Hello All,
We just recently purchased a new home and it is a clean slate with mostly all white walls. It is an older cape-cod style farm house type and I am at a loss where to start. Our current home is new with cathedrial ceilings so I wanted all dark colors. The new house is 8ft ceilings so I think my dark colors would close the spaces in. I love warm colors that give a cozy feel, but I am completely open to any new ideas! If anyone has a moment, I am going to attach a link to my alblum on photobucket, there are too many pics to post!

Thanks for you time,

Teresa

http://smg.photobucket.com/alb...3/house/New%20House/

I owned a cape cod in NJ and it had the charming double dormers on the front and a full length dormer in the back and went on the net and picked colors from there that were put together for cape cod style houses .Mine was 2400 sq. ft. with 8 ft. ceilings and was a center hall colonial cape cod .The colors I picked were rich colors but not really dark .The have several paint company sights now that make it easier to pick colors for the style house you have ,so start there .Some will even let you upload pics of your rooms and let you try out colors on the walls .Congrats on your new home

I don't think you need to restrict your color palette to the style of the home. I grew up in a Cape Cod-style home, and the exterior architecture had no bearing on how we decorated inside.

I urge you to move into your new home before painting and observe how how the light changes in each room during the day. The amount of light (or lack of it) will have a big impact on your color choices. Also, your floor and trim colors and other fixed items like countertops, for example, will influence your color scheme to a certain degree.

What about your existing furniture or accessories you bring to your new home? They will also affect your color choices. Not to many of us start off in a new home by buying everything new.

Planning to do any remodeling soon? You'll want to take that into consideration, also, before committing to a whole house color scheme.

Some folks use fabric swatches to come up with a color scheme, which could work for you. I don't, because I tend to favor a neutral backdrop for my walls and shy away from color matching (to me, an exercise in futility.)

Hope this helps.

quote:

I urge you to move into your new home before painting and observe how how the light changes in each room during the day. The amount of light (or lack of it) will have a big impact on your color choices. Also, your floor and trim colors and other fixed items like countertops, for example, will influence your color scheme to a certain degree.

I fully agree with the above advice tho some elements that exist (including the lack of natural light) can be tweaked to some degree. More often then not, a new homeowner will go full speed ahead in feathering their new nest w/o consideration of how lighting and built ins will impact their choices. Of course, ideally it would be to your advantage to paint the walls before you move in, but it's not a wise move for the reasons mentioned.

Tho it's fine to have a sense of which color direction you wish to feature, it's best to hold off a while to live in your spaces before you decide on wall colors and their hue values. Painting test boards and observing how lighting impacts them under varied times of the days and nights is of upmost help. Keep furnishings in mind too. BTW, dark colors tend to receed vs. close a space in. Lighter furnishings, trim and touches of sparkle via metallic finishes and glass or mirror gleam against rich, dark walls.

Factor in what furnishings you'll be brining into your home from your current home knowing too that you can reupholster, slipcover or paint some pieces to marry them to your new scheme.

Determine what needs to change in terms of what now exists (flooring, trim, stonework, tilework, cabinetry color, etc.). Work on one public space at a time projecting onto adjoining public spaces to keep a sense of continuity. Keep a file of samples and photos and take color cues from builtin materials as well as fabrics/rugs or papers.

Blessings in your new home.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Froo Froo,