Need help with a warm, light neutral paint for a Spanish interior!

J.J.

2 years ago

The original color in my home is Millet by Frazee. The color is quite nice and appears as a tan-yellow throughout the day but occasionally reads as very custardy in certain lighting. Trying to get rid of that yellow, I looked towards popular neutral beiges and tans by Sherwin Williams. I went ahead and bought 5 gallons of SW Canvas Tan (not pictured) after looking at wonderful examples and when I painted a wall, it looked so gray and cold! Realizing my mistake, I went out and got some paint chips and sample sizes. River's Edge, Accessible Beige, and Kilim Beige. All of them appeared still darker and gray compared to Millet, despite color consultants claiming these colors to be "warm". I bit the bullet and ordered another 5 gallons of River's Edge and painted my den. Instant regret...you can see how the mat board of my framed pictures are super yellow compared to the wall. Additionally, the room feels dark and dingy. Because half of the house was already masked for paint and I just needed this to be done with, I ordered THREE gallons of Kilim Beige (since it apparently goes well with cherry woods and travertine tile) and it's so dark, heavy and comes off as a fleshy pink (like a makeup palette)! Took the L and just finished the job. You can see how Kilim Beige made my foyer very dim (it didn't seem this dark before) and how pink it is compared to the yellow Millet.
Before I spend more $$$ on paint, here's what I learned/realized...
1. I want a paint with an LRV between the mid 60s to lower 70s. Kilim Beige was just too dark and heavy for my foyer and North facing rooms. Millet has an LRV of 66 which I liked. A color that is bright enough for dark/small rooms.
2. Despite my hate for yellow. Orange-pink undertones look too peachy and clashed with a lot of my finishes and decor, mostly gold, antique brass, and oil rubbed bronze. I think I am okay with revisiting yellow undertones, as long as it isn't so strong like my original color.
3. My home is Spanish revival style, so I'm inspired by a softer neutral like the last two images. I'm afraid that beige/tans would eventually lead me back to that Olive Garden/Cheesecake Factory look, but I also don't want to go super stark white. My trim is SW Pure White so I'd like a color that can contrast well enough with it without blending in.

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PRO

BeverlyFLADeziner

2 years ago

Less color in the paint

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Comments (9)

apple_pie_order
2 years ago
What are the last two photos? THe wall color in those looks fine. Also, your sofa is a good color cue.
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mytwo cents
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Take a look at neutrals on the Farrow & Ball website, where you will find copious descriptions of what the underlying tones are. Then if you find a color you like but don't want to buy their paint or can't, do a google search for the name of the paint plus "match color'' and you'll get best possible equivalent formulas in Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, Behr, etc
PRO
HALLETT & Co.
2 years ago
Bm navajo white (not Sherwin Williams Navajo) is a classic warm white.
Jennifer Hogan
2 years ago
Wow - that is a lot of wasted time and money on wrong colors!

I cannot locate a color match for your original Frazee Millet, so it is hard to try to find something similar but just a bit less colorful/bit less yellow.

If you could bring home a bunch of paper swatches and find a similar color to Frazee Millet or order a color muse from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/COLOR-MUSE-Colorimeter-Matching-Instantly/dp/B01KKEMIF0?th=1 and use it to find a match to your original color it would be much easier to find the right color.

I guessed that your original color may be similar to Eaglet Beige.

The next photos are the same room with Kilm, Accessible Beige, Canvas Tan and Rivers Edge

This pic has Eaglet Beige on top and bottom

2nd Row is Kilm, Accessible, Canvas Tan, Rivers Edge.

3rd row is aged white, Ivory Lace, Muslin and Navajo white.

All lighter and softer than Eaglet Beige.

Here are some pics of the same room above with the colors that I picked to try...

Hope this helps

The site I used to create the visualization is https://www.sherwin-williams.com/visualizer#/active
Jennifer Hogan
2 years ago
Don't buy a rooms worth of paint. Buy a sample. Paint it on poster board or better paint it on Watercolor Paper. Paint 2 coats. Look at the color next to your furniture, next to the flooring , next to your art.

Much less expensive to buy a bunch of samples than to paint a room with each.

You can get pre-painted samples from Samplize.com
kandrewspa
2 years ago
You definitely want to try sampling instead of buying large quantities of paint. When I think I've found the right color for a room I will buy a quart so I can paint a larger section to confirm, but I have changed my mind at that point, so multiple gallons are not called for at that stage. If you're still interested in SW, look at Aged White and Natural Linen. I think you should be looking at colors with LRVs in the low-mid-70s, not the 60s since everything you've tried thusfar looks too dark to you. Anything ten points darker than Pure White will give you enough contrast. As Hallett said, BM Navajo White is a long-time popular color that is frequently used in Spanish style homes. I don't know how that would look against Pure White trim however.
calidesign
2 years ago
When you're sampling the paint put it in the middle of a white poster board. You will still have reflections of the surrounding color, but it won't be as skewed as painting it on top of your current color.
Holly Johnson
2 years ago
What color did you decide on? I am dealing with the same type of issues.