Wanna help me pick a paint colour?

[Steel]

So, I have a boring question. Which colour would you choose?

The base colour on the wall is my kitchen and the paint I am trying to choose is for the informal reception room which is off the kitchen but separated by a solid door. It is informal because you have to walk through the kitchen to get to it but it will be formally decorated and has a huge solid fuel stove and white marble fire place. I really wanted something like the Farrow & Ball French Grey but it is too expensive

In fact the only reason I am ''thinking'' of painting another room is that the hardware store has a % off deal this weekend! So it is cheaper and saves masking off that fireplace for a second time. We started painting the house brilliant white then realised we ''had'' to paint the kitchen or have the nightmare of painting around the kitchen units once we put them up. So I wasn''t expecting to make this decision to paint the adjoining room and can barely be bothered

I am already very mindful to keep the colours in the house to a minimum and want to work with grey chalky tones of Green, Grey and Blue all with white trim and some white painted wood panelling.

I realise the colours can be different on each computer so just give it a go.

 

[Steel]

The photographs are not the best, but you might get the idea.

The door has yet to be hung; it is an oak 4 panel and the reception room is through that doorway.

 

[Callisto]

Ooo not boring, I like decorating. We''re renting at the moment and it''s driving me crazy not to change the sea foam green molding in our bathroom... yep you read that right, seafoam green MOLDING...

Anyway, my top pick by far is the third from the left, kind of purple grey(top swatch on the sheet is my favorite, but the one below it is nice too). I saw a model room that color at an ikea once and it looked so beautiful with espresso and white accents. Plus I think it complements your kitchen the best. Your kitchen looks kind of green hued already so idk about painting the other room one of those left two green colors. They almost look too similar to the point where I''d either match the kitchen color(or do a lighter shade of the same color) or choose something entirely different. I like the blue on the right too but I''m worried it might compete with the kitchen color too much unless you chose one of the lighter tones of blue. That''s just my two cents.

 

[Callisto]

Oh i made my post before seeing that second picture. I definitely vote the third swatch then. Your kitchen has a very lovely distinct color I''d try not to compete with it too much and i think the purply-grey is just the right balance of neutral but not boring.

 

[lyra]

If you love the colour of the expensive paint, why don''t you just colour match it? The code for mixing is usually on the colour chips. Any store can mix any paint to that colour.

 

[joflier]

I like the gray that''s on the top - 3rd swatch from the left. Can''t tell if it may be too dark. Other choice that''s maybe a little warmer would be the 2nd swatch from left - 3rd color from the bottom

 

[Pandora II]

I''d get it colour-matched!

Also, worth calculating how big the room is and how much paint you need. I reckon that you only need 2 coats of F&B and so it can work out the same price as a cheaper brand that needs more layers.

Mrs Mitchell is a fellow F&B fan, so she might have ideas.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Ditto getting it color matched, though I relaly like thrid from the left top or next to the top depending on how big the room is and how much light it gets...

 

[Steel]

Sorry to be MIA, have been working like crazy. We are on a countdown to moving in and working crazy long days to get it done.

Thank you for all your replies! Callisto, your sea foam moulding sounds like quite the unique selling point

.

So after a long chat with DH he said to just go with the French Grey if I want it.

I priced it and the best local deal is €69 for 5lt so it will cost about €140 for the room. Thennnn, I started looking at the swatches again and thought the green was too green (!!!!! I tell you my husband is long suffering) and I wanted something more grey looking. F&B don't do anything darker with the 'right' tone so I am back to the swatches I posted here. Lo and behold I am going to pick up the colour most of you voted for: Third chart from the left, on the top!

Thanks all. I am keeping my fingers crossed it will be great.

Re Colour matching F&B, I have tried 3 major shops/chains one of which sells F&B and they all said they could not colour match

.

I am now in another pickle and am choosing another colour for a little ensuite with grey (looks brown) limestone tiles. Wish me luck.

 

[KittyGolightly]

Yay for Farrow & Ball paint! I used Farrow & Ball Archive and Dimity on my walls (All White for trim), and I have to say it''s an excellent paint brand. It covers old paint really well, it went on very nicely, and didn''t have that nasty paint smell. Plus, I ended up using less paint than I would have with another brand.

