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jamaraz_gw

Green or Brown? You decide!! Please... :)

14 years ago

Hi. I am currently redoing my first floor. All the colors I have chosen are in the beige/brown family. My kitchen is the only room I was hoping to add some color. I really wanted a green kitchen but none of the greens are working as well as the brown. Knowing that I really want a green kitchen tell if I'm wrong to choose the green color even though I know the brown works better with the backsplash.

By the way, I have a heavy looking cherry wood/metal table with black chairs and a black hutch that will go in the kitchen. The floors with be a medium red/brown oak hardwood.

The green is actually hungtington beige - hc 21 and reads brown with a green undertone on the chip. Please excuse the mess in the kitchen. The moldings aren't painted yet and the white spaces in the backsplash will be ORB medallions.

Comments (40)

  • 14 years ago

    The green looks better with the wood and works just fine with the tile. You don't have to get an "exact" match. Stick with green...maybe just broaden the search and see if you can find one that pleases you more.

  • 14 years ago

    I second using a green that you like.

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  • 14 years ago

    go with green. Try Ellen Kennon Ashen, Licen or Edgewood green. Do a search to see the color. From my monitor your tile looks like a greyed green with a touch of blue.

    http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/decor/msg121525139195.html

  • 14 years ago

    Green. Definitely. Can't tell you which green since I got it wrong in my own kitchen, but definitely green. :-)

  • 14 years ago

    What about the green that I am showing? I have a ton of green samples and this one looks best with the tiles.

  • 14 years ago

    Sorry, I didn't even notice the paint samples there until you pointed it out. Definitely go green but that green reads a little too light on my screen, something a bit warmer would look good!

  • 14 years ago

    haley_comet just did a wonderful green in her DR - Caraway from Behr. Here are some pics...

    Here is a link that might be useful: Caraway rooms

  • PRO
    14 years ago

    The "green" is too clear and too light. The brown is working better because of its nuance - it's more muted and slightly darker. (nuance is saturation + light reflective value) I'd pull "greens" that have a similar nuance as the brown. Maybe take a look at Nantucket Gray HC 111, if you haven't already.

  • 14 years ago

    I think other posters are on target with looking for a "muddier" grayer green/brown. In addition to the Nantucket Gray funcolors suggested, take a look at BM Clarksville Gray and Providence Olive. I'm betting that one in that color range will do something good with your backsplash and cabinet wood color. In my house and my light, Nantucket Gray has a little more blue-green, Providence Olive is a little more green, Clarksville Gray is a little more tan/brown....but all are soft rich muddy/grayed/greeny-browns ;~) that look kind of ugly on the strip and kind of gorgeous on the wall.

  • 14 years ago

    I like the green

  • 14 years ago

    Try BM Camouflage, Olive Branch, or Rosemary Sprig.

  • 14 years ago

    I have posted on another thread that I put the same color in 2 rooms and the result is drastically different. The reason seems to be that the background color is making me read the color different than what is actually on the walls. I wonder if this is what is happening in my kitchen. The background color is a strong yellow and maybe messing up my perception of the greens that I am choosing. I have tried Providence Olive and it read gray on my walls. The green that is up on my wall is actually a brown with green undertones. My kitchen is also filled with compact flourescent high hats which tend to cast a green light. Do you think I should choose a color based on the chip or what I am reading on the walls? I am buying a ton of samples and nothing is looking right on the walls.

  • 14 years ago

    What about BM Dry Sage? I have it in my kitchen and love it- here's a picture.

  • PRO
    14 years ago

    Do you think I should choose a color based on the chip or what I am reading on the walls? I am buying a ton of samples and nothing is looking right on the walls.

    Want to know what I think? And this isn't *bad* or anything, just an issue you need to find a solution for.

    I don't think you are able to *see around* the current colors. Some people can look past what is there and mesh chips with contents and lighting  and some people just simply have a harder time doing that. No big deal, just need options.

    One solution is to pay for one coat of an toned primer - a snidge of black as has been suggested before in the primer. Neutralize out some of the existing colors so you can see the new ones.

    It will help you make your best guess -- even after a coat of primer you are still making a best guess, but at least you know you did everything you could in order to evaluate the colors.

    Another option is to get help. Employ a fresh, objective set of eyes that can understand what you are wanting and then help you *see* and evaluate the colors.

  • 14 years ago

    Maybe try and brown, gray green. I have the shade in my living room and I love it! I think it would look fab!

    {{!gwi}}

    It looks grayer green in person and lighter.

