Help with paint color

[Niel]

So I'm trying to refresh my bedroom. Sense we moved into our house 3 years ago we never got any nice things for it. We've been using old childhood comforters and stuff, very hodgepodge and sad.
Anyways my budget isn't huge, but Macy's was having a sale so I got a good price on some new bedding, I got some new lamps as well. Photos attached. I have this really cool orange mirror, similar yo the orange in the quilt (I'll be folding it at the end of the bed). Our bed and dresser are a dark color, as are the end tables. They are family antiques so I'm not interested in replacing them. The carpet is tan. I'd like to pull it up because there is the original hardwood underneath, but then again hardwood in a bedroom is kind of cold. The crown molding is also original, 1950s, and painted white.

Anyways, I'm rambling. My question is, with an orange mirror, (most likely) tan carpet, white molding, and dark wood furniture, what color would you paint the walls? I'm thinking something very light. But I want opinions.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Niel, I think a light green like the sheets would be a great option with what you describe. I hesitate to post a color from my color wheel because what I'm seeing on my screen may be different that what is happening in real life, but I think if you went with something in the light green family of the sheets it would be very pretty.

 

[Niel]

That was my first inclination as well. Problem is my living room is already a light lime color. My favorite colors in our house are green and orange and I'm afraid I'll overdue it and one day be left with only those colors in the house Haha.

I feel like an off white would pop, but I feel like that's too stark for a bedroom.

 

[packrat]

I'm a huge fan of Maria Killam, and one of the things I've seen many times on her blog is "a light color will never come to life in a dark room"--which I never understood the reasoning behind it until reading her blog. If you have a lot of light in a room, a light color works. Now, in our living room, the first two times we painted, we did off white and I hated it (never knew why) and so we went w/a little darker off white, and still hated it. Then I decided on burnt orange-my husband and my dad had conniption fits but...we use *one* light in the living room and it's pretty dim in there for tv watching. So we can *see* the burnt orange still even tho the room isn't lit up and I love it. When it was light, it looked dingy and dull. We will be painting our room navy--the only time we're in the room it's usually dark, and if it's not totally dark, taking a nap or whatever during the day, having the off white walls attracted any light and made it more light. Having it dark helps immensely.

So, I guess, were it me, I dig the pop of orange/navy/white together. I like green and navy. I'd probably go navy. That's just me tho. My parents will find the lightest shade on the strip and then cut it in half and *still* are like OMG there's sooo much color and I'm like ummmmm yeah I can't see what the color is unless you hold a piece of white paper up against it for comparison.

 

[UrsTx]

Not knowing how much natural light you have, how about a light-medium blue like in these two photos I grabbed online? I think orange accents would look great with blue and white.

[pic 1]

[pic 2]

Eta - since Neil would like to go in a different direction, I removed the photos cuz I'm paranoid of copyright issues.

 

[Niel]

Thanks guys!

The room is small, like most master bedrooms from a 50s 1story. It has two windows that let in a fair amount of light due to the size of the room but the blinds are usually shut for privacy reasons.

I'll try and get a picture of the mirror tomorrow, its a rectangle , fairly large for the space but I have the perfect area for itit. I suppose I could not use it too though as right now we have a mirror up that's white, that could just stay.

I think the blue would make the white bedsread and mirror pop, but with the quilt and lights I worry it's too Much. I'd consider yellow but then the mirror won't have as much effect. I'd be open to something a little out there like a light dusty lilac or pink. Husband isn't crazy about pink bit if muted he doesn't much care. I think gray would be great but we just painted my daughter's room next door gray.

 

[packrat]

I don't think it would be too much, I think it would pull it together, ground it and it would work more like a neutral w/out being like a typical "neutral" beige/off white whatever. Like pants.

 

[Niel]

I like this color but with my dark wood bed I'm not so convinced

 

[UrsTx]

I think dark wood furniture would look nice with pink walls but I'm not sure about the Orange mirror. How about pale peach walls? That's more in the Orange family.

 

[UrsTx]

I don't think it would be too much, I think it would pull it together, ground it and it would work more like a neutral w/out being like a typical "neutral" beige/off white whatever. Like pants.

Packrat - I like that analogy. Blue walls are like blue jeans - they go with everything!

