my secret purple craze

PURPLE. A very bold color, for sure. One of my closest friends, Caitlin, has always liked the color. It's a cheerful, feminine color that can be dressed up or down. I think Caitlin's love for purple has changed my own mind about it. I never thought I'd decorate a room with it, but I'm just starting to do our basement with splashes of it here and there. With trendy little throw pillows (courtesy of West Elm) and a plum accent chair (courtesy of Craigslist!) the basement slowly but surely becoming one of my favorite hang-out places in our home:

Such a simple, relatively inexpensive way to transform a look and feel to a room is with paint. I don't know if I would be so bold as to paint my walls purple, but maybe the ceiling in my small foyer bathroom! Or, some salvaged picture frames could be painted purple against a, say, smokey gray wall. Playful and sophisticated. :)

In their latest issue, Better Homes & Gardens suggested these purpley shades for paint. (I can't wait to find something to paint the "Iris" color.):What are some colors you've been falling in love with lately?