Not the Benjamins, the green.  Despite my better judgment, I’ve shown you all our horrific green wall.  I just stare at it, loathing it sometimes.  The problem is the combination of the green wall with beige walls all around and white ceiling and trim that are in need of a solid paint job.  Because fixing the paint in the room is a huge project (I would have to paint the ceiling and the trim), I’m determined to stop hating the wall.  I meant to stop hating it months ago, really.

In a small effort to see the room more clearly, I made a mood board of the room.  The most obvious spot in the room is the big green wall.

Everything shown is pretty similar to what we really have, but it just doesn’t come out the same in real life.  First, we have a lot of mismatched books on our bookcases, and they look messy.  I assure you, they’re not:  we organize our books by subject.

Next, we have a bunch of cables around the base of the floor lamp.  That does look sloppy (because it is), and I clean cat hair and dust out of the wire mess frequently but it never improves.

Beside the green wall are two beige walls.  The first wall you see when you walk in the door is the wall of frames.

We also have a little bookcase there for vinyl, magazines, cookbook, and dog treats.  That bookcase is also where we drop our keys/hats/gloves each day.  Our frames are mismatched, which used to look cute, but I think I’m over it.

I decided a while ago that the main difference between the frames on the wall in the two spaces was lighting.  Our last place had lots of natural light and a lighter paint color, so the frames seemed less heavy.  To combat this, I want to paint all of the frames white.  Just before it turned cold outside, I painted two frames and the circular metal plate white (it was green).  I decided I really liked the movement towards white once I saw them on the wall, and now I’m waiting on the weather to permit me to paint the rest of them!

Immediately across from the frames is a large window (and the door is next to the window).

The wooden chair is for one of our cats; her bed sits on the chair and it is her spot.  When the dog walks that way with his waggy tail, she turns into one of those raptors from Jurassic Park.

We turned the couch to make an entryway, which is really just a nice way of helping us bring these in the door…

Oh I can’t wait for warmer weather so we can ride again.  Doug rides in winter, but he’s a nut.

Anyway, obviously our living room has lots of functions, and I appreciate many of those functions:

1. Pet spaces (dog bed on the floor, cat bed on the wooden chair)
2. TV room
3. Craft zone (our coffee table is awesome large, so I use it pretty often for all sorts of crafty tasks)
4. Entryway
5. Bike storage
6. Book storage
7. I’m writing the blog in the big chair right now!

My best solution (thus far) for ignoring the green wall is keeping everything immaculately clean.  Unfortunately, this space wears too many hats, and a small amount of clutter is status quo (and I’m alright with that!  A little clutter is normal and OK as long as it can be put away quickly).  I think I should also focus on keeping the color palette to what exists already.

I think I need to replace Chiquita the Cat’s bedding and Franklin the Dog’s bedding with something more neutral.

And I need to paint the remainder of the frames white.  After I paint the frames white, I am going to consider switching out the photos for all black-and-white or sepia pictures.  I imagine something like this (although most of my frames aren’t matted – and you know I love that bedding since I have the gingham):

So there:  I’m stopping my reason to complain in its tracks.  The room is green, beige, and off-colored whites all over, and I’ll be OK with it.  I think by taking these steps, the green will be more “green” and less like “awkward wall.”

So what are you deciding to accept and embrace?