need wall and trim colors for kitchen/living room
looking for some help or direction with picking new wall/trim colors for our living room. Excuse the mess but below is a photo of the current living room standing in the kitchen, and a rendering of our current kitchen project as if you were standing in the living room. The cabinet color is the attached "meadow" color as our cabinet makers call it...but i believe its pretty close to benjamin moore's saybrook sage.
We had been thinking of keeping the colored trim with lighter/neutral walls but are very much looking forward to getting rid of the dark red we have lived with since buying our home 5 years ago. Hoping to find colors that work really well with the proposed kitchen to tie the two spaces together. We are open to painting (and maybe replace with a different style) the mantle as well.
Comments (18)
robertgoulet
4 years agoits not letting me edit the original post but here is the messy mc messerson house.
My wife loved hearing that you like our cabinet color. I wanted a much more olive color or a tan or something....thought "meadow" was too light and "pastel"ish...but she won :)Related Discussions
need help for my kitchen wall and trim color!
Comments (18)Thanks. Your sink doesn't have enough overhang for what we are going for. It was cut on site so there was no error. They say ours is typically what they do but they are willing to come and shorten it a little bit. We want to be able to sweep food particles and whatever else directly into the sink. Your sink has a lip before the sink and I feel like food would get stuck there before it made it to the sink. The majority of pictures online show a sink with countertops like ours. Yours is a postive reveal. We still want a negative reveal just not as big as what we have now. Thanks...See MoreNeed help with kitchen cabinet and living room color???
Comments (1)Too many posts delete this one....See MoreNeed so much advice for kitchen/dining room/living room remodel
Comments (21)Your request for help is quite broad and without a lot of specifics. That makes it hard to answer. I'd suggest breaking it down for yourself and for us like this: 1) Before you start choosing finishes, you'll want to solidify your kitchen and likely furniture layout/orientation. You'll get the most help with that if you post a current floor plan of this entire floor drawn to scale with measurements noted on. Your architect might already have a floor plan you can share here, or you could make one with a tape measure and some graph paper. Generally a 1 square = 1 foot or 1 square = 6 inches is a good, usable scale. Please indicate on the plan which sections of which walls are coming down and any other features (good/bad views out certain windows, fireplace, ducting that can't be moved, etc.). Also note anything you'd particularly like to achieve layout-wise (e.g., an island, a view from the island to the TV, etc.). Post that and and people will have enough information to make helpful suggestions. 2) While you're fielding suggestions about your layout, sift through Houzz and Pinterest to find some inspiration pictures you like. Look for rooms that really sing to you and have the kind of appearance or feel you really enjoy in a home and want to achieve here. Once you have found, say, six or more pictures like that, post all of them together on here and ask people to help you review the images and figure out what the commonalities between the pictures are. This will help you identify what specific things you really respond to so you can include those deliberately in your new spaces. 3) After you can articulate what it is your really like and want to bring to this space, THEN repost this question about colors choices and finishes with that information. Provide your final floor plan (the result of #1), explain what specific finishes you like or what you're specifically trying to achieve through finishes (the result of #2), and then ask us how we'd achieve those stylistic preferences in this space that you have planned. You'll get MUCH more targeted, helpful help. Only then will people understand your taste and the space that we've got to work with. THEN they can say helpful things like, "You might like X paint on Y surface with Q backsplash, plus maybe G feature on M wall? That takes advantage of your space for K reasons while adhering to your taste." Also, some side notes: a) I think you'll have an easier time balancing the dining set with styles you prefer if you break up the set across several different rooms. Use the table in the office, the chairs in the dining room, and the hutch in the kitchen or whatever. With all three - the hutch, table, and chairs - together in the dining room (and being the only furniture in that room), the country note you don't seem to be a fan of will inevitably dominate that room. b) I disagree with Sophie that it makes sense to hire an interior designer at this time. When you bring in a professional, you want to have some idea of what you're asking them for. Something you want them to help you achieve. I don't think you have that yet, and free discussion