Look at Honorbiltkit's kitchen for a real jolt of blue-turquoise color with white.

J Lo has a pretty blue on her cabinets. I think it would be fun to add your personal style to the laundry room. Especially if it will make you happier when doing the laundry.

Here is a link that might be useful: jennifer lopez's kitchen

How about putting the fun colors on the inside of your cabinets? Either paint the interior or use velcro to put up colorful fabric or maybe wallpaper the interiors. That way you can have the classic black and white but when you open the cabinets you get a surprise and something to make you smile. The color will have more impact and whimsy since you don't see it all the time and you haven't done anything that you can't undo later.

I say absolutely positively go w/ the turquoise! You should have fun w/ the room, and it's not like you have to spend hours in there every day (hopefully) so you won't get sick of it.

If you can find anything that has a color you like, I'd go to sherwin williams and get a can of the color match paint. Then you can use the formula that is on the paint can to get any paint you want (that's what we did so our custom cabinet maker could use the paint that was color matched to our granite in order to paint the cabinets). I have found it much easier to get a color you like that way then looking at 100000 paint samples :)

So... yes... do it!

Wow; everyrose has a neat idea! I love the idea of *wallpapering* the interior of your cabinets! That's really fun. And there is so so so much wonderful wallpaper out there!

I agree that choosing blues is really difficult, finding that spot between goofy and lilting is not easy. The posted kitchen isn't really 'fun', it's elegant and subdued I think (imo). Something brighter is maybe what you're thinking about as 'fun', but keeping it from being kindergarten-esque will be a challenge.

I've had some luck using the online paint software, maybe that would help. Some companies let you upload your photo (Dunn Edwards' is only for PCs. grrrr... not sure but I think some of the other companies have it set up online where you can upload your photo without any software).

g'luck!

Turquoise is a tricky, but beautiful color. My advice would be to pick a shade or two lighter than the color you like...whether you put it on the cabinets or the walls.

My mom painted her bathroom turquoise and it turned out very dark and very 1950s. She did not like it, but rather than repaint it all, we left it dark at the bottom and kept mixing in white and slowly lightening it all the way up. It turned out to be very pretty and rather subtle, but about 2/3 of the way up the wall, she said that's the color I should have chosen :)

Have you seen House of Turquoise? I would recommend it highly if you are thinking of doing that for cabinets or the walls.

Because this is pretty darn attractive (from the site above):

I know it's not turquoise, but I love, love, love these hot pink accent cabinets on the A. Fillinger website!

Scroll down to the second photo captioned "Painted Upper Cabinet, Stained Base Cabinets."

Here is a link that might be useful: A. Fillinger kitchen gallery

We have a turquoise laundry room, and did it for the reasons you are considering...It's a small space where you can have some fun. Ours is a darker shade than the room shown by Brickton. Like that photo, though, ours is on the walls, and the cabinets are light gray. I think it would look great on the cabinets, too.

The sheen of a cabinet enamel (even if Satin rather than a glossier finish) will actually make the color look lighter than on a color card.

I love turquoise too.

This is a pic of one of our bedrooms. It is called
Intense Teal by Behr (It looks like Turquoise to me)

Here are some other inspriring ideas with turquoise.

Spa pool by Valspar

Design Manifest

Oooh, thanks, everyone for all the input. I drove around today looking for inspiration colors. I think I need to go deeper rather than lighter...Boxerpups, I don't know how anyone can sleep in that room! Thanks for the other photos. Seeing the pics really helps me figure it out.

Boxerpups- Beautiful pictures!

Brickton, you too...I love House of Turquoise.

It's such a cheerful color, this reminds me why I want to paint my sunroom light turquoise! :)

My bakers table is kinda turquiose:

Oh, "turquoise" is tough because different people think of different colors. Aqua is a light blue-green (Boxerpup's 5th and 6th pics), Aquamarine with a bit more green (Boxerpup's 3rd pic), then there is more powder blue than green aqua (boxerpup's 2nd pic), Teal which is more green than turquoise.

If you want to go deep you want a dark turquoise or a dark teal. If you are finding only pastels you are looking at the wrong chips. Work your way down from aqua and you should eventually hit what you want - the colors should go all the way to almost black. If you want a true turquoise start on the more blue-than-green column, if you want teal start on the more-green-than-blue column.

Alternatively, go to a crafts store, buy a bunch of 99 cent acrylics and mix the perfect color, paint swatch and take it to BM and have it matched. Or find a nice fabric, wallpaper, accessory and have that color-matched (best bet, since matching the color to accessories is easier than vis-versa.)

Boxerpup's bedroom looks like a true turquoise on my monitor. So does Valspar's "Spa."

BTW: I don't know why your original thread was tossed. Kitchens is the best forum for it (or maybe Bathrooms), but the Laundry Forum focuses on technical stuff, not aesthetic.

It may be your description.

Most of the beautiful colors coming out on my screen I would describe as aqua or robin's egg.

Maybe what you want is peacock. Or malachite. Or a color that doesn't even have a name, but you know it when you pick it out of a fan deck, or slap a sample on a board, or even directly onto the cabinet.

I had green cabinets for a couple of years. I would say don't necessarily equate intense, darker colors with a "dark" kitchen. Dark can just mean more presence.

