For what will you be using it on?

Oh, for the kitchen.

I just posted because I found it amusing that where most people narrow it down and then get a couple of samples, I was drowning in paint chips and STILL couldn't get a feel for it, so I went slightly nuts and got 9 mini-pots today...

I can't decide if it's driving me nuts or if I'm having WAY too much fun with this project!!

Oh it looks perfectly normal to me LOL. but then I went through about 20 different greens before picking one for my bedroom.

My bathroom looked just like that but in blue - I finally went and just picked one that I hadn't even put on the wall - took a chance and fortunately I like it because I was stuck with it!

What color are your cabinets?

divamum, you have quite a range in tones there. You I see both warm and cool beige colors. You probably know this already, but just in case ... and speaking from experience (and a lot of repainting), tread carefully and make sure you don't mix a cool (blue-based) beige with warm (yellow-red) tones. Usually, if you are going with a cool tone in your neutral, you will want to stay in the cool family (such as a cool toned red -- that has more blues in it), etc. I made a terrible mistake of a a warm yellow in my kitchen next to cool, blue-based tan in the hallway (not to mention that the tan tiles I picked out went better with the cool tans in the hall/living room areas than the pretty yellow kitchen). Total PIA to repaint that kitchen.

Actually, Sarchlos, that's part of the challenge: my cabinets are natural maple thus a golden undertone, and my counter and (YAY!) finally-chosen backsplash have more of a mocha and thus cooler undertone. I'm trying to tie it together (I also have some fun cottage-rose curtain valance curtains I'd kind of like to keep cuz I like them, although that's not actually essential - those have a deep terracotta rose and sage green on a sort of ochre background - they acutally go very well with everything else, although not necessarily with any particular paint options! They're not a "must", though)

Here's the other bits and pieces so you can see what I'm playing with - I keep wondering if I should try something really outragoues like dark red, or orange or something but since this has to serve for the (also tiny) dining room as well, I probably will do better sticking with a neutral!

(the duct tape accent is particularly effective, I think lol)

I guess I should possibly be abandoning the sage tones (I love them, which is why they're there!) and pick up one of the veins in the floor tile.... I think one of my choices does pretty much that - it's the more "golden" one of the samples I said were in the running, I think.

I still can't believe that I could get my head wrapped around all the structural, plumbing and layout stuff really quite easily, but all these DECOR details are driving me nuts - backsplash, paint, light-fixtures, knobs etc - those are the things which I'm finding it so hard to choose!

divamum: Try the decorating forum with help choosing paint. Those folks are amazing. I'm thinking your choices are all neutrals and paint is one area where you can get some bling. Why not a green?

I'm not sure that I like any of them...I agree with Val, check the Decorating Forum and I think a very pale/light green will look nice (and I don't normally like green) But, I'm usually at a loss when it comes to color as well!

BTW...are you in the mid-Atlantic region? We're having our first snowfall here today...in Maryland! I even let the kids slide on homework when they got home...I let them play outside before dinner (NOW it's homework time!)

I think choosing paint is so difficult that I only use white. Even then I have a hard time because there are many choices in just plain white paint.
Donna

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has trouble with this! It's very odd - put me in a fabric store, and I can come up with a colour-scheme in a matter of minutes. Paint? Oy.

Buehl, sounds like we may be neighbours :) And I'm not convinced by any of them yet either! I thought of green at first, but I don't think it will work extending into the dining area - could be wrong (and hard to tell until they get rid of the old, uuuuuggglly honey oak kitchen which is still in situ until new plumbing and appliances are in). I keep finding myself exploring the Craftsman colours, but even in blues and reds those tend towards "mud" in one form or another :)

I'm drawn to neutrals because of the small space I guess - or maybe it's years of apartment-living means I'm just used to a neutral background and pumping up the colour with textiles!

Speaking of which, here are these curtain toppers

I made these when we first moved in - just wanted something cottage-y, and they worked with various woods very nicely. I keep trying to pick one of the flower colours up in paint, but it just hasn't "worked" so far.

