Color suggestions, anyone? Please leave a comment!
P.S. Thank you, Laura, for all of your help and for the loan of your color wheel!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Painting woes- suggestions welcomed!
Over the last couple of weeks we've been removing wallpaper, prepping walls, choosing paint colors, painting, etc. I have come to strongly dislike painter's tape. As far as color choices go I'm having a hard time striking a balance between A. chickening out and just painting the entire house white and B. WAY overdoing it on the color. We've chosen (or is it chose? I'm tired today) 3 paint colors so far- a nice soft buttery yellow for the guest room (which will be Anna's temporary bedroom), a blue for our bedroom that looks nice 80% of the time but looks VERY blue at around dinner time when the light comes in the strongest, and a soft taupey-brown that we love for a hallway and part of the living room (Benjamin Moore 1004 if anyone cares to know). This nice brown was intended to also be the color for what we've come to call "the great room," but when we painted swatches of it on the wall our nice brown color suddenly became a hideous institutional gray. The lighting, I guess? Here's the difficulty- this room has grey carpeting, salmon countertops, an ugly black woodstove on an ugly gray stone setting and wooden cabinitry. What on earth works with all of those colors? The carpeting and countertops will go someday, but it's not financially feasible to replace them right now so we're just going to have to live with them. I'd like to paint the kitchen cupboards, too, but that's not going to happen anytime soon either because we won't have time before move in day. We are going to paint the woodwork (baseboards and windows) white before we move in if we have time.
Color suggestions, anyone? Please leave a comment!
P.S. Thank you, Laura, for all of your help and for the loan of your color wheel!
Color suggestions, anyone? Please leave a comment!
P.S. Thank you, Laura, for all of your help and for the loan of your color wheel!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
10 comments:
I would like to help, but I'm afraid I really can't. I can't foresee ever wanting to paint over those cupboards... or the base trim. I love the wood. I would remove/paint the weird arching trim. I would leave wood around the windows, but probably paint the trim around the doors.
For color, I would think you should do mostly white, with just an accent wall in a dark color along the side with the kitchen/outside door (not slider). If you wanted to do anything brighter, I would maybe recommend putting ceiling white, accent wall dark colored, with the other 3 walls an off-white color complementary to the accent wall. With the gray and salmon colors, I would think a deep red/purple accent with a cream colored on the other 3 walls.
I never thought I'd like accent walls, but Natalie and Andy used a deep burgundy in their dining room and a forest green in their living room and it's awesome. Plus - if you want to change colors later, you only have to worry about your 'dramatic color' on one wall - makes changing easier!
Keep the wood..........
Don't paint those cupboards they're beautiful as they are (best I can tell from the photos anyway!!!) :)
I second your other friend (jshorb) on the white with accent wall. I was skeptical of such things, but a good friend of mine did it and it looks FABULOUS! She did hers with a blue accent wall where base painted a light baby blue on the wall, then she taped it off using painters tape (which, I know you're now so fond of) in various sizes of squares and rectangles. Then, in a "random" pattern she painted those squares and rectangles in varying shades of blue and grey. Some dark, almost navy blue, some royal blue, some blue grey, etc. It looks FABULOUS. Seriously. If you're interested, I can try to run over there and snap a picture of it for you. Email me if you want me to do that.
Oh, and honestly, I kind of like it the way it is...the stone thing isn't all that ugly...you can spruce it up with some pretty flower garland or something to add color and make it feel warm and homey...I know you enough to know you'll make it work! :)
I third the cabinet and wood trim comments! Unless the wood looks really worn in person, I wholeheartedly think you should keep it! I agree in the comment about removing or painting the arching trim, but I think the rest looks lovely! As far as colors... the suggestions already given here could work... or a warm tan (I could look up our shade that we have in our great room) or even a cool bluey-gray that is not too drab. I know that is not super specific, but these are starting points, okay? Can't wait to see it!
Here's my 2 cents. Take the pictures to a paint store that has a designer on staff. Many small paint stores (like Diamond Vogel) have a person like this on staff to assist you in choosing the right colors. This service is generally free. We often do this when we are in a color conundrum and we have rarely been steered wrong.
PS I personally love wood that is painted a nice cream or white. The key is not to choose a white that is too bright. We like antique white. Again, check with the designer. They will also tell you how best to do it and the specific type of paint to use. We are painting out cupboards sometime in the next year. I think we may take the doors off and spray them.
Hey!
I agree with Shorb--please don't paint the wood cupboards! Once you do, you'll never be able to bring them back to wood unless you like hours and hours of pain. :)
Please don't stick with white walls. Have fun! Be bold! It's just paint!
The accent wall is a good idea, too. However, in a room with a vaulted ceiling like that, you can be a little more bold on color, because you won't instantly make the room feel small, which is what can happen with a small room painted boldly. Kallie had a good idea about going to a paint store with pics. They suaulyl know what they are talking about. I've heard good things about the Sevens on 29th St.
Also, make sure they have the colors you have used in other parts of the house, because you'll want to make sure they jive. :)
Or you can do it my way--grab pretty much every color swatch from the store and bring them home--then have a party. :) It helps if you hold a cup of coffee while you stare at the bits of color taped to the wall.
I'm more than happy to come over and talk swatches, anytime you want. Just give me a call.
We painted large boards in the sample colors and put them along the wall to get a feel for what it would be like. It really worked well to give us an idea. The store can give you really small samples of paint colors to use.
We liked all the colors we picked except for the room we didn't use a test board.
I just have to back up my good friend Jen here and say that her great room is a color nightmare. I love picking paint colors and this room takes a great color and makes it look horrible. The beautiful creamy taupe she put in the hall looks grey and bleak in the great room. So, after that we tried a sage and "warmer" taupe, and lastly a nice dusty blue, but the room didn't like those colors either. I have never seen anything like this...it must be the lighting but I'm not sure. Maybe it's the lovely salmon counter top and grey slate that messes everything up. I just hope she can find something that looks good before they move in. I'm sure Jen will post again once a decision is made. Cross your fingers and say a prayer! ~Laura (formally LL)
hmmm...I'm not good at this either - but I've heard blue in the kitchen makes you less hungry?! :)
Post a Comment