Benjamin Moore Paint Crisis!!! Please Help!

[Demelza]

I''m hoping someone can help me out here. To be frank, I''m going nuts trying to make a paint color decision. Hubby and I are in the middle (well, finally coming to the end we hope) of major downstairs renovations. It''s taken us 7 months to get here, but we''re finally in the stage where we must make a decision on color. Our contractor brought over a color consultant to help us last week which (I thought) was a great help. We picked colors for the den and bathroom. I foolishly thought, oh great, we''ve got an expert here, no need to get paint samples! BIG MISTAKE

!!! Now we have $500 worth of paint neither of us like. They already put on a coat in the bathroom, but haven''t started in the main room, so we figure it''s better to cut our losses now rather than have to repaint in the not so distant future. What I''m wondering is whether anyone has any Benjamin Moore colors they just love? The main room downstairs is right off the garden -- 2 sets of french doors and a large picture window (facing south). We put in red oak hardwood with a natural stain and we''re wanting something very neutral and fairly light, something that will contrast with the white woodwork (crown molding, door/window casings, baseboards, etc.), but that doesn''t stand out too much. We''ve tried about 12-15 paint samples and haven''t really liked any! Any thoughts? Thanks!!

 

[Mara]

I say leave the bathroom as is and see if it grows on you, sometimes dark bathrooms can take a bit getting used to, but with the right accessories can look really snazzy. I am very happy with ours...I think that alot of times people expect bathrooms to be very light, but we have three bathrooms and 2 are very light and bright and so putting the downstairs one in a darker taupe really worked out well because it was different and it made it more 'cozy' and unique.

Now the big room, I think a bright sand color (warm like your red oak rather than a taupe which is too 'cool') would look great with the light and the floor rather than the 'fleshy' color you ended up with, but which actual one who knows, you know I don't have any BM paint color names to offer, but I hope someone out there does!! I love a good bright sand color to brighten up the room but offer that contrast with the baseboards and molding.

Can you go into a BM paint store and tell them what you want, aka have them refer a sand to try out on the walls? Maybe someone who actually works daily with the actual paints can assist.

 

[luckygirl333]

Standish White

It looks like a light, warm, creamy yellow once all 4 walls are painted -- very different than the chip, and very different than when just a big patch is painted -- I swear! (I panicked when halfway through painting my living room, even though it is the same color as my brother''s...) It looks beautiful with white woodwork.


My mom''s living room is a sage green that is also very nice...can find out the exact color if you are interested.

 

[Mara]

Lucky I am dying for a good sage green color to paint our upstairs office in...we have a dark PB desk and filing cabinet set so I think that a sage would set off the brown in a great way....please let us know if you do find that out!!

Choosing paint colors is very hard for me too, they are SO misleading with both the paper swatch AND a patch on the wall...when will someone come up with a good way to choose paint colors and know what they will look like once all walls are painted?!?!?!?!?? The virtual room things that these paint companies have setup are not even a good option because color depends on how you have your monitor set and our eyes see things differently in person. Bah!

 

[Demelza]

Thanks guys! I''m off to the paint store now and will ask the consultant there.

Mara, I''ll send you a pic of the bathroom when I get back. It''s super dark and we''re afraid looks kind of poop color (not a good look in a bathroom, hehe).

Lucky -- check out the standish white color. Will def get a sample if they have one.

 

[Kaleigh]

I would tell them the name of the color in your bathroom and ask if a lighter color can off set the dark color?? Good luck Dem!! We used BM in our family room but don''t know the name of the color. It''s a sandy caramel color.

 

[Shay37]

I used Pratt & Lambert. I can''t remember the name of it, but I will run downstairs and check paint receipt. It is the color of beach sand and it looks fab against the white trim in our living room and dining room. It started to dry very dark but by morning it was perfect. I mention because a lot of times stores that sell Ben Moore sell P&L also.

shay

 

[ChargerGrrl]

my neighbor has savannah clay in her living room, and it looks divine! only reason i remember the name of the color is because savannah is one of my favorite cities.

Good Luck!

 

[portoar]

A painting contractor once told me to visit a building site and ask them for a leftover scrap of wallboard. Then use that to test paint colors rather than your own wall. It works really well -- just keep it in the garage and drag it out to paint a large area, put it up against your wall and you''ll know whether you like the color. I agree, paint is very difficult to judge. I tend to use Ralph Lauren from Home Depot or Frazee paint, which is what the painting contractors use, but I have used Benjamin Moore too -- love their colors and the quality of the paint.

