Help me with (temporary) paint colors!

8 years ago

We just renovated most of a house and we love it. The house has a lower level living room that is just awful at the moment. It has a brick fireplace painted white which I hate. Sometime next year we're planning to tear it all out and reface the fireplace with stone or tile or something, but for the time being I wanted to paint the bricks a different color to make it more acceptable. I am also open to painting just the backs of the shelves, or all of the shelves.

The walls are a light grey (we did not pick) and we are open to painting those too. The carpet is a greyish-brown which we are keeping (to hide dog prints :)

What suggestions do you have for paint colors that would get us through a year or so?

Thank you!

Featured Answer

Judy Mishkin

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

oh gosh, i'd say patience is your most affordable lower level color. if it was orange it would be one thing, white not being acceptable for a year in a secondary space, i cant get my head around.

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Comments (7)

hollybar
8 years ago
I would not bother for a year. Also,it will be easier to make future decisions with that plain white in the space.
Catherine Flemming thanked hollybar
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Sina Sadeddin Architectural Design
8 years ago
Just keep it white. It's pretty unoffensive as is so its not worth painting if you're tearing it out in a year.
Catherine Flemming thanked Sina Sadeddin Architectural Design
Kim
8 years ago
I agree about keeping the fireplace white but what about painting just the backs of the book shelves a charcoal gray? Then add wood shelves above the fireplace (where those 2 little ones are) but wider. Style up those shelves with art, books, etc, and it could look really nice.
colonialgp
8 years ago
Once the books fill up the shelves, you will not notice. It's amazing how you can stare at a full bookcase forever and still not absorb everything in it.
Beth H. :
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago

dark charcoal or black. I'd also paint the back of the book cases same dark color.

if you can, remove those small, brick shelves and do a nice thick wood mantel

if stuck on white, then freshen up the white paint and still add a wood shelf or mantel

and if you want to do ship lap or tongue and groove wood planks, just fir out the top and do a mantel like shown here. it's not that difficult.
palimpsest
8 years ago
I would keep that space white until you remodel it. It seems to blend a lot of disparate, unbalanced elements together, right now, which is probably why the previous owners did it.

I am not sure I would ever really want to emphasize a fireplace that has a huge HVAC soffit zig zagging toward it.