Monday, August 07, 2006

Time to Call the Color Police?

You may have figured out by now that here's not really a color I can't love (OK, maybe 80's peach or forest green), and usually the brighter and more vibrant, the better. I crave color like a junkie and I've never been afraid to go out on a color limb and slap up some paint, but choosing something for what seems like an acre of walls in my main living space has got me crazed. Aside from the fact that these two huge walls will have to coordinate with absolutely everything in the house, they start downstairs in the kitchen and end upstairs in the media room and gym. So I'm freaked about the sheer mass of the walls in question and the task it's going to be to paint them, but it isn't the effort that will go into painting them so much as it is the idea that if the color doesn't work well with everything, it's a lot not to like.

Here are the two, 23 foot high walls, two pictures of each to show the rooms they carry into upstairs:
East wall, media room upstairs/livingroom

South wall, livingroom/gym upstairs

Southeast corner


The pictures would have you believe it's dark in here but it's really so flooded with daylight in every room that we never need to turn any actual lights on anywhere in the house until well into the evening.

So, here is the palette I'm considering, keeping in mind the blue is the color I've already painted the kitchen:

I'm thinking of adding a tomato red in with the mix, since I've already got that going as an accent color with the lockers in the downstairs pantry and accessories in the upstairs reading nook and entry. I'm considering painting one of the smaller, upstairs walls this color but again, that means another color that's exposed to the whole living area.

Gray seems like the (boring) obvious choice. A good, modern neutral that will go in whatever direction I need it to for years to come, but: a. the outside of the house is all gray, and b. the concrete floors and steel deck and joists of the ceiling are gray, so I'm worried that adding gray walls will be overwhelmingly...well...gray.
And I've been obsessed with the chartreuse color, but while I know I can make it work in the rooms where it will appear, maybe it's a bit much for these huge walls (?) and I don't want to have to decorate the whole rest of the house around a lot of what could end up to be an obnoxious color. Plus I'm concerned about how it will stand the test of time, like maybe it's the next peach? On the other hand, it seems like more me, I do LOVE it, and it is only paint, after all.

If it's not obvious by now, I'm kinda stuck here, so I'd welcome any comments, suggestions or opinions.

Comments:
I agree that the gray may be a tad boring and lots-o-gray, although it is a nice color to accent since just about anything goes along with it. I really dig the chartreuse and if you only paint one of the two walls with it, it'll be a little easier to change if you don't like it in a year or so, keeping the gray wall as is. I also think the gray and chartreuse complement the kitchen paint and your red accents. I think you have someting going here...
 
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