 

[Shay37]

Okay, the color is called washed sand. The Pratt & Lambert number is 2276. I took some pics of my wall with the trim showing. I will upload them and be right back.

shay

 

[Shay37]

rats, pics too big. try again later.

shay

 

[Ann]

Dem,

As a builder, I have used B. Moore paints for ages. I do have favorite colors that I like to use. I have all the color fans here at home. If I can help you, let me know.

Regarding samples - always, always put paint samples on several walls and check them out under different/changing lighting conditions. What looks beige in the morning can be pink by late afternoon.

I have using more beigey-gold colors of late. But I am in Texas and the Tuscan colors are very popular now.

A trick I use for ceilings is to cut the wall paint down by 25% or so. You will have to do samples to see if you like it. Or you can just go lighter on the color sample strip, if it is color you like. Or darker as I have done for striking powder baths, they are fun to play in.

Keep us posted and tell us what colors you are working with.

 

[Demelza]

thanks guys!!!!

Ann! Please tell me what you think of these colors: Natural Linen (the canandian number is CC-90 -- don''t know what the US version would be, but hopefully the name is the same) and HC 173 (Edgecomb Gray).

We just bought some new color samples and tried them on the wall. We''re thinking we''re going to stay more in the gray family to cut out the pinky tone that seems to come out in many of the colors we''ve chosen. I''m not usually a gray fan, but they tend to look more neutral on teh wall so far. The bad thing is I have to make this decision FAST because the tiler is coming early next week to start on the bathroom and we''ve got to have the walls painted first

!!!

 

[Mara]

Hehe I kind of liked the monkey poop bathroom in the pictures.

But yes...picking colors is the worst! I really want to paint our guest room and office but am too paranoid to choose colors yet.

Keep us posted girl!

 

[Ann]

are you ready to commit to gray? Gray can be more limiting than a good basic neutral. I will go get my color fans and check the #''s you posted.

what other colors are you working with - furniture, upholstery, rugs, art, will all this work with the gray or are you starting all over?

 

[Demelza]

Date: 2/12/2006 3:09:39 PM
Author: Ann
are you ready to commit to gray? Gray can be more limiting than a good basic neutral. I will go get my color fans and check the #''s you posted.


what other colors are you working with - furniture, upholstery, rugs, art, will all this work with the gray or are you starting all over?

We''re starting over down there furniture-wise. The gray I picked doesn''t really seem that gray (I don''t typically like gray), more like a beige with a hint of gray. I''ll be interested to hear what you thing of the Edgecomb Gray. We actually put the Natural Linen in the bathroom already and it is very nice. Love to hear what you think!!!!

 

[Ann]

Dem,

I don''t see your pics.
I have the color fan and the Natural Linen is a pale taupe and the edgecomb gray even lighter.

Both of these colors IMO will fade out on a wall with a lot od natural light.
Are your oak floors a natural color with no stain? To get a contrast with the trim, IMO I''d go darker, but without seeing the project I''m afraid to point you in one direction. Is your trim stark white?
Some of the colors I have used in the past:
Tyler Taupe HC-43, rich and dark
Lenox Tan HC-44 a good deeper taupe, not much pink
Shaker Beige HC-45 pretty but in the house I used it on, it turned pink in the am & green in the evening.
Decatur Buff HC-38, I have used this cut a bit, looked nice. Full strength is a nice deep tone beige.
Putnam Ivory HC-39, Was a favorite for many of my clients for a while, a pale beige that will contrast with a lighter color trim ok if the trim is very light.
Wilmington Tan HC-34, I use this for a toned down but deep wall color, not gold or yellow.

Good luck, I will check back here often to see what you do!

 

[butterfly 17]

How about trying a different brand? I was set on getting Benjamin Moore Paints for my new baby''s room because we used that brand for every single room in the house, except for the kitchen, which has wall paper. So, I picked out the colors and purchased two cans and then when we put it up, I absolutely hated it because it came out too dark and too bright (does that make any sense).

I then took another two weeks trying to find something I would like only to realize that I hated all their colors in pink and green.

I finally went to Home Depot and chose two different brands. I went with Ralph Lauren in Makee Island (really pale sage green) and Behr in Frosty White(ivory pink white).

i am happy with the choices I made, but it was a hard decision.

