Friday
Sep072012
Paint Colours That Inspire Love and Horror
Friday, September 7, 2012
Now that we suddenly find ourselves the proud new owners of a condo and have a couple of weeks before we move in, I am dreaming about paint.
The previous owner painted the walls in a darker cream with a couple of very dark burgundy accent walls, so I am looking forward to lightening up the mood of the space with bright, light colours and a couple of vibrant spots to give it some spark.
I have been surrounded by basic rental apartment white for twenty years, so I am more than a little excited to put some pizazz into the place. I think that's how I found myself falling for brighter and brighter colours as I went along.
I started off with some nice blues and greens, because I've always wanted to find that perfect robin's egg blue for a wall I could call my own, but damn it if the rest of the crayon box of colours didn't start looking pretty good, too.
And that's how I found myself thinking that Snow Cone Green, Rumba Orange, and Rose Parade might be just what I need. They probably aren't what I need, and the Palinode's probably having minor heart attacks looking at some of the colours I've laid out here, but they're pretty, yes? I think they're damn spanky.
I haven't picked out the two or three brighter colours I want yet, so let me know what inspires or horrifies you.
If the whole enterprise turns out disastrously, we can always repaint, right?
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PS. Here are the colours I'm leaning most toward right now:
The previous owner painted the walls in a darker cream with a couple of very dark burgundy accent walls, so I am looking forward to lightening up the mood of the space with bright, light colours and a couple of vibrant spots to give it some spark.
I have been surrounded by basic rental apartment white for twenty years, so I am more than a little excited to put some pizazz into the place. I think that's how I found myself falling for brighter and brighter colours as I went along.
I started off with some nice blues and greens, because I've always wanted to find that perfect robin's egg blue for a wall I could call my own, but damn it if the rest of the crayon box of colours didn't start looking pretty good, too.
And that's how I found myself thinking that Snow Cone Green, Rumba Orange, and Rose Parade might be just what I need. They probably aren't what I need, and the Palinode's probably having minor heart attacks looking at some of the colours I've laid out here, but they're pretty, yes? I think they're damn spanky.
I haven't picked out the two or three brighter colours I want yet, so let me know what inspires or horrifies you.
If the whole enterprise turns out disastrously, we can always repaint, right?
----------------------------
PS. Here are the colours I'm leaning most toward right now:
categorized in arts & culture and tagged in decorating, design, home, house, paint
arts & culture and tagged in decorating, design, home, house, paint 
Reader Comments (34)
Those are perfect, among my favorite shades, and also directly reminiscent of my trip through New Mexico that changed my brain last week, so go ahead. Please do this, until I can. And let me know when it's done, because you know I'll put visiting you on my travel life list.
What colors do you already have in art and furnishings? I would start by pulling some main colors for those. That said, I love a colorful house!
I'm awful at picking colours, which is why my living room is still a really yucky shade of green. I think it's supposed to be sage, but it looks like spoiled guacamole. My daughter just painted her entire room bright pink. It's reallyreallyreallyridiculously bright, so use a little caution with brights. They can be overwhelming.
Basically, I'm useless.
I'm always amazed at my friends who buy their first/new property and do ALL of the work right away. I know it's just paint, but be sure to take your time and give yourself rest and wiggle room and things. It doesn't have to be perfect all at once. I mean this in a super nice way. I've seen a lot of new homeowners LOSE IT and FREAK OUT. I don't want that to happen to you, my dear.
I love light, and find some colours reflect light beautifully, and others suck it up. Watch for reflectiveness.
Blondie, there is a bunch of stuff I want to do, but I'm just going to concentrate on the colour thing right now and let the baseboards/back door/that one windowsill/etc. wait. I want to enjoy this new space and not let it get me all wound up.
Snow White, Crystal Springs, Killala Green, Sunbeam, Tawny Day Lily, Red. Those are my faves. Which means they're probably wrong for anyone else. :-)
Love them! I am quite partial to the killala green and the kokopelli teal. Which reminds me, I still want to paint my bathroom a nice sage colour with eggplant accents.
I always said when I bought a house I would never have to see builder's white again. So we painted the main floor medium blue, pale yellow, terra cotta and darkish green. The blue was fun but got old fast - it's now a nice warm espresso colour which I like better. I still love the terra cotta, but the green was a mistake. We painted a small room Chinese Dragon Red once - small spaces usually work better for the bolder colours, I think. If you have as many books as we do, it's dangerous waiting to paint, because once those bookshelves are in place, painting becomes an exceedingly daunting proposition. Can't wait to hear what you decide on.
