You really don't need your bedrooms to match up color-wise with anything in your kitchen.

That sort of idea makes my bones shiver. In fear.

Well...you do need an overall organizing concept for the finishes in your house, particularly if some spaces are going to differ from one another.

For example, some related flow of color and finishes in linked open spaces; similar trim in many or all of the spaces; common cabinet and counter top spaces in closely related spaces; window coverings; etc.

To a large degree, finish choices depend on one's concept for interior spatial flow, i.e., are all of the major interior spaces interrelated and the spatial flow is common, or, for example, are all of the major interior spaces considered separate and individual? Or some other overall organizing concept.

Just making each room an individual and unrelated series of choices is not an overall organizing concept.

Good luck on your project.

Virgil, understood... but.

What I did when deciding on paint in my home was to look at what things went together, via (in my case) the Sherwin Williams paint palates. I went with their Global Spice colors. Personally, I liked the warmth, and used the colors (not always the same ones) around the home.

My paint colors were worked from this, but if you look carefully, you certainly do not need the same color in your kitchen as in your guest bedroom. Or, you could. Up to you.

BTW, I used the SW Canvas Tan for ceiling color everywhere, Warm, yet a white, and part of the Global Spice grouping of paints. My GC wanted to use Basic Construction Ceiling White, but fortunately I got to override that.

Artemis, thank you. I do not want everything in my home to have to be the same colors yet I agree with Virgil they should all go together and flow well.

I tend to like colors like Quiet Moments, Beach Glass, Palladian Blue, Healing Aloe, Revere Pewter (although I consider this almost a neutral) and Glass Slipper to name a few. Hoping I can find a color that will match the blues and the BM Shadow.

Do you have a picture of your ceilings? Curious how it looks!

Thank you Virgil! Thinking some type of brushed brass for my pulls and lighting throughout. Faucets may be brushed nickel, have to see.

All door handles will be black. It is not easy trying to pull everything together so it does not look cookie cutter!

Suggestions?

artemis_ma, I think you and Virgil are actually saying similar things... picking colors from a palette where the colors relate to each other, and other (more) permanent elements of the home .

If you have a palette that flows, then you don't have to have matchy matchy rooms. I think an island in plum would be stunning.

Thank you RC. I Like to do something a little different than everyone else.

I was trying to think of a nice color that would go in all the main living areas that would look ok going against the bedrooms and guest bath which will more than likely be blue colors but it would also need to match the plum island. I was hoping a nice soft green, green- grey or blue or green- blue or blue grey color would flow with everything.Because I am thinking my perimeter cabs will (hopefully) be Balboa Mist, a tan would be very blah. Hopefully this makes sense. lol

It totally makes sense. My unifying color throughout our build will be green. Our main areas are painted SW Passive (a grey), but our bedroom is SW Recycled Glass. We are using beautiful green cellular shades where there are grey walls and dark grey shades in our bedroom.

Blues sound like they will work with the plum, and greens work with both. The Balboa Mist looks like a nice gentle color that will unify the space.

You had me at plum island. I think I’m in love. I love the quiet blue bedroom - it’s very soothing and restful and just gorgeous. Blue is a great color because you can use milkshakes ... LOL autocorrect... multiple shades in the same room and they always seem to work together.

When I see a question like this one, my immediate thought is that the OP needs the services of a good interior designer to make her house work. I don't mean this in a derogatory fashion - just they are such scary, basic questions that they lead me to believe you don't necessarily have a vision or an eye for interior design. Most people don't which is why God created the interior designer!

Even paint (and either the labor of doing it oneself, or the price to hire it done), is costly. A mistake is a big problem.

Do some research and find a designer whose taste you admire and can imagine living with in your own home.

Shady a milkshake sounds really good right now!

Anglo I am not offended in the least and appreciate your suggestion. I am not against hiring one if need be, but figured I could come here first and get some feedback. My thoughts have been leaning towards Quiet Moments (have from beginning) but want to hear other's thoughts. There may be other colors I have not thought of nor know about that would look fabulous and we have some very artistic and creative folks here I thought might be able to give me some suggestions.

Make sure some things are unifying. For example make all the hallways the same color. If you use a color in one part of the house, figure out a place you can use it in another part of the house. It doesn't have to be on the walls. It can be furniture, pillows, rugs etc.

Choose 2-3 main colors for the major parts of the house and hallways, 1 color for woodwork and trim and then 2-3 colors as accents.

If you want, next time we get together we can play with colors.

CP, I am going to have one color for the entry, small hallway to guest bedrooms and bathroom, living area/kitchen/dining (all open) and mudroom.

