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Help with color choice please!

12 years ago
Hi Houzz community!

I recently bought an apartment, loft style, lots of open space, and inherited the colors from the previous owner: the wooden girders are blue, the walls are yellow, the woden planks behind the dining table and the sofa are mix of yellow and blue, the kithen is brown and the tiles in the kitchen are bordeaux and white (and yes, the walls are still yellow).

I want to change this color chaos, with not many investments - I can't change the floor for example.

What I want to keep is radiators as they are: cast iron, steel color. I also want to leave the stone wall (with windows and behind staircase) - historical heritage :)

I also don't know what to do with the fireplace - to change or not this old tile that you see on one of the pictures.

Help please! :)

Comments (19)

  • 12 years ago
    Maybe bring everything down to a soft greige color, so your furnishings can stand out? Also, there are paints that can be used over tile, so you don't have to keep the "checkerboard" backsplash.
    These two colors are
    SW agreeable gray
    SW intellectual gray
  • 12 years ago
    last modified: 12 years ago
    wow, your place has a lot of character and fun potential! I tried picturing if it were my house, what would I do. I would paint those girders white, the kitchen cabinets white or cream (it'll bring out the white in the tile and mute the black I think), paint the walls (I'm personally so over yellow in the kitchen) a nice color of your choice (grays, blues, greens are nice). I'd also paint that paneling behind the radiator white or off white as well. I know for me, if I'm not sure what colors to paint something, I paint it white so visually it goes back to neutral, then I can imagine a color to paint it later. Good luck - it's a great place :)
  • 12 years ago
    I would paint the loft rafters black. Agree with Pam on the rest.
  • 12 years ago
    Beautifull Natalie
    Your loft is just really nice and so bright.
    All the colours and textures are soft.
    I'd recommend to use black or egg yellow for all the wood parts. It will look great and will give a nice touch odesign
  • 12 years ago
    Just an idea of the intellectual gray on the beams, really opens the space up :)
  • 12 years ago
    mforr - thanks for a fantastic pic!!! :) I also love the idea of painting the tiles. Pamnconor - I also thought of painting the kitchen itself into white, great to see that this actually might work. For everything white - I was worried that it might be hostile - as the space is quite big: 5m height.
    Any advice on the fireplace? not sure if I should do anything with the tiles around it ...
  • 12 years ago
    last modified: 12 years ago
    Natalie, is the brown surround actually tiles?
  • 12 years ago
    Check this out for tile painting, she's shown how it still looks great after a year.

    http://www.11magnolialane.com/2013/03/12/painted-tile-backsplash-in-my-kitchen-a-year-later/
  • 12 years ago
    it's not really tiles, but similar. Thanks for the link! Do you know if I can also use it in the bathroom? Not on the pic above but I have flowers on the bathroom tiles :)
  • 12 years ago
    I think you can paint them too, it may not hold up as well, but if it gave you some extra time to live with it for a while, you can always update further down the line. There's a lot of sites where you can get really good instructions on painting tiles and other "different" surfaces. The brown surround on fireplace, is it some kind of stone? Or is it a man made material? You could use a heat safe paint if it's a really hideous surface and you just want to get rid of it. Is it a working fireplace?
  • 12 years ago
    It's a working fireplace, so maybe the best idea is to change the surround. It's something between stone and tile, not even sure.
  • 12 years ago
    If you're looking to paint the kitchen cabinets, perhaps a light ivory or beige instead of a stark white. Also, you could consider painting the upper cabinets a lighter color and the bottom cabinets a deeper color, little bit more interesting, plus will make the upper cabinets blend in more, giving you a more open looking kitchen. Will look a bit less traditional in a cool eclectic space. Maybe a deep bronze, gray brown color.
  • 12 years ago
    last modified: 12 years ago
    Changing it would be best, but you could use a light color heat safe paint and lighten it up for now. Not sure if you can get a heat safe paint in custom colors, but something like the intellectual gray I painted your beams with, would be very nice.
  • 12 years ago
    mforr, love all your ideas! will now make a list of paints to look for :)
  • 12 years ago
    I'm glad I could help, I think your place will be really great once you take the yellow and blue out and make it a bit more "urbane", good luck with this project and enjoy your new home. I hope you'll put in some stand out pieces against the future neutral background :)
  • 12 years ago
    last modified: 12 years ago
    What the fireplace might look like if surround is painted
    Click on image to see all four colors
  • 12 years ago
    :)
  • 12 years ago
    Où en êtes-vous de votre projet ?
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