Please… stop listening to your spouse. White walls are boring and can suck the creative juice right out of you. Couldn't you use a little color in your world? Just a tiny bit?
Colors can add warmth to a room. Seriously, a great warm sage green or burnt orange splashed yellow will warm up the entire room and bring cohesiveness to your furnishings.
My kitchen has standard builder oak (yellow) cabinets. I painted the room a pale butter cream yellow faux finish. It was beautiful. The color seemed to help tone down the yellow of my cabinets, which I despised.
Then a friend of mine came over to check out the new paint. Surprise, she hated it. It blended with all my art as well, and now the room was a wash of about the same color, yellow. What was I thinking? I don't ever make these mistakes with clients.
Can't see the forest for the trees… Or get some green in her girl! I choose a warm sage green for the walls and distressed them slightly to accentuate the hacienda style I have in the room. What happened with those ugly oak kitchen cabinets? They looked warmer and richer and the deep brown tones became more prevalent. I was a happy girl, and the cost of new cabinets is on hold for a few more years.
Here is more clues about choosing colors for your world:
Breaking Away from White Wall Paint
By Lisa French
Paint is one of the most affordable and easiest ways to change a room. But choosing the right paint colors for your home can seem like an overwhelming task.
Paint, accessories, fabric, furniture, and flooring should all blend, so take a good look at the room you will be working on, preferably before you choose a paint color, and decide what will stay in the room, and what you may want to move out of the room.
The first thing you should do when choosing interior colors for your home, is look around at colors that make you feel good, happy, and relaxed. These colors are probably already in your home. A few examples are the colors you love to look at in your flower garden, the colors in your jewelry, or pottery, or they can be found in the colors of the clothes in your closet.
The second thing you should do is go to your local paint store and pick up a color wheel, and or sample cards, pick the sample cards that really catch your eye, and don't be afraid to get as many as you want.
Take these cards home and look at them at different times of the day and night, to see how the color will look when the sun shines in on them, or at night when you have lamps turned on, or candles burning. Study this for several days.
Be patient when deciding which color feels best to you.
- Complimentary colors – are the colors that are directly across from each other on the color wheel.
- Harmonious colors – are the colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. Like blue and purple.
- Tints – are colors with white added.
- Shades – are colors with black added.
- Saturation – is the amount of color used. The more color, the more vibrant.
- Color tone – is the degree to which it changes.
- Pastels – use only a hint of color.
Lisa French invites you to visit her website http://decorating-country-home.com for more home decorating ideas.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Love your website. Question: I will need to live with my elderly mom most of the year. My bedroom (11×12) has that light buttercream 1970s french provencial furniture. The room gets plenty of Florida light. As we will try to sell her house, I hesitate to go with a pale blue/grey-which is what I’d choose-she thinks a shade of white would be better for resale.
Any colors you’s recommend? Many thanks.
Hello Susan. That is really great that you can move in and help your mom. As far as paint colors, unfortunately it probably isn’t a good idea to go with a blue / grey in your bedroom if you are planning on selling the house. Neutral colors are the way to go. How about a soft gray blue? Something very light. Neutral beige & off white are the best way to go when selling a house, but even with those colors you can get creative. Grab yourself a paint fan deck – bring it in the room with you and see what neutral color you would like that would go well with the furniture and that a potential buyer may be comfortable moving in with.
Good luck with everything!
DEBRA