An update and a bit of gray

Well it seems my mom and I had a miscommunication of some sort, and she ended up selling the upholstered headboard on Craigslist. I can't fault her since she got $200 for it, but I was pretty bummed. On the bright side, this just means that I will try this project 100% from scratch. It also means I can create the exact shape I want, instead of being committed to the shape of the dumpster find.

On a side note (or actually the main point of this post), I am trying to narrow down paint colors for our new living/dining room (we are moving next month!). I'm looking for a pretty blue-gray (I think), that works with my love of all things blue, white, and gold, but is also flexible enough to accommodate my ever changing style.

Here are two of my favorite inspiration pins:

Top Photo:

Benjamin Moore Coventry Gray
Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Pinterest

Bottom Photo:

Benjamin Moore Chelsea Gray in Brooke Shields NY apartment
Source: hirshfields.wordpress.com/2010/08/ via Pinterest

(my apologies, the captions aren't working properly and I am not an html guru)

I really love how the Coventry and Chelsea Gray both work really well with the neutral tones of the natural fiber rugs and the pops of gold.  I am leaning towards the lighter Coventry Gray to keep the large combo living/dining room from feeling too cave-like, while still giving the room more color  (I hate all the beige that comes with an apartment).  I just hope when we get into the new place, the carpet and ceiling color will work well with my selection, or it's back to the drawing board.

As a pop of something fun, I'm also considering doing a stencil treatment on one wall of the room, the short wall that will be the "back" of the dining room.  I'm really loving these Moroccan trellis patterns right now, though I'd do the stencil in a shade close to the wall color, rather than a contrasting color.

Source: projectnursery.com via Allison on Pinterest

Source: royaldesignstudio.com via Royal Design Studio Stencils on Pinterest

What do you think?  Do you have a favorite versatile gray paint?  What's your take on the stencil trend?

And finally, in case you didn't notice, I just gave the blog a super quick FREE update.  This is only a temporary look, but I was just so sick of the last template I had to change it IMMEDIATELY! :-)  So please forgive the hiccups.