Decorating for dummies

Back on the home-selling / home-buying track, we stand at an estimated T-6 (days) until the first close transaction (aka, C1) and T-10 until C2. C1 will supply the funding to initiate several renovation projects in the house we are purchasing (C2), mainly flooring replacement. However, besides having available funding, the other prerequisite to beginning this work is the actual selection of the flooring material. Cristy and I have looked at wood and tile flooring exactly one time. I believe neither of us has had much success envisioning the desired results and we have had less success collaboratively assembling a vision.

We have some degree of concurrence that tile is a more durable product for our living requirements than natural stone. We also agree on a dark floor color preference. Beyond that, the options are wide open.

I went to Master Tile today at lunch to peruse the inventory. I initially identified 5 or 6 items of possible interest, looked at those tiles assembled in a larger grouping, and then narrowed my preferences to 3 or maybe 2. Probably 1 favorite. This is from a girl who generally likes everything. But I found that I immediately began to narrow my options by discarding choices predominantly composed of shades of beige, light brown, red or anything with a muddy color. Then I ruled out tiles with a lot of texture since I want the surface to be easy to keep clean.

My logic with the color narrowing may or may not be sound. My assumption is that the color of the floor will serve as a foundation for the remaining color palette of the house. I prefer to keep a cool-neutral palette (pale shades of grey, green, pink) and prefer to avoid warm-neutrals (beige, gold, orange). Without a professional decorator guiding the process, Cristy and I are on our own to select the foundation colors that will serve as the basis for our modest décor.

We are going to Master Tile tomorrow morning together. I will have the opportunity to evaluate my choices again on a new day and observe the colors and textures to which Cristy is drawn. I will have to try my best to avoid the temptation to promote my own selections first. My goal will be to keep an open mind and think about the products in terms of the larger context of scale and overall color compatibility.