Hmmm...now I'm wondering about Bucktrout Brown walls, Ivory White/Acadia for the trim, and White Down for the ceilings. I don't want the trim too stark with the walls, though. That seems to look "cheap."

Hi - I love Bucktrout Brown! I haven’t come across it before. How rich?

White Down too is lovely, but just to bear in mind that colours on the ceiling often appear somewhat darker and greyer than the same colour, were it painted on the wall.

(Try holding your painted sample on the same plane as the ceiling, above your head, rather than viewing in the same plane as the wall.)

An alternative suggestion would be Acadia White on the ceiling, as it‘s lighter and more colourful than White Down and White Dove on the trim.

White Dove is a more colourful white than I would usually suggest for the trim, but I do understand the desire not to be too stark in a traditional looking home.

🌈

Thank you, Marylee!

Funny thing about the Bucktrout Brown - I tentatively chose it a couple years ago but was second guessing myself as the painting drew closer. An ad for something came through my Facebook feed a couple weeks ago with a gorgeous Christmas dining room. I thought - THAT COLOR - What's that color?! I took a screen shot and sent it through a color app from Benjamin Moore. What I was seeing was Bucktrout Brown. Ha. So, that seems meant to be.

Defo meant to be! Would love to see a photo when you are done and settled. 🌈

Ack! I think you may have been right, Marylee. I went with the White Down in the dining room, and it's still perfect for around the doors and windows, BUT...magically....the cornice is darker. Ugh. During some parts of the day it is full on TAN while, just below it, a door or window surround is soft white. I strongly do NOT like the tan cornice. Tan?! Is it reflecting the dark brown walls or the same color ceiling? The door and window trim doesn't seem to reflect the dark brown and still looks soft white. What is happening to the cornice and how can we fix it?

I've been playing with changing the ceiling color to something darker (putting a few samplize samples up), thinking the contrast would make the cornice look whiter just as the dark brown walls seem to do to the door and window trim. But the darker ceiling just seems to reflect darker onto the cornice.

One crazy idea is to paint JUST the cornice a 1/2 shade of the rest of the trim. I've painted some trim wood to hold up to see what that looks like.

It would be infinitely easier if the magical fix is the ceiling so I don't end up with two different trim colors in one room and potentially cause the painter to want to murder me for asking him to REpaint that intricate trim.

Also, I'm used to more colorful ceilings. I think the wimpy way the cornice blends into the ceiling is messing with me. BUT, I swear a darker ceiling just seems to make the cornice even darker. There is much more ceiling than wall, so I didn't want to go too dark there and turn it all into a cave. And I was afraid a lighter ceiling would make the trim look darker. When it's by itself, it looks white. When it is next to a lighter color, it shows how off-white it is.

I think I've caught Paint Derangement Syndrome :-)

I know there are shadows being cast from the door headers. We might paint the tops of them a bright reflective white to see if that helps there some. No one would see that.

This one probably shows the Bucktrout well and the door and window trim. I swear IRL the cornice is darker.

https://www.phillipspaint.com/gallery/2112-10-mink-2040-50-hazy-blue.php

This page shows a similar situation. They even have the same type of paint - Advance in Satin for trim with the same color for the ceiling in Matte and Eggshell Aura for the dark brown walls. You can clearly see the cornice is much darker than the door trim.

Here you can see, on the same wall, a few inches from each other, the window trim looks like one color and the cornice looks like another. It may not seem like much, but you know how we can tell the difference between these whites. This would look like two totally different colors on the paint cards. And again, at certain times of day, some of it is TAN. Bleh.

Anyone have any insight on what is going on with this cornice color and how to fix it?

You may find this article of interest by Patrick Baty who leads his field in historical architectural colour consultancy. I am sorry for the poor quality, I cannot find the original article.

That brown is fabulous. I rarely like browns on walls but you really hit the mark with that one. I have no idea about your ceilings or molding but my sense is you are bold enough to pull just about anything off.

If this were my home, I would wallpaper that ceiling. I am sure you will come up with something stunning.

@Marylee H I love the idea of having the men of the home watch. I might try that with my next project!

Thank you SO much, Marylee, for the encouragement and for "talking me off the ledge" I made of paint cans. And you get 1000 gold stickers for reading my long post!

The ding dang cornice is frustrating. I knew that a ceiling painted the same as the walls would look darker and was hoping that was enough, along with the sheen change, to make it stand out from the cornice. I didn't know the cornice would also get darker, though. Bleh. We have crown all throughout the house and I never noticed it like I do here. Maybe they are a lower sheen?

The sane thing would be to do nothing now (but why start doing the sane thing now?! Ha. ;-). The dining room is done, and the living room has already had the cornice dentil detail sprayed two coats of the White Down. Then, if it still bugs me once everything is on the walls to distract me, and I'm not so hyper-focused, then I can entertain doing the cornice lighter. It wouldn't need to be prepped like before so it might not be too bad. Also, we are reworking the porches so there should be a little more light coming in up high.

It is fascinating holding up the lighter painted wood to the ceiling to see how it nearly matches the door trim and pops with the ceiling, though!

One small thing we could do now is get the ceiling medallion painted (and repainted) in the lighter color of half White Down (or whatever you suggest!). The painted dining room medallion is soooo off-white looking and blah against the ceiling. So bizarre. That also might help make the ceiling look a little darker/different in contrast?

Excellent idea about watching some Jane Austen movies for inspiration and to calm my nerves! I do have two teen boys. Once of whom would probably actually watch with me! I think they appreciate the house as any time I mention possibly moving, they wail.