And lightening up doesn't solve basic color problems.

Sometimes when you get too bright with blues, things go haywire, and going a bit more gray/indigo with the blue/green mellows things out a bit. Still fun, but not like you're living in a swimming pool.

It does take a bit of tinkering, but once you get it right you should be good for years. And because they're painted, you are well-positioned to repaint in the next fun or fashionable color.

gharborwa-

We have cabs in our kitchen painted BM Bainbridge Blue (among other colors), which is a deep blue/green, almost peacock.

sandyponder

I like that blue, Sandyponder. I'm thinking I may have to go much deeper than my original choice. I think everyone is giving me good advice about color and depth and not to fear going darker....

If turquoise didn't make my mom vomit I'd do it in a heartbeat!! I say go for it!! I've got one deep yellow cabinet planned for mine. It will be what I repaint every few years to change things up a bit.

I'd go for something more like linked below. a more muted color. maybe wiped down or dry brushed.

not distressed tho.

Here is a link that might be useful: turquoise cabinet

gharborwa --

I suggest two rules.

1. Do what you want, thinking ahead as to how you might soften or mute the color if it turns out a bit much to live with.

2. For your critics, have a plausible explanation for how you reached your decision.

Here is a link that might be useful: Model for rational decision making

Honor bilt -- is that your kitchen? I love it! great color subways, and I really like the contrasting uppers. Well done.

Lovely paint job on the exterior too!

A discussion of the differing takes on "turquoise" is funny (and relevant) to me because we decided our main accent color for the kitchen was turquoise. Or aqua. Or teal. Or peacock. I found some Fiesta dishes that are peacock and that's probably the closest (even though I really am *not* buying any new dishes ever) color for what I was looking for. The 37th iteration of our pendant lights (the ones we do indeed love) are called turquoise. I agree that more intense is not necessarily darker. I say go for it, but then I clearly love that color (whatever it is).

Okay, I'm getting cold feet...do you think it would be a better idea to just paint the room a bright, fun color and go with either white or dark stained cabinets? I know that will be the safer route, and I can still jazz it up with some fun colors, and can easily change the color when my mood dictates something different. So, if I do that, then would you suggest white or dark stained? The cabs will be shaker. The room with be a combo laundry/sewing area with a great window for lots of light. Safer seems, well, safer.....

gharborwa-

I understand the cold feet, I also had trepidation over choosing "fun" colors, it's a matter of understanding your own tolerance for colorative dissonance and doing something that many (most?) think is a little wacky. This is a highly personal decision, especially in a new build, when the pressure is on and the decisions seem to mount by the day and it gets tiring visualizing everything, that's why safe is easier in a new build.

Having said that, I will leave you with one thought. In your first post you said "it has to be done just right to carry it off", respectfully, I could not disagree more with this statement. There are countless color combos of walls/cabs/counters/flooring that will look great, and using color in dark or intense hues is not as delicate a balance as people think, lots of us non-professionals tried it at home and it worked out just fine.

Good luck-

sandyponder

gharborwa --

I heartily support sandyponder's stance is this matter.

Life is finite. Don't be a wuss. Indulge your inner goofball. The downside is negligible.

Whether you tear into it clear-eyed, as sandyponder did, or slide into it by accident, as my post above demonstrates, I think that the outcome will be much better than spending years regretting that you didn't take a chance on your own instincts.

Cheers and best wishes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Full riotous joy of sandyponder's kitchen

When you first mentioned this idea, the color that popped into my head was a deep teal. I have a vivid image of the cabinets I recalled, but no recollection of where I saw them. They were in a magazine spread about a young couple. The wife had grown up in a home done by the same designer. The designer commented that when one didn't have a spectacular budget (by his standards), one could compensate with color. (I'm sure the young couple's budget would have been spectacular by my standards, but that's another topic. LOL.) Anyway, a deep, but relatively mellow teal is what I recall. It would be quite striking if the sight lines included black and white from a nearby kitchen.
The Crown Point teal is less bright than the one I recall.
Miles Redd used Farrow and Ball Hague Blue in a butler's pantry recently. It's darker than what I had in mind, but sort of the same neighborhood.
{{!gwi}}
Then there's this blue from a place in California, I believe:

Here is a link that might be useful: Here's a teal from Crown Point

It looks a lot like the Farrow and Ball Blue Ground wall in my laundry room. It's lighter than what I thought you would want for your laundry room.

I cannot find an example of it, but I saw a fascinating color at a Farrow and Ball stockist a few months ago. It's old and not on the recent color cards, but you could order a sample from the company, if interested: Mere Green. The name appealed to my medieval sensibilities, the color to my design ones.

thanks for the pics and advice, kitchendetective. Those are great photos, and better color than I've been thinking. I'm leaning more that way, or even a complete change...red.

I know this is an older thread, but I just thought I'd add more colors to the mix.

My favorite is called Porch Swing by Martha Stewart Signature the old line from Sherwin Williams, # 8272. They'll still mix them up. I'd saved a handful of swatches.

A lighter, more robin's egg-y color is Vintage Kitchen #8226.

On the brighter turquoise side is Ace Hardware's Turquoise Bay A37-4. The sample is available pre-mixed in one of their paint pods.