And here's a better picture of where we're up to:

Thanks for the tip on the decorating forum - I may well go and pick their brains!

Divamum, you are having the exact same color challenge I had in my previous house (minus the granite -- I worked with the white tile counters). We used a very pale Dunn Edwards yellow on the kitchen walls -- I think it was called Butter, and a light (cool) tan in the DR. I used red and green accents, including a lovely floral chair similar to the floral you show, plus a plaid that picked up the greens, yellows, tans and reds for the curtains. Our sofa was green, and I used dark reddish mahogany furnishings and a leather ottoman. Throw pillows in other fabrics to tie it all together. Looked great. I'll see if I can find some pictures tonight (looks like DH was cleaning out the photos we have on line).

Paint is so easy to change, why not go with something bold? If you hate it after a month, you can change it out for a little money and sweat.

Divamum, you're doing exactly the right thing--buying samples, painting large spots and checking them in different lights. Once you narrow it down you can try the contenders on different walls too.

Absolutely solicit any help you can get, but remember that no matter how good your camera, and how well calibrated our monitors, we won't see what you do.

That said, with all the red and yellow tones you have going there (curtains, wood, stone and tile), I would choose a greenish color, like the one on the bottom left of your last picture (as it appears on my monitor). Not a true sage which is too gray, but something with some warmth (mud?) in it. This is the point where some contrast is a good thing. It'll make your finishes pop.

I agree that you are doing the right thing... my family room & kitchen walls looked very similar. I have a medium honey maple cabinet with Santa Cecelia gold granite (full backsplash) & must have tried every shade of golden/yellow/beige. Finally, I decided the problem was that I REALLY wanted my green color (which I thought wouldn't go, given the neutrals in those rooms). Ultimately, I purchased two additional greens & made a choice.

And I love it. Don't give up the green if that is what you really want.

Good luck!

I don't know what color it really is, but the one which is reading as a terra cotta (upper left) looks great with the cabs / backsplash!

But looking at your valance I'd lean more toward a green or v. wheaty yellow (or yellowy wheat!) as well. What are your kitchen's window / door's orientations? How much natural light do you get in there? Keep those in mind, too.

I'm trying to pick a color for my (north facing) kitchen now, and it can be overwhelming, can't it? Good luck and have fun.

Window #1 faces east. Back door faces south. Room gets VERY hot in summer.

There are two additional things I've noticed while thinking about this:

1. Not that much paint will actually SHOW in the kitchen area - the backsplash will cover an awful lot of the exposed walls, as the kitchen is in the extension which has a lower ceiling.

2. This means that really, I need to pick the colour I love in the DINING ROOM ... which also happens to go with the kitchen.

I think.

Maybe.

lol.

You know, there are some problems which are kind of fun ones to have, and I guess this is one of them! Definitely bringing out my creative streak, and I'm so darned happy to FINALLY have this extra space that I have a silly smile on my face even when wrestling with the problems :)

Yup, this is a fun problem! I agree! (AND THIS is the fun part- the prep work is another PITA! I'm in the middle of painting the REST of the upstairs- and if I never have to stick another friggin piece of green masking tape onto the ceiling...

I found the people at Benjamin Moore to be really helpful and knowledgeable. I took in swatches, wood samples, granite samples, cushions...etc thank Heavens they have a BIG conference table in there. I am a real green lover- and it was good to get an objective view point- I am now painting over all my green, and I can't believe how the colours in my decor are just popping next to the BM Lennox Tan. I am now almost giddy thinking about how I will pick a really rich colour to tie in with for the MB.

One of my 'tricks' that I've used over the years is to find a classic Masterpiece that I love (obviously a copy) and pick my colour scheme from there. So, you could find a picture that had the colours you're working with and see what other colours the artist has chosen to complete the picture. I choose classic timeless masterpieces, cuz I don't want to be dated (though paint will inevitably be dated eventually anyways).

