Can't Decide on Wall Paint Color - Help! (PICS)

12 years ago

Hi everyone!

We're making pretty good progress on the kitchen (the L cabinets, sink, fridge, stove and india ink countertops are in, still need fridge wall cabinetry/countertops, crown moulding, toe kicks, hardware, backsplash, range hood, dishwasher, microwave, etc., etc., etc.!)

Progress Pics

I should note that the floors are not nearly as dark as the above pics show, they look like this:

Anyway, I "thought" I had our green paint color figured out, but now I'm having 2nd thoughts and need your expertise!

Here's my wishlist for the paint color:

* Coordinate well with other open floor plan paint colors

* Look great with our Adel White Ikea cabinets, similar to Cloud White. (Do some greens go better with off white and others with a truer white?)

* A green that is: fresh, warm and inviting, yet soft (nothing too bright or vivid, too cool, or too yellow or dingy) - I'd like my accent colors to be a little more vivid than the wall color, and in the hydrangea green and blue color family.

Here is my Color Inspiration Mockup. The room pic is the wall color I'm going for, the blue and green in the fabric swatch and hydrangea is an example of the more vivid accent colors I'd like to add as window treatments, a flower arrangement, etc.:

Our south facing kitchen (in the North East) has a mis-mosh of greens right now. The soffit is a tinted primer that looks similar to Guilford Green. We HATED it at first, but when the cabinets were installed it has really grown on me - DH likes it better since the cabinets, but doesn't love it. The backsplash area (which will eventually be some shade of white/off white subway tile) is "supposed to be" a paint match for Fernwood Green - but it isn't. In some lighting I like it, but in others it takes on a neon effect which is not for me, so it definitely won't be staying.

And finally, here's my attempt at finding a Ben Moore color that fits the wishlist above, but I'm not sure that we've nailed it. Please let me know your thoughts, and any other colors that we might have missed:

1) Guilford Green - Closest to our tinted primer green on the soffits which I like, but DH doesn't always like it. Not sure if it works that great with the other colors in our open floor plan

2) Fernwood Green - I loved it in our last kitchen, but we had White cabinets - I'm not sure if it works as well with the off white cabinets we have now - maybe if we lightened it up a bit?

3) Nantucket Breeze - DH loves it. I'm worried it is too yellow and washed out

4) Dune Grass - A touch bluer than the Nantucket Breeze, but is it too dingy/pale?

* Sherwin Williams Shagreen or Celery - No swatches yet, I've just seen pics online but they look like they could be potential contenders

I tried getting an accurate pic of the swatches against the cabinet, but it is so hard! The other Ben Moore colors in our semi open floor plan are:

A) Woodmont Cream

B) Ambiance

C) Simply White

D) Hush

Thank you SO much for your advice!! I've been obsessing about this and am ready to buy a sample pot or 2 (...or 3)and get painting!

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Comments (7)

suzanne_sl
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hi, Bella,

What a great looking kitchen! And your inspiration mockup is beautiful - I think you have a great sense of color. If I'm reading you correctly, what you're saying is that you need to choose among paint chips 1-4 (or possibly a couple of SW greens) to go with the cabinet color they're taped to and be pleasant with chips A-D that are in adjoining spaces. Yes?

Honestly, I don't think we'll be able to do any better from our monitors than you will in the actual space. My first instinct is #1, but who could actually tell from here? I think you have the right idea - go get some samples and paint swatches on the actual walls. The good news is that if you get it on the wall and don't like it after a couple of days, you can remedy the problem by buying another can of paint. This is cheaper, of course, if the labor involved is yours vs. paying someone else to do it over.

What is your counter? It looks great with the cabinets!
singingmicki
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
From the colors you have shown, my preferences lean toward 1 and 3.

