Paint colors- help!!
LizzyC
We recently moved into our house and the previous owners left us much to do. First off, the spare bathroom was painted hot pink, so we tried a darker moss green over it. Turns out, its too dark and very dreary. Everything in the bathroom is white- tiles, cabinets, etc. I have NO idea what color to paint it and my husband isn't much help! The hallway outside has not been painted yet, and although I tend to pick out very neutral taupes and beiges, I would like to do something very pretty in that bathroom. Any suggestions? Second, the master bedroom is painted a creamy yellow color. The worst part- they painted the trim what my MOL calls "wedgewood blue". Awful. My question there is do I need to primer the trim before I paint it? How much prep work is involved? I want to paint it white, or slightly off-white.
catwoman708
Whenever you're painting a lighter color over a dark color prime it first with stain cover, such as "Kilz" or similar product. Sounds like you should go ahead and buy it in the gallon size (it's water-based, but harder to clean than regular latex paint, so I buy cheap brushes, then just throw them away if I don't feel like cleaning them up). If you're painting a light color over a medium color, you may not have to prime, but count on putting an extra coat or two of paint to cover it. To replace the dark moss green in the spare bath, why not try the same color scheme only in a much lighter shade, like pale mossy or sage green and the hall in an off white or bone color (or pale beige with lighter bone or off-white trim)? If the tiles in the bath are bright white (rather than off-white) I'd suggest the biege & white or use a more "clear" green color like celadon or celery. Your preference for neutral shades is good too, easy to work with. I always loved using "monochromatic" color schemes using shades of off-white, cream, beige, and khaki. Using neutral backgrounds gives you a great base to work with if you want to change the decor later.
Dafodil
I have a Plum, yes Plum colored living room. My front hallway, which is very large is also plum. I want to change the hallway as this color is too overpowering for such a large entry way. I also have cathedral ceilings. I was thinking of putting up 8ft wood paneling in a light color and painting the rest of the walls in a blush, leaving the ceilings white. These two rooms blend into two other rooms which are now yellow. (sounds like an Easter egg, right)....so am I making things worse? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
sista_sue
I also prefer beige sorta earth tones. For my bathroom I have chosen a sage color [carriage door by Bher] as my focal wall [where the mirror is] and an oatmeal color [ralph lauren] for the adjoining walls to my focal wall. These colors go very well with earth tones and present a warm feeling. Another option is using a navy kind of warm blue [yaught by Bher] and make a nautical theme bathroom. Hope this helps
LizzyC
Thanks for the help! I also got some advice from a cousin who is an designer, and she suggested going with a light mocha color on the walls, with a very light taupe on the ceiling. She suggested using light "ice" blue accents and accessories to balance the mocha color. She said this will work well with the white flooring and counters, as well as our brushed nickle hardware. I am really excited about that and think I am going to go with it! I'll most likely paint our hallway a lighter version, probably closer to taupe.Hopefully, I'll be inspired to tackle the bedroom after that! Dafodil- Personally I am not a huge fan of dark hallways and entryways, as they are the areas which people walk into first, and the color there will really set the mood for your home. I always want my home to be very cheery, but that is really just a personal thing. I think the most important thing is to be sure that the two colors of the rooms adjoining each other either complement one another, and if you were to go with a blush color, be sure its in the same tone and hue as your yellow rooms. Have you considered a different shade of yellow for the hallway?
bemusedfeline
How do you even go about picking a color to paint a room? I stand in front of all the paint color samples at the store and see great colors, but not any of them look like anything I'd want to live with. What looks great on the sample card may not look that great on my walls, and I would hate to make a mistake and have to start over again. I know everybody says paint is cheap, but it's not cheap enough for me to waste my money on. I see advertised small sample bottles of paint that you can try out. Has anybody tried them and does it really help?
