I thought it would be a good idea to answer some questions I have been asked here, just in case anyone else was wondering the same thing.
The first one is about paint colours. I think it is kind of funny for me to be writing a post about choosing paint colours, because I have great difficulty with this! I am definitely not a colour expert, but I will share what I have learned and the steps I follow.
1) Ask yourself, what do you want the room to feel like? While this is a somewhat vague question I do think it is really important in creating a room you love. Words that I sometimes think of are beachy, farmhouse, cozy, airy, clean, pretty... This is where inspiration photos can be helpful as well. I don't think there is any shame in seeing a magazine photo and wanting to create a similar feeling in your room. It involves really looking at the photo and analyzing what you think the overall feeling is, and then using your own furnishings, ideas, and style to bring it together. Also, I don't think the feeling has to be exactly the same throughout your whole house. I wanted our family room and dining room to be cozy, but our kitchen and bathroom to be clean and airy.
1) Ask yourself, what do you want the room to feel like? While this is a somewhat vague question I do think it is really important in creating a room you love. Words that I sometimes think of are beachy, farmhouse, cozy, airy, clean, pretty... This is where inspiration photos can be helpful as well. I don't think there is any shame in seeing a magazine photo and wanting to create a similar feeling in your room. It involves really looking at the photo and analyzing what you think the overall feeling is, and then using your own furnishings, ideas, and style to bring it together. Also, I don't think the feeling has to be exactly the same throughout your whole house. I wanted our family room and dining room to be cozy, but our kitchen and bathroom to be clean and airy.
I wanted our bedroom to be pretty and airy.
2) Decide if you want white or another colour. I think that whites can achieve virtually any feeling you are going for depending on how you pull it together. A clean white with light blue and pink accessories can be pretty. A warm cream can be cozy and comforting in a room that has lots of texture.
2) Decide if you want white or another colour. I think that whites can achieve virtually any feeling you are going for depending on how you pull it together. A clean white with light blue and pink accessories can be pretty. A warm cream can be cozy and comforting in a room that has lots of texture.
White provides a backdrop to let your furnishings and accessories shine. Of course there is a reason that Pottery Barn and other catalogs use white backgrounds to display their furniture. With a white background furniture becomes almost like art or sculpture.
In this photo the books and flowers really stand out against the white backdrop.
To select a white decide if you want a pure white or a warm white, depending on the overall feeling you are trying to achieve. Don't forget to consider what you already have that will be going in the room. If you have natural wood furniture, especially if it is darker, I think it is safer to go with a cream colour. White and dark can go together nicely but there needs to be some mid-tones to bridge the gap.
In our kitchen I selected a warm cream to bridge the gap between the darker floors and bright white cabinets. Texture in the form of the sink skirt and breadboards also helps to add some mid-tones.
However, sometimes you just want to have a little bit of colour. In this case I would decide what colour, for example, light pink as I used in Layla's room. If you stick to light colours I don't think that your whole house needs to be 'warm' or 'cool' colours, I think that light colours flow together nicely regardless of their temperature.
3) Consider the amount of natural light in the room. White will often appear grey in a dark room, which can be a beautiful look, it just needs to be taken into consideration. I discovered (after painting our staircase ceiling the same shade of blue as our bedroom) that a light room will enhance a light colour and the true shade of the colour will be seen. In a dark room, such as a hallway, a light colour will often appear white or grey. To select a shade I always avoid the middle section of the paint chips, which are way too Crayola-ish for my personal taste, although some people do a great job with these! I go straight to the whites and neutrals and then I find the general colour I am looking for. For a room with a lot of natural light I then choose the colour at least one shade lighter than the colour I am trying to achieve. For example, I wanted a pretty, airy blue for our bedroom, just like Ocean Air:
But our bedroom gets a ton of light so I chose Sea Foam (which looks white on the paint chip in real life) and it looks like this:
I wanted the hallway ceiling to be the exact same shade. But when it was on the ceiling it still looked white, since the hallway is so dark. So I chose Ocean Air instead and it looks like the same blue:
I think the key is that for a room with lots of natural light, the shade you choose should look white in the paint can. It is really surprising how bright the colour will be once it is on the walls.
