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ingrid_vc

Color Suggestions for My Dining Room Walls

I've had a red dining room for more than 12 years and am tiring of the color. We've recently repainted our front room (it was a soft green and is now SW Sea Salt) and that room is visible along with the dining room from certain vantage points, and would like a color that will harmonize but also work well with the DR rug. I don't want a dark color since that's what I have now, and am really stumped. I'm considering BM Abalone or something similar, but right now I'd really welcome someone else's opinion. Blue would seem a reasonable color choice except that the front room is now blue and I prefer a different color for the dining room.






Newly painted front room with SW Sea Salt on the walls

Comments (131)

  • 6 years ago
    Following
    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked Denise Kaser
  • 6 years ago

    I like Wythe Blue the best, but this is from looking on pics on internet which of course is a very limited way to perceive a color

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked aprilneverends
  • 6 years ago

    jjam, by sitting room do you mean the entry room that is newly painted Sea Salt? If any paint was left over it was taken by the painter. The lighting in that room is completely different from the dining room and would wash out with all the light the room gets. April, Wythe Blue is gorgeous, but I'm a shrinking mouse when it comes to color (in spite of having painted the dining room red) and am looking something that is a little more subdued and slightly more green. I want a degree of contrast between the Sea Salt in the entry room and the dining room, but the color also needs to be darker because of the greater amount of light.

  • 6 years ago

    You paid for the paint. He should have left the remaining with you. What if you ever have to touch it up for some reason. I would ask him for it back and not use him again,

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked oaktonmom
  • 6 years ago

    Yes, the room that has Sea Salt. It's a gorgeous color! I think it would be lovely in your DR and would likely look different but that's what's kind of interesting about using the same color in adjoining rooms.

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked jjam
  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    I've narrowed it down to BM Nob Hill Sage and Hollingsworth Green. Has anyone tried either of these colors?

    oaktonmom, you're absolutely right. I'll contact him. We've had so much going on that I had forgotten about the paint.

  • 6 years ago

    Hollingsworth green looks very similar to what I remember your sitting room paint looked like before you repainted. I like the idea of trying the left over Sea Salt in the dining room which will look different than the sitting room due to lighting, rug and furnishings.

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked oaktonmom
  • 6 years ago

    I've ordered 12 x 12 inch samples of each of the two colors from samplize (thank you, Flo) which can be affixed to the walls in different areas so I should have a good idea of what the colors will look like in the room. From what I can see on different painting sites on-line, the Hollingsworth Green is a lighter and fresher color than what I had previously in the entry room. I saw an example on-line where a room further back was painted a light blue and the room in front of it was painted a light green and the two viewed together looked rather fabulous. I want to try for that effect.

  • 6 years ago

    Well, I received my samplize paint samples of Hollingsworth Green and Nob Hill Sage today, and determined that the former is much too light and the latter is very nice but I think still too light at an LRV of 59.78. After looking at what seem like innumerable green colors on-line on the BM site and lots of rooms painted different green colors over the last four days, I've decided to either use the Nob Hill Sage as a starting point for a color that I want to be slightly darker and slightly more green, or to choose BM Desert Green with an LRV of 55.04, which seems just dark enough to work in the dining room. I'm pretty excited!

  • PRO
    6 years ago

    I will check these colors out for you sometime tomorrow Ingrid. Opps it is tomorrow. Let's say later today!

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked Flo Mangan
  • 6 years ago

    Thank you, Flo, you're so kind. Just to make you work harder, I wonder if I should go a little darker and also consider Cedar Grove, LRV 46.23.

  • 6 years ago

    https://shop.samplize.com/

    Has anyone checked out this site?

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked oaktonmom
  • 6 years ago

    That's the site where I obtained my samples. It's been so helpful to be able to paste 12 x 12 squares on different parts of the wall, and it's kept me from making a huge mistake by showing how the Pale Oak I'd been considering was much too light and not at all what I wanted, and the Hollingsworth Green, which was so pretty on-line, just washed out in the room.

  • 6 years ago

    This is Nob Hil Sage that I've put in several places on the wall. I think it's different enough from the Sea Salt paint to present a contrast between the two rooms.




