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Paint Home Decorating Design Dilemma

Help with Office Paint Color, Please!

last year

As part of a whole house remodel, we are redoing my husband's office. Excuse the poor photos, but there are two walls of windows with southern and western exposure - the room gets a lot of light. (The bookshelves, etc. are being removed. The flooring will be wide plank white oak.) He loves the idea of a darker office, so I have selected SW Indigo Batik for the walls, which coordinates with the overall house color scheme. He now thinks he would like one wall to be lighter, perhaps SW Accessible Beige, to accommodate a darker map print that he likes. While I always encounter rooms that have one dark accent wall, I am unsure about having one lighter wall. I would love to hear the community's thoughts on that. Thanks in advance for your help.

Comments (5)

Rho Dodendron
last year
What I see is at least three walls covered in wood. Two walls have shelves that will be filled, presumably, with colored books and/or objects. You will be hanging maps on one wall. Too busy for minimalist me---stick to one color for all the walls and maybe the ceiling too.
Leslie A
Original Author
last year
So all that you are looking at will be painted and not wood. All of the paneling will be painted. As indicated in the post, the shelves etc. are coming down. Another option is to remove the paneling and instill drywall but at this point, he wants the paneling to stay.
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kristinamaria and teacats, you are on the same wavelength. I think I will do that... find the fabric first. And teacats, I absolutely LOVE THAT FABRIC. Seriously, I LOVE it!! I am going to go back to that site in a minute and see about a sample. Thanks for linking that. I luv my GW friends. :o) You all are so helpful. Each person has something to share that I had not thought of/had not realized. Thanks for sharing all of your advice. I'm going to find the fabric and see if I can get my green in the fabric, and then I think I'll go with whatever blue the "experts" have put in the fabric. I'm just not the best with paint colors. Thanks! ;o) mrsrose, I am headed out the door in a few minutes, but will post a few kitchen shots on here later today for you to see. Thanks for the compliments from you and lindybarts too. ;o)
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Just a short note to say thank you to everyone for their kind words and color thoughts. I'll be back in a bit, as soon as I get the painters situated, to comment more fully and share some pics. Trust me, les, I have great views from every seat in my office. :) There are two desks floating in the room, facing each other. The one closest to the long narrow window has my giant computer monitor on it. When I am looking at that monitor I can't see anything over the top of it. It completely blocks my view into the library. But when I look to the right, I see the bubbling rock in the backyard. The other desk is for art and research. When I sit there and look left, I see the birdbath. The big rocking chair is my reading chair, and also faces the yard. I planted things in the yard with my line of sight from the office in mind. No matter where I sit I can see and hear the birds. Also, when you come in the house, a glance through the French doors lets you see my office. I wouldn't want to have people seeing my messy desk. :)
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I had SW Shagreen in one of my rooms at my last house, and loved it. I also used Parakeet when we finished our basement, and that was a stunning color! But that one is a VERY bright green.
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The office and foyer look to have good natural light while the kitchen does not. If that's true, based on the progression I outlined above, I would put the lightest color in the kitchen, a mid-range shade in the foyer and the darkest color on a color strip card in the office. Use the flooring as your key, and go with blue or yellow undertones, all depending on the warmth or "coolth" of the flooring color. For example, if you have yellow undertones you might try a selection of more pastel olive greens (usually yellow based) or if cool, some sage greens have more blue undertones. Christopher Lowell has an easy method to help you get a good neutral that is not influenced much by blue or yellow, but a true neutral for a good background. Here is his video "7 layers of design." It is covered in step # 1 of his system. The style is a bit dated and the order of the steps can vary from his, but the basic principles still work very well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4u32tmcE3U
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houssaon
last year
Indigo Batik is gorgeous! I think Pacer White, a recommended coordinating color might be better than Accessible Beige.

Although I just found a room with Indigo Batik walls and Accessible Beige Accent. So you are on to something!
Small Family Room · More Info
Leslie A thanked houssaon
Maureen
last year
last modified: last year
Paint 3 walls in blue and hold up the map to see how it looks on the darker background. Map may stand out enough and since he likes a darker room, paint 4th wall. Settled. If still unsure, purchase a pint of the beige to get a sense of how room especially feels, as that‘s really important.

Room will have a cozier feel all dark, will not be broken up and there are ways to highlight map with lighting and accessorizing.

Could even reconfigure bookcase to highlight.
Leslie A thanked Maureen
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
IMO posting before pics is great when you have the sfters. I think dark walls can be very attractive but navy and beige not so much. I do not love accent walls that have no connection to anything so at least post a pic of the map. Then do the ripping out of shelving paint the walls the blue, ( add lots of lighting) then come back and we will have a much better idea of the space and if he needs an accent wall at all.
Leslie A thanked Patricia Colwell Consulting

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