My master, master bath, 2 guest bedrooms and bathroom will be other colors.

My question was what color would go with the BM Shadow and Balboa Mist (cab colors) without it looking like there are too many colors going on in the kitchen (and would also flow with the hale navy in one of the guest rooms (and most likely blue to blue grey in other bedroom and guest bath). I like Quiet Moments or something like this. Can I do something like that or do I really need a neutral? You know I am not a fan of plain colors!

By the time we get together I will probably need some of the colors figured out...at least for tile for floors and bathrooms!

For the open spaces I suggest Manchester Tan. It would look great as a quiet backdrop to the island. It is a color that is a bit chameleon like in that it is nice and neutral, but will pick up on the shades that surrounds it and will vary some with light conditions, but still looks great with both southern and northern exposure.

I don't think rooms with doors that closed a room off has to match at all, but it will feel less yarring if the colors follow similar undertones, but different colors. Ie if using a green in one room and a blue in another that they both follow along the grey, or warm, or cool, or pastel etc. Sounds like the colors are at will follow that.

I just had this room painted in SW Sea Salt which might be an option for your bedroom since you seem to be contemplating blue. With artificial light it veers a bit more toward green.

You can definitely use different colors but it needs to be cohesive with pillows or fabrics with those colors in a bedroom

"...Thank you Virgil! Thinking some type of brushed brass for my pulls and lighting throughout. Faucets may be brushed nickel, have to see. All door handles will be black. It is not easy trying to pull everything together so it does not look cookie cutter!..."

This is exactly the wrong way to proceed with interior design, IMO. Picking out this and that item with that and this finish, is simply creating little individual pieces of the larger, more comprehensive picture puzzle. The more little individual pieces which are chosen, the bigger the challenge for overall harmony.

That's because design--architectural or interior--often begins with concepts for the "big picture", and, thereafter, works down the scale to smaller and smaller items, finally dealing with items such as pulls, fixtures, fittings and the like.

Starting by first picking out these little individual items, one at a time, with little or no relationship among or between the various items is exactly the way to make an interior space appear to be cookie cutter and uncoordinated.

This is why an overall organizing concept, developed by a talented and experienced designer, is the first step in sound interior design. Anything else is simply decoration...not design.

If coming up with one or more alternative organizing interior concepts is difficult, have you considered retaining a talented interior designer (not decorator) for help and assistance?

Please don't misunderstand my comments...I'm not being negative or critical...I'm just trying to be helpful by speaking directly and clearly.

Good luck on your project.

I appreciate everyone's suggestions and advice and you taking the time to help me!

Green Designs, thank you for your post of the different swatches and suggestions. Virgil thank you too for your advice and suggestions. I am not offended at all and do appreciate you being helpful. You do it with grace so its all good! :)

I will be contacting an interior designer friend who does beautiful work and see what she can help me come up with. I thought by talking about paint colors I was trying to get to the big picture first. I was planning on bringing in the plum colors as I said by furniture, throw pillows, art and possible curtains should I use them in my windows. I haven't gotten that far.

I did not realize by choosing a plum island for my kitchen that I needed to bring that color throughout the whole house. I imagined I would have it in the kitchen, living area and possibly dining area with place mats, curtains, roman shades-whatever. I had no plans to bring plum into my other bedrooms or bathrooms as they are hidden away from the main living spaces. I figured the main color of the open area walls needed to flow well with those bedrooms and bathroom. Plum and blue are my favorite colors and I had hoped to put the blue and plum in things like the throw pillows, chairs, throw rug, art etc together to tie the colors in but it sounds like I am going about this the wrong way.

Also, because I was thinking of Balboa Mist (which reads grey but also tan-greige) for my perimeter cabs, I was not sure how tan would look against them but it may look fine. I have even been contemplating use a wood cabinet for the perimeter.

I really need to make some decisions here otherwise I cannot move forward with anything else.

I'll have to call my friend and hire her.

Thanks everyone!

The same floor throughout the space, the same trim, and varying the emphasis of the color palette, but not changing the color palette.

Sorry I disagree. I think it can be done if well thought out as I explained above.

For example, I have one color for my main walls (green) and one for my ceilings (tan) except in the hallways I reversed those two colors by putting the wall color on the ceiling (green) and the ceiling color on the walls (tan). In addition, I have a lightened "version" of the tan color for my office and for DH's office. Then for the guest bedroom I went "crazy" with a pink, with the green wall color on the ceiling. In the powder room, I reversed those two colors so the green is on the walls and the pink on the ceiling and in my master, I put the lighter color of my office walls on my ceiling with the green. Then my master bath has my office ceiling color on the ceiling with a lighter color on the walls. That color is then picked up in the guest bathroom ceiling where the walls are BM Caliente, which then match the two doors in and out of the front and side entry.