Congrats and yay! As the proud owner of two (and counting) very colorful rooms, all I can say is stick to your vision. If you envisioned a beautiful shade of orange on your walls and it's looking like a 70's explosion halfway through painting, don't freak out. Finish the job, let the paint dry and watch your vision come to life. It's amazing.
Oh, and use painter's tape. Prep the hell out of those rooms, for real. Tape EVERYTHING.
Good luck, and again congratulations.
Allison, from the feedback I've been getting, I am really leaning away from using green at all. It sounds like it more often than not turns out poorly. I'm think blue.
I love these colors. A lot.
There are Wes Anderson film color palettes that I like to steal ideas from.
wanna see?
okay! - http://pinterest.com/pin/157485318190186038/
I am all about the dramatic paint colors! We have a huge room that's orange-red, the living room is Hershey Bar wrapper purple, my bathroom is turquoise, the TV room is apricot with brick trim, and the kitchen is green like weathered copper.
Congrats on your new home.
Having owned four homes (one at a time), I have gone through many, many color stages - the neutral phase, the dark ages, the bright days - I've used them all. At this point, I feel that the most important thing is light. I don't feel good in a dark house, but that could just be me. My last two kitchens have been a subdued shade of yellow, kind of like sunbeam. I really like that. I also think that Crystal Springs brings in color without making it too dark.
Like you said, it's just paint. So, if one of the bright, crazy colors is shouting at you, let it be heard.
Congrats on your new home.
Having owned four homes (one at a time), I have gone through many, many color stages - the neutral phase, the dark ages, the bright days - I've used them all. At this point, I feel that the most important thing is light. I don't feel good in a dark house, but that could just be me. My last two kitchens have been a subdued shade of yellow, kind of like sunbeam. I really like that. I also think that Crystal Springs brings in color without making it too dark.
Like you said, it's just paint. So, if one of the bright, crazy colors is shouting at you, let it be heard.
I painted my son's room tangelo two years ago. It fucking glows in the dark.
I like Snowfall White with San Clemente Teal (which is definitely the robin's egg look). A little splash of Granny Smith with those could work well.
The colors you picked are great. Of course, I am terrible at this sort of thing. My ex asked me to pick out a nice yellow for our guest room and I was SO afraid it would be too bright that I went way too subtle. He said "It just looks like a smoker lived in this room."
Get small cans of sample paint and put it on the wall in the room and see how it reacts with the light, the ceiling, the flooring. Color on a monitor or paint chip is flat and evenly illuminated. Color on a wall interacts with the light and everything else in the room. Pay attention to the basics of color psychiatry--as in some colors calm, some stimulate, and some can cause anxiety (yellow, for example). Also consider putting warm colors in areas with northern light, cooler colors in areas with western or southern light. I've been a homeowner for 30 years and never had white walls. My biggest color mistake was a pink that I thought was a rich coral-tinted (warm) pink. We'd stayed in a B & B with walls that color and liked it. When we put that paint on our bedroom walls, it was horrendous. I called it atomic pink. I swear I felt I could still see it with my eyes shut. It stayed on the walls for three years and then we repainted. I also painted a pantry a sunny yellow and that was horrendous. But by and large, I've been happy with my choices over the years. In the end, it is just paint!
Burgundy walls.....*shudders*
I'm partial to orange and teal.
I'm a fan of bold color and have used Benjamin Moore's Rockies Brown, Autumn Cover, Harrisburg Green and Palladian Blue on my walls. The glorious thing about Benjamin Moore paints are those little sample jars you can buy that cover about 3 square feet to test it out.
Go with what you like, judgement of others be damned. Great advice above about not freaking out about the color while it's going on, and also remember that a second coat is going to make a difference, too.
I hope you have fun with this.
I like all the colors you've chosen except the teal. There was one on the Granny Smith palete that was a brighter green that I really liked. I love greens in all shapes and sizes.
yay for paint colors!
My husband likes white walls. so our living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and hallway are all white. Tho the bathroom has green and black accents. Oof. Blah. But I can live with it. For now.
So excited for you guys :-)
Yeah you guys! Home owners! I love bright colours...we had a bright orange living room at one point which was wonderful in the winter when it's grey and rainy a lot here on the coast. My favourite was a purple/blue wisteria colour in our bedroom, very restful. Love the blue...might want to take the advice above with getting small samples and trying them out before you commit. We've painted a few walls in our time and my main piece of advice is...and I can't stress this enough...PREP. Tapping and priming aren't the most fun but can really make the job easier. That and spending the big bucks for good rollers and brushes and paint. Just my two cents....