    I'm going to miss the red color with the gold leaf design but after about 12 years it's time for a change, and I hope there will be more of a flow between the rooms.

  • PRO
    6 years ago
    Could you put the sample up on sea salt wall so we can see difference?
    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked Flo Mangan
  • 6 years ago

    I was thinking the same thing. I wasn’t sure that there was a good flow between the sea salt and the Nob Hill.

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked oaktonmom
  • 6 years ago

    It's nighttime now, but I'll take a picture in the morning. I did superimpose the one on the other, and the Nob Hill Sage is darker and greener than Sea Salt, which is what I wanted. I'm not exactly sure what would constitute a good flow in this situation, but my principal aim was to choose a color that I really like.

  • 6 years ago

    Ingrid, I think if you like the color and it meets your criteria which it seems to, you should go with it. Don’t listen to me.....I’m not really a green person anyway. Lol.

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked oaktonmom
  • 6 years ago

    The good thing about this, oaktonmom, is that it's always possible to paint over a color that turns out to be a disappointment. That's a comforting thought!

  • 6 years ago

    Definitely!

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked oaktonmom
  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Hello, I'm back and I've narrowed the color choices down to two, both Benjamin Moore. They're almost the same, but Desert Green is slightly darker than Nob Hill Sage. The difference is more apparent in real life but I hope you can discern it. Should I choose the darker or the lighter color? Photos are taken in both natural light (on a gloomy day) and artificial light. Frankly on my lap top I can't really differentiate the two colors except in the last photo, but hopefully some of you can. I'm more inclined to choose the darker color.




  • 6 years ago

    They're so close I don't think you can go wrong, ingrid : ) . It's hard for me to tell the difference on my monitor, and also to pick one over the other from the small samples, and against the red, but I think you might be right about the Desert Green.

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked beckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
  • 6 years ago

    ..darker, yes

    (my heart's in the Highlands(c))

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked aprilneverends
  • 6 years ago

    I can see a difference in all four photos. It’s slight, but it’s there. Both are quite nice. It’s hard to pick one because the red is still a huge influence.

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked Bunny
  • 6 years ago

    Since there are two yeses and one maybe I'll follow my inclination and choose the darker color, thank you. I'm glad that no one has said the colors are wrong for the room or ugly. At any rate, change is good and it's time.

  • 6 years ago

    Ingrid, I can see a slight difference, but I think either will make you happy. The room will seem so much brighter after the red.

    Pic you are accustomed to the dark color, your instinct to go with the darker green is probably right in. For me, I am tending to go lighter these days. It’s a personal thing in so many ways. Your paintings and rugs are deep and rich and will benefit from the deeper color.

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked OutsidePlaying
  • 6 years ago

    I'm glad that no one has said the colors are wrong for the room or ugly.

    In my old house the living room was green. In our new house, one bathroom, the pantry, and the laundry room are green : ) .

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked beckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
  • PRO
    6 years ago

    Sorry I am so late getting to this, but super busy right now. A good thing for sure! Here is data on your two colors. Desert Green-LRV 51; Hue Angle 137 which puts it in the Green/Yellow Hue family in the "cool" segment. Nob Hill (Sage (BM 450) has an LRV of 59, so it would be more light reflective than Desert Green. It is also in the Green/Yellow Hue family at 143.9 go heading more green than Desert Green but not by much. So, Desert Green will be perceived as a bit darker and the Nob Hill Sage will be perceived as less "yellow". So if you want "darker", go with Desert Green. Now about SW Sea Salt in the living room, just to have it handy, LRV is 63 and Hue Angle is 141 so Desert Green is also in the GreenYellow Hue family (good combo with Desert Green) and it is moving toward the "warm" segment. So 63LRV vs 51LRV means the Desert Green will be perceived darker than the Sea Salt by a good margin. I think Desert Green is the better choice of the two choices.