I, too, did a subtle green, but on the cabinets. My color is Ethereal Mood from Sherwin Williams.
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I've been going back and forth on your post for awhile now just looking and thinking. I have oak cabinets too and we changed out the hardware to ORB. I love it. I hear your pain on painting the cabinets! DH is the same way but has always been fine w/ me painting our cabinets. We've just never gotten around to it though. Leaving the cabinets as is until you cajole your DH into painting I think that white is a good decision for table and chairs. But Let me toss this idea out to you: Should you eventually paint your cabinets would you consider painting your table base in a pale shade of grey/ blue? I suggest this just because I think that those curtains need something a little 'weighty' in the kitchen w/ the addition of the brown sectional being in the other room. Or maybe not. I forgot that you were painting the wals green and I don't feel like erasing everything that I just typed!
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Yknow, IMHO, I wish we all could drop the "D" word from our vocabulary. If we love it , if its well made, if its functional - then a place can be found for it, period. In other words - your china cab is just fine, and it does look good on the side rather than viewed head on. That said of course we like our rooms freshened up now and then - but I think you can jazz it up in other ways incl choosing a new color ILOVE greens/browns/tans, but the pea soup color Im kind of tired of. (or so it looks on my monitor anyway, which has been known to be wrong.) Definitely think about going deeper richer. Dont know if Penny's or Anglo's deep dark colors are good for you but it gives you an idea at least of what deeper/richer could do for you. If all else fails maybe you could just take the living room color and just go a few steps darker/more intense with it. Let the DR be cozy and intimate complete w/ a big china cabinet - why not? The DR should relate well to the LR, and that would be one way of doing it. Minor quibble - I would think about that wall space where the china cab was - is there a third pic that could fit in there? With cabinet moved, that wall becomes very significant. Not liking just the two pics , needs to be 3 I think..... Or some other wall decor or arrangement .... minor thing, so perhaps just wait for the inspiration or right thing to come along.
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bellajourney
Original Author
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
suzannesl: Thank you so much for your reply and kind words, Suzanne! I really appreciate it! You have it exactly right, 1-4 are the potential swatches that are taped up (minus the possible SW colors that I don't have swatches for) and A-D are the colors in adjoining rooms.

I totally see your point about judging the colors from the little swatches and a computer monitor (I wish I could have you all visit our kitchen, lol!). Painting actual swatches on the wall would be best.

I was hoping to narrow the choices down a bit - if possible (for example, if it turns out that Fernwood Green only looks good with a true white, or Guilford Green looks terrible against a pale yellow like Ambiance, that kind of thing). I suppose someone would really need the fan decks to make that judgement though. =/ Maybe I should just buy all 6 colors to test? (Hope DH isn't reading this, lol!)

Here is the countertop story - We're doing our kitchen on a budget. I wanted soapstone (can't afford it now), so we got Ikea birch butcherblock countertops, stained them black with india ink (thanks to Brickmanhouse!), and finished them with satin PolyWhey. We don't expect them to last forever, but hope they can give us a few years until I can get the soapstone that I've been drooling over. (And, they can always be refinished if they get too beat up.)

singingmicki: Thanks for your vote! I will also look into Ethereal Mood!
herbflavor
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
number 2 from what it appears, but real life renders the best
image. With quite a bit of cool smooth surfaces, 2 appeals because it is slightly warmer...almost any color will look cooler in your particular kitchen:don't be afraid to go a tad warmer than you might normally...don't care for 1.
fnmroberts
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
After updating our kitchen, it appears that you have cabinet color, counters, appliances and natural flooring which are similar to ours. You also have good lighting.

Behind our range I selected C2 Fusion (sort of a green) , the eating area and adjacent Family Room are C2 Shaker. An accent wall is SW Poinsettia.

Photos are linked. Not wanting to confuse, but perhaps they will assist. Your kitchen looks nice and I'm sure you want it finished for the holidays.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen
cmm6797
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Have you looked at BM Abingdon Putty? A color expert may call it khaki with a green undertone but in our house it looks greenish without being minty or too green. It's very subtle. It's worth a sample I think.
bellajourney
Original Author
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Argh! Don't you hate it when you are writing a reply and accidently leave the page before submitting it? Grrr! Take 2!!

herbflavor: Thank you for your vote! #2 (Fernwood Green) was my original pick, which I had carefully coordinated with our other paint colors. But, then I was worried that it was better suited to white cabinets instead of our off white ones. I'm glad you think that our kitchen can handle a warm green. I will definitely give it a try, and may try it at 50% intensity too to see if it gives an even softer look.

fnmroberts: Thank you for your suggestion and the link to your beautiful kitchen! We will look into C2 Fusion.

cmm6797: We didn't look into Abington Putty, but I just googled it and the images are very similar to my inspiration pic. How exciting! It is going on my short list right now! Thank you!

Can't Decide on Wall Paint Color - Help! (PICS)

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