Living Room Paint Colors: 9 Top Picks from the Pros

Choosing paint colors for your home can be a daunting task, especially when it comes to the living room. It’s a space that is both an intimate setting for your family and a gathering place for your friends. To find your favorite hue among a sea of swatches, St. Louis, Missouri, interior designer Joni Spear advises staying true to the colors you love most. “When it comes to paint colors, I always rule by my heart,” says Spear, principal of Joni Spear Interior Design. “You have to be happy in your surroundings.” Draw color inspiration from a cherished possession, Spear suggests, like a painting, pillow, rug, or vase. Be sure to view paint samples at different times of day to see how sunlight and ambient light will affect them. Here, Spear, along with other interior designers and paint professionals, offers nine colors that are worth your consideration.

25 Illuminating Lighting Ideas for a Beautiful Kitchen

There are so many decisions to make when you’re remodeling a kitchen—cabinetry, appliances, countertop material, faucets, backsplash—that it’s easy to shortchange the lighting. That would be a big mistake. Proper lighting is crucial to a kitchen’s functionality, and the lighting fixtures themselves can pack a real punch style-wise. Here, we’ve gathered 25 kitchen lighting ideas, ranging from traditional to ultra-modern, that can both brighten and enhance your kitchen.