Key West in Paint Chips

So now I have names for all those shades of blue, green, and gray that make up Key West's sparkling clear waters. According to the Let's Chip It! software offered by Sherwin-Williams, the sea is a mix of Sapphire, Powder Blue, Upward, Cascade, and Extra White. A pile of coconuts contains Stamped Concrete, Gray Screen, Verdant, and Different Gold. I find this fascinating, and as I get ready to choose new shades for both the interior and exterior of my home, I find it empowering as well. Instead of standing with my jaw hanging in front of the paint chip display at Key West's Home Depot or Strunk Hardware, I am going to load my own photos of sea, sand, palms, and flowers into the program at letschipit.com to find the shades that keep repeating and the colors that really appeal to me. Even if you don't have any home improvement projects on the horizon, log on just for fun. It's kind of like wasting an hour on Pinterest....find some inspiration, get a new idea.

We are redoing our house here in Key West. My husband and I have been talking about it for a while, but after being up north and spending time in one of our homes there, we are inspired to dig in. He has been glued to home design software for a week and yesterday he ordered the new appliances for the expanded kitchen. After four years here we know what we want and more importantly, we know what we need to live well in this small space (At 1,700 square feet our house isn't the smallest for the island, but in Maryland we had over 3,000. Way over, actually.) More storage. More counter space. Smarter office space. A faux mudroom area right inside the front door for the kids backpacks, shoes, etc. It's exciting! It's been a while since we've done a re-do of any kind. In a few weeks a friend is driving a truck of furniture from our other houses to be used here. (And he gets to stay as long as he can and we will fly him home...never hard to find someone to do this for us!) When we were packing to move to Key West we brought second- and third-string items, thinking that we would be back and forth between here and Maryland. Nope. We love being here on the island. It isn't a beach house or a vacation home, it's where our life is. Time for the first-string items, the furniture, rugs and cooking equipment that we miss. This is our home now. The other houses are now rented. Investments with memories attached.