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked Flo Mangan
  • 6 years ago

    Six months later, and we've finally done it! Don't ask why it took so
    long, or why instead of BM Desert Green I ended up with Valspar Cool
    Mint. Well, we do have a gallon of Semigloss Desert Green because I
    forgot to tell hubby it should be eggshell, but then I also got cold
    feet because Desert Green turned out to be the exact shade of my
    toothpaste. Then it was back to the store, with me not feeling well and
    hubby tapping his foot, and we came home with an impulse purchase of
    Cool Mint. I'm not at all sure this is the right color but the painter
    has come and gone and repainting is so out of the question. Please lie
    to me and tell me it's not so bad. In reality the shade is somewhat
    lighter than in the photos.

  • 6 years ago

    Continued here due to Houzz being what it is.....


  • 6 years ago


  • 6 years ago

    It's really pretty and looks great with your furniture and painting! Excellent choice.

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked indygo
  • 6 years ago

    The gold frame and painting, and the wooden piece underneath, look gorgeous with that green. And I'm not saying that to be nice, ingrid : ) .

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked beckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
  • 6 years ago

    It looks wonderful!

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked Olychick
  • 6 years ago

    Okay, I love you all! Change always throws me for a loop, but in the past few hours the new color has begun to seem less strange, and the small change of a different picture under the window helped, I think. since it ties in with the large oil painting stylistically. This wall color as compared to the previous red also makes the room look larger, and it "flows" with the colors visible from the other rooms.

  • 6 years ago

    ingrid, that sounds like a success : )

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked beckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
  • 6 years ago

    had to look because of the number of posts--- that color looks so beautiful. so soft but cheerful too.

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked lulu bella
  • PRO
    6 years ago

    All that really matters is you like it. One small idea. To give the small picture a bit more reason for being there find a small gilded shelf to put under it.

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked Flo Mangan
  • 6 years ago

    Ingrid, I LOVE the new color!!!! It’s beauuuuuutiful! I have a few rooms in my house I want to repaint. Sometimes a change, even if the previous was nice and loved in its time, just makes a space feel fresh and revitalized.

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked Stephanie, 9b inland SoCal
  • PRO
    6 years ago

    Something like this.

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked Flo Mangan
  • 6 years ago

    What a fresh breath of air the color gives the room. Lovely!

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked roarah
  • 6 years ago

    Its a beautiful color. Your room looks so fresh and bright.

  • 6 years ago

    Flo, I don't have a shelf (the one you show is gorgeous!) but we had a similar idea because I had put a smaller picture under the one shown to try to make more sense of this idea; the jury is still out.

    I must admit that I'm not 100% committed to the new color, and would have been happier with either a slightly lighter color or a slightly greener hue. Choosing a color in the space of ten minutes while you feel awful and your husband is fed up, and knowing the painter will be there the following morning, is not a recipe for success. However, in a few more days it will no longer seem nearly as important and will be "good enough".

    Slight variation with artificial light.

  • PRO
    6 years ago

    That’s a good adjustment with smaller picture below. I think the color is very pretty and you should be patting yourself on the back for such a good choice under duress!! I would look for a dish or possibly some flower arrangement with that wall color in it to help make it more cohesive overall. I saw a really cute one at Hobby Lobby last week. It was in a cute container, had a mix of white flowers and greens and a couple monkey pods painted your wall color! So sweet!

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked Flo Mangan
  • 5 years ago

    I decided to substitute a painting of my mom (in traditional Austrian dress) for the landscape in my dining room. I prefer it because the colors in the painting seem more compatible with the wall color, and the vertical shape is a better fit . Hope you like it.


  • PRO
    5 years ago

    Beautiful and good adjustment. Looks like a different room!

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked Flo Mangan
  • 5 years ago

    Looks fabulous!

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked ilikefriday
  • 5 years ago

    That's wonderful. Did your husband paint it?

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked Olychick
  • 5 years ago

    How beautiful that portrait is! Of course it looks gorgeous in the dining room. Plus I have a weakness for dirndls.

    ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9 thanked Zalco/bring back Sophie!
  • 5 years ago

    Thank you so very much for your kind comments. Zalco you get extra points for recognizing the dress. Olychick, the portrait was actually painted the year my husband was born, so there is a connection. A very happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

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