After four years of living in my apartment, a change of colours may be in order. The walls that are in need of a change are in the living room, and in the kitchen. Besides the curtains (picture number two), there isn't a lot of colour going on in my living room, so basically, any colour goes along with it. My kitchen is mostly white, so anything goes here as well. The swatch at the top right, is a metallic gold. I've never used metallics before, and I am curious about how a whole wall would look, my concern is that it might be too shiny. Painting is not something I'm particular fond of, so I do want to pick the right colour right away. The gold may be a big miss, but on the other hand, what if it's a big winner? Sometimes you need to talk some risks in life, but I don't know if those risks should involve paint! I am horrible at making decisions, so I'm in need of a bit of help. Do you have one or two favourites? Do you have any colourful walls around the house, or are you more of a neutrals fan?
I am actually really loving that metallic gold. We don't have any white walls in the house coz my husband and I don't like white too much, with the kids and all. However, ours is brown, which is kinda sad-looking. I really love the bright ones, so I'm really digging that pale blue one you have.
ReplyDeleteMetallic gold sounds really cool. You could just paint 1 wall that color and see if you may like it for the rest of the room. Sometimes 1 wall painted a different color can be really cool. I love color on a wall, but a more neutral relaxing one in the kitchen. In my old house I painted the bathroom orange which was fantastic with everything else white in there!
ReplyDeleteIt is overwhelming choosing paint colors since it seems every imaginable color is available these days!
Choosing paint colors is daunting at best!! I tend to take the safe way and use neutrals. I really like the pale blue one in the first row, middle. Miss Val (above) has a good idea with painting only one wall to see how you like the metallic gold. Good luck with whatever you choose!
ReplyDeleteIts great that you have decided to bring in some color!! I am not so sure about "gold" esp since you have mostly white! As you said it can really be a big hit or a big miss!!
ReplyDeleteI love the minty shade that you have here. You do have to take risks sometimes but if I were you I would avoid gold esp in the Kitchen, you might want to use something fresh and cool, but that's just my opinion!
I also like lavender.
We have just white walls but as it is a rented place we can't make any changes:) but I do have a lot of color through art, cushions, decor etc.
Let's see what you do!
The best advice I can give you is to get actual paint samples and paint swatches on the wall. The color will often look a lot different on your wall than it does on the card. And sometimes it's hard to visualize what the whole room will look like based on a tiny square. A lot of people like to skip this step, but we always do it (when we've narrowed it down to 5 or so colors), and we haven't regretted a painting decision yet.
ReplyDeleteWe have a couple of bright colors in our house. Our hallway is a bright coral pink and we love it. We have another room that is a deeper teal blue. I think the most important thing is balancing the wall color with the other colors in the room. Since it sounds like you basically have a blank slate, you can probably get away with anything.
I would caution against using any mauves or purples though. Sometimes, they look really pretty in the can and then become overwhelming on the wall. We've looked at some houses with purple rooms, and it almost never looks right.
The metallic gold will probably look very different at different times of day, depending on how much light that room gets. Also, it's a good idea to let the painted swatches sit for a couple days while you make up your mind, and see them in different light (i.e., natural, incandescent). We had a couple colors that got nixed because they looked pretty during the day but kind of terrible at night with our lighting. Since we were going to be in that room mostly at night, those colors had to go.
Anyway, good luck, Marieken! :)
Our living room needs a new coat of paint too and I really dislike painting walls :-/ We don't get a lot of sunlight, so I prefer all white walls :) From your swatches I like the one in the middle (mauve?) it would look great with your curtains!
ReplyDeleteSo funny, but we also in the process repainted and redecorated our guest room! From ugly burgundy to a fresh off white! It took three coats of primer to removed that ugly based color :( lots of work! I'm glad that I only watched the labor:) Good Luck!!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mary's advice of getting a small sample and actually painting some on the wall. The paper swatches can be deceptive, especially if you're not sure you can visualize how an entire wall will look.
ReplyDeleteAs for the colors above, keep in mind that anything that seems bright on the swatch will be even brighter when the whole wall (or room!) is done. I always tell clients to find a color they think they want, and then go one shade lighter. Picking something with a gray cast is another good way to bring in some color that won't be overwhelming.
Good luck! :-)
I wish we could repaint, but we're not allowed! We have a really weird yellow in the bathroom and a sort of odd blue in the bedroom. I used to have an apartment that was like living inside a piñata - there was bright green, pumpkin orange, and this sunny yellow. I repainted most of it a nice eggshell so we didn't go blind! Best of luck with your repainting. It sounds like the experts have some good advice for you. =)
ReplyDeleteMetallic gold sounds so nice! I wish you all the best, and I thank you so much for your visits and kind comments on my blog posts, it is greatly appreciated!
ReplyDeleteMy own walls are boring eggshell, but that's because I prefer to change the colors of the room accessories, not the walls. And then there is the fact that I don't like wall painting.
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