I'd avoid making any of the more permanant elements of a room too "taste specific". Not because it's "bad for resale", but because your own tastes change. You may love lime in a big way now, but in 5 years, you're kicking yourself wondering what you were thinking. With a more neutral floor, it'll be easy to paint the walls, recover the chairs, and have a whole new look that is again "taste specific" without having to incorporate that lime that you no longer love.

So, take that pattern that you love and do a black, white, tan, grey, or a combo of all of that. It can still be an outstanding room element in neutrals. And it will still be outstanding 10 years from now when you've moved on to wanting an all white and stainless steel sitting room.

I think if you are on the fence about the random lime in the checkerboard, you should not do it. I do like the idea of the dark grey and white checkerboard. That is kind of classic, but overscaled will be interesting.

Then, if it makes sense to use the lime on its own in the utility/hall, go for it. My internal barometer usually is, if I have to think about the implications of doing it too much, maybe I shouldn't. (This is different than obsessing over planning :)

Obviously the only time being too taste specific is a big concern is when you go to sell the home, so I agree that the expensive, permanent items should be more neutral, or easily changed. I know that lots of people say, "but we plan to live here forever", but sometimes circumstances change and make that impossible.
I work in a RE office and see that happen all the time. For instance, one of the agents in my office has a listing that is a very cool house with a very custom floor plan. The house has 3 bedrooms, with the master being sort of an open loft upstairs. It works for them because they are empty nesters who rarely have house guests. They were sure that they would die in that house, but things have changed, and they are tired of maintaining the acreage the house sits on. If the floorplan were more conventional they probably would have sold it by now, but they keep having to drop the price, and buyers love everything about it but that master bedroom, which can't easily be changed.

I went from wondering how I would handle walking up three flights of stairs and navigating the spiral steps inside my apartment when I got to be my parents age (35 years from now)...to actively looking for other properties while scrambling to finish up some renovations. I have been here 8 years. On the one hand, you shouldn't design to the tastes of the unknown future owner. On the other, I'm glad I *didn't spend $10K putting a window in the bathroom.

You really have to examine multiple scenarioes when making fixed decisions about a house. I am not sure that a tri colored floor would be enough to stop someone from buying a unique storefront property, but if you tone it down a notch and still love it...its something to consider.

Well I love a quirky idea so I'm all for the lime :) The color is really very cottage countryish and even me, who just ain't a lime girl, could work with in it your space. I think it fits the space really well!

I say do it! I hate rules, and I love breaking them. I also don't believe in making choices with resale in mind... but I understand why people feel like it's important.

I think that "Early American Grocery Store Industrial" cries out for a unique floor application. :)

Have you shared photos of this place on the forum before? Because now I'm dying to see it, lime velvet wing chairs and all!! :)

I don't see "Early American Grocery Store Industrial" being a widely popular look. And I mean that as a compliment.
Everything about it is unique. Quirky. Not mass market.

The person who buys this house from you will be someone who falls in love with it.
Someone who is able to understand your vision and happily embrace it.

For that reason, I think going 'too neutral' would be a mistake in your case. Lime is definitely not too neutral! However, it's also a color that not everyone loves. A more popular color like red would be safer without being boring.

What other colors are quirky, popular and versatile?

My house is full of taste specific stuff...it would be hard to sell this house as is, that's for sure. Some things are more difficult than others...lime green is a tough color to decorate around, so I'd use it on something more easily changed, myself. But more because if you get sick of it, it's hard to change. Marmoleum itself is taste specific, and I'd still use it!

The click colors are really rather limited, I think. I thought about maybe doing barbados (creamy) with raven (black) and then using the volcanic ash (grey) as my throw in accent color...the accent really does appear rather randomly in the pattern. I have a lot of lime colored (or other spring green) things, so to me, lime seems natural. But I can probably satisfy that in the rear hall and utility and keep the major floor in "bolder" neutrals.

But, due to contractor fraud and incompetence, our house currently looks like this:

so it will be a while before this click flooring goes in. :-) At least 2 months (and that's quite an ambitious timeline) But this is the living room/kitchen you're seeing, so this is where the click would be installed. And yes, that's daylight through the foundation.

We're hoping that Phase One Recovery: The Exterior will begin in earnest on Ash Wednesday. While not home decorating, we had $10K in structural work to do (not unusual or even really deserving of mention in a structure from 1880) when we first purchased the house. Now we are getting quotes for $80K to remediate the damage done by our original contractor's unlicensed subs. This project has been a real nightmare, both emotionally and financially for us. I hired an award winning architect with a design build that specializes in historic renovations. What I got was what you see - and to add insult to injury, he didn't pay his subs and he stole $52K that he never invested in the property - only in himself. The DA will deal with that, but I have to deal with the damage and the liens and the theft of historic materials.

The near destruction of a Thomas Sully associated grocery store that stands on land subdivided from the old Bouligny Plantation, Cottage, and once owned by a free woman of color has been hard for me to swallow as an American History major with a minor in African American studies.

I'm just glad that my husband and I are blessed enough to still have the means to salvage it, but it will be years before we can recover financially from this.

*bump*

I think contractors and or handy men should be hung for doing things like this to people.

Thank goodness you and your husband have eachother to lean on.

If you survive this, I'm sure it will look gorgeous when your finished. Anyone can live in a cookie cutter condo, but how many people can live in a 1880 grocery store?

Don't be afraid about following the rules, you didn't follow them when you bought a grocery store, did you?

I happen to like lime and I see it often, especially in design books, not that it matters.

I bought a Victorian Cottage built in 1895, and when I hear a different sound in the house I cringe. Owning an old house is not for the faint of heart.

I did a upstairs bathroom in a olive green, probably not the best color for resale. Picture below.
This is the last time I am posting this, since I have posted more times than I care to mention.