 

[Mara]

Dem''s painters prefer to use BM I think...which is also the case we had with our painters...seems like alot of professional painters prefer to use BM!

I actually did not like most of their colors, I thought that their color options were so much more the BASIC stuff like you see in crayola instead of like real paint wall colors. I love Ralph Lauren so most of the projects I do on my own I use RL paint, it covers well and smooth and they have divine colors where you can almost not go wrong because of the color options they offer.

We chose a soft taupe for our house from BM..I''m not sure what the name was but its on the paint can in the garage, we love it but we wish we had gone just a shade darker sometimes, it''s a cool feeling taupe which is perfect in the summer but in the winter it could feel a tiny bit ''warmer''. Our house gets ALOT of light as well. For the upstairs bedroom we had the hardest time choosing a BLUE. I wanted this one that we saw in the model home but no one knew what color it was and so we tried to replicate it as best as possible and it was NOT remotely close. After it was done (and we painted huge wall swatches too and checked them out at various times of the day and just could not get it RIGHT) I was really not loving it...it was a bit more ''true blue'' than I wanted, we wanted a bit more of a soft blue gray...but Greg really liked it and actually now 2 years later it has totally grown on me and makes the room seem very bright and cheery but yet ''cool and relaxing''. So I am not quite so ''anal'' about color now because I think that even if you don''t absolutely adore it right away, after some time with it and the right ''accessories'' and things in the room it can work out.

Now I really want to do the office in a sage green but I don''t know WHICH ONE and also I''d love to do the guest room in a really warm deep buttery sand color, any suggestions on either of these, Ann?? Right now the upstairs office and guest room and bathroom up there are still the natural color of the walls which was a soft eggshell. So it''d need to be alot darker to make an impact and even be worth doing. For the bathroom I''d like a very very soft pale sage green....but again not sure where to start!!!

That''s why after 2 years I haven''t done a thing to the walls up there.

 

[Mara]

just for kicks, here is the blue master bedroom after we added some furniture and accents to it....i love it now! of course i am still agonizing over what to put on the walls, i am the worst about house decor decisions.

 

[butterfly 17]

By the way, I used the following Benjamin Moore colors-
My room- Linen white with navajo white (semigloss) for the panels and window panes
Kayla''s room - china white with navajo white (semigloss) for the panels and window panes.
The rest of the house is super white and the panels, etc. are done in superwhite semigloss, but they have painted designs on them (feathering) to give them more substance.
The bathrooms are done in linen white, again with a feathering design so it looks more like wallpaper.

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 2/12/2006 4:26:02 PM
Author: Mara

For the bathroom I''d like a very very soft pale sage green....but again not sure where to start!!!

That''s why after 2 years I haven''t done a thing to the walls up there.

Ooh, try RL. I was looking for a very pale sage green and found two that I liked, Panama something and Makee Island. Both are ever so light and give just the right hint of warm sage color without making the room dark and drab.

I went with Makee Island for my baby''s room because I thought that it was a tiny bit brighter than the Panama one, but I really liked both of them.

 

[Mara]

Thanks for the tips, Kayla! The bathroom is a guest one with no windows, dual sinks, a long to ceiling mirror, 12x12 matte tiles (same as in our master bathroom, you can see them in the picture i just posted) on the floor and maple cabinets. for decor so far i have put things like l''occitane soaps in a glass jar, bath salts etc on the counters. also some rattan baskets for magazines on top of the toilet, the ''bath'' stainless steel wall hanging from PB (where it has hooks and you can hang towels and stuff on it) and then the shower curtain is from Restoration, it''s their soft sage green, blue and cream striped one...I can''t think of the name. So there is alot of ivory in the bathroom with sages and soft blues as the accents. I''d love to do the super soft sage green as the wall color just to take it away from that boring plain eggshell color. But yes it can''t be TOO dark as it''s a light airy feeling bathroom and so I just want a bit of color. I''ll have to check out those two you suggested!

Greg''s sister is coming to visit us in March so that always inspires me to ''get going'' on things I procrastinate on around the house...he is saying NO WAY are we going to paint anything before she gets here...I said of course not..!!

But maybe one day when he gets home from work it will just be DONE!

