Windsor Terrace Reno

« Serenity now please Look what Santa brought us! »

December 23, 2007

Color Anxiety

Some good progress has been made over the past few days. Plaster is being sanded and smoothed down, finishing touches on the tile are being done, molding is being added, etc.. Ill have a lot to post about this week.

At this second, I'm unduly stressed about paint colors. The Benjamin Moore paint deck is splayed in front of me and I'm staring at it with dread. We've made countless decisions up until this point - from layout changes to tile selections. Why is selecting paint so damn hard? Maybe its because there are too many choices? Or that I have nothing I really need to match (we dumped nearly all our old furniture since it was mostly hand me down junk we've had since post college days and the rest of it wouldn't fit in the basement we're keeping our crap in)? Or maybe its because I hope to not have to repaint for at least a decade? Whatever it is, this set of decisions have proved to be some of the most nerve wracking for me.

The one thing I did know was that I wanted the trim to have a creamy color not too different from what we found when we bought the place.
Parlor_InsideDoor3
So with the exception of the bathroom trim, the trim in the entire house is getting a coat of semi gloss "bone white" which is fairly creamy without being yellow. I think keeping the trim the same color will give some consistency throughout without having to use the same palette. And in the interests of not having to think about it, all of the ceilings are getting china white flat. (We are more than happy to say bye-bye to the other choice colors like hospital green and pepto pink.)

The only new color I was happy to pick right away was a warm gray in the living room. So that was the starting point. Thanks to another home renovation blog, I found this shade called "silver fox". Depending upon the time of day and quality of light, it looks a lighter silver, a darker silver or a medium brown.

ColorsLivingRoom

For lack of a more creative choice, I'm putting a lighter shade of silver fox called abalone (which is really very light) in the hallways
ColorsHallway

And moving upstairs, the ming green accents in the master bath's floor tile helped narrow it down to a blue with some green in it.
ColorsMasterBath

The connecting master bedroom will have that same color but a shade darker. The blue/green should work well with the original yellow tiles we have in the fireplace.
ColorsMasterBed

And then in the hall bathroom, I'm veering from the lighter colors and going with something darker to mix it up with all the white tiles. As you can see, its still a neutral color so it should be pretty calm in there despite the darker tone. There is a skylight in this room as well so I'm hoping the natural light keeps it feeling too catastrophic.
ColorsGuestBath

And that's where I am right now. You may notice there are quite a lot of rooms notably absent. That's because I haven't decided what color I'm going to use and I suspect I won't be getting divine intervention. Despite trying a lot of sources for inspiration and help, nothing has really done the job and here I am procrastinating the actual selection. Dart board meet color deck. That's how I'm going to have to select the colors for the rooms I'm unsure about.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy we're getting to the point where the color on the wall is one of my biggest worries. I know this is minor but it feels like a big deal right now.

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.brownstoner.com/mte/mt-tb.cgi/3326

Comments

Everything looks fabulous. As a designer, I know everyone's color palette is highly subjective. You have chosen a lot of neutrals and I am sure they will work well for you for a long time. I suggest buying a pint of your first choice color and some alternative choices and painting an area in each room. Then look at it for several days at different times. Judging a small paint swatch compared to an area on the wall is a completely different experience. Good luck and have fun!

Posted by: guest at December 23, 2007 9:17 PM

we recently went through this and also struggled with the paint color selection more than seemed reasonable....

i have one suggestion for you -- paint one room and live with it for a couple of days before purchasing the other paint.

we were honestly shocked at how much deeper the shades we had chosen looked once they were on 4 walls, abutting all of the light trim.

everyone tells you that the color fills in, but i've got to reiterate it - the color fills in!

we were so happy we chose the lightest of the colors we considered. our favorite room is benjamin moore moonshine, a gorgeous light gray we initially feared was too safe.

Posted by: guest at December 23, 2007 11:06 PM

I strongly second the "paint a big swath and live with it for a while" method. I found that the wall materials and the way light reflected from the ceilings, floors and windows made a huge difference--some lovely colors on the swatch looked totally muddy or terribly garish.

I also picked up clues from the house itself, and played off some of the original details...the hue of the wood floors, the colored glass skylights and stained glass. I don't know if you have any color cues like that, but they can be really helpful in narrowing down the final shades.

Good luck, and thanks for sharing.

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 12:11 PM

I have "silver fox" in my bedroom and it looks amazing -- it truly does change with the light, but it's always warm and lovely. Nice choice.

Posted by: guest at December 24, 2007 2:34 PM

Your paint colors look beautiful. We have lots of painted woodwork, and did it all in BM white oil-based semi-gloss (Dulamel if you can find it), which yellows, ever slightly, to a really nice off-white in a matter of weeks.

We've found the oil paint to be extremely durable on wood. When we've needed to to touch-ups (we re-did some floors), the paint again yellows and you can't even see the touch-ups.

Getting to the paint stage is very exciting. Enjoy!

Posted by: guest at December 27, 2007 9:53 AM

I love the way you illustrated your palette in each room-- i can really picture it, and i am especialy excited about silver fox and stardust. Thanks for sharing, and i can't wait to see the results!

Posted by: guest at January 5, 2008 12:58 AM

Post a comment

Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.