 

[Niel]

I think dark wood furniture would look nice with pink walls but I'm not sure about the Orange mirror. How about pale peach walls? That's more in the Orange family.

See that's the thing I dont really want it to "go" so much as contrast attractively. In my head it looks very "pop art" where peach doesn't appeal. Funny though I do have plans to paint our bathroom a peachy/apricot color.

 

[packrat]

Thanks UrsTx! It reminds me of an outfit. Dark brown furniture like boots. Orange scarf or belt, white shirt, navy coat or jeans. Darker colors make me feel comfy, like a blanket.

 

[Niel]

Thanks UrsTx! It reminds me of an outfit. Dark brown furniture like boots. Orange scarf or belt, white shirt, navy coat or jeans. Darker colors make me feel comfy, like a blanket.

Ok ok I see it now. I can maybe get behind this. What color of this outfit would be the walls?

Thanks again?

 

[packrat]

When we redid our bathroom a few years ago, we did not quite "dark" more...medium, I'd say-but in the bathroom (gray), it's *always* bright. (even tho the light in there sucks, it's still like you're Dracula when you turn on the light in the morning ARGH my eyes my eyes!) So, now I'm not happy w/it and I need to have it be *bright*. The kitchen I need to have more bright too. Sleepy/relaxy rooms I need darker. And it could be that I just over think things and are too affected by color in my brain.

 

[UrsTx]

How about one dark blue accent wall which is where your Orange mirror and headboard will go, and keep the other walls off white? That's her coat and her scarf. Your furniture are her boots. Your bedding is the girl's shirt.

 

[packrat]

I just sent you an email of a couple pins I have for our room...I didn't want to put them here b/c they link back to me. (not that a lot of us aren't already on FB or emails anyway but still)

 

[Niel]

I haven't read all the comments yet but I wanted to say my thanks again was meant to have a ! Not a ? Lol

 

[Niel]

How about one dark blue accent wall which is where your Orange mirror and headboard will go, and keep the other walls off white? That's her coat and her scarf. Your furniture are her boots. Your bedding is the girl's shirt.

The mirror won't go The same wall as the headboard. Its a nice heavy mirror and I have this fear it'll drop on me in the middle of the night Haha.
I had considered an accent wall though. I like those. How many is too many to have in a house? I already have one in my living room and I plan to paint one wall in our kitchen with dark chalkboard paint

 

[Cluless]

Niel I know you said you don't want to go overboard on green but have you considered Sage or maybe Taupe

 

[ponder]

How about one dark blue accent wall which is where your Orange mirror and headboard will go, and keep the other walls off white? That's her coat and her scarf. Your furniture are her boots. Your bedding is the girl's shirt.

The mirror won't go The same wall as the headboard. Its a nice heavy mirror and I have this fear it'll drop on me in the middle of the night Haha.
I had considered an accent wall though. I like those. How many is too many to have in a house? I already have one in my living room and I plan to paint one wall in our kitchen with dark chalkboard paint

I don't think there is a limit to the number in a house just the number of accent walls in a room.

 

[Niel]

How about one dark blue accent wall which is where your Orange mirror and headboard will go, and keep the other walls off white? That's her coat and her scarf. Your furniture are her boots. Your bedding is the girl's shirt.

The mirror won't go The same wall as the headboard. Its a nice heavy mirror and I have this fear it'll drop on me in the middle of the night Haha.
I had considered an accent wall though. I like those. How many is too many to have in a house? I already have one in my living room and I plan to paint one wall in our kitchen with dark chalkboard paint

I don't think there is a limit to the number in a house just the number of accent walls in a room.

Ha. I suppose that's true, I just dont want any one element to be too prominent in my house.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi Neil,


I cast my vote for a medium light blue(wedgewood), with orange as the accent color. Your lamp is navy, sheets light green, mirror
orange, and all colors will go well with dark furniture. I like the blue in the quilt above. I wouldn't want the blue too light. Its actually a hard color to get right sometimes.


Annette

Ialso like the above with white woodwork

 

[Niel]

Hi Neil,


I cast my vote for a medium light blue(wedgewood), with orange as the accent color. Your lamp is navy, sheets light green, mirror
orange, and all colors will go well with dark furniture. I like the blue in the quilt above. I wouldn't want the blue too light. Its actually a hard color to get right sometimes.


