I would go with the dark wood or the red if it is a muted "barn red". You have a wood table in light wood so that would offer contrast. There is some white in the room already with the fabric chairs and lots of white wood trim with the doors and windows. I think that with so much trim on the door/window and the white bookcase that faces the dining room, having the bookcases in white would give a feeling of being 'corralled' in.

The space is so lovely, and well put together as it is now, the bookcases will add charm to an already beautiful space.

Agree with dilly_dally.

We have the old dark brown/black Ikea Billy bookcases -- and they have held up like troopers over the years! (can you tell that I'm a fan? LOL!)

Anyway -- a vote for the darker brown-black or even the classic black -- to continue the visual line of the darker cabinets from the kitchen.

In the past -- we have placed the tall Billy bookcases at each end of the wall and then shorter Billy cabinets in the middle ((thats where you could place a bright painting on the wall)).

These days the Billys come with so many options too -- doors etc. that might work well in your pretty space.

Holy cow! What have I missed? Your house is done and you've moved in?!? I am so excited for you, Amy!!!

And I am gaga for that painting ... I'm afraid my drool will affect my keyboard. Yowza! And are those Mira chairs (Nakashima)? You are my kind of lady!

That kitchen is to-die-for gorgeous, and as such, I am going to join the "dark wood" bookcase camp. I like the idea of continuing the line from the kitchen cabinetry. Based on what I'm presuming from the pictures, I'm concerned the white will feel too salt-and-pepper / disjointed. The red could work, but I guess for me it comes down to loving your dark kitchen cabinetry and wanting to see that long line, interrupted only by the FABULOUS painting!

But I cannot keep from scrolling back up to that painting. I'm going to have to do a search for the rest of your house.

Congratulations!

Well, I just had the most wonderful time "poking around" your house (in your other thread)! And I do love your artwork .... And I was so happy to see your piano! (I remember that was a choice over a fireplace.) I love the sound of live piano in a home ....

I've a favor to ask, one which will require some work from you, please: would you be willing to take a picture straight on of the piece in your breakfast nook? I'd like to get a straight, clear shot of it so I can show it to my partner and tell him what it is precisely I am drawn to in it. (His preferred gifts [to give me] are art / jewelry, and in general he does great. But helpful tips can never hurt ....)

Thank you!

I'd like to say the red but on Ikea, it's looking kind of bright. The fabric on your chairs looks blue? (who knows, I thought I saw water out your windows) so I don't know about adding red into the mix. Love your table.

I'm also a big fan of your art. I like the primative and folk look but when I google it, most of what comes up is Americana.

Hi there RMK! Well you made my day! The chairs are Ethan Allen. They matched the trestle table, which I had to have. Looked for 18 months for chairs, trying to avoid the matchy-matchy thing. Never found anything and finally gave in.

Your taste in art is good. The painting is a copy of a Matisse done by my husband. He has been studying painting as long as I've known him and has copied a number of masterworks as an exercise. I have two Picassos, a Dufy, a Modigliani or two, one Renoir and a Chagal! ;-) Some are better than others...but I quite like the Matisse.

Looks like the vote is leaning toward the black-brown bookcases. Interesting! The red would be outrageous. I really thought people were going to go with white. Hmmm...

Here is a link that might be useful: Here's the Matisse Still Life with Oranges...it was Picasso's!

Here's DH's version! Not as good as Henri, but we find it cheerful to have hanging around. :-)

Parma, don't worry...the chairs are a pale aqua color!

I'd go with either black-brown, which would coordinate with the cabinets and recede a bit, rather than be huge white presences...

OR--what do you think of painting them the Amy's Sarasota Sand? They'd disappear and be wall, then. (You could even do a contrasting (red?) paint or paper on the inside, if you're dying to have the red there.)

Another option: maybe do brown-black with Sand insides? Would look "airier", in a way...You could get the Brown-black and paint some paper with the Sand and put it in the back just to see what you think.

Just some more options...

I agree with the dark choice because the two rooms read as one and to continue the dark cabinetry would make the space flow better.

