Paint, paint, paint

[snoopy]

I am painting my living room and would like some input / knowledge.

Questions I have:

- Thoughts on lighter versus darker colors? I have a big room and don’t want to go too light but am worried going too dark will make it feel like a cave.
- Any experiences on picking, say, a Ben Moore paint color but using the color match of Behr or Sherwin Williams?
- Favorite paint colors/experiences?

I have gone through so many shades of beige samples, it looks like I have a “beige camouflage” decorating scheme. I ruled out a lot of colors for going too peach in my lighting. Sherwin Williams Downing Sand is in the lead (very much like BM Bleeker Beige but a tad less green). I wonder if a whole room of it will be too dark though. I’d actually like a warmer color – but those are the ones that seem to go peach. BM’s Hush is also an option.

Also, fwiw, I found a GREAT site with a bunch of beautiful pics. Houzz.com. The rooms are 100 times better than what is in the decorator magazines – which I find dull dull dull. They don’t always tell you the colors – it is mostly an amazing form of PR for local decorators.

[fan]

remember that the paint always looks lighter in the can, but darker on the walls...i've made this mistake before.

[danceronice]

When in doubt, go lighter. It WILL shrink the room, especially if the floors are darker. I have a really dark living room floor that's going to be the last floor replaced (it's an awkward layout plus the most heavy items to move) and it's going to be much lighter as it darkens the whole room--dark walls would turn it into a cave.

Personally I've been looking at the Lowes' Historic Preservation colors. But...if you're worried about turning too peachy, look for colors with more orange/yellow in the base. A more gold/yellow would warm the walls up without trending to peach. Conversely, look for the near-whites that have a green tone (really really really pale mosses--sorry, I'm at work and don't have my swatches.)

Of course because of the materials (my house is a manufactured home) the drywaller who repaired my ceiling noted I probably will have to go with wallpaper or re-plastering to change colors. Woo. Hoo.

[agalisgv]

I think it's not just the size of the room, but the height of the ceiling. If you have cathedral ceilings, you can go a bit darker without the room feeling too small. If you have very low ceilings, I would stay away from darker colors.

Also, you can do an accent wall with a stronger color while keeping the rest of the walls more neutral. You get color punch without shrinking the space. It also adds more interest to the overall decor.

[Aimless]

I've done complete paint jobs in an apartment and two houses. Behr paint is tops in my book. It's reasonably priced compared to other brands and the quality is excellent. Consumer Reports consistently rates it highly.

As I worked my way through the rooms in my present house, I got more and more bold with colors and loved it. Don't be too timid. Bold color that you love is an enduring joy and a mood enhancer. You do have to keep resale in mind, however.

[ElizabethAnne]

Does the beige camouflage scheme mean you are using the trial size paints available at Benjamin Moore and (I think) Behr? If not, IMHO they are worth the cost once you get it down to a few choices. You don't even have to paint it on the wall. Behr has packages of white posterboard to use for practicing the textured paint finishes. I used them just for the trial size paint. You can move them around the room and see them in different lights. I also found if you looked down on them at an angle, the underlying colour (green, grey, yellow, pink) really stood out.

If you are hesitating on a darker colour, try 3 walls light and 1 wall darker in the same hue. One wall is easier to re-do if you don't like it.

Good luck.

[barbk]

Two thoughts: We bought some cheap posterboards and painted the full board with a sample of each "finalist" color, and then tacked them up in the room to see how they looked at different times of day, next to the trim, ... That larger expanse helped a lot. The time-of-day check was also important, as was how the sample looked at night with lighting in the room.

Other thought: I used low VOC paint when I painted my living room, and it lived up to its name. An hour or two after we were finished you could barely tell any paint odor, and by the next day there was nothing. Big difference, and worth the couple extra dollars.

[flyingsit]

remember that the paint always looks lighter in the can, but darker on the walls...i've made this mistake before.

Not necessarily. I've had paint look much lighter, so much so that I've gone back to the store the same day for a darker shade.

[rfisher]

I painted a living room navy blue and it was gorgeous. There was plenty of natural light and the dark color wasn't an issue at all. It depends on when you use a room: daytime vs. evenings or both. Do you want a dramatic statement or neutrality. I asked the realtor if I should neutralize the color when I sold the house and she said no. All the people who looked at the house and the subsequent buyer loved the dark color and drama the room accorded, so it really depends. I have a small guest bathroom and it's painted a very pretty turquoise and I love it. It has white trim and I use navy blue accents.

As to the question regarding BM vs Sherwin Williams: I prefer SW. Their self-leveling paint is fantastic. It's the best formula I've ever used for not showing brush or roller marks. They can usually duplicate a BM paint if you know the name of the paint. I've used both and will now go strictly with SW. Moreover, if you register with them as a regular customer, you'll get a 20-30% off coupon throughout the spring and summer (when most people paint). That can be a big savings if you're doing a lot of painting.

