trying to decide if we wanted an accent wall, neutral colors, bold colors, a theme, a chair rail, etc. The options were overwhelming (especially with an infant who was not yet sleeping through the night).
We finally settled on a cream color as a neutral to unite our home and it allowed us to use décor to distinguish each space in our home. Let me say though, it was a painful process selecting that color.

In the June/July issue of HGTV magazine, the editor, Sara Peterson, said she picked a color palette that she takes with her no matter where she goes – it consists of 5 colors, a tan, a cream, a red-orange, a chocolate brown, and a light blue.
What colors do you like the best for your living spaces?