Color choice, need opinions, Please!

[Kirby]

We are going to have the inside of the house painted this summer and are trying to decide what the main color (the color that you see first) will be. Our house is one of those kind that when you enter, you see the whole family area and part of the kitchen. It just flows together, there is no starting or stopping point. All the woodwork is milkwashed blonde.

When we buildt our home (ten years ago), we had all the walls through out painted eggshell white. Now we want to add a little color. My husband likes a creamy yellow. Yuck! I would prefer a darker color. I am really having a hard time picturing any color at all with the milkwash. I don't seem to have any problem picturing color in other parts of the house, just the main area.

So, does anyone else out there have the milkwash with a color? And if so, what color is your walls? Or do any of you have a suggestion?

This shouldn't be so hard. But I don't know if I can live with yellow walls.

 

[Robinrs]

Lowes has an awesome site that allows you to see walls of all different colors before deciding. It's called the Virtual Painter. I used it when I painted my townhome and my sister's house last year.

It's amazing how different a chip of paint can looked on a giant wall! Try it out, it's great!

 

[janette]

Ours is the same way, it is a beige with white trim. The color actually has a pinkish tinge which really isn't noticable until you put certain colors up against it.

I may change it someday to be more of a grey because that might match my decor better but it's neutral enough now for almost anything.

I had this picture in imagestation that shows the walls and some of the trim. This is the den but the colors are in all the rooms except the kitchen which is a little lighter.

 

[KathyTX]

I'd also do something like Janette has done, going with a deeper neutral tone like a tan or taupe that complements your milkwashed cabinets.

It's a good way to add some depth to the walls without letting the color overwhelm. It's also a great way to update those "builder white" walls.

 

[ZachnElli]

We have the tan or beige Kathy was talking about with white woodwork. The house is going on the market this week (once we pick a realtor!). And all the realtors we interviewed said it was a GREAT color. No way could I live with yellow! Good luck!

 

[Kirby]

Thanks for the ideas!

I guess I should have said that the milkwash has a light, sandy tint to it. I want to go the beige, light brown tone on the walls but when you put those color paint chips up next to the woodwork, it just blends in. So I really need a different color.

My husband used to do work for a builder that put the same color milkwash with a light salmon pink. Ugh! I don't think that I could do that either.

Janette, I love that picture area on your wall!

Robinrs, I looked at the web site. It's great! At least I can see what colors possibly might complement each other.

 

[Pin Wizard]

You can go to www.glidden.com and they have a color selector. It even matches a color with others that will coordinate. I was looking for Antique Yellow...I think that's on the can in my storage area, but it looks like they no longer carry it. It's a BEAUTIFUL yellow. And I HATE yellow!

 

[WhenUwishUponAstar]

I have my formal dinning room done in a sage green that goes well with the woodwork.

 

[Pin Wizard]

I couldn't find Antique Yellow on Glidden's website because it's not Glidden! LOL! It's Benjamin Moore. And I can't find it on their color chart.

 

[4greatboys]

We used Behr's--Coral Cliche and its looks so wonderful. Its a really light beige color. Still light enough to keep your room looking spacious but give it a bit of color. I think it would look great with your cabinets.

 

[MeanLaureen]

I just got done redesigning my living room and hallway (well, I design and use the nail gun - those things are SO cool) and Matt does the dirty work )

In picking a color I suggest you first decide whether you lean towards cool colors or warm colors. Even within a certain color - take green for instance - you can either go cool or warm. Warm colors have an underlying tone of yellow or red, cool would have a blue tone. I wish I had a way of showing you here online.

If you lean more towards the reds, burgundys, golds, terra cottas, earthy greens you tend to favor warm colors. If you like blues, purples, pale misty greens and grays.. you favor cool colors.

It's tough to successfully mix warm and cool colors in the same living space. You might also find that if you use a color that is cool when you prefer warm, you may not be happy with the space (even though you might be dealing with one color like green, just different underlying tones) does that make sense? Of course you could always go with a neutral. When you think of neutral, don't just think - tan. You do have many options

What is your decorating style? Certain styles lend more towards different colors - nautical, contemporary, west indies, country.. they all look their best using a certain pallette of colors.

I could go on and on . I'm really enjoying decorating and helping my friends figure out how to do their rooms. If you have any questions you want to ask me - feel free to email me at MZDavis67@aol.com

I need to get around to posting the befores and afters of my living room - it's quite a change. From cool blues and whites to warm mossy greens, burgundy and gold.

 

[janette]

Originally posted by Kirby
Thanks for the ideas!

I guess I should have said that the milkwash has a light, sandy tint to it. I want to go the beige, light brown tone on the walls but when you put those color paint chips up next to the woodwork, it just blends in. So I really need a different color.

My husband used to do work for a builder that put the same color milkwash with a light salmon pink. Ugh! I don't think that I could do that either.

Janette, I love that picture area on your wall!

Robinrs, I looked at the web site. It's great! At least I can see what colors possibly might complement each other.

You might be able to get away with a darker color, one just dark enough not to blend with the wood work. Maybe a shade or 2 darker than the ones you've tried that blend in.

The previous owners chose the colors here but I do like the look of the lighter trim with the darker walls. Like I said I'll keep it except for maybe changing the color to a cooler shade.

Are you doing the painting yourself? That is one thing I don't think I'll be able to do here with the 2 story rooms. I don't mind painting most of the others but don't really want to get on a scaffold.

My wall is TDS lithographs I've collected over the years, I need to add another row but that is all I can do to that wall. I really like how it turned out too. Got the idea from a trading spaces where Gen put a couple of rows of pictures on the wall. Didn't like how she did it but it gave me the idea of what to do with that wall & the lithos.

 

[Kirby]

Are you doing the painting yourself?

We're doing a trade. My husband is a plumber and he did some work at a friend's house who owns a paint contracting company. He suggested getting a few quarts of colors we were interested in and putting it on the walls to test out. But with the quarts costing $8 a piece (we've done one - a shade of yellow) I'm hesitant to spend money on a lot of colors we won't use.

What is your decorating style?

I'm probably what you might call eclectic. I have no particular style.

I suggest you first decide whether you lean towards cool colors or warm colors

Well, I like the darkers shades of all colors. I'm not a pastel person at all. I guess that's why I'm so hesitant about putting a yellow on the wall. The room has 10' ceilings and 8' tall windows, lots of them. In fact, there is not a lot of wall space to really speak of between the windows, shelves, fireplace and kitchen cabinets. So we could really put a darker shade up. But my husband hates to paint and I know that he is thinking of on down the road when he will probably have to do it himself.

 

[VampHeartless]

I sincerely suggest purple with blue and red polka dots.

I can't wait til I buy my own house.