here is a good way to pin down your own thoughts a bit more. c) I don't think whoever said this looked like an inexpensive house meant it in a denigrating way. You mentioned several very large ticket items (kitchen reno and opening up two separate stories of your house), and I think she/he was simply trying to make sure you're not putting more into the house than you can get back when you sell. That can be devastating. But in case that made you feel weird about having posted, rest assured that people post on here with every single kind of house. Is this the grandest house we've ever seen? No. Is it the humblest? Also no. But no one cares. We're all just here because we like improving homes. The starting point really doesn't matter....See MoreHelp needed on colors for kitchen/living room
Comments (21)As Beth said, do not do a faux wood next to a real wood - it makes the faux look even more faux. You want the new space to blend with the old, not look like a kitchen that belongs in a different house. I haven't commented because I thought you were painting or replacing the cabinets. I did not paint mine but refreshed with with new counters, sink, backsplash and under cabinet lighting. https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~110720042 Is this a new to you home? I ask because the layout is a little awkward and it you have the funds for new cabinets, it would be a good idea to fix the layout. You may be able to rearrange what you have, but if you can start with new that might work better. I think you have a lot of ideas, and we have given you more, but you need to slow down. Take a good look at your budget. Consider how much DIY you can do. Once you think about those issues, draw up a floor plan with measurements - include the dining room since you are considering that area. Post the floor plan with pics of all sides of the kitchen and post it on the kitchens and design dilemma forum. You can get some help and ideas before you go to a kitchen designer. Some cabinet stores have designers, but if you ask here first, you will get educated on what works and what doesn't:)...See More
PROBeth H. :
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoi like the soft sage too. I'd paint all the trim in a nice white. will look crisp and clean.
what wall color are you doing? a soft gray? then for sure do a white trim. BM Simply white is a nice neutral white.
some other suggestions,,go to blinds on the windows by the fireplace. it will look neater and not so crammed together. (and just fyi, always hang your rod above your window trim!)
the pics above the mantel are hung too high (and that mantel is very thick and large looking!)
once you remove those curtains and let that area up there breathe a little, it will look better and appear larger.
just some simple blinds, or shades or woven woods
this example, below, would look great w/your kitchen design (not the fireplace itself, just the windows, all the white, furniture placement, mantel decor, etc.
is your tv staying? can you mount it on the wall somewhere?robertgoulet
4 years agoTook me a while to respond but I am still here! And I appreciate the input! I like the idea of "cleaning up" the look of the room with blings instead of curtains. The curtain rods were there when we bought the house but it is good to know moving forward that if we do stick with curtains we should move the curtain rod location.
The wall color is really TBD, Looking for a direction for wall and trim colors for the whole space. (HELP!) Our kitchen designer had thought to add a "chair rail" around the living space (visible in the rendering) but that hasnt been decided either. I kind of feel like we dont have enough wall space for a chair rail to make sense...our room is all windows and doors. The whole house has SW antique white or something (shown in photo above) for the walls and then bold colors for the trim. We definitely dont like the bold colors the previous owners chose but I dont think we are necessarily averse to having lighter walls and darker trim...we're open to going the other direction too, but wouldnt be painting the whole first floor so the dining room and front living room (through the french doors from the kitchen and living area in question) would still have white walls and painted trim. The front living room (connected to the living space in question through those french doors on the right) has sherwin williams weathered shingle for the trim/door color. Its honestly the one color in the house I like and its carried through to the upstairs hallways as well.
The TV is staying...it could be mounted somewhere else. I have generally not been crazy about putting it over the fireplace because (even with a lowered mantel...which is on the table...I was thinking about replacing the mantle with something more like the following photo) its too high for comfortable viewing and it makes the TV the focal point of the room. The firebox in our fireplace is taller than usual so even with a simpler mantle we wont achieve the proportions in the below photo or those you attached so I think the TV would be pretty high/crowded.