One warning though about the F&B paints - *do not* get too attached to any color before you try it out with a sample pot. A lot of the pigments are pretty overwhelming once you get a three foot patch of it up on the walls.

Have fun!

 

[Steel]

New room, same question; what colour to paint it?

This will be our formal reception room and is down the main hall on it's own. The smaller reception room is off the kitchen and is hopefully to be more of a playroom/family room. The kitchen is a soft sage green and the smaller reception room adjacent is a complimentary blue in the same colour tone. They play well off each other.

My problems with colour are this. I am brainwashed to want hues of cream and magnolia! Now that I am shaking that mindset I seem to be falling into the land of blue & green. If you saw my master bath it is a gatehouse green - dark musty green, my kitchen is green and my small reception is blue - but very complimentary to green.

Shock horror, I am choosing the colour for my formal sitting room and you will never guess what I am gravitating to.....yup shades of green .

Am I making a rookie mistake or is is beneficial to have shades and tones making up a house?

I can't see myself ever using a shade that is not a chalky/grey hue based in blue,green or grey. Will I get into trouble?

 

[Steel]

Pictures...

This is the small reception room your guys helped me out with.

 

[Steel]

And the kitchen adjacent; this shot is just to show the two colours.

 

[Steel]

Now don't all go rushing to ask for the name of my cleaning company .

So this is the latest in a room destined to be green. Where I am at the moment is with Shaded White from F&B. I did get it colourmatched and the two swatches are on the wall. The F&B is left of the fireplace €72 for 5Ltr and the Colourmatch is right of the fireplace €48 for 5ltr, both suggest the same coverage.

 

[Steel]

Closer -sorry about the foggy picture

 

[Steel]

Ok, I must do a paint bigger swatch...

The colourmatch is a few shades lighter and not so chalky. I am conflicted about this because it is a big-ish room and can take a strong colour but I have never lived in a room with a darker colour. So I lean towards the colourmatch - even though I don't like the shade. I think the F&B is a better match to the fireplace which is a cream colour marble.... The flooring will be oak here too.

Should I be going darker than shaded white?

BTW, there is plain coving (cornice) going up this week, it is cut already, as soon as we get over the stove installation. That is what is on top of the fireplace.

BTW2, I plan to drop the ceilings with a picture rail and paint while above that to the coving. But I don't know if I can afford to drop a whole foot. The coving is 127mm which takes up a material 4 in of wall height and the subfloor and flooring take up another 4in so my ceilings are only just over 8ft. Plus I have vertical windows so I run out of head hight pretty quick....

Here is a window shot - this ceiling is 2in lower than the rest of the house. We had to batton over the RSJ to slab the plasterboard but you will get the idea. The IKEA blinds are right on the head of the windows and cannot be lowered so that is the amount of height I have to drop for picture rail...

 

[pennquaker09]

I don't think I would try to match F&B colors. Like, I wouldn't even ask Benjamin Moore to match a F&B color, and I think in some respects, BM has the most superior technology.

With that said, I think I see something like Pavilion Gray or Cornforth White blending better. I think the the gray-green you have is a bit to dark. If you're going to go with green, I think it would be better to pick something more green OR pick a blue with green undertones. I hope I'm making sense.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Steal - I immediately preferred the shade on the right, so it looks like I prefer the colormatch. You have such a beautiful house! I would have such a hard time picking the colors for the walls, or making any design decisions whatsoever (see note below ). I'd love to see more photos. Did you decide to get radiators? (Ooops, I see the radiators now. Nice!) How do you like them, in terms of the heat they provide? How many fireplaces will you have total?

Penn - I wish I could have channeled your knowledge and sense of colors last night at Lowe's while I was toiling over paint chips for a simple cream color. Cream is never really just cream, is it?

 

[Steel]

Thank you PQ and LV for replying to me. I think I might have been wrong all along in choosing colours. I spent all of yesterday afternoon and most of today in spin. I went from vetoing the greens to choosing a dark brown to a red ( ) back to sanity and thinking all the rooms should be shades of white - except the kitchen. Even that blue small reception room will go back to shades of white when I repaint. I don't know what I was tripping on....

PQ; Cornforth white is a great choice; thank you!