[Lacey]

I painted a room dark red. It was nice. But I grew tired of it. Now I think I am going with a dark blue, not navy, a little greener. And SW seems to have better tones than BM.

[julieann]

I painted one wall an eggplant color (Approaching Storm by Ralph Lauren) it's dark and I suggest getting a flat versus gloss if it's dark or the shine is overwhelming.

[Aceon6]

Late to the party, but to get a beige without a peach undertone, make sure both black and green are in the color mix.

[Louis]

My trick with paint colors, which has always worked for me, is to find the color I like and then go two shades lighter on the paint chip. The color on the wall ends up looking like the color I want.

A "Victorian" color like the one you picked will look beautiful if you have crown/picture moldings that can be painted semi-gloss or high-gloss white. Otherwise, I fear it could be too dark.

How tall are your ceilings? If at least 9' and it would fit with the rest of your house, could you consider installing picture moldings? I find that darker colors look so much nicer with (flat) white above the picture molding and semi-gloss white baseboards and picture moldings.

In my pre-war aparment, I painted my bedroom Restoration Hardware Latte and my foyer Restoration Hardware Silver Sage. Both beautiful, darker colors that looked amazing with the moldings. (RH paint sucks, though. Match it with Benjamin Moore or Behr.)

Now I have an ultra-modern apartment with wavy, curving walls and "futuristic" architecture. Everything is some shade of bright white, light gray, dark gray, or exposed metal with big punches of lime green in unexpected places (stairs, furniture, sides of "3-D" walls, LED lighting). When this never-ending construction is eventually done, I'll post pictures. But somehow I have a feeling you're going more in the direction of my old apartment.

[vesperholly]

Now I have an ultra-modern apartment with wavy, curving walls and "futuristic" architecture. Everything is some shade of bright white, light gray, dark gray, or exposed metal with big punches of lime green in unexpected places (stairs, furniture, sides of "3-D" walls, LED lighting). When this never-ending construction is eventually done, I'll post pictures. But somehow I have a feeling you're going more in the direction of my old apartment.

Ooh, I love lime green and gray! Can't wait to see pictures!

I just painted a few walls in my dining room medium gray. I am a big fan of painting one or two walls, rather than the entire room. Since the dining room has a brick wall (painted white by previous tenants), I painted the left and right walls gray. I love how it looks, especially against the pine cabinets and black speckled countertops. Oh, had I been bold enough to paint a lime green wall! I'll just have to accessorize

I've always been able to find colors I like in Valspar paint, and Lowes has sales on with regularity.

[IceAlisa]

I can't wait for Louis' house pics! That's all I have to say.

Well, that and that Mini Ice wants to pain his room teal (in honor of the San Jose Sharks) but has settled for their poster. I don't think I can deal with teal.

[Nomad]

My younger niece insisted on getting her room painted orange for her birthday. It's her favorite color, but her room is quite small. My sister gave her a select range of light oranges to choose from. Niece went for a shade of pale peach but would not negotiate on the neon pink curtains with neon orange polka dots.

[GarrAarghHrumph]

In my pre-war aparment, I painted my bedroom Restoration Hardware Latte and my foyer Restoration Hardware Silver Sage. Both beautiful, darker colors that looked amazing with the moldings. (RH paint sucks, though. Match it with Benjamin Moore or Behr.)

Now I have an ultra-modern apartment with wavy, curving walls and "futuristic" architecture. Everything is some shade of bright white, light gray, dark gray, or exposed metal with big punches of lime green in unexpected places (stairs, furniture, sides of "3-D" walls, LED lighting). When this never-ending construction is eventually done, I'll post pictures. But somehow I have a feeling you're going more in the direction of my old apartment.

Ben Moore was the original maker of the paints for RH, back many years ago, so they should be able to do a good match. They developed the original RH palette, including the silver sage you mentioned. Now I think Rodda Paint makes the RH paints. Rodda is a paint company in the Pacific NW.

Lime Green is a very "of the moment" paint color, and looks very current in the types of modern settings you mentioned.

[GarrAarghHrumph]

My younger niece insisted on getting her room painted orange for her birthday. It's her favorite color, but her room is quite small. My sister gave her a select range of light oranges to choose from. Niece went for a shade of pale peach but would not negotiate on the neon pink curtains with neon orange polka dots.

I love the combo of pink and orange - the stronger the colors, the better. But the light orange for the walls was probably a good idea, because that'd be a LOT of orange.

[maatTheViking]

I prefer my rooms to be painted white, I admit. If I wanted a strong/dark color, I would always do one wall of it, Nd have the rest a light/white color.

[flyingsit]

Most of my house is white. But one wall in the living room is purple; the adjacent half-bath is the same purple. Two walls of the dining room are a very pale green.

Right now we are looking at paint colors to give things a bit more life. I want to paint our bedroom teal but my husband is reticent to go with such a strong color, so we're probably going to pick a muted version with a good bit of gray in it as well. For the rest of the house, probably a creamy color with some peach to it. I hate hate hate earth tones, so nothing with a brown or yellow base.