NEUTRALIZE WARMTH? HOW?
Danni Munro
3 years ago
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Kate Hip
3 years agoarcy_gw
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoRelated Discussions
Neutrals, neutrals, neutrals
Comments (25)One way to paint with resale in mind and still have color in rooms is to paint the most difficult ones in colors considered "acceptable" for your market and to reserve the color you want for easier-to-paint rooms. As an example, our master bedroom has a beamed ceiling, with the beams set into the walls. That means that there are three wall surfaces per beam requiring cutting in. Sixteen long beams, including one at each end of the room running across the length. This room had been an uninteresting white, and I redid it in a neutral mushroom color. For the cutting in required around the beams -- white to mushroom means two coats, so that worked out to the equivalent of 64 beams to meticulously paint around. Part of the wall in which five or six beams were set was on the other side of an open stairwell. So, regardless of what other colors I might conceivably have envisioned this room, there was no way it was going to be anything other than a classic, warm neutral! I do agree with posters who argue for painting for yourself. I knew within weeks of moving into our former house that it was a huge, huge mistake. Roughly 18 years later, we moved. The whole time, I lived with neutrals that weren't particularly interesting because every year I thought: THIS is the year in which we move. But are neutral rooms always necessary for resale? Someone bought an 18th C. stone house on the river with the intention of reselling. I saw it under its previous owner and was charmed by its quirks and character. The new owner has certainly improved it both structurally and mechanically, and floors are new, as is the paint job. Alas, there is absolutely no charm left. Every wall is an off white, all the trim is white...the owner may have thought potential buyers would easily envision their own things in these spaces, but I thought that every room required a new paint job. Isn't that back to square one? By contrast, one of the best real estate agents in the area lived near our former house. She sold her house very quickly. The outside was purple, with deep lavender trim. I recall a dark red room, or maybe it was orange. Another room was a bright green or bright blue....Granted, the town is one in which people want to live, not too many places come on the market, and the market itself was very different. But still...orange...blue...in fact, there may not have been a single neutral room in the place. I think the sunroom was a dark green. If you crave color but think you might want to move, just remember, too: with some exceptions, painting doesn't take very long....See Morehow to add interest and warmth to shutters, blinds in new house?
Comments (1)It's possible to add curtain panels to windows with shutters and blinds, we'd have to see pics to make suggestions. Area rugs, art, lamps, pillows, etc will also make your house more warm and interesting,...See MoreHow to figure out what’s neutral black and white
Comments (14)A pigtail socket is a useful tool, one never fooled by "phantom voltage." But in this case, based on the appearance of the wires, I can almost guarantee that there's no ground wire in that box. That's type R wire, rubber and braid covered, which signifies either early BX armored cable, or (more likely) knob and tube wiring. If it's BX, the armor is the equipment ground (and shouldn't be used that way because that's a hazard). And equipment grounds weren't used with residential K&T, or at least I've never seen one in 50 years of working with it. But this is an intriguing puzzle, and even more complicated than I thought at first glance. I saved the photo on my computer and opened it in a photo editor so I could adjust the levels, and now I can clearly see FIVE wires leaving that box. Two of them are partly hidden behind other wires. It's even possible that there are more wires spliced inside the box that are still hidden. My best guess, and it's only a guess, is that Gwen has an incoming switched hot, and incoming unswitched hot, an incoming neutral, and outgoing unswitched hot and neutral. Live testing -- maybe using a pigtail socket as MTV suggests -- would yield the answer Gwen needs. Gwen, if you can, please post back here with the solution your electrician finds!...See MoreHelp! I'm surrounded by orange wood! How can I neutralize the decor?
Comments (9)You obviously don't like it, but your "orange" wood is much less orange than much of what I've seen, and there's less of it than when oak trim was all the rage. Not only have I seen worse, but I've seen 1000s of homes that are MUCH worse. Consider whether it is really a problem, or if it is only a problem because you are fixating on it. If you continue to think it's a problem, I'd start with covering up as much of the floor as possible--a larger rug for the dining area, and a runner for the walkway. You matched your wood furniture to the floor and that was obviously a tactical error. It's probably easier to replace the furniture than to paint the spindles. You could go for paint, or metals, or glass. I hesitate to suggest different wood tones given your reaction to what's there, as most woods have some element of orange to them....See Moreherbflavor
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3 years agodeegw
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoDanni Munro
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3 years agoKate Hip
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3 years agoDanni Munro
3 years agoBeth H. :
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoHU-187528210
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