Sarah Malone
2 min readJan 14, 2021

Pondering…Paint Chips and Tile Samples

For the first time ever, I have full autonomy in the choice of colours, textures, fabrics, knick knacks, curios and just plain old stuff to fill my house and make it my home.

It’s not as easy to make these decisions as you may think it would be.

Although introverted and shy outside of my space, without guidance, my home could very well become a cacophony of clashing styles, a striking dissonance of chaotic schemes with no one defining trait that flows gently from room to room, tying the whole thing together in a balanced and harmonious state.

Ah, there’s the key…I’m not balanced nor particularly harmonious, so the space that works best for me won’t be either. It makes me happy to have a “Show Stopper” red bedroom, next to a “Blue Blood” bedroom, with my own room painted “Warm Comfort”.

My bathroom is done in cat — seriously, paint colours are “Siamese Cat” with “Burmese Cat” accents; go figure…

The main living space is “Amethyst” — yes, purple; light greyish purple, but purple none the less.

I’m getting ready to tear down walls, literally. I’ve decided that open concept is something I need and really want, so walls will be tumbling down. The kitchen is a scary project for my contractor, as he tries to gingerly guide me through the hundreds of choices required.

He recommends light colours, with cheerful paint, subway tile and granite countertops. A kitchen island. He scratches his head when I mention labradorite as my choice of counter (apparently my space is too small to carry that look) and I ixnay anything subway.

In my head, it will look beautiful, it will be…me. All this colour. My home. My space. My bubble. It will make me happy to be here, and as Ontario reverts back to pretty much full lockdown status due to Covid, that’s high on my list of important things for my sanity.

But, I’m supposed to be doing all this with an eye to resale value in the future.

Obviously, I’m going to have to hire a designer and a good painting crew when that time comes.