Wejust move into a traditional colonial and everything is white and brown and cream (appliance) I need color!!!
I'm going crazy trying to figure out what colors go, I have paint samples on my wall from BM (kittery green and Barley) SW (compatible cream and softened green) I just hate it!! am i looking at the wrong colors????
Perhaps you're starting at the wrong end of the problem. Have you ever watched Candice Olsen assemble a room? She starts with something spectacular -- natural stone, glass tiles, gorgeous fabrics, or even an idea and brings in all the finishes first before she even looks for a paint color. The paint is often the very last thing chosen.
So we know you're looking at light greens and yellows (though Barley's actually quite a bright little yellow). What else is happening in the rooms? What about your furniture? Your wood finishes? Your artwork? Your style?
And, finally, are you trying to do it all at once, instead of taking it in room-size bites? Not for nothing was Room by Room a successful format. Focus on the most important room first and work out from there.
Well what i don't like about the samples is that they are either too light or too dark.
as for my style, not sure what you would call it. Refine Rustic maybe? I shop alot at Peir One imports/home goods.
My furniture is black and gray leather, maples, some oak (piece i picked up here and there as well as gifts from wedding. The floors are all over the place right now eventually it will be all hardwood. The other issue is the chair rails in the dining/living. I"m not even going to bother with that right now i'm just going to paint "same" color I can always deal with the chair reals later.
Some of the paintings (expensive paintings too) are from my husband when he was single one is more modern, i think i can make it work? or put it in another room????
If i can just get a paleatte i'm comfy withHere are some pictures. I do love the natural wood work its just soo hard. The kitchen is soo dated. again I can make it work until we have the ** to remodel but i'm lost....
BM, Barley is def too yellow. I'm starting to think that i'm looking in the wrong color tones. I typically like warmer colors but the natural woodwork alone warms the house. Maybe i should be looking at color tones. I want to be careful not to make it too pastel though.
hmmm...I'm liking the green sample in the living room behind the big black chair. Is that the Kittery Green? oh, well...
Love the wood work and REALLY love your DR table!
Perhaps you need to move away from the yellows and move to the golden tans. I think I would paint both parts of the wall, above and below the chairrail, the same color. Some strips that you could look at are any of the colors between CC1037 and CC1116 (BenM's Classic Collection). We recommend these over and over again. I also love Desert Tan 2153-30 and Golden Tan 2152-40. Because these are more neutralized, they'll work well with your woodwork. Hmmm, another one I like is Dark Beige 2165-40 which is a rich caramel color.
You also don't seem to be liking the greens that have a bit of blue in them. So I would move over to the sages and slightly yellowed greens -- Fernwood Green 2145-40 or Limesickle 2145-50. Soft Fern (which is more grayed) 2144-40 or Silken Pine 2144-50. Nantucket Gray (it's a sage) HC-111 and Saybrook Sage HC-114. Flowering Herbs, of course, CC-514. The olives like Spanish Olive CC-1509. Camouflage 2143-40.
And, of course the khakis, CC-234 Crisp Khaki and Light Khaki 2148-40 which would be beautiful against your woodwork.
I feel your pain. The pics of your house are so much like my new house. I did so much research and ended up painting the whole house Barley and I hate hate hate it. It is so yellow. I painted my bedroom BM Kahlua and Cream which I had in my old house and loved and it came out looking so yellow too. I was freaked out. Then I saw a post about the GE reveal light bulbs so I put them in and the color is beautiful like the one I remembered. Not yellow at all. I had the new energy friendly bulbs everywhere. I am now hoping if I change the rest of the house's bulbs it will tone down the horrible yellow of the Barley. Good luck to you. I will be watching for your after pics!
Usually, it's a good plan to have a light friendly color welcoming you into the house. Then a formal living room and dining room tend to have a more "formal" color since these are usually the most elegant rooms in the house.
Family rooms and kitchens are usually pretty open to each other so people can either treat them all the same or with colors that work well together. Often the most interesting wall in terms of visual interest becomes an accent wall with a deeper, richer color. This can be a fireplace wall, entertainment center wall, built-ins wall, or even the wall behind the sofa if you want the sofa to stand out a bit.
Long common walls between kitchen and FR can become problematic, if you're thinking accent walls, because it's often hard to decide where to stop and start colors. The color should stop at a logical place. Not just a straight line in the middle of a room. So I like to see them all one color.
In the kitchen, if the backsplash isn't tiled, then this can be a good place to put color. Also on soffits, desk nooks, bay windows or window seats. There really isn't usually a lot of wall space in a kitchen so you can actually use a darker color than you might normally think there. It's always good to use a contrasting or "complementary" (meaning opposite color on the color wheel) color to make the cabs stand out. What I'm usually looking for is contrast. I want to see some contrast between the wall and the cabs. So if you have dark cabs, light walls. If light cabs, darker walls. And the countertops also really play a predominant place in choosing colors. Best to work with them -- they're more expensive to change than the painted walls.
And the most important rule is that you REALLY love the color you end up using. You may experience some color shock (as we like to call it) at first, especially if the walls were white before. If a yellow or gold/tan color looks green and you're not happy with it, try changing your light bulbs to either GE Reveal bulbs or a full spectrum (5500 degrees kelvin -- look for that on the package) bulb. You'll be surprised how often that one little fix can change how you feel about a color.
Good luck and happy painting!
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