susanka-

Is the Cochise painted on the wall or the paint chip propped up on the baseboard heater?

Sorry, I'm not sure what we should look at.

sandyponder

Hi, sandyponder. Cochise is on the wall, and the paint chips propped up on the heater are also Cochise. Should be the same color, but aren't quite. We had to have SW match the "Cochise", since Dunn-Edwards isn't in Colorado.

So you should look at the wall, since that's probably the closest we can get to the Dunn-Edwards color.

I see a couple red flags here. First and most importantly, using a color you liked in a light-filled home for a walk-out basement, particularly a family room with little of its own natural light, is a recipe for disappointment.

Second, you've noted that the wall looks rather yellow against the pink carpet. Combine this with the green wall-that-has-to-stay-green and you've got a yellow/pink/green color scheme going on. Not ideal.

Is there a reason why you want all three rooms to be the same color?

Off the top of my head, the neutral that goes with pink and green is gray, not yellow. I think I would start to look at some warm grays and see what you come up with. I also think that using a full-spectrum paint in a low-light situation, like a basement, is always a good idea.

amysrq, thanks for the reminder on the different environments. Kind of like making soup and substituting a banana because I don't have butternut squash, isn't it? Some things just don't transpose easily.

The carpet isn't pink. It's a tan that looks different depending on which way the fibers are going. I think it's a bit rosier tan than the paint color on the wall, though. "Pink" definitely isn't the first thing that comes to mind when one sees it. DH doesn't see pink in it at all.

Nope, no reason all the rooms have to be one color. We have gray/green, yellow, beige, and purple upstairs though, and I thought it might be nice to unify the rooms downstairs a little by using the same color.

I've seen references here to full-spectrum paint, don't know what it is exactly, will google that and educate myself.

And I'll also look for some warm grays to see what I think.

Here are a couple more photos which show the carpet in a slightly different light and then the way they look together on a different wall.

Thank you very much.

I think the wall color looks fine with the carpet in those last 2 pictures you posted.

I am not known for my design sense though. ha. If you are in doubt, do you have a carpet scrap you can take to the paint store? The chips will look different there than in your house but it might help you narrow things down. How does the Sagey look with it? If you want to avoid the tans, I would think a soft green might work well.

Bear in mind that I am going through the EXACT same thing with my daylight basement, also with a husband who would like the entire house to be beige and tan. I have 5 different paint samples on my basement walls right now (blue, olive green, gray, and two shades of tan/beige), and almost against my will I am coming to the realization that the one that is going to be the best for my particular floor and room is the one that is very similar to the one you have in the picture.

If you want a nice warm gray to try, you might look at the SW card with Mindful Gray on it. I tried a sample of that in our bathroom (no natural light) and it was just lovely, though we didn't end up using it. I still have the sample so that's the gray I tried downstairs -- it's too dark in that space and not quite right with our floor, but it (or a lighter shade thereof) might suit you.

Hi, northcarolina. Right, the paint looks fine in some lights and on some walls. I do have a carpet scrap; didn't think of taking that to the paint store, but I will on my next trip.. We have 32 sample cans of paint in our basement, we still don't have the downstairs painted, and some of the rooms upstairs after we finished still don't look quite right to me. (I also am not known for my design sense.)

I haven't tried a gray yet, although I put a dot of the Kilim Beige in our MB on top of this Cochise we're trying out in the basement, and it looks very gray in comparison. But it ended up looking "dead" upstairs (next to the purple wall in our MB), and I already wish I could change it in the MB. I probably will, although DH thinks I don't paint carefully enough and gets in a twist every time I say I'm going to redo a room. Can't really blame him, we're in this house 3 1/2 years and the paint saga is still going on!

I did ask SW to give me 50% of the Cochise, and we're going to try that next, although a one-foot sample on the wall is a pretty uninteresting color.

The Sagey looks great with the carpet upstairs, and on the one wall that extends to our basement, but if we use that it would mean green in the LR, DR area, and down here. With the green granite in the kitchen, I think it's just too much green for me, although now I'm thinking maybe we should do that in the family room in the basement and do the basement office and guest room, which have more light, in different colors. So much for "unifying" the look down here.

I'd really like to know how your color adventure turns out. I hope you'll post pix,maybe in this thread?

Thanks for your help, and good luck!

More ideas, anyone? And thanks in advance.

