Day 18 - What would YOU do?

Tuesday
I think my hand is soon going to be permanently scrunched in a "brush-holding" position.  I guess that's what happens when you've been painting for six days in a row.  On the bright side, we are ALMOST done!  Daniel's brother Josh was so kind to come over again last night to help while his wife and girls babysat Maria.  He got the second coat rolled in the dining room and bathrooms.  He's an awesome brother!

I just have to get a few more rooms cut and then I can be done painting for a while, hallelujah!  And the good news is, I got the scary job over with.  My least favorite thing to paint is the stairway due to having to climb up high on a ladder to paint.  It always freaks me out.  I never used to be afraid of heights but the older I get... yeah, I was a little nervous.  I couldn't help envisioning losing my balance just enough to throw the paint tray I was holding all over the new carpet on the upstairs landing.  That would have been very upsetting.  Fortunately I kept my balance and all went well.

Daniel worked on installing the flooring in the guest bathroom.  We typically tile in the bathrooms - Daniel is awesome at tiling - but couldn't find a tile we loved so decided to try something different.  The Restore had boxes of Allure Vinyl Plank flooring in "Iron Wood" color.  I'm usually not a big fan of vinyl flooring but this looked kind of cool and modern.  My biggest complaint about bathroom floors is how cold it is in the morning.  This seemed like it would be a bit warmer than tile so we thought we'd give it a try.  If we hate it, we can always pull it up later and tile.  So far I think it looks neat, and it's definitely "softer" and warmer than tile. 

So now I'd like to ask for YOUR opinion.  In our gray rooms, how would you decorate?  Would you stick to a mostly monochromatic theme or do a bold color to offset the gray?  The dining room will have white wainscoting eventually with a medium dark Pergo floor.  The bathrooms have the gray walls with white trim and now you can see the flooring color in the upstairs baths. 

I have a small painting that I bought from a street artist in London back in 2009.  It's a white canvas with a black outline-type painting of a couple walking down the street with Big Ben up ahead.  They are holding a bright red umbrella.  It caught my eye because of the splash of red on the black and white canvas.  Perhaps there's something there to work with.  What would you do? 

I look forward to hearing your thoughts to help us keep dreaming!