Thank you also for the Patrick Baty tip! I started looking through his website and found links to articles. Here is the "Palette of Historic Homes" article - https://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/11351908?access_key=key-28086grdf8xu72y6pxy2

If you do have any tips for how to pick a white to make the cornice match the White Down door and window trim, I would be most grateful. So far, my theory is just to do 1/2 tint. It might actually be a tiny bit too light. Or heck, some totally different idea?!

Thank you, @ilikefriday!

I was going for elegant and dramatic and a little different...but still feel historic. I think I got it. I love it all except the way that cornice is darker. It's messing with me! Ha.

Looking at lighter colours than White Down,,,🌈

Here are some suggestions of lighter alternatives to White Down, using colour notations.

(Just cutting a colour with white to make it lighter, can lead to odd and unexpected results, so I would avoid that unless you have seen the result with your own eyes.)

In order not to have one white look dingy or dirty next to the other, a handy rule of thumb is to keep a minimum difference in Chroma of at least 0.2 between them.

White Down is marked on the Color Strategist Wheel at 3.35Y.

Moving down the table, moves you increasingly clockwise on the wheel.

The higher the Value = the lighter the colour.

The lower the Chroma = the more neutral the colour.

Normally, (in relation to White Down + either Cloud White or Mountain Peak White) I would suggest a little more contrast in terms of Hue Family location, between colours of white. But have suggested them, if you are trying to make the ceiling rose more similar to the trim, rather than just adding another white which works.

Pull large chips before investing in samples and view in your space.

Note* - if you prefer the Value of one colour but the quantity of Chroma (colourfulness) of another.

There are other, even more neutral options but thought this may feel too stark against the ceiling for you.

🌈

P.s. And thanks so much for Patrick Baty link. 🌈

What a stunning room! I’m also curious about your floors. Are they finished? I’d love to know more about them too.

@Marylee H

You've blown my mind! That was so helpful!

I just realized I can possibly use my Color Muse to think about this as well. For instance, when I put Pale Oak Samplize on the ceiling, I like the contrast/darkness level, but the color of it is all wrong. I could put the Color Muse on it...get the Hue, Chroma, and Level...and get ideas from that....I think?! I've only ever used it for recognizing and double-checking branded colors. Sounds like something fun to research at lunch!

I wonder if sometimes we also want to make something more or less gray, not just lighter or darker. Hmmm....

As for the dining room and living room. The painter is here, and he is already busy so....no time to change anything now! I will live with it. Think about it. Play with Hue, Chroma, and Level and my Color Muse. And when we get the stairwell (which is smack next to the dining room) painted in February/March, I can use all this new found knowledge to get that right and tie it in to any tweaks in the dining and living rooms.

I have to say, after watching Pride and Prejudice and going through my Charleston/Gil Schafer/Furlow Gatewood books, I feel better about the cornice. If I really look at the pictures, 95% of the cornices are darker/browner/greyer than the door and window trim as well! I just never noticed. Once I get everything on the walls and let some time pass, I should be better :-)

I will probably end up with lighter ceiling medallions and slightly darker ceiling...but not today!

@jjam

Thanks! The floors are 5" wide red oak (If I could go back 19 years I would get white oak.) with a little bit of NordicSeal and then Bona Naturale Commercial Matte finish. Even the Bona Naturale, which says it doesn't change the color, changes the color. So, the NordicSeal helps with that and to help turn the red oak a smidge more white without looking pickled. I don't remember how much or how we did the NordicSeal, I just remember it was a light coat...Did we half it? Just do one coat when they suggest more? Sorry I don't remember!

It was probably ten years ago that I kept saying I liked the floor when it was freshly sanded - why couldn't we just keep that somehow? Google helped me find Bona Naturale, and I love it! It really helps hide scratches and dirt.

We did attempt actually having no finish for a couple weeks. I figured if Colonial Williamsburg can have 1000s of visitors and no finish, why can't I...yeah...the kitchen floor was a splotchy mess in short order. I think if I could live with the randomness for a year, it would probably all even out but I couldn't take it. :-)

Fab! I think you will have fallen in love with your colours all over again by the time you ever consider re-painting . Honestly - it’s just beautiful.

Be aware there is such a thing called ‘colour shock’. It may take up to 2 weeks, but you are likely to begin to appreciate all the variations of White Down as just one colour, affected only by light and geometry.

My mentor likens it to coming down into the kitchen at night and seeing a banana on the worktop. You still read it as yellow, even though it appears different in the dark. 🤓

Yes - you can defo play with your Muse that way. You may like the Lightness + Chroma of a colour and perhaps only need to adjust Hue angle by a few degrees to find what you are after.

Good Luck, it’s going to look amazing dressed for Christmas! Woohoo!

Candles & twinkly lights - here you come!

🌲🎄❄️❄️

Don’t mind me, I’m just over here swooning over your fabulous, gorgeous house. You have no idea how refreshing it is to see around here.

Will you please start a blog, IG house page, something? I want to watch your progress! Or at least update us here as you go along? 😊

Your house is beautiful. I hope you enjoy every minute of it, and I have to agree with Jinx, its very refreshing to look at your posts. Its also nice to see someone that paints a beautiful color on their walls.

Thank you, Alicia! I actually would have guessed your floors were white oak, which is what I also adore and DON'T have. But seeing your red oak floors gives me hope...ours have yellowed after nearly twenty years and 2021 is the year to get them done. I thought I was doomed to more yellowish shiny floors, since we want to keep them light. Thank you so much for sharing the info and the gorgeous photos!