4) The final step would be of course to paint a sample pot on your wall and make sure that you like it in all different kinds of light. But if you do all of this and paint the room and still don't like it?
Well I personally think it is worth doing it again, after all, choosing colours is very tricky! You don't have to pretend to like the colour if it is actually not what you envisioned, I think it must happen to even the best designers! And to save money the paint store can retint the colour for free as long as you are not making drastic changes. I believe it is easier to go from a light colour to a dark one, so again I would encourage you to pick a shade lighter than you think that you will like.
And finally, since some of you asked, here are the paint colours in our house. I almost always use Benjamin Moore colours but often get them mixed wherever paint is on sale.
Guest room, living room, dining room above beadboard - Ballet White by Benjamin Moore. This is a lovely cream, not too beige or yellow.
Guest room, living room, dining room, below beadboard, nook walls and all our trim - Oxford White by Benjamin Moore. A clean and crisp white.
Layla's Nursery - Benjamin Moore Pink Cloud #887. A cotton-candy very light pink.
Kitchen - Benjamin Moore Devon Cream
Bedroom - Benjamin Moore Sea Foam
I hope this helps some of you, I know I am not a colour specialist. Let me know if you have any more questions!
In our kitchen I selected a warm cream to bridge the gap between the darker floors and bright white cabinets. Texture in the form of the sink skirt and breadboards also helps to add some mid-tones.
However, sometimes you just want to have a little bit of colour. In this case I would decide what colour, for example, light pink as I used in Layla's room. If you stick to light colours I don't think that your whole house needs to be 'warm' or 'cool' colours, I think that light colours flow together nicely regardless of their temperature.
3) Consider the amount of natural light in the room. White will often appear grey in a dark room, which can be a beautiful look, it just needs to be taken into consideration. I discovered (after painting our staircase ceiling the same shade of blue as our bedroom) that a light room will enhance a light colour and the true shade of the colour will be seen. In a dark room, such as a hallway, a light colour will often appear white or grey. To select a shade I always avoid the middle section of the paint chips, which are way too Crayola-ish for my personal taste, although some people do a great job with these! I go straight to the whites and neutrals and then I find the general colour I am looking for. For a room with a lot of natural light I then choose the colour at least one shade lighter than the colour I am trying to achieve. For example, I wanted a pretty, airy blue for our bedroom, just like Ocean Air:
But our bedroom gets a ton of light so I chose Sea Foam (which looks white on the paint chip in real life) and it looks like this:
I wanted the hallway ceiling to be the exact same shade. But when it was on the ceiling it still looked white, since the hallway is so dark. So I chose Ocean Air instead and it looks like the same blue:
I think the key is that for a room with lots of natural light, the shade you choose should look white in the paint can. It is really surprising how bright the colour will be once it is on the walls.
4) The final step would be of course to paint a sample pot on your wall and make sure that you like it in all different kinds of light. But if you do all of this and paint the room and still don't like it?
Well I personally think it is worth doing it again, after all, choosing colours is very tricky! You don't have to pretend to like the colour if it is actually not what you envisioned, I think it must happen to even the best designers! And to save money the paint store can retint the colour for free as long as you are not making drastic changes. I believe it is easier to go from a light colour to a dark one, so again I would encourage you to pick a shade lighter than you think that you will like.
And finally, since some of you asked, here are the paint colours in our house. I almost always use Benjamin Moore colours but often get them mixed wherever paint is on sale.
Guest room, living room, dining room above beadboard - Ballet White by Benjamin Moore. This is a lovely cream, not too beige or yellow.
Guest room, living room, dining room, below beadboard, nook walls and all our trim - Oxford White by Benjamin Moore. A clean and crisp white.
Layla's Nursery - Benjamin Moore Pink Cloud #887. A cotton-candy very light pink.
Kitchen - Benjamin Moore Devon Cream
Bedroom - Benjamin Moore Sea Foam
I hope this helps some of you, I know I am not a colour specialist. Let me know if you have any more questions!