    Good luck!

  • 14 years ago

    I like green too

  • 14 years ago

    Do what Funcolors said and try Dry Sage. From what I remember, I think that would work.

  • 14 years ago

    No offense taken funcolors. I completely agree that I can't see colors correctly. Colors either look harmonious to me or they don't. The only color that looks harmonious with the backsplash is the spice gold brown. I want the backsplash to be the centerpiece of my kitchen and the brown is the only color making that happen.
    I've asked a ton of people their opinion and they seem to think the green on the wall is o.k. I would take their opinion but my 9 year old daughter (who is never wrong) doesn't like the green. Since I'm not sure if it goes and she is firm in her dislike of the green, here I am looking for more colors.

  • 14 years ago

    I can identify for sure...and I DO think your existing wall color is messing you up. I know mine sure did. Have you tried something as large as poster board painted with your samples, or at least a couple of those 16" x 20" stiff paper sample cards from the paint store with your sample colors? And then block out the other walls with your hands when you are looking at the samples in different light. That can make a huge difference in how a color reads in your house.

    Like you, I wanted green, but found I needed to look at very "muddied" or more tan/brown/grey shades of green (love your backsplash, btw.) I also happen to have a big posterboard of Huntington Beige right here, and in my house it's also greenish, similar to the way it looks in your pics. I can see what it does in yours, and I think my cabinet color may be quite similar also. So of course I can't say what the colors will do in your place, but I can say that with similar cabinet color, and looking for a toned down brownish/tannish/grayish green myself....I found that in small samples and with my wall color around, the Providence Olive, Nantucket Gray, Clarksville Gray were all kind of yuck...gray and brown and not attractive. In large chunks (as big as a posterboard) they are all much greener...varying shades of greenish to be sure, but definitely all read green in my house. And all rather gorgeous, once I got enough of the color to "see" it properly. No way to be sure without trying, but since we have some similarities in color range, I do suspect you might like one of those better if you can get it in bigger swatches and away from your yellow wall color. And I think green is worth working for! I never would have dreamed something as gray and brown as Providence Olive on the color card and in a swatch only a few inches square would be so green once it was on a couple of poster boards!

  • PRO
    14 years ago

    I completely agree that I can't see colors correctly.

    No doubt you can see colors just fine. You're in a situation with paint color that is challenging to many people  seeing around the unimportant and focusing on what is important is no small task. For some it comes easy, for others it just doesn't.

    Looking for more colors isn't such a bad idea. The fact of *green* isn't what's wrong - you have the wrong green right now for what it is you expect your wall color to *do* for you. You've clearly defined your expectations - that's half the battle. "I want the backsplash to be the centerpiece of my kitchen"

    You've gotten some really good suggestions for specific *green* paint colors. Follow up with those and see what happens, see what you DD thinks of those greens. Ask your paint store for the larger chips - sometimes they can help you out with those.

  • 14 years ago

    When I was having trouble judging paint colors painted on top of my existing color, Amy suggested I tape a border of white paper up around the paint sample. It helped a lot in isolating the new color from the old one.

  • 14 years ago

    jamaraz - I'm thinking that the sample of Huntington Beige isn't showing the accurate color on our monitors. I'm looking at the sample right now and it has a lot more brown in it than I see above. I would buy a quart and paint a piece of posterboard, so that you have a larger sample to move around the room. Mldao used Yorkshire Tan, which is on the same card as HB and similar in color and here's what it looks like.

    Mldao's Yorkshire Tan

    Laurie

    aktillery - What's the name of the brown, gray, green that you used?

    Laurie

  • 14 years ago

    Just keep trying. You will know the color is right when you find it. It took me at least 4 small sample size cans of different greens b4 I found the one that was right for my kitchen. Thank goodness they are only $3 a piece!
    I would suggest doing a search here for green rooms, and pick up a few of the colors that you like. Home Depot, and Lowes sells the sample cans, and can match almost any brand paint. Get some poster board, and paint a few of them in the colors you bought. Put them up in the room in different places and look at them for a day or so. In day light, and at night. Make sure to keep us posted!
    Here is a pic of Laura Ashley Olive 4 from my kitchen- still a work-in-progress

  • 14 years ago

    Thanks for the encouragement. Time is quickly ticking away as the painters are almost done painting the trim. Thankfully a worker was out sick so they are somewhat behind schedule. :)

    I know I wanted a green but what do you guys think about the brown I posted? It happens to be a very pretty soft brown. I am worried about the kitchen being too drab and dark with the brown but I bought a can of Providence Olive and it actually has a darker hue to it than the Spice Gold brown. I bought a sample of Olive branch as well and it is pretty but almost too green?

