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loribee_gw

Ideas for me...please?

loribee
13 years ago

Lots of cracking/settling in our FR so it needs to be re-taped and painted. Dare I pick a real COLOR? Any suggestions for me??? It's such a dark, north facing room~~~~~

Should I hunt for a deeper version of my standish white, go gold or be daring and look at a blue-green-gray like quiet moments or glidden's gentle tide?

Thanks for your thoughts~

Comments (52)

  • Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
    13 years ago

    Leave it alone...it's so pretty in white.

  • tuesday_2008
    13 years ago

    You have perfection now! I just googled Standish White and it appears slightly more golden in your pictures than the sample card. But pictures and monitors can be deceiving.

    If you feel the need to stay in the same tones, but want to change it up a little, you might look at SW Believable Buff - a nice golden tan. Not sure how much different it is than what you have, but would be beautiful with your decor.

    Tuesday

  • kgibbins
    13 years ago

    I like it the way it is.

  • PRO
    Diane Smith at Walter E. Smithe Furniture
    13 years ago

    I've been admiring your room for months!
    Whatever you decide is fine with me. I love your taste!

  • dianalo
    13 years ago

    I'd go slightly lighter. You have so many gold and yellow accessories, I'd do a little less gold/yellow on the wall. Or switch it up and use a light green but not a gray/green.

  • catkin
    13 years ago

    Oooohhh a pale gray blue would be pretty with your furnishings--SW Sea Salt?

  • sashasmommy
    13 years ago

    I like the idea of the blue with your brown chairs...

  • Valerie Noronha
    13 years ago

    I agree your room is perfection as is, though in the pictures the walls do not like white so I wonder if it is photographing how it looks IRL. Perhaps consider something like how your photograph looks, though the pale grey/blue sounds intriguing.

  • les917
    13 years ago

    If it is a north facing room, I would be careful about using too cool a color. That light tends to make things feel cool and a bit gloomy anyway.

    That said, I would LOVE to see the walls in a really rich, warm navy. I think it would be stunning with your furnishings! Something like the blue in your pottery pieces.

    Oh, and please pull your curtains out past the brackets to the ends of the rods. They will be much prettier on your windows and have more visual impact.

    Maybe find a different home for the wicker chair - at least in your pix, it feels like it is blocking the seating space.

  • loribee
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Les...you know I always love your ideas but navy would be waaaay too much for me, I have a fear of color you know, lol. (but I love the other suggestions)
    Thanks tons also, girls for weighing in...I was so hoping for help.

    See how vibrant the standish white looks here in my sitting room? This is more true to life- but my FR is so dark that it doesn't work here. Standish doesn't seem to have a darker version, but I found key west ivory~ maybe that would be better??

    Keep your ideas comin'...much appreciated, THANKS!

  • chloeelise
    13 years ago

    I'm currently in "choosing paint color agony" right now so I'll be no help but I wanted to tell you how beautiful, classic, and warm your room is. I came across this living room in Monroe Bisque that reminds me of your room. Maybe a shade deeper would be something close to BM Shelburne Buff?

    Here is a link that might be useful: Monroe Bisque

  • amysrq
    13 years ago

    When I help people think about color, the first thing I ask them is what they dislike about the current color. I would ask you the same thing. Is there something specific about the SW you are not happy with? Articulating that is a good place to start.

    I do not recall having seen your sitting room before. It is lovely. What appeals to me is the use of color, primarily in the WTs, but also the upholstery. When I looked at your LR yesterday, in isolation, I thought it looked fine. Now that I see the sitting room, I think the LR could use a shot of color, too.

    The LR, as it is, is very monochromatic. Squint your eyes so that you just get a fuzzy view of the big blobs of color. They're not there. If you prefer the feeling of the sitting room, I would encourage you to use more saturated color on the walls.

    If you use a deeper version of the SW, you'll still have a monochromatic room. Nice and soothing, but perhaps missing some oomph. I think moving around the color wheel some, away from yellow, would be nice. A safe bet would be green. I would stay with a warm green, not blue/gray.

    A non-safe bet would be to paint the walls in the LR the color of the curtains in the sitting room. I am sure that makes you sweat, just to hear the suggestion, since you are "afraid" of color. Let me ask you this...are you afraid of color or just afraid of making the wrong choice? That sitting room does not look like it was designed by someone who is afraid of color!

