North facing very dark office
alexveg
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
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5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoalexveg
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North-facing kitchen too dark?
Comments (14)Our kitchen faces north, with a north-facing window (view on our green back yard) and two small west-facing ones (view on the neighbor's house and back yard... fortunately they have a very pretty back yard). And guess what the previous owners did to this kitchen? Yes! They painted the walls putty-colored and the cabinets GRAY, and then they put in a dark gray Corian island, and stainless counters, and white linoleum with a gray pattern. In other words they did everything they could to make it look drab and uninviting. I picture them standing there wondering out loud, "Is it gray enough yet? We need more GRAY!" We are remodeling, obviously (everything they did was wrong... all I have to tell you to convince you of that is that this is an 11 x 17-foot kitchen and in the ENTIRE KITCHEN there is only ONE DRAWER). So I can't speak from experience yet--I mean I can't tell you yet how it works out--but the plan is to warm it up with golden oak floors and pale yellow walls. Probably we will do creamy/warm white cabinets, with glass in the upper cabinet doors to show off our very colorful Fiestaware (we have one place setting each of about six different colors, and more to come). Our new range is BLUE, yay! (see link below), and I think the key... well, the key is warm wood floors and pale yellow on the walls; there's nothing like yellow tones to brighten and warm a kitchen up--that's the color you're missing by not having direct sunlight. But I'd say the other keys are: (1) Everything should lean towards a warm version of whatever color it is. Warm or creamy white instead of snow white/blue white, light to medium-stained woodwork with yellow undertones, and, for example, if you have black counters, can they be a greeny-black (e.g. soapstone that's such dark green it looks black) instead of blue-black? (2) Have pops of bright color here and there. Like the blue stove, our red tea kettle, an interesting backsplash that's either light or bright colors, and so on. Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Fratelli Royal Chiantishire...See MoreVery dark north facing DR. Is there a rule with paint colors?
Comments (53)I took some photos but don't know if I will ever get them posted. Plus the lighting was bad because I just shot them without any adjustments with off indoor lighting. It was an upscale old folks home where my uncle lives. The whole place appeared to have been designed by a very smart and capable decorator. Everything was color coordinated on all the floors, although each had a unique personality. But the whole thing was designed to give off a warm. cozy and upscale vibe. Problem for me using it would be that none of my things would match those colors. I have that "northwoods" color scheme going with maroon, blueberry, taupe, brown, forest green, tan, plum and sage. It'll be interesting to see how I pull off blending my mom's "spring/fall" color palette with my "winter/summer" one. I can use her colors if the intensity and tone is right. For example, I am fine with dark rust, watermelon or terra cotta but peach is death for me....See MoreZone 8 north facing shady front yard garden - where to start?
Comments (5)Given that that I don't know your area, my only suggestion is to do next to nothing for a full season other than get everything identified and do basic maintenance i.e. Weeding and trimming off anything which attacks you on the way to the gate. Only after a year of living with the garden will you know how it fits with your life. 'Vinca' (actually Catharanthus roseus, not true Vinca) and ice plant need full sun and they won't get that under your magnificent magnolia. You need to be looking at shade tolerant plants and spring bulbs. You can tell by the moss that the bed is shady. Ferns would love it. There's little point hankering after the types of plants from your hot dry garden. Embrace the lush woodsy spirit of the space and don't try to make it into a prissy suburban flower bed of bought in annuals. Yawn. The selection possible in this new type of environment is enormous and beautiful. Personally I'd choose it over a bunch of rubbery succulents any day. That bed could be full of colour right now if there were small bulbs in there. Snowdrops, narcissi, corydalus, hyacinth, Scilla, cyclamen.... all gorgeous. I have enlarged the photo and I confess I can't clearly see any hellebores. But they would be ideal candidates. You can get any plants you don't recognise identified over on the Name that Plant Forum. There are experienced PNW gardeners there and also on the Perennials, Shrubs and Trees forums. Japanese maple would certainly enjoy that space but I'd be patient about placing it. Autumn would be fine. The bamboo in a trough would also work in all likelihood....See MoreDark, north facing, and complicated room challenge
Comments (11)So these are the listing pics? Do you have photos of the space as it is now? By "peacock", do you mean that you've painted the paneling? Seems like a dark color... Anyhow, have you tried warm white walls with lighter furniture and rugs? Also, ample lamplight will help compensate for lack of natural light (I have a north-facing living room with its single window under the porch so I would know - also, our living room is a garish apricot color (previous owner had kinda bad taste in interior wall colors) so, uh, that certainly warms it up extra good when the lamps are on)....See MoreCelery. Visualization, Rendering images
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoalexveg
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