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nicole_p141

Help -- which paint colors should I choose?!

nicole_p141
last year

Hello!


We are repainting the first floor interior of our colonial home next week. I have been struggling to commit on color choices -- for the past several months -- and driving my husband (and self!) crazy in the process.


The issue I have been struggling with is that we really fell in love with our house and the charm when we bought it. It just needs a little bit of an update to make it fresher and a bit lighter. The ceilings are low (7.5 feet) and there is not a ton of natural light. But we don't want to lose the charm and character that we fell in love with in the first place -- plus painting is expensive and I am really afraid of making of mistake and being stuck with it!


Would appreciate any insight anyone has on the below questions.


1. Kitchen wallpaper: Kitchen wall paper is currently F&B Polka Square in Color BP 1051 (creamy yellow background with white dots) (link: here). We want to keep the dots but not the yellow and are deciding between Color BP 1050 (off-white background with white dots, very subtle) or Color BP 1053 (greyish taupe with white dots, more contrast). The trim in the kitchen is currently BM White Dove (but see Point 2 below) and the cabinets (which are not getting painted) are an unknown custom cabinet finish (it's very similar to White Dove but a bit creamier).


Photos of Kitchen below, original, then with both alternative wall paper samples.



White wall paper (BM Simply White trim sample on the right)



Grey Wall paper (BM Simply White trim sample on the right)




2. Trim & Woodwork Color: The trim and woodwork in our house is currently painted BM White Dove and it works great in every room except the hallway and staircase which have no natural light and make the BM White Dove look grey (see photo 2 below). As noted above, part of what I'd like to accomplish with the repainting is to make the house feel a bit lighter and fresher and so I have been considering painting the trim and woodwork BM Simply White instead of BM White Dove. My only concerns are (1) is there a risk the BM Simply White will look too yellow once it's painted everywhere (even though the Sampilize peel and stick samples do not currently)? and (2) if I like the White Dove look now, am I going to be disappointed with Simply White? There's quite a lot of woodwork all over the house, so this is not just crown molding and baseboard -- in several of the rooms the paneling extends 2/3 up the wall.


Photo below shows BM Simply White sample at crown molding and on paneling to left of TV.




Photo below shows difference between Simply White (top) and White Dove (bottom) in hallway/stairwell with no natural light. (Note that this wallpaper will be removed.)



3. Ceiling Color. I do not know what my current ceiling color is, but I think it seems too cool for either the BM White Dove or the BM Simply White trim. Since we have low ceilings I was told that choosing the same ceiling color as trim color would make the ceiling feel lower because your eye would stop at the bottom of the crown molding rather than going all the way to the top. But in most posts, I see the advice is to use the same ceiling white as trim white (just in a different sheen). What do folks recommend here? In the photo above with the TV, I have a Simply White sample on the trim and a BM Chantilly Lace sample on the ceiling and it looks pretty good, but I am a bit worried that once it's painted over the whole house, the Chantilly Lace on the ceiling will accentuate the yellow tones in the Simply White. But when I put the Simply White sample on the ceiling it feels very dark, not light and bright.


Thanks very much in advance for any help!



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