Ever look at a picture like this and wonder why you can’t quite create this soft soothing look to your own home? First it starts with the floors. A dark wood floor would not give you this overall look. By staining your floors a soft gray or even a white you can begin laying in this soft palette. (Minwax has several grays to choose from.) If you don’t want to stain your existing floors another color then choose a large area rug in a soft gray, light pale blue or cream and have it cover most all of your floor. Then paint your walls a soft blue (see our suggested paint colors from Monday’s paint palette) and your trims/moldings white. I like to use “Decorator’s White” from Benjamin Moore for all my moldings. For your large furniture pieces select soft creams or natural linen colors. Then for your lighting and accent pieces (like this end table shown) select pieces that have a touch of gold or bronze to them. Keep the color palette very tight, try not to stray from these colors. It might be really hard not to add personal objects and existing furniture that you have but are just not in this palette, but that’s where most people go astray. If you really want this look you have to be ruthless in your editing process. Start with an empty room- take everything out of it and then begin. You probably can’t keep that chair your great aunt gave you but sometimes even draping a linen blanket over it like you see above can be a quick-fix slipcover until you find the perfect piece of furniture for your room. Keep art, flowers and throw pillows in soft pale peach, cream or gray in tones. – Lynn Butler Beling

Note: If you don’t have wood floors and you’d like a tile floor that looks like a wood floor, check out these light colors from Unicom Starker (ask for them at your local flooring and tile showroom).