Opinions, please

So maybe you've heard about our blip of disappointment over our original wood flooring in the extra soon-to-be-baby room. A few weeks ago Matt was planning on sanding down the paint on the baseboards and door frames in that room so he could repaint them, and one thing led to another, and we peeled back the (ugly and stained) carpet to find that yes, there was gorgeous hardwood underneath! So we hired our contractor (I admit it, we hire out. If we want it to actually be done at some point and then be done RIGHT, we must hire out. It saves a lot of fighting and marital strife as well), set a date to have it done, and waited eagerly. We pulled up the carpet a couple weekends ago and oohed and aahed over how pretty the wood is.

Then the wood-floor-genius guy came a couple of days later. To test the varnish for lead. "Ach!" scoffed our contractor. "New regulations. Whatever. That varnish is twenty years old. Tops."

Nope, it's eighty years old after all. It contains lead. No can do. No way, no how will they sand down through lead-containing varnish when there's a pregnant lady living in the house...or kids under the age of six. They won't touch it. Best to cover it up, say they.

So now we're back to getting carpet put back down, which is fine, and waaaaaaayyyyy cheaper than refinishing your hardwood floor, even if we pick the most deee-lux carpet a carpetier can provide (can you call a seller of carpet a "carpetier?"). As I think of it, carpet will be much more forgiving on crawling knees, a little body that is learning to walk, a little body that is potentially thumping out of bed (or crawling out of bed to sleep on the floor), will keep the room warmer, cut down on noise, inflict less trauma on a toddler who is in a temper-tantrum throw-down, and as one of my friends put it, will prevent me from biffing in the middle of the night when I skid into the room with my socks on.

Anyway, so the dilemma is now this: what color do we get? Matt has said he trusts me on whatever I pick. He'll weigh in his opinion, but leaves the final decision to me. But he's usually better at picking out colors for our house, for some reason. He's picked out just about every color we've put on the walls with astounding success. I originally scoffed at all his choices, and after going with MY choice, ended up trying his, with astonishing results (like our living room color, which is amazing. In case you're wondering, it's "Atmospheric" by Benjamin Moore, part of their Aura line).

This is getting longer than I planned. But I wanted to give you the "full picture!" The walls were already tan, but I painted them a lighter tan color because the previous tan was more gray/purple infused and therefore darker, and the new tan is more creamy and somewhat brighter. I plan on keeping it that way for Little Bird (the room will be more vintage-y or shabby chic). The newly-revealed wood is a lighter reddish brown than the rest of the house, which is stained darker. We were going to have the wood re-stained to closely match the rest of the house.

Here's where I want your opinion: when I think of carpet, I imagine lighter-colored carpet, because to me, a darker carpet might look dated. Matt thought a darker carpet would look good, and I was like, no, I'd rather have a creamier white-ish carpet. I brought home a bunch of samples, and once again, I think Matt might be right. The lighter colors I think might wash out the room. And if it's a kid room, a dark-ish color (not like chocolate brown or anything, I'm sure you get my drift anyway) would probably make more sense. I'm kind of a decorating idiot. Can you weigh in?? Here are the pictures I took of the room so you have a visual. It's pretty glamorous. Don't envy me too much.




(I didn't mean to include Molly in the picture, but I got tired of telling her to move)



(Just for a point of reference, that's the color of the rest of the wood in the house. And I'd like to get a nice glider rocking chair to replace the good ol' college papasan.)


(And the difference between the two.)

I just have to hash out my thoughts and then I'll put it to rest, because I know you're not really all that concern with my flooring. But I was like, if we put in dark(er) carpet in that room, it'll make it look small(er than it already is). But the rest of the house is darker and it's beautiful. And we were planning on having it stained dark anyway.

So, for you decorating-inclined, tell me what you think. I'm sure no matter what we pick, it'll look great and be deliciously soft. Thanks!!