Good thought about the paint Fly. Only thing is...I am not (ever) entirely positive that the paint color will stay! Sand was my "builder beige" and while it's a wonderful color to have throughout the house, you just never know about individual rooms. These walls may end up being green, for all I know! :-)

My best dec friend IRL is agreeing with Ingrid on coordinating with the table color. Table is cherry...so maybe I should look at beech or medium brown. I am thinking that red would be too much. Oh well...

So, if I get a wood tone, that leaves me wondering about the little white bookcase at the end of the island. Should I paint it? (red?) jk

I think they should match your kitchen cabinets so there is some continuity there. I like that your table is lighter, but think having the dark cabinets will tie the two rooms better together than having them have separate wood color schemes.

Also, I think the dark wood would really set off the painting alot better than the lighter cherry wood color.

I do think painting your kitchen a green color would look great with the dark cabinets, painting and your wood table.

Amy, I would do either the red or the white bookcases. Dark ones won't "blend" as well as you might think; the finish won't really match and consequently they won't look built-in. I love the red, and think it would be a wonderful punch of colour in your beautiful kitchen. And since you've indicated that these will be temporary, you will find out if you like the red for a long-term colour.

The Matisse is fabulous! Has he done a Cezanne? I think he would fit in to your DH's style.

Have you been back since l'Orangerie has reopened? I can hardly wait to see it. Unfortunately, it looks like 2010 now with only a week in Parma next month. The following year we'll have Parma, then a trade show in Germany and finally a week or more in Paris (one trip). Damn Euro is back to $1.37.

I'd do the bookcase in red. I think I know you well enough by now that you don't want each and every element to look too "planned".

Just reread and wanted to point out that I'm now talking about the little bookcase.

Thanks for the clarification Parma! And for keeping the opinions coming, everyone!

Parma, I think the Orangerie was open when I was last there, but we were only in town for a few days and I didn't do any museums at all. Did you see they found a bomb at Printemps, btw? Scary...

I think DH has done one painting that turned out Cezanne-like, but I can't remember now. We have so much we still haven't brought out yet...mostly smaller pieces. I am sort of waiting for the larger furniture to settle (or be purchased!) before filling in the gaps with the little guys.

About the little white kitchen bookcase........It looks nice in the photo, being white the way it is now, to bring in some white to the center of the room since the trim around the rooms is white and the surrounding kitchen counters are white, but.......

It looks to me like there are some big windows off to the right that we can't see in the photo. (I see a reflection of windows in the glass of the orange flower art on the wall and there is light hitting the plants leaves from the right.) So I am thinking there is a lot of white wood in the room already on two walls of the room with the windows and for the same reason that the two new bookcases that are being considered should not be white, (the corral feeling) the little kitchen bookcase would look better painted a bright muted color taking into consideration all the white wood the room has already.

A color from the painting can be brought in for the little bookcase - red, yellow, or even the blue. Muted yellow would be nice, because your decorative items inside the bookcase would still show off well. The option of keeping the interior white would show off the items better, but may look too contrived and cluttery, and make the bookcase look like one for a child's room. A red or blue bookcase would not highlight the items that are in there right now. Of course they could be switched out to other things.

amy, what's the color of the metal table supports? When I thought of a brown-black wall there, I got an echo from the supports of the table, not the wood of the tabletop. I know it's a different material, but at least I did see some connection there without having to introduce a darker wood.

One thing you might want to do at this point is get sample pieces of each finish (in a door or something easily cartable and returnable) and set them up in the room and see what you like best. Who knows, maybe the black and white pattern will be the winner! (just kidding) But having the actual tones there--there's no substitute.

I know that you have probably already made up your mind but I say go with the red. I don't think the brown/black is going to match identically and you know what they say about that. "If you can't match identically, go opposite." I think the white looks fine with the red and the coffee/black brown looks great with the red. OK, I like the red but I see I am in the minority. C'est la vie.

Or...you could paint it/them (the big ones) the color of the piping on your chairs. Art has that color and it would fade a bit into the background if you decided to paint walls a deeper green.

Thank you so much for the close-up of your husband's painting. No disrespect to M. Matisse, but your husband's interpretation is so much more special, and I don't doubt for a nanosecond that it is worth more to you than a roomful of Matisses ....