LV: Thank you kindly for the compliments. We worked hard and it makes me so happy to hear compliments. Yes the rads are super. I was warned that the style of rad tend to take longer to heat up, then stay hot longer. Well my ones are steel not cast iron and I think they heat up almost immediately and it is true that they do retain heat longer than standard rads. I have some larger rooms and the rads keep the larger rooms just as hot as the smallest WC. Only 3 fireplaces, I was talked down by my husband. I wanted at least another one in the master bed but he didn't want another chimney. The house is barely 1/2 done so there is not much else to see. The 3 guest bedrooms are just plain white; we sleep in one and the other two are storing more oak flooring. We will have our master bed and this reception room done by Christmas so I'll do more pics then. We are leaving upstairs to next year so at the moment there isn't anything spectacular to see. But thank you for your interest!

ETA: I re read my post from yesterday and I was tripping! It is Hardwick White not Shaded White. Sorry.

ETA2: LV, I think the stores should have better lighting and an area of natural light to choose the colours. Not to mention a little seated area for extra pondering.

 

[elrohwen]

Since you like to stick within the same color family, I would go one better and stick within the same paint chip. Going a shade or two lighter or darker on the same color you've already used will really help your house flow together and give it harmony. I think picking a totally different shade for every room, especially if they are similar (ie all blues and greens) but not the same tone (ie from different paint cards) will look chaotic. Personally, I would pick a color swatch of a blue/green, and one of a tan that compliments it, and pick all colors from those two swatches to do the house in.

 

[Steel]

Since you like to stick within the same color family, I would go one better and stick within the same paint chip. Going a shade or two lighter or darker on the same color you've already used will really help your house flow together and give it harmony. I think picking a totally different shade for every room, especially if they are similar (ie all blues and greens) but not the same tone (ie from different paint cards) will look chaotic. Personally, I would pick a color swatch of a blue/green, and one of a tan that compliments it, and pick all colors from those two swatches to do the house in.

Don't think I was ignoring your post. In fact in Oprah's terms I had a light bulb moment when I read it. Thank you for helping me out. We now think we were going completely off the rails and why when it was my plan to have neutral rooms with the colour tones brought in my assessories was I painting the damned walls a colour! Brain fart.

So the large reception room is going to be french vanilla. It will be painted by the weekend so you can have a look. We are going to repaint the other rooms when we get to them - i.e. once the other rooms are done first.

Thank you again, your post really helped.

 

[elrohwen]

Since you like to stick within the same color family, I would go one better and stick within the same paint chip. Going a shade or two lighter or darker on the same color you've already used will really help your house flow together and give it harmony. I think picking a totally different shade for every room, especially if they are similar (ie all blues and greens) but not the same tone (ie from different paint cards) will look chaotic. Personally, I would pick a color swatch of a blue/green, and one of a tan that compliments it, and pick all colors from those two swatches to do the house in.

Don't think I was ignoring your post. In fact in Oprah's terms I had a light bulb moment when I read it. Thank you for helping me out. We now think we were going completely off the rails and why when it was my plan to have neutral rooms with the colour tones brought in my assessories was I painting the damned walls a colour! Brain fart.

So the large reception room is going to be french vanilla. It will be painted by the weekend so you can have a look. We are going to repaint the other rooms when we get to them - i.e. once the other rooms are done first.

Thank you again, your post really helped.

I'm glad I could help!! I hope you find the perfect neutral and definitely don't be afraid to pick different shades of the same neutral for different rooms - I think it can really help define a space to have one room a shade or two darker than another, for example, but because they're from the same paint card it'll really flow well together. If they're all exactly the same shade and color it might be too boring for your tastes (since you obviously appreciate some color and interest). And I also really love some of the blues that you've chosen already - I think they're pretty neutral and it would look great to pick one and use it somewhere instead of picking so many different yet similar shades (personally, I think your kitchen looks fab the way it is!). It's so much easier to pick paint colors when you narrow it down to just a couple paint chips and the shades on those cards - I also had a light bulb moment when I read that (wherever I read it).

 

[Dreamer_D]

Since you like to stick within the same color family, I would go one better and stick within the same paint chip. Going a shade or two lighter or darker on the same color you've already used will really help your house flow together and give it harmony. I think picking a totally different shade for every room, especially if they are similar (ie all blues and greens) but not the same tone (ie from different paint cards) will look chaotic. Personally, I would pick a color swatch of a blue/green, and one of a tan that compliments it, and pick all colors from those two swatches to do the house in.

