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Color Advice - Need some Advice on No Natural Light

13 years ago

2 Rooms.

Laundry/Mud Room Room has no natural light. It's in a basement.10x8 Room. It's going to be a bank of custom white lacquered cabinets with either a white Corian/Caserstone or ~Absolute Blanc White~ Granite. See pic below for the slightly whitish tile laid.

On the main room, there are 4 windows with somewhat natural light but not really-again, basement level windows.

There are alot of dark tones in flooring/cabinetry/stairing.

Floor is dark brown, custom cabinets under the stairs are walnut (natural sheen oil finish) and the stairs are white oak in which I'm having finished in a tone close to the flooring but 1 shade lightr. Not too dark but not too light.

I've yet to spec the rest of the furniture....media console, sofas, etc....but this will most likely be grey.

With Paint colors, I've dumbfounded on where to start. Couple of test paint swatches. So are okay, but nothing really screams at me to say this is the one. Silken Pine looked great when I did a test sample, but with the flooring in, it looks a tad darker than where it was previously. Mud Room - I don't want to go white, and sofar, I've tested Marscapone which looks creamy on the paint samples, but it's more like a off-white in my paint test.

Laundry/Mudroom Pics

The 2nd pic is a pretty good rendition of the color of the tile in the room under the lighting. It may change a lil bit as I'm changing the current hi-hat trim to a alzak clear trim.

What paint color would you consider for this room ?

{{!gwi}}

{{gwi:1392056}}

Comments (11)

  • 13 years ago

    Next Up.
    The main room.
    Flooring here

    {{!gwi}}

    AND some test pics. Not too great pics
    Pic 1. Silken Pine on the 1st right swatch
    Pic 2 in the laundry room. Marscapone in the middle

    {{!gwi}}

    {{!gwi}}

  • 13 years ago

    Advice I've read regarding a space with no natural light is to bring the "outside in" by either painting a creamy yellow or sky blue. Also put in color corrected lighting if you're using fluorescents.

  • 13 years ago

    What color is that tile? In the 2nd picture there is a dividing line--part looks pinkish, other part grayish.

    Not suggesting this will work in your space at all, but I just am throwing it out there. If that tile is more of a gray, check out the BM Gray Owl. I just did the entire house we are building in it and it is gorgeous. Not cold at all. Just enough color. So far everyone who has come in is commenting on how great it looks.

  • 13 years ago

    Colorblind here...
    A closeup pic of the laundry room tile

    {{gwi:1392058}}

  • 13 years ago

    Well, if you want the light airy feel, try the G.O. I suggested. Imagine it with a great white trim. It's worth a try. Is that tile the one from Mikado, Ergon? If so, I had that tile in my hall bath in the darker color, the brown version. Loved it.

    Your tile is really pretty

  • 13 years ago

    Tried to grab a better pic of the wood tile flooring in it's correct light. My picture taking skills are terrible. It's must softer in person. I'd say it's somewhere in between the pic posted and this pic

    {{gwi:1392045}}

  • 13 years ago

    The tile is so neutral, you can go with almost any color. The lighter colors will seem brighter in the dark space. I would find an inspiration piece and go with the colors from that...it can be an outfit you like, a plate, a pic of a room you like, a poster you'd like to hang on the wall...anything. So long as it's something you'd like to look at. Then go with it.

    My laundry room was inspired by a kitchen I saw on a house tour where the owner had white cabinetry and painted the little bit of wall space in heather. It was luscious, and i loved it so much that the color stuck with me....so now I have a heather colored laundry room...crazy to some, but I love it. And what the heck....it's a laundry room...why not liven it up.

  • 13 years ago

    Heh. And I thought picking Grout Color was Hard !
    This makes it seem like a walk in the park compared to picking paint !

    Too many options - too many choices.
    And the color swatches never look like how it should look on the walls.

    Granted lighting, etc does affect how the coloration looks, but the swatches are at least 2-3 shades off IMO.

    With the grout, at least the type I am using, which is Epoxy, it's close to dead-on.

    Help ;-)

  • 13 years ago

    I had exactly that problem in my laundry room. I went with pale sky blue, and it was lovely - it always looked clean and fresh and outdoorsy. I used Sherwin Wms. "Iceberg", which you might think is not enough color - but it was perfect.

  • 13 years ago

    Yellow can be really difficult under natural light.

    Is that Fabrique by Daltile? I would pick one of the colors of the threads. On my monitor they look like pale gray or pale green undertones.

  • 13 years ago

    To get a clearer sense of your paint tests, try priming one of those yellow walls and put your test patches on that. If you're going to use a pale finish color, priming out that bright yellow is a good idea in any case, so you could really prime the whole room and then make your decisions. Whatever you put on the walls as as a test now will be affected by the yellow reflected onto it, so it will be very hard to judge.