    The brown is looking like the safe choice given my limited time frame. There is actually not that much open wall space. One wall is devoted to a giant black hutch which I love. My current wall color is Chestertown Buff and the black piece looks amazing against the yellow. It's just o.k. against the brown. I have a bay window that will be painted white and the only other open wall is by my table. I put in a chair rail that will break the wall up a bit. Can you suggest some time of art work that could possibly lighten/brighten the space?

    Here are some pictures of my "other walls". The piece of black contruction paper is on the brown I am considering. Clearly, I have been through some samples :)

  • 14 years ago

    I am not too crazy about the beige in your kitchen - it makes the kitchen appear very, well...brown. I like it on its own but I think if you paint the kitchen beige with the brown cabinets and the brown floor and the brownish back splash, it may be too much and appear drab. I think your kitchen would look beautiful in green. The color you chose is a bit on the light side, perhaps a darker gray/green would look much better. Just my $.o2. Good Luck.

  • 14 years ago

    I'm in agreement with others here, that a grayed green, something very muted, will work nicely in your kitchen and give you some relief from the House of Browns. I would have suggested many of the same colors already mentioned. Once you pointed out that Olive Branch is too green, I was able to get a better handle on what you're looking for. Sometimes, when you go to one chip and it turns out to be too light/too dark/too intense/too something else, it can help you, by the process of elimination, to get closer to what you do like. I know Baby Turtle (BM) gets suggested a lot, but that's because it works with so much. I have my own black painted armoire against BT walls, and it stands out quite nicely while not appearing too green.

    And one more thing......you are getting distracted by the sheer volume of your swatches. You probably look at the swatches and feel that there isn't a good color for your walls. Well, that's not true. A lot of things could work, and depending on your own preferences, you could head more green, more brown, softer, deeper, or more muted. But you need to get some primer on that wall so the gold wall color and all your swatches can stop distracting you. And you need to use more of the paint you own. Instead of brushing on those little squares, try rolling on half a wall of paint and having it abut your cabinet door, so you can see the effect of the color in a larger area and so you can see how it sets off your backsplash. From what I can see, I think the Turtle could do that, although it qualifies more as a browned green than a grayed green. But you won't know till you get some real paint on the wall. And whatever you put on the wall, your painters can paint out and make all look good. Do not underestimate the change in feel that several square feet of color can make when you're testing color.

    Red

  • 14 years ago

    I definitely would go green to work with the backsplash. However, the green you have posted is too washed out and chalky for the warm colors of the wood and the backsplash tile. You have strong color in the tile and the counters, etc. and you need your wall color to be just as strong, or the tile and counters will look out of place, imo.

  • 14 years ago

    I was actually thinking baby turtle too~
    Keep us posted~

  • 14 years ago

    I like BM Dry Sage colored kitchen. It's so beautiful and makes the room spacious. For me its a beautiful interior kitchen design color.

  • 14 years ago

    i think once you find the right green, your backsplash will "pop" and become the centerpiece of your kitchen. i don't think the beigey- brown you have marked will make your backsplash stand out. tell the painters to come back...don't rush to accomodate them! i also think lots of little swatches on the wall makes it hard to really evaluate a color....

  • 14 years ago

    One of the swatches on my wall is baby turtle. It is a bit of a yellow green. It's just o.k. with the tiles. The biggest problem with my tiles is that they are handmade tiles so each sheet is a slightly different green from the other sheets. We are afraid if we go with a green that matches some of the tiles it will make the other greens looks out of place. The brown does set off my tiles the best.

    I know I am driving myself crazy. There really isn't that much wall space. The only wall that is an issue is the wall with the chair rail. That is where my table will be. Maybe a bright picture will liven up the space.

    I think I will take msrose's suggestion and try the yorkshire tan. Is that a strong beige? I currently have Sandy Brown up as a sample and it looks a bit washed out. I love the look of the Chestertown Buff in my kitchen but the yellow doesn't go with my backsplash.

  • 14 years ago

    Here's a story about tile and color.

    I did a job not too long ago where we were trying to make a very yellow-y green floor look more green. It is a long story, but the client ended up with the "wrong" color green and we were working on color-correcting with paint.

    The best solution was to lean toward purple on the walls. I specified a gray/blue with some purple in it and it was amazing what it did to the floor. Suddenly, we went from a nasty yellowy green with their color swatches, to a richer, clearer green. Whew!

