Um....well....wow.

I did make it through the entire post...and quite a post it was! By the way....I'll take the pony. I already have a dirty kid. Lucky for me I have good paint on the walls...LOL!

OK....let's get this out of the way...

There's a good chance I may say something you don't agree with...and that's OK.
I'm a 3rd generation painter and started learning the business when I was 12. Take that for what you will. Every painter...no matter how long they've been doing it...thinks they're the expert (just my opinion after knowing thousands).

Now..your situation...

This new concept of "full spectrum paints"....pure baloney. Absolutely nothing but marketing. Every paint is a full spectrum paint. Let's not forget that there are only 3 primary colors. Black is the presence of all color and white is the absence of all color. From this we derive all variations....and colorants (the term for what is added to paint) are manufactured to certain variations for simplicity. Without boring anyone to death about the progression...this page is a good start:
http://www.artsparx.com/color_basicprinc.asp

That said...what is most important is quality of the paint and the consistency of color.

Quality of the paint is fairly simple. Every paint manufacturer has good paint and garbage paint. There is no such thing as 'which brand is better'. They all have top of the line...and they all have contractor (new construction) grades. What you want is 100% acrylic. Acrylic refers to the type of resin used to make the paint...and it's the best.

Consistency of color is a tad more involved.
Green (for example) can be made from blue and yellow...or it can be made from black and yellow...or from purple (blue and red) and yellow. All results are 'green' but they will have a different effect on the eye. You can take the same shade of green...made each way...and they will 'look' and 'feel' different.

The best way to get an idea of this is to look at a paint 'fan deck' or color chip display. You see blues in one area...then blues in another different area. Most people look at this and wonder 'they're all blue...why aren't they just all together'? There's a reason...and you have to understand the reason. While they may look very similar...they are made from different color combinations. This is what gives color a 'feel'.

An example is a home I recently painted. They do not like color. Huge fans of beige...in different forms. They chose shades from all over the sample choices. Beige is beige...right? Nope. I tried to explain...but they loved the little chips. Now that it's done...there's a different feel from one room with a beige based on black...to the adjoining room with a beige based on red. It's subconscious...but recognizable. Now I'm repainting 3 rooms.

So here's the thing for you. Pick whatever color you like for each room. You can go for warmth, soft, vibrant, or any mood you wish the room to have. What creates flow is not color...but what the color is based on. Try to think of the basics of color and not get drawn into the hype.

Now...this post of mine has gone on more than I planned....so if anyone makes it through...you can pass my pony on to them. I'll hang on to the dirty kid I have......for now.

Best of luck to you.

Very informative, Homeprotex! I will be looking at a paint deck in a whole new light. Thanks for sharing.

You get my vote to keep the pony too.

Homeprotex,

Thanks! You get the free pony! (Ok, it's the one from the Verizon commercials, but I'll throw in a bale of hay.)

Thanks for clearing up the fan deck thing for me. I sort of knew that, but you explained it very clearly.

So, it sounds like I'm on the right track: I said I like warm colors (yellow/gold undertones), no muddy/putty/cool colors (black/grey/blue undertones). I'm a Mary Kay consultant (for 19yrs), so I do understand the warm vs cool/keep it consistant idea.

I have a feeling this is why I'm semi-attracted to Concord Ivory, but still feel it's a bit dark in the day, maybe it has some black mixed in?

I think my biggest problem with the fan decks is that they don't tell you which colors are in which undertone family. I guess I just need to grab one again and pick out the part of the deck that I like the most, so I don't end up with the Beige problem. ("Beige...I think I'll paint the ceiling beige...." that's the punchline to a joke in case y'all haven't heard it.)

Always ;-)
Hunzi
off to find a cleaner golden color that doesn't look too yellow or too metallic, or too contemporary

By the way...

I'm feeling very out of trend, not that I've ever cared about trends....

Am I the only person out there who doesn't want my house to be full of greens and browns? Everywhere I go that's what I see. I hate sage! Yeah I love chocolate but not so much on my walls, regardless of what my DD may try.

Maybe my problem is that I grew up near the Florida coast, where the colors tend to be bright and sunny, even the pastels.

If I thought I could get away with painting this 125yr old Nebraska farmhouse like a beach house I probably would, but it would look weird and out of place. The house gets a lot of light, just nearly all the main floor light is indirect, but the second floor is brilliant.

The second floor has two bedrooms done. The Master is painted in BM Melon Popsicle (with a white ceiling and an ocean blue carpet), which changed that northern facing bedroom from drab to bright and sunny (it has 4 3x7 windows 1W, 2N, 1E but looked cold and depressed in just primer grey). It's my Floribbean retreat.

My DD's room was painted in a mid tone carnation pink (all BM paints with colors from a Disney color line from the time) with a rose pink carpet for the Princess of Pink, with a full theme of sleeping in a garden, picket fence on one wall, funky flowers in pinks and purples all over, bright blue sky, clouds, a sun, and glow in the dark stars and moon. It's a fun place that's she still hasn't outgrown in her teens.

The hall will eventually be painted a neutral cream (we need to do some major plaster repair).

The 3rd bedroom gets brilliant light from 2 South facing 3x7 windows and 1 Western 3x7. That's the only place I might consider a green, but I'm open to other thoughts as well. It's 15x15, 10-4" ceiling, oak strip floor. The plan is to convert it to the gym as soon as DS moves into the college dorms. We'll toss in a treadmill, some yoga mats, and plan to put up or wallpaper maps of the places we've lived/traveled. (all that after we re-route some electrical and repair plaster).

The last room upstairs is the 2nd floor bath, and it's painted a robin's egg blue by a PO, which horrified me at first, but has grown on me over the years, especially because when the late afternoon light hits it through the one W 3x7 window, the whole room glows. Great time of day for a bubble bath in the claw foot tub. (The house was built pre-plumbing, so they just converted the smallest bedroom 10x10)

The downstairs I've told y'all about, I'd like to have it feel warm, classic (as in belonging with the age of the house), and help reduce the somewhat dark feel it has from the lack of direct light. I'm after sort of the Pottery Barn retro/new classic feel.

I don't know if knowing all this will help anyone point me towards a good color, but I figured I'd share it.

Oh look, you won another pony!

Always ;-)
Hunzi