Thank you for the replies. I didn't want to skew them by offering my initial thoughts, but I was going in another direction. When we were building the space I thought I'd go with a pale shade of blue to mirror the lake (the rest of the house, except bathrooms, has creamy white walls.) But once we got up there we realized it had more of a treehouse feel - we weren't on the lake, we were in the foliage of the trees. The Comfort Grey seemed like a perfect fit. It offered the warmth of a bit of color in the large space, but it didn't compete with any of the beautiful landscape colors outside. It's really a chameleon color, I think, combining grey, green & blue in a very calming hue. So, I was actually thinking of adding creamy yellow and a muted red as accents. I thought during summer I could bring in red geraniums in the window boxes and have Parisian style rattan chairs in red at a table in the kitchenette area. I thought I could ground the sleeping area with a creamy yellow & red striped rug and have bedding to coordinate. It seemed like a gender friendly combination that would work throughout the 4 seasons. Now I am wondering if I am "off" with this palette...

If the yellow you are using is really pale, I cannot see how the final effect with any color red island can be Golden Arches. That said, the watercolor-ish stain on the green island francoise47 links to above points out another approach to precluding too harsh a look. I had been trying for the same washed look for accent cabinets in my kitchen, along the lines of the coral-red island in chinkle's finished kitchen. I was unable to figure out quickly whether that effect was achieved with milk paint or a stain or some other way, so I ended up going a different direction. Still, I think a washed-looking finish is a way to introduce some vibrant color while still keeping it soft. I would go with your original vision to the point of painting a large piece of wallboard, cardboard or wood the color you envision for the island, then see how it looks in situ and adjust as needed. Good luck. Here is a link that might be useful:

I am a bit confused...are you going to paint your stucco?We have a bit of stucco on our house but when I picked the color I didnt go to a paint store, the stucco already came in the color I choose. One thing I do know is pick a color a bit darker than you think, being outside the color gets washed out. I am happy with the color now I have, but wasnt quite what I had in my mind.

Hi guitargoddess- Congratulations on your lovely new home! There are so many paint colors, you can make yourself crazy, and it would be infuriating to pick out a color, fall in love with it only to have it rejected by the HOA. Why not go about it from the other direction? Drive around your development with a piece of board painted the color of your house with a stripe of your eave/fascia and your stone trim grout color. Look for a house that is any of those colors and see what their shutters are painted and take a photo, better yet, knock on the door and ask them, or put a note under the door. Another thing you can do is contact your HOA and very specifically ask for suggestions. An HOA can be such busybodies, you may get someone to speak to that may actually be helpful to you, i.e. tell you what colors other people have used recently, since they have had to ask for approval.