Charcoal Ceiling...

These are the "Ralph" colors, suggested by the Rain Man of decorating herself. I think they would look great touched off by a charcoal ceiling...




I am obsessing over the charcoal ceiling in the above dining room shot...we are having our living room and dining room ceilings repaired after an absolutely disastrous go-round with some grant money we were eligible for and the contractor the city picked to do the work. He opened the roof then LEFT IT UNTARPED WHILE THERE WAS A VERITABLE MONSOON HAPPENING. If only someone had taken photos of me DANGLING CHRISSY, BEST FRIEND EVER, BY HER ANKLES OUT AN ATTIC WINDOW AS SHE ATTEMPTED TO SECURE A TARP OVER THE OPEN MAW OF MY ROOF!!! Not a bright spot in our home-owning history. It's funny how I have absolute guilt attacks if someone asks me to re-new a book for them (while I'm perusing the grocery store shelves) and I don't do it right away upon returning to work, yet there are people in this world who will leave your roof open to the tune of flooding your home from attic to cellar and not think twice about it.

In any case, I've been trying to figure out an appropriate design plan to tie in a charcoal ceiling to our Craftsman Bungalow dining room...it will come to me eventually. Perhaps even in time to have the ceiling guy do it! Along with having the ceilings patched and plastered I need to paint the dining room walls.

While hosting the delightful Sandra for dinner last night (homemade chicken enchiladas for her, veggie enchiladas for me thanks to genius chef 15 year old daughter) she, who eschews all talk/dreaming/planning of decorating, suggested the Ralph Lauren suede-finish paint in a perfect color. (see swatches above) She acted, afterward, as if she'd been struck by lightning. "What just happened? I don't even care about paint color. I didn't even KNOW about Ralph Lauren suede paint, I swear. What the hell was in that enchilada?". Delightful. She then said, "Well, you're not actually going to take my advice, are you? YOU'RE the one who likes to decorate. YOU'RE the one with 'the eye'". This all just proves that inspiration strikes where it likes, not where it's sought. That or there really was some magic in those enchiladas.