 

[Ann]

Mara, I''m just flipping through my fan deck.
Sage:

Ivy Lane 523 - soft sage with a touch of gray
Grasslands 502 - Greener than 523, but still soft and maybe a little pale for you.
Lewiville Green - 494 soft sage
Hillside Green - 495, more intense green
Misted Fern - 482, I have used this one in a study, client wanted it, it was ok, but could be
perfect in another house.

Warm Deep Buttery Sand: Hhmmmm? lets see!

Buena Vista Gold - 209
Yosemite Yellow - 215
California Hills - 216
these are all in that goldish tanish yellowish family, hard to describe!

Ha, you''ll probably go look at these and think, my God what was she thinking!!!!

 

[Demelza]

Date: 2/12/2006 4:06:13 PM
Author: Ann
Dem,


I don''t see your pics.

I have the color fan and the Natural Linen is a pale taupe and the edgecomb gray even lighter.


Both of these colors IMO will fade out on a wall with a lot od natural light.

Are your oak floors a natural color with no stain? To get a contrast with the trim, IMO I''d go darker, but without seeing the project I''m afraid to point you in one direction. Is your trim stark white?

Some of the colors I have used in the past:

Tyler Taupe HC-43, rich and dark

Lenox Tan HC-44 a good deeper taupe, not much pink

Shaker Beige HC-45 pretty but in the house I used it on, it turned pink in the am & green in the evening.

Decatur Buff HC-38, I have used this cut a bit, looked nice. Full strength is a nice deep tone beige.

Putnam Ivory HC-39, Was a favorite for many of my clients for a while, a pale beige that will contrast with a lighter color trim ok if the trim is very light.

Wilmington Tan HC-34, I use this for a toned down but deep wall color, not gold or yellow.


Good luck, I will check back here often to see what you do!

Thanks Ann! That''s very helpful.

We''ve tried Putnam Ivory and found it to be a little too pinky. For some reason, everything pulls pink in that room. It must be the red oak floors?? We did a natural finish on them -- no stain. We did 3" quarter-sawn planks, so they''re very uniform looking. We have Decatur Buff in our upstairs guest room and love it, but it''s definitely too dark for downstairs. The Natural Linen and Edgecomb Gray seem to be the only colors so far that actually seem neutral, not pinky or fleshy color. Do you think the Edgecomb Gray is too gray?? I don''t want a real steely look, just something subtle and clean looking. If we did a nice winter white for the trim and ceiling, I''m hoping there would be enough contrast.

Yes, Mara''s right. The painters like BM paints and I honestly think I would have a heart attack if we had to consider a whole new pallette, haha.

 

[Mara]

Thanks Ann for the suggestions! I am going to check out those colors online, you can see BM''s paint decks on there but of course monitors are not always accurate!!

 

[Demelza]

Mara -- we have Herbes de Provence in our bedroom. I might describe it as more olive green than sage, but we love it. It's definitely dark, though. Looks great with a nice white contrast.

ETA Don't go by what you see on the BM website for this color. Remember how weird it looked when we were looking? I'll try to get a good photo for you.

 

[Demelza]

Another quick question for anyone who knows about painting: Hubby wanted to make sure the trim color will work with the new colors we picked, so he put several swatches of high gloss oil paint that we'll use for the trim on the wall next to the wall color swatches. Was that a very bad thing? It is my understanding that you can't put latex over oil based paint?? Will this be a problem for the painters?

 

[moon river]

Date: 2/12/2006 5:45:07 PM
Author: Demelza
Another quick question for anyone who knows about painting: Hubby wanted to make sure the trim color will work with the new colors we picked, so he put several swatches of high gloss oil paint that we''ll use for the trim on the wall next to the wall color swatches. Was that a very bad thing? It is my understanding that you can''t put latex over oil based paint?? Will this be a problem for the painters?

They can put a primer coat over the oil based spots. It shouldn''t be a problem.

 

[Demelza]

Date: 2/12/2006 5:46:58 PM
Author: moon river

Date: 2/12/2006 5:45:07 PM

Author: Demelza

Another quick question for anyone who knows about painting: Hubby wanted to make sure the trim color will work with the new colors we picked, so he put several swatches of high gloss oil paint that we''ll use for the trim on the wall next to the wall color swatches. Was that a very bad thing? It is my understanding that you can''t put latex over oil based paint?? Will this be a problem for the painters?

They can put a primer coat over the oil based spots. It shouldn''t be a problem.

Thanks, MR. Now I don''t have to scold him too badly. I came downstairs and said, WHAT are you doing putting that on the WALL??