Well, I thought I had my plan for the 72-color cabinets written in stone, but then y’all came along and threw a wrench in my plans. 😀 I had commenters on yesterday’s post present other options, and now I can’t decide which one I like the most! Thankfully, this indecision hasn’t delayed me at all because I only had time yesterday to finish all of the prep work, so I won’t even be able to start painting until late this afternoon. So that gives me time to show y’all the options so that you can weigh in.

First, let me remind you of my original idea. I have 72 paint colors in a gradient starting with purple, ending with purple, and with the whole spectrum in between. I originally started with the stack of paint chips in gradient order, and laid them out in rows starting with the purple and pinks at the top, and ending with blues and purples at the bottom…

I kept them in the order I wanted them, and did every row from left to right…

The second option I presented was doing the colors in the same order, but reversed so that I start with purple at the top and then go to blues, and then ending with the pinks and purples at the bottom.

Again, that’s all 72 colors kept in order in rows, with all of the rows going from left to right.

But one of the new ideas suggested yesterday was that I do the design diagonally instead of in rows. That intrigued me, so I tried it out. Here’s what it would look like starting with purple and pinks in the top left, and ending with blues and purples in the bottom right.

Here’s the pattern I used to achieve that look. Again, I kept the 72 paint cards in the same gradient order. I started in the top right and then worked diagonally, going the opposite direction with each new diagonal row.

And here’s what that same diagonal design looks like if the order of the 72 colors is reversed, starting with the purples and blues at the top left, and ending with pinks and purples at the bottom right.

And as if those weren’t enough options to complicate things, I also decided to try the switchback layout, with the first row going left to right, and the next row going right to left, and repeat. Here’s that layout starting with purples and pinks at the top and ending with blues and purples at the bottom…

And here’s a visual to explain this layout. Again, I kept the 72 paint cards in gradient order, and laid them out in this manner starting with the top left corner

And here’s what that looks like in reverse order starting with purples and blues at the top, and ending with pinks and purples at the bottom.

And that’s this same switchback layout.

So those are now the six options — my two original ideas, plus four new ones based on comments from yesterday’s post. And I can’t decide!!

Because I’m dealing with 72 different paint colors, this isn’t really a project that I’m going into with the idea, “It’s just paint! If it doesn’t look right the first time, I’ll just redo it!” I mean, all of that is true. It is just paint. But since there are so many of them, I’d really like to get it right the first time.

I think if I were forced to make a decision right this minute, I would probably choose one of the diagonals. But which one? I have no idea. But then I look at the other ones, and sometimes those appeal to me the most. So while I’m enjoying a nice lunch and conversation with my mom this afternoon, y’all get to weigh in on this. And then when I get home late this afternoon, I can read through your comments, make a decision, and get started painting. I mean, unless people make new suggestions in the comments today and confuse my brain even more. 😀 In that case, you can blame them when I show up tomorrow still having made no progress on painting after staying up half the night arranging and rearranging paint swatches. 😀 Hopefully that won’t happen, and there will be a clear crowd favorite from the six options above.

Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.