Don't think I was ignoring your post. In fact in Oprah's terms I had a light bulb moment when I read it. Thank you for helping me out. We now think we were going completely off the rails and why when it was my plan to have neutral rooms with the colour tones brought in my assessories was I painting the damned walls a colour! Brain fart.

So the large reception room is going to be french vanilla. It will be painted by the weekend so you can have a look. We are going to repaint the other rooms when we get to them - i.e. once the other rooms are done first.

Thank you again, your post really helped.

I'm glad I could help!! I hope you find the perfect neutral and definitely don't be afraid to pick different shades of the same neutral for different rooms - I think it can really help define a space to have one room a shade or two darker than another, for example, but because they're from the same paint card it'll really flow well together. If they're all exactly the same shade and color it might be too boring for your tastes (since you obviously appreciate some color and interest). And I also really love some of the blues that you've chosen already - I think they're pretty neutral and it would look great to pick one and use it somewhere instead of picking so many different yet similar shades (personally, I think your kitchen looks fab the way it is!). It's so much easier to pick paint colors when you narrow it down to just a couple paint chips and the shades on those cards - I also had a light bulb moment when I read that (wherever I read it).

I agree with this completely. We ended up painting the majority of our home in two colors, one a greyed blue and the other a greyed taupe, both not very saturated, and then painted our kitchen cabinets the darker version of the taupe. Here is a shot of the kitchen cabinets so you can see the colors. As I said, the cabinets are a darker version of the color in our livingroom, dining room, and stairway/upstairs hall, whereas the blue wall color is in the kitchen, family room, entryhall and laundry area. So the whole house is two colors (save the bedrooms and baths). Below is the cabinets "before" just for fun We still need window coverings and need to attach the hardware. But not bad for a $300 makeover (not counting stainless appliances).

 

[Steel]

Elrohwen: Yeah, we would be sad to have the place the very same colour all around so will work on getting the right neutral. Thanks again for this advice – you may have saved me many hours of heartache.

Dreamer: I want to come visit. I wonder if that blue is the same as my blue – I can’t take pictures very well and that is how my reception room *looks*. What I really want to say is – snap! I can’t believe the difference you made for 300 bucks I love the neutral and blue. It looks so clean, refreshed and modern country. Kudos! Thanks for posting.

So because of my sad little weekend of drama DH and I called off the painting. So here is what we got to by Friday:


We primed the walls, put up the coving (a much more plain version of your mouldings), painted 2 coats of white and chose the colour - it is called french vanilla. Despite my poncing about with F&B would you believe this stuff is €25 for 10l. Ha. It is a will-do colour. We wonder if it has a little too much yellow but because the room gets so much sunlight (even though it is north facing) anything paler gets washed out - you can see the sun exposure we have east and west facing windows in this room too so it is bathed sunrise and sunset.

ETA: DH gets all the credit for clearing out the room. If you are looking for the colour samples look above the fireplace mantle on the right hand side - behind the pictures and the 2nd swatch is midpoint of the wall to the right of the chimney breast just above the sunlight. BTW I put all the pictures and stuff on the fireplace so to give an idea of how the colour might look in a furnished room. You can't see it but there is actually another swatch painted to the Left of the mantle but it is so pale in the room you can't even see it from the doorway never mind on film. thanks for looking...

 

[Dreamer_D]

It does look pretty yellow Steal. What color is in the kitchen now? Is it still the greenish color? How do the two look together?

I like the room white

 

[Steel]

The kitchen is the same sage type green. This is not the reception room off the kitchen, that one is still the blue colour similar to your kitchen colour. Is this getting confusing?

Ok as you walk into the house you enter the foyer then (there will be) a door to the main hall which runs left to right. At the end of the hall to the left is this reception room which is currently painted white - it is the biggest room downstairs. If you go right at the foyer at the end of that hall is the entry to the kitchen which leads to the smaller reception room. So the two reception rooms are a way from each other.

I hope this helps: I have painted a really bad floor plan of the front of the house, there are more rooms beyond the hallway and all the rooms except the kitchen are square but I couldn't draw it that way if I tried.



About the colour, we have kind of copped out. It is a little yellow but we have both lost the will to choose any more colour this month. You know when you try to choose a new perfume and it is al going well until you start to get the perfume headache - that is how I feel about paint at the moment. It gives me a headache. It is a large enough room at 20.5'ftsq so I am hoping that the size and sunlight will drown out any contra-yellow. But yes, it is a little yellow .