I like the colors you chose.
My only suggestion would be to buy a small can and roll a portion of wall. Let it set a few days, go over during different times of the day to see how the light changes the look, and then make a final decision. This will make it easier to change, if necessary.
I chose a similar Sunbeam color, painted my two-story open living room and dining room, and later determined the setting sun gives my downstairs an odd glow. I'd love to change it but it would mean more work than I'm willing to put in. For now, I'm dealing with it.
Picking paint colors is exciting and scary. When we bought our house and got to paint the Mr. & I couldn't agree on colors. He wanted just white, silly man. I picked a wonderful red for the living room, Red Hot Red, and gave it a dark brown color wash so it looks old. I like things to look old. Mr. thought it would be too dark if we did the whole room. It is a very tiny room. He said I needed to pick another color for the largest wall. I didn't want to so in protest I picked a color that wasn't ugly but bright. It is called Tree Frog Green. It is bold and silly. I may never be allowed to pick out paint colors again. lol.
Since you are in a heritage building, you might try looking at the Benjamin Moore heritage collection.
It's only paint. Have fun with it, let it reflect your mood and where you're at now. We just painted the wall behind our built in Tropicana Cabana (Benjamin Moore). It makes me happy.
Congrats! How exciting! I love decorating. I'm in agreement re: blue. It's calming and pairs with so much; browns and greens and bronzes. Have fun doing up your new place!
Congrats on the new place! I love the blue you've picked, and think it would look great with bumblebee yellow, but what do I know - all my walls are a timid "neutral" wall shade.
My entire downstairs is painted a soft butter yellow. I can't tell you what a help it is during the winter--the north/west exposure means it gets terrible light and the yellow makes a huge difference. It also looks great with all my furniture and the dark flooring. I also did one of our bedrooms (a guest room) in a medium peach. I thought it was too bright at first, but I love it now--it's a happy room, especially when the morning light streams in.
I have a tiny back entry (5'x5') painted Snow Cone Green. It faces north and doesn't get a lot of light. My goal was to brighten it up. SCG did that quite nicely. The previous paint was white, and believe it or not, it's brighter being green.
That said, I think a larger room might be overwhelming if painted SCG. The entry is a pass-through room - we don't spend any significant time in there. Also, be warned that it took me three coats to get the color not to look blotchy. That's reasonably common with very intense paint colors: they don't have much titanium dioxide, the stuff that makes white paint white. It also makes paint opaque. (Dark reds are the WORST for this. My Watermelon Red front entry took five coats of paint. What I've learned since: tint your primer!)
Happy color choosing!
As others have said, it's only paint... have fun with it! I really like your color selections.
We love the lime greens. We had it in a couple places in our last house. The loft in our new place is white with purple "columns" (those bumped out corners) and some lime green accents. Our library is white with a tank green wall and some black accents. In addition to white, our living room has a yellow wall, a partial wall that is blue, and a wall that has red sections (all very primary versions of those colors). I doubt anyone would call it sophisticated, but everyone seems to like it.
Like I said, we love lime green but my only precaution is that, for us, every variation we've tried requires many coats. It would do this weird separation where you could see bits of the yellow streaking out from the green. We tried a couple brands, but nothing in the "high end" range of paint, so maybe it is worth paying extra for some colors. Another color that gave us problems was the red. It also required many coats. We didn't have any problems with yellow, blue, purple, taupe, teal (much darker than yours), black, or white.
I'm a little late to post but just must add my two cents! I have painted and re-painted nearly every room in 2 houses that I have owned. Color based merely on what I liked? Shit, I've picked colors because I like the NAME of the paint! My point being - don't be afraid!! Most rooms take about 2 hours to paint. 2 hours! You don't really like it, or just want a seasonal change - you can have it done before dinner. It's not a commitment - it's an opinion! Let the games begin.
I love those colours! I'm of the opinion that every room in the house should be a different colour. And they should all be vibrant and fun.
Not sure if this was mentioned, but if you're able to, I would hang the paint chips up in the rooms you're thinking of and look at them in different lights. We chose a paint colour that I loved in our house and luckily I marked it on the paint chip before going back to the store to buy it because I looked at it in the store and thought I'd marked the wrong one, it was not a colour I would have chosen in the store's lighting. It looks beautiful in our house. I've had the reverse happen where I chosen nice colours in the store and when I got them home, I couldn't imagine what I'd been thinking.
Good luck! It's fun, but kind of stressful! I hope you'll post pictures of the finished results!