Just my $0.02.......I like the bottom left, mushroom/tan color in the second pic. It feels warm and blends, kinda monochromatic and then I would accessorize with what ever color. With your topper, I'd go with the green in it : ) I find it easier to change my accessories than my paint color, just because DH and I never agree so when we do decide it stays for a while LOL. My friend paints about every 2 years........don't know how she does it!

Hey Divamum, I found some pictures from our old house that might help. I picked the kitchen's yellow (after a very bad lemon chiffon yellow didn't work so well) so that it would blend with the Dining Room and hallway's tan color -- I knew I wanted a yellow kitchen and a tan in the DR/living room, the trick was to get them to blend. As you can see in the pictures it is fairly difficult to notice the color change when you're in one space or the other. Since there's not much painted area in your kitchen, you might be able to use two colors and trick the eye. Also, have you considered using a bold color in the kitchen and a neutral in the DR to set the kitchen off a bit from the other area? Just an idea.

Yellow & tan family room This pic shows the floral chair
You can see the tan Dining Room through the door of the kitchen

HTH

someone else said it already but I think I'd go with something greener too. Everything is sort of the same color....and so something greenish (not bright, very muted) would look nice.

just to confuse, i agree with rmkitchen...i like that terra cotta a lot. it is one of the nicer colors in the flowered curtain as well and it is great with the cupboards. maple will just get more golden over the years (as i am sure you know) and something without warm undertones might not look good longterm. we had natural maple cupboards in our old house that we installed. we had a beige (resale beige) in that kitchen and peach/gray/tan blotchy formica (prettier than it sounds). as one of the cupboard doors started to "gold" though, suddenly the counters and walls looked as though they would clash. so we quickly sold and moved, which saved us having to repaint good luck kren

I actually like the bottom right sample. It blends nicely but doesn't stick out too much. I think the other colors draw too much attention to themselves. If it was me, I would want the kitchen to be the focus ... I love your backsplash-countertop-cabinet choices, I would be looking for a complementing color, not contrasting. For me, the reddish one is too contrasty and would take away from the backsplash, the upper right is too bright and too close to your cabinet shade, and lower left too dark for my taste. I know I have a different opinion than anyone else, that's why I'm posting it :))) Good luck with your decision, I know how it feels.

I wish I had picked all the *fabric* (window curtains, especially) first.

Because it's far easier to find a paint that will work well w/ a fabric, than it is to find a fabric just the right color to go w/ your paint. Ask me how I know.

For a true test, you should buy some pieces of posterboard, and paint each of them their own color. Then you'd have a sample that is:
-big
-isolated from the other colors
-movable, so you can set it up against the other materials, and take it away again

I love your color choices and especially the curtain topper fabric. All along, I was planning a buttery, sunny yellow kitchen. Every yellow I tried looked ghastly with my granite, Bianco Romano. Then I tried several shades of green, including one I love in another room, same problem.

Finally, I tried one I call cafe au lait. Bingo! Very neutral and allows other things to pop. A friend has the same color in her living/dining room. It is a very sophisticated and soothing color. Copper accents go well with it. Here's my dining room, same color as kitchen. There are four woods in this photo (sorry, no maple).

Thanks all - some great ideas to think about in all of this! I need to go get some more samples, methinks (if I spend over $100 in sample pots do I get a prize?!)

I would love to have the dining area be a different colour, but I'm not quite sure how to do that - the beam separating the spaces (ie, the separation at ceiling height) isn't where the rooms will be divided at FLOOR level (we're sneaking some space from the original rear room into the dining area so's to make it more useable).

However, I suspect I'll come up with something! I discovered one which Ihadn't painted on the kitchen wall (only my first sample) which actually looks better than I thought, so I may in the end go with that - neutral, but a bit oranger and picks up the colours in the valance better.

All food for thought - thanks! (and further comments, pictures and suggestions definitely welcomed!)

I think I'd be looking at something in a color, and probably a green. Sage can cover a wide range of shades, but that's where I'd start. You could possibly go darker in your kitchen if the sage is what you like and would want in the dining room. Everything you have is light (except the splash) and like you said, not that much will be showing. A darker color on the walls will make your cabinets pop. Or visa versa -- keep it soft and light in the kitchen and go for more drama in the dining room. When I was growing up, we had a neighbor with a deep hunter green dining room that was one of the most dramatic and gorgeous I've ever seen.