Dafodil
Thanks, that is a thought...........dafodil
catwoman708
One way I like to pick colors and get ideas is to just walk through nice furniture stores, or even Rooms-To-Go, and look at their displays. They are usually put together by designers. Even when you go in an office building, lobbies, stores, or places like home stores kitchen areas. I also luuuvvvv watching HGTV the Home and Garden channell on cable. They have lots of shows to pick from to glean ideas, like "Trading Spaces", "Design on a Dime", "This Small Space", and many others. Model homes are sometimes good places to look.
bemusedfeline
I love watching HGTV too. They have so many great ideas on there. I especially like how creative the designers can get without spending a fortune on things. Some things they do are so simple that I can't help wondering why I couldn't think of that myself.
redecorating lover
I NEED SOME HELP!! I have been looking on these websites for help, but haven't seem much for what I'm looking for. My husband and I just bought our home 1 year ago. We now have the formal front room done. We would like to completely remodel the kitchen, but don't have the funds to do it right away, so we are going to just simply redecorate for now, because the kitchen is decorated in a country theme, and neither of us are country decorating type of people. It has white walls with 2 walls having a blue/white checkered wallpaper on it, and then a border at the top of the walls. The curtains are also white and have blue/white checkered borders on them. The cabinets are somewhat old and are the dark wood from probably the early 80's. The countertop is white with black speckles in it(I completely hate it because everything shows up on it), and the flooring is a beige/peachy type laminite. The kitchen is pretty much in the shape of a U, and has our dining table at the end of the U, against a bare white wall. Our stove and refigerator is black/white, and all of our small appliances are stainless steel (eventually everything will be stainless steel), and the accessories are black. I've had a lot of people tell me to paint the cabinets black w/ silver hardware, which I like the idea, and then we probably will just use the sticky tiles for now for the flooring, but I am having a dilemma on what to paint the walls, because the wall in my formal front room L's with the bare white wall of the kitchen, and it is a burgundy accent wall, so I don't want to clash paint colors with whatever is painted in the kitchen. Anyone have any ideas or help? Like I said, it is a simple redecorate or makeover to get us by until we can completely remodel the kitchen. Also, any ideas on what to do with the countertop? I don't know what can be done with them except for buying new, which won't be done until the remodel. Thanks!
Bobbie672006
We just bought our first house (townhome) and need help picking a color scheme for the living room & 2 bedrooms.... The living room we have dark wood furniture and with my husband being a veteran he has red white & blue items all over the place. The decorative curtain rods and iron railing going upstairs are black. What colors can I go with?? We are putting up a chair rail along the walls and I was thinking of a two tones? The 2 bedroom walls are white as well and in the Master bedroom, the bedspread has creams, greens and burgandy in it? With both light & dark wood furniture. The 2nd bedroom is going to be my computer/crafting/genealogy room, so I'm open to color for this room... All throughout the house the carpet is Berber light cream in color... Any suggestions would be great!!!
#EANF#
#EANF#
Cad 42
I would like to change my front room and dinning room color, they are both open as 1 room. I have a rich red brick with brown mortar lines, and the other walls are now in a soft off white for light. the room faces the east so don't get much light in the room after the morning. My question is what color would be best to paint the opposite wall. The rug I have is grey in color with black and brown specks, which is a burber type rug. I have oriental tables that are black and in the dinning room is rattan a rich dark brown. Any suggestions ?
A straight guy
You know you can't solve all your lighting problems with paint color. You may want to explore some lighting improvements in your room(s) to begin with which opens up a lot of color choices. Lighting improvements could include everything from skylights to electric fixtures. Once you solve that problem, you're not limited to any particular color scheme. Remember that white ceilings don't necessarily lighten up a room - sometimes all it takes is some great contrasting colors that "pop" without being overbearing. You could try some molding (chair rails, picture rails, crown molding, etc.) painted in bright gloss white against some richer colors that match your furniture choices. Just my .02
catwoman708
If you need suggestions about a different problem, try going back to the "Home decorating Dilemmas" and post a new question or "thread". Then readers will see the question as they're browsing through. They won't see a question hidden under another question. This is the place to answer a question. ( It's easy to get sidetracked.)