Annette

Ialso like the above with white woodwork

Thanks for the input. Color is hard! The lamps though appear dark in the photo are actually cobalt blueblue, but regardless, yes, I think a blue might be the answer

 

[House Cat]

My living room is a color called Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams. I had it mixed to 50% saturation because when I saw it in person, it was actually a lot darker than it was in all of the photos I saw on pinterest. This color translates as blue but it is actually a very moody gray, green, blue color. On the paint chip, the darkest color (full saturation) is a dark olive. I absolutely love this color because it works with everything I bring into the room.

My first attempt at painting the room blue failed miserably. I picked a beautiful shade of light blue. On the chip it was practically white and the test sample I brought home was no different. When we put it on the walls on a larger scale, my whole living room turned into little boy nursery blue. When we headed back to the paint store, we were told by an experienced painter that sometimes you have to choose a shade of green in order to have blue. That is how we ended up with Sea Salt.

Benjamin Moore also has some moody shades that are on the blue/green spectrum. Wythe Blue comes to mind. Remember, if you find a shade you love but it is too dark for you, you can always have it mixed to 50% or even 25% saturation.

 

[Niel]

My living room is a color called Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams. I had it mixed to 50% saturation because when I saw it in person, it was actually a lot darker than it was in all of the photos I saw on pinterest. This color translates as blue but it is actually a very moody gray, green, blue color. On the paint chip, the darkest color (full saturation) is a dark olive. I absolutely love this color because it works with everything I bring into the room.

My first attempt at painting the room blue failed miserably. I picked a beautiful shade of light blue. On the chip it was practically white and the test sample I brought home was no different. When we put it on the walls on a larger scale, my whole living room turned into little boy nursery blue. When we headed back to the paint store, we were told by an experienced painter that sometimes you have to choose a shade of green in order to have blue. That is how we ended up with Sea Salt.

Benjamin Moore also has some moody shades that are on the blue/green spectrum. Wythe Blue comes to mind. Remember, if you find a shade you love but it is too dark for you, you can always have it mixed to 50% or even 25% saturation.

I'm going to Google it now! Thanks. I think a blue green sounds interesting.
All my stuff should be here by the Friday. My mother is coming over to see the kids, she's good at this sort of thing, I think I'll get her input too.

 

[House Cat]

My living room is a color called Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams. I had it mixed to 50% saturation because when I saw it in person, it was actually a lot darker than it was in all of the photos I saw on pinterest. This color translates as blue but it is actually a very moody gray, green, blue color. On the paint chip, the darkest color (full saturation) is a dark olive. I absolutely love this color because it works with everything I bring into the room.

My first attempt at painting the room blue failed miserably. I picked a beautiful shade of light blue. On the chip it was practically white and the test sample I brought home was no different. When we put it on the walls on a larger scale, my whole living room turned into little boy nursery blue. When we headed back to the paint store, we were told by an experienced painter that sometimes you have to choose a shade of green in order to have blue. That is how we ended up with Sea Salt.

Benjamin Moore also has some moody shades that are on the blue/green spectrum. Wythe Blue comes to mind. Remember, if you find a shade you love but it is too dark for you, you can always have it mixed to 50% or even 25% saturation.

I'm going to Google it now! Thanks. I think a blue green sounds interesting.
All my stuff should be here by the Friday. My mother is coming over to see the kids, she's good at this sort of thing, I think I'll get her input too.

Pinterest shows it very well in fully decorated rooms. Some people even have orange accents throughout their rooms.

 

[imitcan]

Both these colours are easy to live with and act as neutrals in a variety of spaces. Both would work well with orange. From the Benjamin Moore collection: Manchester Tan HC-81 and Woodlawn Blue HC-147.

 

[arkieb1]

Light blue or aqua will work with all those colours or do a green or bright orange feature wall behind the bed and the rest of the walls white or cream or a pale neutral colour.

 

[junebug17]

Maybe a pale/soft yellow? Maybe even lighter than this, it looks darker here than on the website. I think it would look nice with dark wood and I see a bit of yellow in the comforter.
eta: just saw that you've already considered yellow, sorry!

 

[Niel]

Dont be sorry! I haven't ruled out any color yet. All my stuff came in the mail today. The poor ups driver I got 6 packages at once! And they were big, too.
I'm washing everything now then we will see.
In the meantime here's a photo I found with a yellow background.