Help to update & brighten new home
We recently purchased a new (to us) house. Although I love the house, the current paint colors feel dark and stifling. We’d like to update the paint and light fixtures. All trim, doors, and plantation blinds are SW6119 Antique White, and we do not want to repaint all of this. The kitchen cabinets are a similar cream color. I’m having trouble finding colors that go with the trim and slate backsplash in the kitchen. We’re keeping a brown leather sofa and the dining room furniture (shown in photo). We’re replacing the rest of the furniture in the kitchen and family room and buying new area rugs. The tile and countertops in the master bath are tan stone. I’d appreciate any help with paint colors and area rugs (we want wool) that will look great with the Antique White trim and brown sofa. Thank you for any suggestions!
Close up of kitchen backsplash; you can also see a little bit of the countertop color:
I love this painting and would like to be able to incorporate it somewhere (haven't purchased it yet):
We have a Michalopoulos painting that we'd like to keep, but we can change the frame:
Comments (7)
PROCarolina Kitchen & Bath
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoBen Moore Shaker Beige - get a paint sample or at least a chip, this shows it as darker than it is. Here's the best picture I have of this, it's in my living room. Really, get a sample and try it on the wall.
Please forgive the mess. We're getting rid of our antiques and going mid-century.
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New Home - Just Updated Kitchen - Need help with hardware
Comments (11)Levismomma; Wow, what beautiful wood cabinets -- those are from the 70's? You are so lucky to have escaped the dark wood laminate -- or any laminate, in fact. You've done a great job updating -- I know that all of us would like to see more pictures! I really like the silver handles on the left: the one to the immediate right of center. I see what you mean about the ring -- are you close to an Ikea? They make a handle, the Varde, that has a metal base that is optional -- it may cover the ring that you see. Also, it is a silver pull, but actually has just a hint of gold to it, which may work quite well with your cabs. They really put the pulls in a weird spot. Another thought -- what are you going to do about the hinges? Congratulations on your new house! Here is a link that might be useful: Ikea pulls...See MoreWant to brighten up our new home! Purchased red door. Shutter color??
Comments (65)Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I just learned about a company that makes a product for staining brick that I thought you might like to know about. The company is called Masonry Cosmetics and you can buy a DIY kit for just $119 that looks like it is enough to do the front of your home. The guy emphasizes it's not a paint, so you're not going to experience any cracking or fading or peeling like you could if you whitewashed or painted the brick. What got my notice is you can lighten the brick, not just darken it! Click on their name for some before and afters. It still looks like brick - not painted brick. All the natural variations in the brick are still there! Also, to answer your question above - if your windows or wooden, they can be painted. Many houses have vinyl windows that cannot be painted - those are typically white or cream....See MoreUpdating /brightening kitchen on small budget
Comments (17)To start, I'd hang your roman shade much higher so it is not blocking any part of the window when it's pulled up (it looks as if it's blocking about 8 inches?). This will not only let in more light but also make the window look bigger and give a bit more sense of height to the room. I'd also see if it is possible to alter the upper cabinetry around the window a bit. Right now the cabinets are noticeably crowding the window, which means light is being blocked on either side from really penetrating into your kitchen. If you are planning to paint your cabinetry anyway, I would suggest taking down the diagonal corner upper (the upper immediately to the right of the sink). Corner cabinets provide fairly inaccessible, bad storage anyway, and this one is blocking your desired light! After taking that cabinet down, you could leave that corner empty. Since the uppers around the range that would remain would be symmetrical, it would look intentional. Somewhat like this: Or you could fill in that corner by installing a normal, straight, non-corner upper cabinet (possible reusing the corner cabinet's door?) on the range wall. Then your uppers on the range wall would die straight into the window wall like this: Or you could fill in that corner with open shelves that die into the window wall. Like this: I think the second two options are nicer-looking than leaving the corner empty, but if budget is an issue, the empty corner looks fine enough and lets in light just as well. In terms of reducing the light-blocking nature of the cabinet to the left of the window, since you are planning on painting the cabinets, you could look into finding an existing cabinet line with the same door shape as your cabinets. Then you could purchase and paint a less-wide upper and swap it in for the existing one to the left of the sink. You could also swap that cabinet for open shelves, which would be especially great for letting the natural light into the room. If you do swap out the cabinet to the left of the sink, perhaps you could move the existing upper to the corner, replacing the existing corner cabinet and the upper to its right. Like this:...See Morehelp me update the beige palette of my new house
Comments (4)I think a creamy white will be good. Get some large pieces of foam board and paint good size area using sample jars. Lowe's sells Sherwin Williams sample jars for a reasonable price ($3.50, I think). I have a cream with a touch of beige to set off the white trim and it works well with my warm wood cabinetry. Another color which works well with warm wood is sage. If you are partial to grays, consider a sage with a more gray undertone as cool grays do not work well with warm woods, but warm grays, which often read green can go very well....See More
bandit5213
5 years ago
katinparadise
5 years agoYou might take a look at SW Accessible Beige.
It heads more greige instead of straight beige.
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ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoBeige can look dreary and (yes, I'm afraid "dated"), and something like the greige posted above will not only look more current but will just simply look nicer. I would remove the overly large print in the heavy frame in your dining room, and you might try framing the bird painting (or even try it without the frame although it may be too small) in that area. With your heavy traditional furniture something lighthearted like the bird picture might be just the thing. Look on e-bay and esale.rugs for Oriental rugs at good prices.
Carolina Kitchen and Bath, I have a secretary similar to yours (see below), and I hope you won't regret having given it up when the MCM trend is over. Yours needs some TLC but it does have a history.
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Cynthia Taylor-Luce