    But, here's the hitch...the backsplash tiles were a mix of colors including a blue that leaned way over toward turquoise. I was concerned that the tile and the walls would not play nicely together -- that the purple blue and the green blue were going to clash.. However, working with color almost always involves compromise -- giving up something because something else is more important. In this scenario, solving the floor problem was far more important than the backsplash.

    After the painters left and I went over for a follow-up, I looked at those two blues together. Honestly, they would not have been my first choice together. But in the larger scheme of things, it all works. One key to success with that kitchen is that the saturation of the wall color and the tile is approximately the same...they have the same depth of color or intensity, if you will. That is what you need to be after, as funcolors suggested earlier.

    I have always felt that one does not (and often should not) match colors exactly. I think the human eye interpolates colors such that they feel like a good match, even though they may not be.

    What that means to you jamaraz is that you don't need to match any of those greens exactly. And even if you find one green tile you can "match" for the walls, the way the human eye sees things, the rest of the greens will not look "out of place." They all go together now, right? Some professional put those colors together and you liked the assortment enough to select it. Stop worrying!

    I am going to scold you now... :-) You say you want green. Everyone here, unanimously I think, says to go with green. Why do you keep gravitating back to brown? It is not a "safer" choice! Picking neutrals is actually harder than picking colors.

    You need to go to the paint store and get some of the colors people here have suggested. You need to pull your painting crew into the kitchen for a few minutes so they can prime over all the splotches you are spinning over. Take a deep breath. You will find a green you can feel good about. Step away from the brown!

  • 14 years ago

    amysrq, I like your style!! :)

    I do tend to agree with you. I just know the wrong green will look worse than the brown and green can be a difficult color. One thing I am worried about with the green is my friend bought a spec home that had reddish brown cherry cabinets and uba tuba granite. She made the builder pull out the uba tuba because she felt her house looked like Christmas! My floors are going to be a reddish brown and my tabletop is reddish brown. When I look over green colors I keep hearing her voice inside my head!

    On the plus side, my son is at a playdate where the kitchen is painted providence olive. I'm going back with the backsplash, cabinet drawer and my sample piece of hardwood. I hope it goes well!

  • 14 years ago

    Personally, I think you're scared of a boogey. Reddish BROWN floors and Reddish BROWN wood table with muted brown-green or gray-green walls do not create Christmas.

    Red

  • 14 years ago

    You guys are killing me!!! I went to my friends house today with all my samples and they looked fine against the providence olive. The lighting is totally different in her home but I can't think about this anymore. I'm going to go for it and hope for the best.

    I've got bigger issues as my painter has taken almost 2 weeks to paint my house and not a single wall color has been put up yet! My floor guy can't start until they are done and they are going to probably take close to a week. I ordered furniture 2 months ago thinking it would take a long time to come in but my dining room set came in 5 days and my living room set came in 3 weeks. The furniture companies are starting to threaten me with warehouse holding fees. Not fun.

  • 14 years ago

    I suggest you pick out three greens that look like they would work, and like I mentioned before, paint some big posterboards so you can move them around the room and see which one looks the best. I'm leaving for work right now, but I'll try and remember to post some "green" pictures that I have when I get home.

    Laurie

  • 14 years ago

    What is wrong with your painters? Have you said that to them? I think I would.......

    So guys, why is it taking so long to get my house painted? Is there a problem? I have my furniture already and my floor people are just waiting on you. What can I do to help you get this job completed?

    (Cannot wait to see your finished photos...sure it will be beautiful!)

    Red

  • 14 years ago

    Redbazel, my husband overheard a conversation between my contractor and the painter and the gist is the painter doesn't feel he's getting enough money for the job. The painter and contractor work closely together on multi-million dollar homes so the painter knows he has to take my job but is doing so begrudgingly. He is only sending one person over to paint and doesn't care how long it takes to get the job done. The worst part for me is I think I am paying WAY too much for the job (over 5K) but I am keeping my mouth shut because I put in a ton of moulding and I don't want there to be a dispute if the moulding cracks. I'd rather use the contractor's painter and let him be responsible if there are any problems down the line. Plus, I really, really, like my contractor and I don't want any negativity as I am planning on using him in the future.

  • 14 years ago

    Hokie, I love the granite on your kitchen cabinet countertops. Can you tell me which granite it is, please.

  • 14 years ago

    Thank you! It's Madura Gold, and we love it. I'm constantly looking at all the different colors in it. Next step is replacing the old backsplash!