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SW Ivoire a tad apricot - any other ideas for warm creamy yellow

11 years ago

I've been having a difficult time choosing paint colours. I am aiming to create a bit of a Provence/Tuscany feel. I have a problem in that my downstairs rooms (brightly lit with lots of natural light and open plan) make paint look much more orangey than the colours seem to show for other people. But I don't want to overdo things and end up with green undertones as I would dislike that.

I've sampled 15+ paint colours and just cannot get it right. The closest I have gotten in terms of colour and lightness/darkness/intensity is Sherwin Williams "Ivoire". I almost am ready to choose it but it shows a mild apricot hue blended in with the yellow (that no one else seems to mention when discussing this colour).

I don't mind a bit of apricot undertone as that gives a warmth that might add to the Tuscany-type feel so maybe I should just go for it as almost every colour shows some orange in my house, and I loathe to head into green undertones for the fear of what might happen if that is all over the walls which have vaulted ceilings. But before settling on Ivoire as I have a few doubts, I wanted to see if I could get a similar type of colour to Ivoire (creamy yellow) but that won't show the apricot undertone. Does anyone have suggestions??

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Comments (3)

lindseyalove
11 years ago
I just built a townhouse and had the same problem with paint. I wanted a warm Tuscan feeling. Unfortunately, I was running out of time to choose a paint color. I chose SW Simplified Beige. IT WAS PINK!! I was so unhappy. It clashed with everything. So be wary of rosy undertones. I'll try to upload some pics in a minute. What I am doing now is a color meshing with the woo lie pad. I am using SW antique white and SW Cardboard. Both in a Cashmere low luster. It's turning out great and I have never painted before in my life. Good luck and just remember it's only paint and can be easily fixed.
User
11 years ago
We just painted a south-facing open stairwell, hallway, and sitting area in BM Simply Irresistible. I wanted cream that did not read apricot or yellow. It reminds me of French vanilla ice cream in low light, and creamy yellow in direct sun. It has no apricot, which all my other samples did.
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Hi pippit, I am a little late in answering your original posting but thought I would chime in anyway. Our entire new home was painted in SW Ivoire. I think it is a good soft yellowy "beige" color, goes with anything. In the rooms with sunlight coming into the room, the color is more yellowy. In the rooms with just light, no direct sunlight, the color goes more beige. I do not think it is dingy or grayish, at all. In fact, I chose it over the color my builder uses all the time. Her color, a custom mix, had a lot of "gray" in it and I did not want a grayish dingy color. I think the SW Ivoire is a very "clean" color. Very safe!! Not dark or dirty looking. Hope this helps you or anyone else looking for colors. PS I was actually wanting a tad more "yellow" but did not have time to custom mix a color and test it out, so I am happy with this. Ginny
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Scarlett001
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you for replies. It really is a minefield picking the right colour.

If I go more yellow downstairs, then it plays up green undertones upstairs in hallways etc. - yet if I go more yellow upstairs it plays up a hint of apricot in the yellow downstairs!!

So I either have a paint that appears (i) yellow or yellow with hint of apricot depending on the part of the house (ii) yellow or yellow with greeny/acid undertones. I have to give somewhere. I think with the look I want to create, it is better to err on the side of no green undertones anywhere.

Here is a link to a house that used Ivoire in almost every room. Pretty fancy house. Even though the paint is mainly yellow, I can see a slight apricot undertone in some of the photos and it actually looks pretty nice. My downstairs would play out a bit like the more apricot versions of Ivoire such as the photo with the yellow chair and some walls in the guest bedroom. The link:

http://www.houzz.com/projects/7796/3--Pebble-Beach-Traditional---French-Country-Estate/ls=2

p.s. Below is a photo of the ceramic tile flooring I have in my kitchen (not a photo of my kitchen, just the same floor in a promo photo). It is a pinky-orange lightish terra cotta. I think green undertones in a yellow paint would not look right with this floor and it is a centerpiece of my house and visible from the living room - you can see they have apricot undertones in this photo and it looks nice.

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