You've got a lot of beiges already, and I think you're having a hard time trying to tie them altogether. A different color might be easier and might help your beiges come together as they all contrast with the other color.

I think the kitchen will look great, but my favorites always have some bling in them that makes them come alive.
the curtains have great color maybe you should give the red some thought. lively and unexpected...yes

Still working on this... s.l.o.w.l.y. getting towards some things that may work, but boy - this one is TOUGH.

For those heading for the "bling" approach- the spaces are just too small. I think this is one of the problems - I yearn for deep-toned, bling-y colours like sage, deep terracotta, red, or pumpkin, but if I do that it will be like sitting in a cave (or a 19th century brothel ;)

Things I've learned in the course of doing this:

- this particular room is more light-affecting on colour than ANY I have ever dealt with. Not sure if it's the south-facing sun, or the light reflection between the two windows, the small space or what, but colours look NOTHING AT ALL like they do on the swatches. Green-y cream turns butter yellow on the wall, sage looks grey and tan looks muddy brown.

- we need lighter to help keep the space open and maximise light. But TOO light and it's too sterile looking - quite a balancing act on this one!

- I saw a GORGEOUS display kitchen at HD the other day that had the wall colour almost matching the cabinets (rich, orange-y maple with a pumpkin coloured wall and a dark granite, or maybe it was Silestone, with a pumpkin-y pattern in among the black) - I loved it. Given my cabinets are probably the part of my kitchen I want to showcase least (they're fine, but not as glam as my tile or counter, imo) and toning in with them may be a way of making them less prominent. Then again, it might make the dining area feel like it was also surrounded by cabinets, but even so....

Lastly, a question about paint: why is BM 1. so much more expensive and 2. considered "THE" paint to choose from? Colours? Textures? I may have found one I like from their range, but I'm just wondering what's supposed to be so special about it...

Thanks in advance for further comments (and more pictures coming on the current batch of samples once there's some daylight to photograph in)

Divamum, I don't know why Benjamin Moore (though I'm pretty sure that's what my painter uses), but you don't have to choose your colors from anyone's book. You can get your paint matched to just about anything, including another company's paint.

One thing you can try is doing a tint of one of the colors you like. Take the sage that looks good with your curtains, for instance, and then cut it with "mixing white" or "super white" or "white white" or whatever they call their whitest. Take your sample and put 6 plastic teaspoons full of it in a disposable container (e.g., old margarine tub) and add a plastic spoon's worth of white. Stir and shake until it's well mixed and paint a small area (a few sq. inches--try not to take much paint out of the pot). Add another spoon and do the same. Keep doing that until it looks more white than green. Let the patches dry and see if there's a tint you like. Make another sample of that proportion and paint a big audition patch. If you really like it, paint a scrap of drywall or posterboard with that and take it to the store to match.

divamum, you might want to try the *paint* forum. I have read some very informative information in that forum. Also people raving about the NEW Ben Moore paint coming out it's called "Aura" I think, not available everywhere yet, but can be ordered, suppose to be awesome. anyway they can most likely help with color and the lighting issues. Also *home decorating* forum has some very helpful advice.

The road goes ever on and on....

Tonight, I took pllog's suggestion of getting a can of white and mixing. Good GRIEF but this could get addictive....!! I not only added some white wooden spoon and a couple of the other darker ones, but also started mixing the actual samples to see what I'd get. As ever, I need daylight to better assess, but on first glance I think I MAY have some interesting ideas. And now that I have a can of white, nothing to stop me playing with some other deeper-hued tones in dixie cups..... :)

Wisrose, I didn't realise there was a separate PAINT forum too! Thanks for the tip... I may just toddle on over there at some point if I can't figure this out pretty soon.... :)

I'm not QUITE at the point of simply putting up builder beige and calling it a day, but I can sense that's not out of the question!! lol

Oh, have I been there! While I won't begin to give you an opinion on something I'm not qualified to do, I will tell you that when we were trying to pick a BM paint colour for our living room/dining room/upstairs/downstairs hall in an open plan house, I got so tired of going round in circles I hired a colour consultant.