And yes, it all works well together.

However, I had a great starting point. My quartzite. All the colors in my house with the exception of the pink came from the quartzite and were carried throughout the house. Find a fabric, a stone, a rug or something you love and use that as a jumping off point to pull together colors.

I have seen in just the past two days three beautiful kitchens with (what I would call) mushroom cabinets (a bit darker perhaps than Balboa Mist) and that color carried onto the walls or ceilings of the adjoining rooms, with paler tone on tone accents or with white. You might google to see if you can find them, I think one was on BH&G's site, one was Martha Stewart.

I love the idea of carrying the Balboa Mist or something similar onto the ceiling. I love almost-neutral color on a ceiling anyway -- did the same in my kitchen, with bone white cabs & trim, pale green-blue walls, I used Valspar 'Transparent' on the ceiling and love the effect. Likewise in my family room, the walls are BM Simply White and the ceiling is Behr Cottage White which gives it more warmth without making the ceiling feel lower.

Depending on the shade of plum, it can almost be a neutral, especially if it is a gray-blue-plum or a raisiny plum. I love the idea. I don't think it needs to be repeated in a big way in other rooms, though.

Thank you CP. My floors, interior doors and trim and trim color will be the same in all rooms throughout. I think my biggest snag is figuring out wall color for the main open rooms and hallways which will be one color.

I think the dark plum island is what is throwing me off. As I said above I thought I could pull the plum and blues in together. I did not think that would be that difficult. As you know, my stones are pretty neutral. If I have one color through my home? It would be a blue.

raee_gwzone I heard from another poster who used BM Manchester tan on her ceiling and loved it. Honestly, I had never considered anything else on my ceiling besides white because other than my tray ceiling, I have always had white...and I have that picture of my master that I really want to copy. Not sure I can do that and have tan ceiling everywhere else.

You really do not have to have a designer perfect house. Some of them are beautiful but boring. What if you spill wine? Oh wait - that is OK since it will match the plum tones. Keep the plum and when it’s done I’ll be over with a bottle to share and a bottle to spare!

Thank you ShadyWillowFarm,

Believe me I am not looking for a perfect designer home. I want a nice warm and cozy home that has an inviting open peaceful feel to it. I do not go with trends (obviously with the plum island lol) at all. I think I am pretty good with colors and what goes together and why I am kind of surprised I am having trouble this go round.

What I really want is a good flow of color from my main living areas (one color) to the bedrooms and guest bath. I do not want the same colors in every room. That to me is boring.

I did call my friend and we are getting together on Saturday.

Sounds like a great plan. Please keep us updated!

Not doing the plum Island after all this. The sample cabinet was awful! It looked purple, not plum. ALso, the plum does not go with the countertops and perimeter cabinet. I am disappointed but the other color looks so nice and brings it all together.

I am painting a bedroom that color instead and chose a blue grey that looks really nice with the contertops.

I messaged you.

Can they make a new sample in an actual plum color? I was so excited to see this come to life!

wysmama, yes they can but the plum looked like it did not belong with my other choices and neither did green which I thought would look really pretty. We tried a bunch of colors and samples. I was shocked how much it did not go at all. I am disappointed for sure but my husband is not. He never liked the plum. You would think it would look really nice with the countertops but it didn't sadly.

I am ok with the color we are looking at now. I will be painting one of my guest bedrooms in Shadow instead. It just wasn't meant to be....even my interior designer said the plum looks odd with the choices. Everything happens for a reason.....I am not losing sleep over it because you know I also love the color blue, It's too bad so many others are liking it now too. I hate going with trends but funny enough I wanted it as my island in my former home 4 years ago but we knew we were selling so I went with a neutral-cherry.

I'm sorry about the plum, but that blue is pretty with your other choices. Can't wait to see it all together!

I will be adding some blues into my house as well. I want to paint the office a dark blue, but hubby is resistant. I will probably do it while he’s at work one day. Lol.
I went with a safe charcoal color for my island. Kinda wish I had ventured out more, but it will be a nice neutral base.

wysmama I like to do something different and why i chose plum. I didnt want to do what everyone else was doing but I do not have white cabinets on the perimeter and blue will look nice. My designer loves it.

I was going to paint one guest bedroom Hale Navy but am thinking of doing it in the plum, either as an accent wall or entire room. I know some were looking forward to seeing my plum island as I was but it didnt work out. Much re to worry about in life, right?

The blue will look beautiful in your house!