I will certainly post pics when I get finished -- I have posted elsewhere for help with the floor, so I need to post pics of that too, it's only fair! I have a gallon of SW Interactive Cream waiting for me downstairs... though I have a sinking suspicion that the room is going to be a depressing sea of beige afterward and that it might be a(nother) paint mistake. ha. In dim light it looks close to the floor color; it might need more contrast. I'll have to wait until it's on the walls and the trim is painted (and probably window treatments up too) to know for sure.

I hear you on the difficult decisions about color. This is why the entire rest of our house (except one bathroom) is SW Antique White. At least it goes well with our HW and decor (I laugh at myself for copping out on the paint decision but I do like the Ant White). My husband was in favor of Ant. White in the basement too but I wanted to change things up... then nothing I tried looked right except the Interactive Cream. Maybe I should give up and just admit that beige on the walls suits me. Funny, I never *wear* beige...

susanka, This is completely off topic, but I love love love the combination of your sagey wall color and your sheers. I think it is beautiful. I tried to replicate the look using a darker wall color and lighter sheers but it just didn't work in my space. Good luck!

northcarolina, we had all the walls in Aspen White when we built our house 3 1/2 years ago because we were certain we couldn't pick out wall colors and DH was in favor of tan everywhere. I'll look up the Interactive Cream in case that's what we need. At the moment DH is painting a couple of big patches of 50% Cochise to see how that looks downstairs. I'll be looking for your pics.

sumnerfan, what fun to hear you like the sagey wall and the sheets. We have such gorgeous views at the other side of the room we wanted something really simple so it wouldn't call attention to the windows themselves, and I do like the color combo we came up with. I'm just a bit afraid of green everywhere though downstars. What did you do when your first wall/sheers colors didn't work?

susanka-

OK, so right upfront, I'm not a beige or gray person, and the combo of wall and carpet doesn't have enough contrast for me, but if you like the monochromatic look, I do think it matches.

However, if you want more of a contrast, how about a rusty orange color like BM Salsa Dancing? If it's a dark room anyway, why try to fight it, make it deep, dark and rich looking. BM Wenge (deep brown) also looks great with the carpet (on my monitor, tho monitors do lie, as we all know). If you don't want darker than the rug, I would go very light, like BM Marscapone, that will provide contrast with the rug.

I also agree with amysrq, why paint all 3 rooms the same color? If you're in the FR a lot, paint that a "safe" color and go bolder in the bedroom and office. If you like red, BM Dinner Party is a deep, rich color, and, again, at least on my monitor, look good with the carpet.

If you use the room mostly at night for TV viewing (that's certainly how we use our FR), why not go for a darker color? With your bright, "out west" light and tons of sunny days, it might be a nice contrast.

Sorry for the BM color suggestions, I don't have a SW fandeck.

Good luck-

sandyponder

I need to proofread better; summerfan, I meant "sheers", not sheets, and "downstairs".

Hi, sandyponder. I've very much enjoyed your taste and your color courage, although I don't have your panache when it comes to decorating, and DH is a monochromist for sure, but I'm afraid I'll feel like I'm living in a cardboard box with tan absolutely everywhere downstairs.

The nearest BM store is 80 miles away, but I happen to be going there Wednesday and am going to get a sample of Wenge and see how it looks. Rust and copper shades are my favorites, I have them somewhere in every room upstairs. I plan to surprise Dh and myself with a big splash of Wenge, which would change the feeling of the room completely. I wasn't able to think that "out of the box" (literally) on my own, so thank you for your help!

Oh, susanka, I'm so glad you are going to play with wall color, I look forward to seeing the Wenge. Our FR is very small and has north and northeast light, and is mainly used for TV viewing at night. I first decided to paint it BM Bittersweet Chocolate, but it was too brown, so I bought a quart of BM Black and mixed it into the BC, and now it's more of a black/brown. The room isn't really done, so I haven't posted any pics, but it's very enveloping and intimate, which is great for the 3 of us watching a movie.

Good luck with your BM shopping, and be sure to look at other BM browns, deep grays and brownish greens, they have a great selection. I would suggest looking at River Rock, Sharkskin, Durango and Mohegan Sage (not like the Sagey in your LR, much darker and browner).

sandyponder

Hi, Sandy. I'll look around at the others too. DH is going to be concerned that this won't be good for resale (planned for about six years from now) and we'll have to repaint, but I'll feed him up with chocolate cake and he'll be fine!

I want to look at some apricot shades also. Will post my results when I get the patches on the wall.

Thanks again to everyone, and I'm open to more ideas if you want to share them.

Susan