Did I already tell you my BA is in Art, and I did my undergrad in France (Reims)? I lived there for a while after graduation with my sweet boyfriend (who is now a priest, go figure), working as a gardener (in Giverny). When moving to the States I had all my artwork crated up and sent to my parents, where my mother, upon receipt, had Goodwill come and pick every last thing up.

Admittedly, and this is NOT false modesty, I am not that fine a painter / drawer (my gift is really in graphics, and I think my lettering is second to none), but it still hurt(s) me to know I'll never see any of those (hundreds) of pieces again. By the time I got to my parents' months had passed since she'd disposed of everything, and I finally had to just come to terms with never getting them back. (I called / visited every Goodwill within a one hundred mile radius of that house.)

Blah blah blah, I know, but I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate your husband's painting(s), and how incredibly important they are to your family (and future generations!).

I don't know if you saw on another thread that we used Billy (white) bookcases in a previous house where we made them look built in. So whatever you choose with judicious joinery (or hocus-pocus!) it can look built in.

teacats' photo looks as if that dark brown would so closely resemble your kitchen cabinets; how far is the IKEA? Is it close enough so you could just buy a small piece in that finish and bring it home to check it out? Or buy a small piece in the corresponding cherry finish? Our closest IKEA is in another state, "over the river and through the woods" and mountains.

Thank you again for sharing your husband's artwork -- I just love it!

Well, my SIL was over today and when I mentioned red, she went a bit crazy. Like crazy -- YES! I am having a thought that I could buy the red and paint the backs with the current wall color. Kswl, thanks for the reminder that these are not a lifetime commitment! If I don't like them, they can go to the play room, where they'd be quiet appropriate.

Dilly, you are right about another window and lots of white trim. If I do paint the walls green (default paint mode for me) I will consider painting the exterior of the little bookcase the same color. I've been looking at F&B Cooking Apple Green but I also love the "light dill pickle" in kswl's home.

Fly, the trestle is a black iron look. The two options I have for Ikea are bad and worse. Two Hours to New Haven, easy drive or 1.45 to Stoughton, crummy drive. In a perfect world, I'd bring home doors. But we are making a run with a U-Haul (hopefully Thursday) and I probably won;t go back for a while. Though you never know.

I know what Patricia means about a close-but-not-quite match. That really bugs me WRT clothing.

RMK, your story is heartbreaking. I am so sorry and hope you found some way to forgive your mother. You know, DH doesn't realize how special his work is to me. He says it's just exercises...who cares... He never wants me to spend up on framing them. But, I have insisted over the years and am so happy.

Here's a little story for you. A few years back, he was between paintings and I asked if I could make a request. he said, "No" -- he had something in mind already. I was going to ask for a copy of a Picasso I'd seen in Paris on a trip there alone. When I asked him what he planned, he said it was a Picasso...two girls running on a beach. It was the exact painting I'd had in mind.

I love how Amy knows the best questions to ask. She asked about a color and now we have a view into many lives and hearts and souls and how fun it is to know that rmkitchen spent time studying art in paris with a wonderful boyfriend who now gardens at one of my favorite places to be in the whole world (and a priest). Please tell me anyplace more interesting for a gardener, save souvenir de la malmaison. Isn't life an interesting journey of peoples and different travels and how they intersect and those intersections that bring us to a place we can share all the adventures, side trips, explorations, savoring the walks, the runs and the fun memories of one another. Ah, GardenWeb, what a place to be.

Amy, your husband is quite the artist.

All three sons are artsy but #3 son's work resembles what your husband is able to do (the architect son). What a very gifted DH you have and what amazing people there are in our lives and midsts, and how amazingly well these people do things that seem impossible and we so take them for granted and then look at them in the right light, and see what really remarkable people we know from a distance and up close and personally in some cases.

Night, night. Just enjoyed all the chatter and getting to know all the in's and out's of each other and how they relate to each other and our own lives.

Ah-ha! So you liked a bit of my suggestion, at least :) (the paint-the-insides part). Remember, too, you could also put up paper that's been painted that color, for even *less* of a commitment :)

I do love the imitations-of-classics approach...on my mosaics list there are always people coming back from mosaic school at Spilimbergo and they have the most amazing copies of classic mosaics, done with hammer and hardie, stone or smalti, and completely by ancient means. It would be the dream of a lifetime to get to do that sometime.