Mari b
LIZZY C!!!! Hello! My name is Mari and I my currently studying to be an interior designer. I hope my suggestions will help you! As far as what to do in your bathroom, if you are a green person try a shade that is one or two tints lighter. Make sure that you use light cream colored towels and mabey dress it up with some bright fake flowers to give it more of an open feel instead of a small dark room. (think about what accent colors you would like to use. if your going with a light green, red wine colored washcloths would be a great accent piece. Or if the green color you choose is still a bit dark try goign with yellow accents. With your hallway, I like your idea! :) When I moved into my house about a year ago all the trim was painted BRIGHT sky blue. IT WAS TERRIBLE! We ended up remodeling the entire house so I was the first one to rip that trim off the walls. You probably dont want to go though that mess so I would suggest priming it (you can never go wrong with priming, It always helps that paint stick better) and choosing a color slightly lighter than your hallway trim. A suggestion I would give you about your bedroom color would be, depending on what accent you choose for the bathroom (red, yellow, or whatever you choose) try painting your walls that color. Either would be beautiful!This way your entire home flows together.I'm not sure what colors you like or what feel you would like to acheive in your home but I hope that this helps you out a bit :) Good luck! Mari
Page
bemusedfeline: just a suggestion. When I was trying to decide on a colour for a previous living room, I got some big pieces of white craft paper and sample pots of the colours I liked. I painted the paper with the different colours and placed them around the room. Every time I looked, the lighting was different, so I got a good idea of what the colours would be like to live with. It's a bit of trouble, but much better than painting a room and not liking it! Also, Bobbie and Redecorating Lover - instead of using this thread to ask your questions, try starting a new topic. That way, we can see at a glance what the subject is, and we will all benefit from 'your' answers!
chiqui77
I just bought a new condo wich is really small and the living and dinning room are together. I have a dark red, orange-gold and dark green stripe sofa that I would like to use. I would like a restful mood. Any help will be helpful.
brasov
Oh, I agree, this place is getting too cluttered (we got to spread out, on individual posts). However, my answer is for THE KITCHEN topic/ Redecorating Lover. I've got this tip from C. Olsen (Devine Design) : your floors and countertop should be in close matching colors (you could pick 2 different shades, but related/same color family). So, I'd determine those two first, and a contrasting color for the cabinets. Than, I'd pick the hardware and lighting and, at last, the color for the walls. Now, you could be better off "staging" instead of "redecorating". In a first stage, you could replace only the base cabinets, counter top and floor and invest later in the upper cabinets. That's because you're saying you're ready for the floor and countertop (but it would be a pity to replace countertop without replacing base cabinets first; think of money/labor involved to do it twice.) And you could always paint the old upper ones to match the new base ones, so you could leave w/ them until replacement. If you like eclectic and follow new trends, modern kitchen is not anymore an uniform setting from top to bottom; so, no problem if you won't find later an exact match for the upper cabinets. (You could even go with a different color.) If you like white/laminate, those are less expensive, and IKEA has very reasonable prices for a good/modern product (See how it compares in Consumer Report: it ranks higher than similar products, like Shenandoah from Lowes) I don't like granite because it's too busy for my kitchen color scheme and it's a pity to go w/ monochromatic granite if you can do a looking (quite) the same "solid surface" offered by Corian, Formica, and others. I went with this scenario I just described (white/laminate base cabs, solid surface countertop-a dark terracotta color- and Congoleum DuraCeramic tiles in a copper tone) The cost: around 5000 with installation included (demolition by myself); this for a 12X14 kitchen w/plenty cabs and 52 sf countertop space. I think it looks great and complements a brick accent wall I have in the kitchen (which came w/the house) More rewarding, everybody thinks I spent at least double for this makeover. Hope it helps.
Stacey38
I live in a mobile home. My living room and kitchen are not separated by a wall just a counter separating the 2. I want to repaint my living room and I am unable to figure out what color. Because the two rooms are kind of combined not sure what color might work. As the kitchen has one wall white and wallpaper on the other wall. Right now the walls in the living room are primed white till I can figure out the color. My furniture is navy blue, as well as my curtains. The carpeting is a slate blue for now but later on will be changed. I am unsure of what color to go to with the furniture being the color it is, as white is getting boring. Anyone have any suggestions for me.
jellylou
If you like the burgandy accent wall, I would recommend using that color in the kitchen as well. Maybe not on all of the walls, but maybe the one that connects to the existing burgandy wall. Then paint the other walls a very very light grey or off white..depending on the color of the counters. Then have burgandy towels/curtains in the kitchen. I would then hang some contemporary artwork! Hope that helps a little.
woundedheart
Painting the cabinets black with silver hardware is a great way to modernize a kitchen. Sage or light olive walls would go great and compliment your other room