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Paint Design Dilemma Kitchens

Mountain home colors

2 years ago

We bought a mountain home that we will be updating from 90's beach vibe to modern mountain lodge vibe. The home was built in the 90's and while in good shape, needs some updates. The home features a two story living room which opens up to the dining room and kitchen. The kitchen cabinets are in good shape but they are a pink stained oak. The kitchen counters and backsplash were recently updated with black granite and black ceramic floor tile was installed. Both the counters and tile are in great shape so we'd like to keep those. I want to paint the cabinets to bring them more in line with our mountain lodge vibe. I was thinking dark gray or sage, but I'm looking for other ideas and would love some more specific colors to try. We will replace the hardware with ORB pulls and knobs.

Since the kitchen is open to the dining and living room (it's all one big room really), I'd also like ideas on what color to paint the walls. I think I want to keep the walls light, especially if we go with a darker color on the cabinets. We plan to replace the carpet in the living/dining room with either wood or luxury plank tile, and also update the fireplace with barnwood mantel and maybe stone, dark plaster, or wood panel all the way to the ceiling behind the fireplace. We'll replace the canned lights with updated led canned lights, and add a chandelier in the dining room (as well as a rustic table in the dining room).

Thanks in advance for ideas/inspiration photos. (Note, in the photos below the granite and tile look lighter than they appear in person. In person they are more black than gray).

Featured Answer

Sherry Brighton

2 years ago

Instead of gray or sage I would do a grey/green on the cabinets. I am a huge fan of Farrow and Ball French Gray.

I would hold off on a wall color until you have made the other changes and see what suits the finishes. I would definitely be thinking warm and cozy.

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Comments (9)

Stephanie D
Original Author
2 years ago
Adding photos:
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Stephanie D
Original Author
2 years ago
@Sherry Brighton . Thank you, great suggestion. Unfortunately we will be doing all of the work at once and will need to decide on everything up front rather than in stages. I can certainly test out samples in the meantime though! I do like a grey/green idea.
Sherry Brighton
2 years ago
You can still decide all at once, just pick the other finishes first and then the wall paint. The walls should never be the starting point. If you must pick out the walls first, go with a warm creamy off white that doesn't brown out in low light.
Stephanie D
Original Author
2 years ago
Oh yes, agree. I’ll definitely pick cabinet color first.
Maureen
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
First decisions should be around what modern rustic means to you and how to complement your present (or future) furniture and overall direction; consider the entire space. Viable suggestions for paint colors are difficult without having a bit more information. If in budget, hiring someone to help coordinate would be a good idea as painting cabinets is a huge commitment time and money wise.

Color choice for cabinets might be different if adding open shelving, painting trim, replacing peninsula‘s counter with something lighter or using butcher block, going with a two tone scheme. Maybe look into option of restraining. My suggestion is to pour through inspiration pictures of “modern rustic“ mountain home kitchens and living rooms, or simply “rustic“ depending on your vision and furniture.

Modern mountain rustic:

Mountain Rustic:
Stephanie D thanked Maureen
kandrewspa
2 years ago
Sherwin Williams 7059 Unusual Gray is a green-gray. It looks more green than this in real life.
Stephanie D
Original Author
2 years ago
@Maureen . Great suggestions. I have just started looking and pulling inspirations and will continue to do so. Regarding the cabinets, no, I am not willing to do open shelving in the kitchen (we need the storage since there is no pantry, and I hate how impractical open shelves are regarding dust/keeping organized, etc). I have never really liked two-tone cabinets before. I did think about stain, but I wasn't sure if they could be stained since they already have a pink oak finish on them.
PRO
Lisa Caudill Designs
2 years ago
I think sage green cabinets and wood shiplap walls would gave you the mountain lodge look you are going for. Here's and inspo picture.

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