Saturday, January 22, 2011

Interactive House - Help needed

Who would like to help me decorate my house?
By which I mean, who would like to help me decide which walls to put which paints on so that a man can come and do the actual work?

If you want to play you might like first of get hold of the relevant paint chart. I know colours will look different on each screen ( they are vastly different between my home and work laptops and different again when I painted with tester pots) but at least you will get the idea of how one paint relates to the other.

Then here are the rooms. In the photo above I am standing my pation doors in teh 'sun lounge' looking into the dining roon and to the doors leading to the lounge.
This one looks the otherway

And this one looks slightly sideways so you can see how the kitchen flows off the dining room

Also, over the sofa which is temporarily plonked in the sun room there is a large window.

So, we are more of less picked for paints.I am still debating a couple of close choices between brands but for your purposes and advice you need only consider Four Farrow and Ball Paints from the above chart : Green Blue, Lichen , Pavillion Grey and Ringwold Ground. On my screen the latter looks very pink but it is not  in real life - it is  creamy.

The idea is to make the lounge, dining and sun lounge work as three distinct rooms but also to make them all flow together if the room is opened out.
We have chosen to use the Green Blue on all the lounge walls save for two big alcoves by the chinmey breast which will be Pavillion Grey.  We have chosen a plain teal fabric for  curtsians and an off white and silver blue suite and light grey carpet. The kitchen will either be in lichen or another brand similar but very slightly lighter. It is cream with black tiles.

So my question is - which of the following three options for the sun/ dining rooms would you choose:

(a) paint the dark colurs on the arches and the light on the long walls. (I.e Green blue on the wall leading dining room to sun room then lichen on the arch and pation door wall, ringwold everywhere esle

or
(b) reverse that ( i.e) paint the arch, the diningroom to lounge door wall and pation door wall  and the wall with the window and adjoining the kitchen ringwold and the two long solid walls (in the top photo the one with the brush propped up against it and the one next to it with the paint samples on) Lichen.

or

(c) none of the above - please specify.

In terms of furniture, it is all an ash that looks very much like light oak and there will be a sideboard on the dining room long wall and a sofa and lamp table on the sun lounge long wall. under the window lamp table and two swivel chairs, nothing on the wall by the kitchen, and on the left of the door going to the lounge a tall display china cabinet.

Opinions quick please- I have to choose at 8.30 on Monday morning.

10 comments:

Margeeth said...

Of course you are the person who has to live in the house, so no one can choose the colours for you, but if it were my house I would paint (and I mean actually paint, we just redecorated our home last summer and did all the painting ourselves) the walls as light and neutral as possible, so I would choose ringwold ground for all the walls. I would then choose one of the other colours for the woodwork, I think I would choose green blue and then paint the doors a really light colour, I would choose pale powder. But that's just what I would do. The reason is that I rather bring colour in my house using accesoires, furniture, cushions, rugs, quilts or other art on the wall etc. The house we bought last summer had its walls orange, green, blue and yellow and the doors and woodwork orange, yellow, red and blue and it was awfull.
(If you are interested, here are some pictures: http://www.mijnalbum.nl/Album=MK4XSDS7

Joanne S said...

I went to see the paint samples. I would paint the sunroom ceiling blue (the color of the sky) and the dining room a rosy pink (none of the samples were anything good)

I would paint the sunroom wall a neutral but warm shade so that the sun could wash over the walls--something creamy possibly the Ringwold. You want your color in that room to come from the cushions, art and vases of flowers, green plants etc.

I always like the dining room to be rosy pink (darker is better) With candles, wine and tall lamps on the sideboard which have their shades lined in pink. with all the green and blue you are using the rosy pink would be lovely and you could carry it thru in the lounge with lamp bases and into the sunroom with cushions and rosy flowers (on evenings when you entertain)

Joyce said...

My response it predicated on reading your postings on Thurs and Frid. In those you indicated the longer term aim was produce wall quilts etc for display in the house. If you are going to do that you need to factor it into your decorating decisions. If you start painting arches one colour, some walls another colour, others another etc you limit your choices when it comes fabrics for the quilts. I'd opt for a good back-drop option. Having moved into a house where everything - inside and out - was painted cream I've shifted to white with some pale grey and a rather dramatic grey and burgundy kitchen.
Best
Joyce F.

Catherine said...

Hi Helen
This is Cath from the Stitchbusiness C&G group. I have been really pleased with all the F&B colours we've used, but in all cases I've found that the effect is darker than the paint chart suggests. We used lichen on our kitchen cupboard doors, and I love the colour but it's actually quite dark. If I were doing it again I'd used terre verte or possibly something even lighter. For the other rooms I agree with Margreeth's comment about about using neutrals, and especially if you are planning to hang large scale art work, e.g. your quilts.

Cath

Rayna said...

Ack - I got so caught up in the wonderful names (only the Brits could come up with "dead salmon" as the name of a color - LOL)
that I lost track of all the other stuff. I really like Lichen but it's impossible to tell unless you see a sample on your own wall in the light of your house. When I picked colours, they looked entirely different in the store than in the house - and even different from room to room because the light changes. Mind-bending, making those decisions! The Whatsis Ground does look very pink to me on the screen, however.

Kristin L said...

I'm also in the one color camp. I suspect that painting various walls and arches different colors will chop up an otherwise pretty open space. Let the walls be plain and then the artwork can do the talking.

Christine said...

Decisions, decisions! So many times I've had to repaint when using colour, as it always comes out brighter/darker than you expect - the worst was the (fashionably) yellow kitchen in 1975! I would also vote for one colour, our entire ground floor is painted ivory (not cream!).Had to get the painter to mix it from bought colours, and it's deliberately slightly darker in 2 of the rooms. I love the feeling of space, light and unity this gives and the colours of artwork/textiles etc really shine. But maybe you have already toned your colour choices to your existing artwork? Good luck with your choice!

Rayna said...

One more thought: my daughter-in-law did this and the house looks great. Pick the color you love and use permutations of it throughout the downstairs. One room the actual color, another one a slightly lighter tint of the same color, and another either a lighter tint yet, or a sibling so close that while it is not exactly the same color, it is related. The subtle variations are wonderful and you have a unified, but not boring, look.

Finally, if your brain hurts from all this THINKING, turn it off and go with the color that gives you the most joy. Listen to your instincts - they will not lead you astray (or have I said this to you before???) One of those four colors is your favorite - pick it and vary it. Good luck!

Working Mum said...

I'm completely confused and all painted out after doing my house (myself!), but remember dark colours recede and light advance;what shape do you want your rooms to appear after you've painted - long and thin or short and wide?

Also, the colours will differ within a room, never mind on the paint charts, so paint your testers on pieces of backing paper and move them around the room to see the different effects. You should be able to tell what you like then.

And don't ever try to buy yellow paint! (Don't ask)

Marvin Mills said...

Oh wow, that's a large, spacious room. The way the rooms are divided are impressive. So, which colors did you end up with? I sure hope the colors worked perfectly here, especially for the sun lounge. Redecorating a home is a bit of a challenge like building it itself, but get the right combinations and you get an awesome house.