Let me know what you think once we slap it on the wall!

 

[Dreamer_D]

The floor plan is really helpful! I think that I would not add any more colors to the house than the ones you have already, then, since they are already painted. In the foyer and entry hall I would do one color, and I would most likely choose the lightest color on the same paint chip as the kitchen -- or even ask them to lighten the lightest paint chip more, so it is a very neutral green-tinted cream rather than a bright or saturated color. I would want that color to be light enough that it has the same *feel* in terms of saturation as the vanilla reception room. Then, when people enter the home and turn left to the reception room, the color just changes in color but not saturation/tone. And when they turn right into the kitchen the color just changes in saturation, but not color! Then the pop of blue in the smaller reception room will be the only real contrast and I think it will look cool! If there are stairs up to the second level branching off the foyer I would continue the light green up those as well and possible repeat the blue in either a lighter or darker shade perhaps in the bathroom or in a guest room to really keep it consistent. ETA Or I would do the same vanille in the foyer and hall as the large reception room, but I like color and think a lighter version of the kitchen would be really fresh! So far I really like what you are doing in your place a lot. I like living with color around me though, as you can see by our kitchen.

 

[elrohwen]

The floor plan is really helpful! I think that I would not add any more colors to the house than the ones you have already, then, since they are already painted. In the foyer and entry hall I would do one color, and I would most likely choose the lightest color on the same paint chip as the kitchen -- or even ask them to lighten the lightest paint chip more, so it is a very neutral green-tinted cream rather than a bright or saturated color. I would want that color to be light enough that it has the same *feel* in terms of saturation as the vanilla reception room. Then, when people enter the home and turn left to the reception room, the color just changes in color but not saturation/tone. And when they turn right into the kitchen the color just changes in saturation, but not color! Then the pop of blue in the smaller reception room will be the only real contrast and I think it will look cool! If there are stairs up to the second level branching off the foyer I would continue the light green up those as well and possible repeat the blue in either a lighter or darker shade perhaps in the bathroom or in a guest room to really keep it consistent. ETA Or I would do the same vanille in the foyer and hall as the large reception room, but I like color and think a lighter version of the kitchen would be really fresh! So far I really like what you are doing in your place a lot. I like living with color around me though, as you can see by our kitchen.

Agreed! Or I think it could look nice to use a darker shade of the vanilla in the foyer.

 

[Steel]

The floor plan is really helpful! I think that I would not add any more colors to the house than the ones you have already, then, since they are already painted. In the foyer and entry hall I would do one color, and I would most likely choose the lightest color on the same paint chip as the kitchen -- or even ask them to lighten the lightest paint chip more, so it is a very neutral green-tinted cream rather than a bright or saturated color. I would want that color to be light enough that it has the same *feel* in terms of saturation as the vanilla reception room. Then, when people enter the home and turn left to the reception room, the color just changes in color but not saturation/tone. And when they turn right into the kitchen the color just changes in saturation, but not color! Then the pop of blue in the smaller reception room will be the only real contrast and I think it will look cool! If there are stairs up to the second level branching off the foyer I would continue the light green up those as well and possible repeat the blue in either a lighter or darker shade perhaps in the bathroom or in a guest room to really keep it consistent. ETA Or I would do the same vanille in the foyer and hall as the large reception room, but I like color and think a lighter version of the kitchen would be really fresh! So far I really like what you are doing in your place a lot. I like living with color around me though, as you can see by our kitchen.

Agreed! Or I think it could look nice to use a darker shade of the vanilla in the foyer.

Thanks ladies! I remember seeing a floor plan on younghouselove and she said not to do the house all different colours but I found myself doing it despite best efforts. I like the idea of a darker vanilla - while the hall is big it is dark (being an internal hall) and there is another same size hall perpendicular to that one which has loads of light (it has 2 windows)- they are separated by a door but still I had planned for them to be the same shade ; so a dark vanilla would work. I cringe to admit I was thinking of using a gray in the foyer and halls. I am still stumped about upstairs but as I don't even have a staircase that one will wait!

I'll keep posting pics - so look out for my calls for advice! thanks again.

 

[Steel]

Ta da. Well it still isn't finished. But the paint is on the wall.