Monday, May 11, 2009

Interior Decorator Wanted

So, we're thinking about painting the inside of our house. Specifically, we want to paint the ceilings and trim white, instead of the dirty-looking cream color it is now. And of course, once the ceiling and trim is white, I know the walls are going to need some fresh colors :)
So here's where you come in...what colors would you paint my house?

I'm open to any ideas, so speak up! I was created without a crafty bone in my body, this is so not my forte.

Please help!!


(Here's the hallway - it's a light tan color now)


(These blue walls are our bedroom. I wanted to show you the furniture to help influence your decision)






(Here's the downstairs bathroom. I actually really like this color, sort of a silvery green)




(This is our dining room. The bottom is a cool and pretty dark sage green, but the top is wallpapered.)

(These pale pink walls are my least favorite. And of course it's the room we spend the most time in - the family room. The rug is a mauve color, so we didn't have many choices, but we want to change the carpet now as well.)





(And these pale yellow walls make up our kitchen. I think when the trim and ceilings are white, the yellow will be very pretty.)





(This is our living room. It's a nice neutral light tan color, but it needs to be touched up, so it can be changed as well.)



So, what do you think?

9 comments:

  1. I recently painted our house a milk chocolate kind of brown and I am really loving it. :) Perhaps you could look into some brown shades? The only one I don't really like is the pinkish colour.... the rest are nice!

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  2. Everything looks so pretty. Our house was done in all earth tones and I decided to pick one room and paint it red!

    Thank you so much for the comment. I think a joggger is a great idea!!

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  3. Hi Colleen,
    How exciting!! I love to paint - it changes things up so much! Hmmmm, it's hard to know what colors you will like. I painted most of my main floor and up the stairs a brown with warm undertones. It is very neutral and looks GREAT with white molding and ceiling. Then I painted some rooms various colors that I can change when I get bored. Like the living room I painted a seafoam blue and it looks great with the brown. My office I painted a kelly green and it looks great with the white moldings.

    I think you should go to the paint store and look at samples. Find a color that you LOVE. You can work your whole home around that color. You might want to paint some rooms a neutral color, but you could use the color you love as an accent or paint certain rooms in that color. Like you bathrooms would be so easy to paint a really fun color and so fast. And easy to change out when you get bored. My sister painted one of her small bathrooms a really bright color color. It looks so great with beadboard and chair rail. You kitchen would be a good one to paint your favorite color. It is pretty yellow, but a darker or more vibrant shade of yellow would really make the moldings pop.

    I can't wait to hear more. GOod luck!

    XOOX
    Jen

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  4. My favorite colors in my house are Chocolate Brown by Ralph Lauren (Home Depot). My bedroom is painted that color and I absolutely love it. No matter what kind of lighting either broad day light, dusk or dark with the lights on...it's a great shade.

    My next favorite are the dark greens. I have a Dry Sage in my bathroom, Rosemary Sprig in my daughter's room and Cypress Green in one of my son's rooms. All 3 colors are by Benjamin Moore.

    My foyer is Tangier Island by Ralph Lauren (Home Depot) which is like a neutral color with a yellowish/tan base. I agree with Jen that you should pick one color and then try to work around it. The lady at our local paint store helped me tremendously.

    Good luck. Picking paint colors is overwhelming for me but once you get an idea, things get easier. You've made me realize my walls need a once over. The kids are hard on them!!

    Much love from NJ,
    Sue
    xoxo

    btw I haven't watched last week's Biggest Loser yet so I'm a week behind. I think tonight is the finale. I can't wait to watch both shows!!

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  5. I'm currently trying to talk my husband out of the creams, whites, and tans that he loves. I'm trying to get him to be a little more bold. There are 5 rooms on our main level: living room (entry), family room, kitchen, and 2 bedrooms (and a bathroom).

    When we moved in a year ago, the living room was a bold not-primary red color. It still is; I love it. There's enough light in that room that it doesn't make it feel dark.

    I bought a gallon of paint for the bathroom. Home Depot's computer did not match the color I had in mind and it ended up being a river-mud blackish greenish thing. Instead of getting rid of it, I mixed a gallon of cream into it and painted the kitchen. Voila: a color that sometimes looks grey, sometimes green, and sometimes blue, depending on where you're standing and how much light is getting in. I like it.

    The family room was huge and cream but the carpet is dark green. This made the room feel heavy, for lack of a better word. I wanted to darken the walls just a little. I bought a color that is sort of like coffee with milk in it. It's still light and didn't make the room feel small but it darkened it enough to decrease the contrast. I like it.

    I can't talk my husband into the color that I want for our bedroom so it's still white. :P

    Are you brave enough to paint your pink room a darker, bolder color? You can fix unmatching furniture with covers. My covers are chocolate colored.

    Good luck!

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  6. Oh...we are not afraid of colors here at all! I love painting and I love being in each one of our rooms. We keep the trim, ceiling and baseboards white, too.

    First you need to think about what colors make you smile. Look around in the room and see what furniture and accessories you have that are not getting replaced...in other words, they have to love the color, too!

    Then hit the paint/hardware store and check out the paint chips. Bring some home in the color areas you are looking into and check them in your light at home. I know they are small...but sometimes that light in the store really doesn't help you see the color.

    Narrow your choices down and if it's a big room you might want to see if they have small sample cans before you invest a lot of money and find that you just hate the color.

    If you want...pop over to my blog and browse around. I have pictures of just about every room in the house. I get lots of comments from people that visit that just love certain rooms...

    our kitchen/family room is a yellow

    our living room/dining room is actually two different browns...one is a little coppery

    our school room is two shades of blue

    our laundry room is a pale blue

    our bedroom is....ORANGE and I love it!

    our daughter's room is purple and green

    I know all those rooms are on my blog.

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  7. No Worries little lady! Lucky for you I live down the street and happen to have a knack at this kinda thing (or at least I THINK that I do!) I think you should stick with earth tones-well thats what I'd do...like deep yellows, limey-oilivey green, etc. We can talk about it tomorrow.

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  8. Earth tones! I love them and I think they will suit you guys well! Love the yellow in your kitchen!! We have earth tones in ours.. and also a red kitchen! (red is both of our favorite colors so it was very appropriate). I painted our whole darn house, if I lived close, I'd come help you, I love painting!!!

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  9. okay so I am seeing this a year late! Your new post just linked me back to this one! I wish I lived closer! I love painting and changing things up! I love working on others houses!

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