Incidentally, I saw a gorgeous lime green chair at T.J.Maxx for $200.00 the leather on it was just so good looking and it looked so rich.

{{!gwi}}

Lime Green? I thought we were calling it Pear Green!

I absolutely love love love it. Started with it in my chocolate dining room, made curtains out of material that had lime (woops I mean Pear) green swirls and birds on it, and yes, those are twigs painted in this same color on the table:
{{!gwi}}

Here's the wallpaper in my powder room, quite a little surprise:
{{!gwi}}

And I also have a velvet pear/lime green vintage wingback chair. It is so cool, everybody loves it and wants to sit in it, it's not curvy like the modern wingbacks, it's very square. This picture is from the consignment shop where I bought it, actually the chair is much brighter! I also have a West Elm lime green arm chair. I just love these.

Beekeeperswife, are those fireplace screens in your windows??!! I love them!!! And I love your black walls!

Oh, wow. Those are some very lovely pear/lime/olive green spaces! I'm heading over to the house now to take pictures of my spring green exterior paint. It is definitely *not* a shade for a shrinking violet, but I keep thinking how pretty a cottage garden anchored by purple flowers would be on the sunny side of the house!

There was an article on houzz yesterday about green and white in decorating. I'm suddenly seeing it everywhere, when I've been carting around - and chasing my dogs off of -two antique lime green velvet wing back chairs for about 8 years!

Maybe I'm too fussy about such things, but even though I use the sound-bite-speech myself at times......(eg: make the blue pop--taste-specific--transitional--big box stores, etc.) I also hate that it takes away sometimes from the specificity of what you really want to say or to ask.
If what a person really wants from another is the answer to the question:
"If I do lime, my very favorite color, on my flooring, or on my counter tops, or on my cabinets, will it completely keep someone else from buying my very pretty house 3 years from now, when George unexpectedly gets that dream job in Pocatella Idaho?"
...then, just asking if this is too 'taste-specific' may not do the trick.
Personally, I try to work within the self-imposed confines of my own known limitations. If I'm thinking of painting my walls soft lime and I know that I can repaint them myself 3 years from now when George gets the job, then, I will probably do it. If I'm thinking of putting Bold Lime on my cabinet doors but know I won't be able to afford a re-do ever.........then, I'm gonna go with neutral and do Lime on my throw pillows. But if I know that Lime floors will always be my passion, then, I will go for it.

It's a hard call anymore, no two ways about it.
But if you live in a reclaimed grocery store, (as my in-laws did for years!!) then part of the appeal is the out of the ordinary approach, right?

Dawn, if I've seen that green bath before, I don't remember. It's lovely and I'm thrilled you posted the photo.

Red

I don't know a lot about Marmoleum click flooring but it sounds like you can replace individual tiles. Since you are talking about random squares of lime can you double order another "neutral" color to replace the lime ones in the future if you tire of them or want to sell?

I have lime green leather seating for my kids to watch tv on - we think it looks great! Green really goes with more things than people realize and very few people dislike the color. It might not be as risky as it sounds and it would be nice for you to really enjoy your property.

beekeeperswife...

I LOVE that wallpaper. Who makes it? Is there a co-ordinating fabric?

WANT.

beekeeperswife, the pics are beautiful. I LOVE the chocolate/lime combo. I really like newdawn's olive bathroom too.

Personally, I think that the combo of New Orleans with "historic grocery store" as a home lends itself quite well to lime green. From my POV, New Orleans has always associated itself with bright, fun colors and combinations that may not work anywhere else definitely work in my mind's eye view of NO.

Here in South Florida, where our population is very diverse, including many Carribean Islanders, wild color combinations happen all the time, on houses and businesses. Those combos work because of the landscaping and cultural attitude of the people who create them.

I think your lime green would be beautiful in your setting. It might not work in my house (sage green EVERYWHERE here), but I bet it will blend quite nicely with your decorating style.

Thanks for the compliments.

Yes those are fireplace screens in the window, I needed to not feel as though I am in a fishbowl. I started out with one, but two was so much more sensible.

The wallpaper is manufactured by...don't remember, but here is a place that sells it, so maybe you could figure it out. Comes in other colors too.

duh...here's the link

Here is a link that might be useful: birch trees

Industrial Chic + chartreuse + 1880' grocery store? I say go for it and contact a few home decor mags and see if they will pay you a handsome fee to use your home in a spread. Beige definitely wouldn't cut it.
Love your rooms newdawn and beekeepers.

Thanks deedee and Red and awn03 for the compliment. Beekeeper I am mad about black walls, mad I tell you, MAD. And have loved them for years, it's so classey.

I love all the photos - & I'm not even a big fan of lime, ahhh pear! I personally think it could be great in something as unorthodox as a historic grocery store. The question is "how well do you like lime?" Do you buy & wear clothes in that color, even when it's not trendy? Is it your personal neutral shade that goes with everything kind of like a signature color (mine's olive so I understand the passion for green)? How many years has this been your favorite color? And can you live with it everyday without tiring of it?

Regardless of what you choose for a floor, I can't wait to see the restored building. Is absinthe lime green or am I thinking of another liquor besides chautreuse? If it is, it's certainly appropriate for a home in NO.

Well, lime isn't my color either, but beige ... barf! I'm in Central FL and my gold/melon/teal outside paint shocks some, but thrills most.

I've been to NO and been taken on tour by our friends who grew up there. I saw things ... anyway, it was a comprehensive tour before the hurricane.

Do what your heart dictates. Lime? No problem! You are a unique person with a unique property in a unique location. Take advantage of it! Enjoy it!

Who doesn't like lime??? Especially in a gin and tonic!

Love all those photos - would have a hard time picking my fave. Beeskeeper, I just adore the screens in the window.