Anything like that in your area? She came, we paid her for about an hour and a half fee, she gave us very specific recommendations and it was the best $150 I've invested in this house. We *love* the colours she picked for us, we kept our sanity and we get a ton of compliments from everyone. We'd still be trying to decide and I probably would have spent that on samples ....

Just an idea.

I am having the same dilemma. Trying to find the perfect soft gold to make my cream cabinets and woodwork pop and coordinate with my green dining room. I bought 10-12 samples. Painted them in different areas. None were right. Tried mixing my own. Still not right. Went to paint store had a custom mix between two shades and painted my whole kitchen last night. Stayed up until 2 am. Got up this morning - still not right. I am so tired and frustrated. Husband says I should leave it and see how everything works together as it is just and empty room with a new travertine floor right now. Have used a color consultant in the past as Tartanhabit suggested. I have day off work tomorrow and am going to try to find one. I give up! You're right! It shouldn't be this difficult.

"For those heading for the "bling" approach- the spaces are just too small. I think this is one of the problems - I yearn for deep-toned, bling-y colours like sage, deep terracotta, red, or pumpkin, but if I do that it will be like sitting in a cave (or a 19th century brothel ;)"

In a room with lots of southern light, that may not be true at all. How about just trying a few shades of your dream color, before settling for plain-old-beige? Nothing against beige, but it sounds like it's not really what's going to make you happy.

There are two ways to see what it will look like on the wall.

1. First, the Valspar display at my local store has little plastic transparencies, each with a picture of a room on them. You hold that little thing up against a largish paint chip, and you can really get a feeling for what a whole wallful of that paint looks like. Maybe you can find one of those? Using it gave me the courage to paint my (not big) dining room a deep cinnamon color, and it's gorgeous!

2. Then get yourself a few pieces of 24"x36" foam board at Michael's and paint each one a different shade. If you just pour the paint on the board and then smoothe it with a little disposable roller cover, there's almost no cleanup. Then you can line up your samples side by side, and probably eliminate some of them right away, which is hard to do with just a lot of little splotches all together.

Then with the shades that are still in the running, lean each sample board up against the wall and then lean a piece of the cabinet wood, the counter, whatever, up against it. Drape your fabric sample over it and stand back. When we did that with our samples, it was clear as a bell what worked and what didn't.

But do at least start with "your" colors. Some of those browns you're looking at are pretty dark--might as well have a dark shade of something you love. It is, as others have said, quick and cheap to change your mind later.

LauraG

Divamum - As I told you on my post on our almost-finished kitchen, I can sympathize with your paint color dilemma. Our walls looked all pockmarked like yours when we were sampling colors. I should go down to the my basement and count how many little BM samples we've purchase in the two years since we moved into this house, but I'm afraid at how much money I probably spent!

I'm pretty decisive about most things, in life and decor, but paint colors absolutely stump me. I think the thing that helped break the logjam for me is getting my husband involved in the process. We've only been married a couple of years, and we've both had other houses and done lots of renovations on our own, but I found that on the paint decisions, I appreciated someone else making the call. I needed that to get me out of my rut.

It's kind of like they say that women tend to wear pretty much the same eye shadow colors that they liked since high school. We all have paint color ruts. His perspective helped me to get out of mine.

It helps to have someone you trust advise you. And remember, if you don't like what you picked, you can always repaint!

Thanks again, all.

This morning, I started working my way through the terracottas - to hell with it! Beige in all its incarnations and I are through (with the possible exception of Wooden Spoon, which is more of a pale green anyway. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!).

I was gone most of the day today, but that didn't stop me spending the hour between when I dropped the kid at school and when I had to hit the road myself looking at paint chips...