EERIE in an utterly fabulous way about the Picasso, Amy -- I think I see that one up on a wall in your house pics, don't I?

And rmkitchen, oy about your story...what did she think, you had it all crated to be *donated*? Sheesh, parents sometimes...glad I'm not one LOL. A few weeks ago at Goodwill I saw (and passed on, and by the next day when I came back to take them they'd *all* just been taken by someone else) about a dozen really fascinating acrylics--fairly expressionistic landscapes. I hate to think of how they got there.

Your husband is very talented. That painting is gorgeous.

Amy,
It sounds like you've got quite a bit to think about....But, how did I miss pics of your gorgeous kitchen??!! I love it!!

I have just skimmed.....but thinking if you can get the cases to match your exsisting cabs go with that....insides red - your island bookcase - red, too. If the big bookcases can't match - then I do really like the idea of red book cases b/c I think you can pull that off!! Then do the dark espresso on the inside of the red bookcases.

Smiles:)

Well, today was the day! We rented a van, and drove to New Haven for the Billy/loveseat run. (Oh, we ate those little meatballs, too. Eek!)

The ride down was pretty quiet...I was pondering the breakfast room, trying to do the decorating in my head, knowing a decision was imminent.

In the sofa department, I had a last-minute change of heart and went for the more contemporary loveseat and decided on the most dog-friendly color....dark brown! It also goes with my cabinets. (I hope.)

The Billy colors were disappointing. Beech was pink. Birch was too pale. Medium brown too golden. Black-brown was just too much more of the same and not really an option given the loveseat fabric.

So, the winner is.....my favorite-color-to-call-a-neutral-because-it-goes-with-everything....RED! We bought two red bookcases. DH was really very happy about the red. I promise I will post pictures when I get them set up.

Unless, of course, I hate them, in which case you will get to see premature pics of the play room. ;-)

Thanks again for the input everyone.

Good news for the red-lovers among us, Amy :)

I know what you mean about the wood colours, so often they are not anywhere near the colour of real wood and I think you're better off with an actual paint colour. Can't wait to see pictures!

Dark

What a thread....enchanting to say the least. Can't wait to see the bookcases in place too.

DH put out a lot of effort building the white bookcases for the upstairs hallway yesterday and he's raring to get to the red ones for the breakfast room. I can't get my butt off the new loveseat....paralyzed by fear that I'll regret buying the red. He is being sweetly reassuring, reminding me of how I want to put my blue & white pottery collection on them, etc.

I think I'll go organize the bathroom cabinets instead!

Amy, blue and white pottery will look so great on the red! I added a red and blue flat weave on the floor in front of the door, at the top of the basement stairs. I just love looking at it. It's a pop of colors that I don't have elsewhere.

Stay out of the bathroom and get going on those bookcases. You'll be so pleased with the result.

my first thought before I saw any pics with art or color.. was Red! Rusty red

I've been away from this board for quite a while, and just saw the pics of your new home. It is fabulous! I love the choice of red for the bookcases--I think it will be great with your colors and artwork. Excellent job with everything! (BTW Amy, are you enjoying the snow??)

Amy, you're so good with colors. Why would you ever second guess your decisions?

See? I've killed this thread,too. This is why I rarely offer comments anymore.

Mona aka "THK"

Amy - got a sneak peak for us yet?

MonaBlair...you ain't no thread killer girl! Thank you for your warm compliment on my color skills. You may wish we had an edit feature on this board once you see what I did! ;-)

Teeda, I love your front door on the other thread. So pretty. As for the snow....well, I am a bit in shock still. It is gorgeous and I even went down the giant hill out back....once. (You must know that hill!)

No pics yet. Sorry. Batteries died and I need to put in more books before I take pics. They are soooo red! I am hoping books will cover them some and temper it all. I did buy a red pillow at Target today. (DH may try to suffocate me with it when he sees I've brought one more pillow into the house!)

Amy - I'm sure it will look fine. I'm dying to see it. You always have a way to make colors look awesome together.

What is it with DH's and pillows. I can't have any extra for decor anywhere that he sits/lives as they get thrown on the floor. So I go pillowless instead.