I really like in your photos how rotating the coffee table sort of opens the room up to the connected kitchen, as opposed to having the couch form a wall, but I just have trouble seeing where we will be able to get enough seating in the room for it to be functional...or where the TV will be? Very open to ideas though. We had actually been thinking about the following layout once the remodel is done, replacing the old couch (in the photo) with a sectional to get more seating in the room. A few downsides to this right off the bat, namely the couch blocks some of the big windows on the left side of the room, and more importantly, blocks the baseboard heaters below them.
The sliding doors to the patio are actually currently a fixed glass panel and a swinging door. We are hoping to have $$ in the budget to replace them with a slider so it doesnt take up space when it swings into the room. This would allow us to slide the sectional back toward the kitchen making the living space a little bigger. It could also afford us the following layout...which is not ideal but...we're struggling :)
- PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
4 years ago cat_ky
4 years agohollybar
4 years agolast modified: 4 years ago
Angla Gadapee
4 years agorobertgoulet
4 years agoThanks for the comments! I have not forgotten about this thread but some renovations have started so everything is chaos at the moment and it took me a while to get some measurements as requested.
going to repost the pics from above and then reference as I provide measurements..
So again, these photos were essentially taken from the same spot..one facing the kitchen and one facing the living room. So in the bottom photo, I am basically standing in front of the first door panel (sliding door to my left). That red sox hanging lamp is going away and will not be replaced with any hanging light...the end of the island will be used in place of the small pub table and the island extends basically as far into the room as the start of the slider. The back of the couch (to the camera with a sofa table behind it) are lined up with the other side of the sliding doors (77" away)
So working from that point...the sliders are 77" wide, then there is 50.5" of wall space (this is what you see at the left edge of the bottom photo). The windows are 73.5" wide, then 31" of wall into the corner.
Working across the fireplace wall there is 44" of space (wall and window) to the left of the fireplaces and 48" to the right. The fireplace surround is 63" high by 79.5" wide.
Then coming back up the other wall there is 31" of wall space from the corner to the french doors (which open to the play room or formal living room...depending on the day). Those french doors are 80" wide and then there is 112" of space including that little bit of white wall that you see, then a door to the basement, then a 24" closet door. After the two doors (which are right next to each other) you have a hallway opening and the wall oven cabinet seen on the left side of the top photo is on the far side of that hallway.
whew!
Even though I thought the meadow color was too light (and pastelly) for the cabinets, I could see where a lighter tone like you suggested for the trim in the room (presumably with a similar antique white color for the walls) might work.
I agree that the chair rail is probably a no-go. Currently the floor of the kitchen is some vinyl tile junk....these floors run all the way across in front of the sliding doors and up to the back of the couch (you can sort of see the edge of the dark floors at the bottom right of the photo above)
With the remodel we will extend the hardwoods through the kitchen. With the two spaces more connected by the continuous flooring, and no longer having a hanging light in the middle of that space in front of the sliding doors, and not needing a little table there, we were thinking our living space could maybe extend back a little bit further into the space in front of the dead panel (sliding door half that doesnt slide)....
Keep the input coming!robertgoulet
4 years ago- PRO
Beth H. :
4 years ago User
4 years agorobertgoulet
4 years agoUser
4 years agoMy vote is still white trim all over....I think you'll love it.
Also, just do a warm white for the walls...this is shoji white...of course you'll have to try a few samples on your walls as the light is different for everyone. There are also a few threads here discussing various whites that you can search.
robertgoulet
4 years agoso are you saying the same weight for the wall in the trim? or a warm white for the walls and then a different white for the trim?
here is a photo I just took of the space without anything in it... probably a little better for getting a feel of it than my cluttered photo above
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4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoI lost my post...it may show up, who knows with Houzz...
Basically I like white off-the-shelf white for trim. And a warm white for wall.
I suggest you look at light temperatures and remember what they'll do to paint colors (ideally, get the fixture and bulbs you need before painting).
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4 years agolast modified: 4 years agorobertgoulet
4 years ago
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