Today's contenders include Gingerbread Man and Tropical Nut (who NAMES these things?! It's worse than nail polish colours!), the former a deep burnt orange and the latter a dark brick red. I love them both. Ideally I probably need one right BETWEEN them and a shade or two lighter, but I think I may finally be getting somewhere. Stuff the beam line and the room divisions - I'll just paint the kitchen a different colour than the DR and have done with it!

Of course, in daylight tomorrow who knows what I may think..... ;)

YEA.............My favorites....no guts, no glory,

Took all my elements into our local design store today - cabinet door, fabric, countertop sample, sample of paint in dining room and hallway - designer helped steer us to two colors and then we selected. It is totally different than the wheat color I spent all weekend putting up. It is a delicious caramel. She was a great help. Came home painted one good coat - I'm with you Divamum - I'm holding my breath till daylight. I just keep repeating "no guts no glory, no guts no glory"!

Ok, last night, I was sitting in the living room, glanced towards the kitchen to my main "samples wall" and did a double take - it looked like there was a DEEP olive green over the cabinets, to the point that I got up to look and see if my contractor had put something there for me to look at!

Nope, it was just the shadows. However, it looked great and inspired me to try with greens one last time before making a decision.

All I'm gonna say is that my GCs are laughing at me (hey, if nothing else I provide entertainment value, right?!). God HELP me when my husband gets home and joins them!!

I'm so fed up with it all that builder beige is starting to sound attractive again. Or not ;)

Shadows are important!! They might be laughing at you, but I'm not :) Well, they're probably laughing at you laughing at yourself, which I am also, but paint is the most important choice, and hardest because the possibilities are infinite.

DONE.
DONE.
DONE.

There are 3 gallons of wall paint on my porch.

DONE.

I finally got to an HD which had a better paint section, and they had those Glidden "post it" style packs of sample sheets. I picked up one that had a few intriguing colours in it, went home with it last night, slapped two on the wall, liked 'em, checked it this morning and went and bought paint.

If only I'd gone to HD first. The sample packs are $2.99 for the whole palatte - THAT's more like it!

I've gone back to a neutral, called "Bonjour Beige", and we'll do the trim in Valspar's "Drumskin" which is a faintly coffee-tinged magnolia white that tones beautifully with the milky-tea colour of the wall paint. Somehow BB manages to have both warm AND cool undertones, doesn't turn pink, or yellow or grey on the wall but adds a hint of mocha AND green without being GREEN.

I may wind up changing it down the line if I want more bling, but for now - this gets us over The Paint Hump.

THANK GOODNESS!!!!

WOOHOO!!!

Divamum, Congratulations!!

Oh, and also meant to meantion - when my GC saw the wall yesterday (yellows, golds, beiges, greens, brick reds, terracottas, oranges, cinammons - splotches EVERYHWERE) he said, "Wow - interesting design concept: CAMOUFLAGE PAINT!"

The boys (him and my hubby) have been teasing me mercilessly ever since :)

Congrats Divamum. Another hurdle cleared. I too have conquered the paint demons! CAFE!!! A rich caramel color - daylight came and went and I still liked it. Looks great with the travertine, the cabinets, the fabric and the dining room green.
Ah yes! GUTS and GLORY.

OK I know you're done, but I'm heartbroken you didn't go for the brick...so let me just tease you...

You could dry brush a terracotta over the beige you chose, and then over that dry brush a buff (which will soften the color and blend the texture to perfection)...it would be gorgeous....

Umm I'll go now (I wanted to tell you to go soft pumpkin in venetian plaster but I won't do that now since I see you purchased paint...) :oP

Alright Miss Frozen North, your cruel reminder of my gorgeous brick colour means you now have to explain to me what "dry brushing" is :)

I loved the brick. And the pumpkin. And the deep olive. My DH did not... and my GC (without laughing at me, so I knew he was serious on this one) also thought it would just be too dark with any of the colours I REALLY liked.

HOWEVER... the milky-tea-beige that I've got would be mighty easy to paint over during my summer vacation muahahahhahahaha

So go on then - explain to me this high-end decor technique of which you speak :)