  • Kathleen McGuire
    13 years ago

    OMG Amy, that would be beautiful! As seen on my monitor, the curtains look like the color of a persimmon.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Martha's Persimmon paint via HD

  • amysrq
    13 years ago

    Perfect, kmcg! Love it. :-)

  • theroselvr
    13 years ago

    I have 2 colors for you- If you go to Depot; look for this paint card by Behr. Not a great picture of any of the card but it gives you an idea of which colors to look at

    There is this yellow-

    and green

    This is the yellow- Beachwalk in my kitchen. I'm not a yellow person but the color is really nice. People who did not like the sample like it on the walls.

  • barbarany
    13 years ago

    Lori - I LOVE LOVE your wicker rockers. Where did you find them???

  • demeron
    13 years ago

    Lovely room, such pretty window treatments.

    I would like to see a photoshop of watery blue-gray. Would it be too cool and glum for your N facing room?

  • teacats
    13 years ago

    No help from this corner! (LOL!) -- I love the current color -- and the way it allows seasonal changes .....

    :) Such a pretty room!

    Jan at Rosemary Cottage

  • bonnieann925
    13 years ago

    Hi Lori,
    I'm in the "don't change it" camp. It's a shame that you have so much settling in a new house. Is the builder going to be repairing the walls and doing the painting? It's easy to understand that, because you have to repaint, this is the time to explore all your options. The other issue, as I see it, is that if you paint the FR, you're going to have to paint the sitting room because they are so open to each other. I can't imagine two different paint colors there.

    Standish white looks lovely really!

  • loribee
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    So happy to come home and see such fun ideas- thanks sooo much~ and to those that said it looks nice as is, THANK YOU...very kind of you!
    We had like an hour to pick a color for the house and I picked standish white and never looked back. I still love it but don't love that it looks washed out in my dark FR.
    Funny- I just read House Beautiful's suggestions for north facing rooms and 2 were -BM secluded beach (a butter pecan) and crystal blue (ephemeral, with a sense of sky and water). Both of these sound like they are right up my alley- along with your great suggestions. I still wish there was a darker version of standish~but hopefully if it doesn't snow too much tomorrow I can go get some chips. Meanwhile, we'll live like this, lol.

    Thanks again for the fab ideas!

  • camlan
    13 years ago

    Just weighing in on the blue-gray idea. I have a north facing living room and when I moved in here, it was painted a deep blue gray. It was a most unwelcoming color--the only time it looked at all nice was the half hour each evening when it got direct sunlight. It was a dark cave otherwise, no matter how many lamps I put in there. On cloudy days, it was dismal. And it felt cold all the time.

    It was a pretty color by itself, but in that room with the northern exposure, it was horrible. I spent all my time in other rooms and avoided the living room as much as possible--this was unconscious, but my sister pointed it out when she visited.

    The room is painted in BM Muslin now, and every afternoon finds me in there, curled up with a book.

  • loribee
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Hi Bonnie, we were posting at the same time~~
    we dropped the ball on the serious cracks. They surfaced 2 years ago, just as DH and I both had to have major surgery, during which my father passed away & I couldn't deal with them at the time...so it's really too late to ask.
    The sitting room is really far away from the FR- (FR connects to kitchen, and then DR and finally the sitting room, which is really a TINY formal living room) so I feel like I don't need to worry.

    Camlan...thank you, I really am listening. :)
    I'd still love to see light blue-gray-green photoshopped as mentioned, if anyone knows how. Thanks!

  • User
    13 years ago

    I have to agree, your room is perfection the way it is. Everything works so well together. Yellows, blues & greens are my absolute favorite and are what we've used in our home too. That said, I totally agree with Camlan about how a blue/blue gray color and how it will work with that northern exposure. We have SW Sea Salt (suggested earlier) in our master bath and while I love the color, it is in a north facing room and can be well, a bit cold. I think if you're up for change, the better direction would be something in the green or brown family. Maybe pull a color from the sunflower pillows which are fabulous as well! Here's a couple of mock ups to give you some visual ideas. Lighter colors don't work well so I had to use deeper tones but I basically just tried to match colors you already have in the room. These are all Sherwin Williams:

    Colonial Revival Stone:

    Needle Point Navy:

    Protege Bronze:

    Renwick Olive:

    Rural Green:

  • sis2two
    13 years ago

    The protege bronze looks great but I really think that persimmon color would be beautiful in there! Your room is beautiful as is but if you don't go with a different color, you will never know. You have good decorating instinct so I think if you are thinking of going different, I'd go with it. Good luck!

  • loribee
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Bless you, Lukkiirish, I really like the Protege Bronze & Colonial Revival Stone! Could I ask you to try the Persimmon also, please for Sis2two and me??? I hope it's not too much work...THANKS!

    Barbarany- sorry, the wicker rocker & end table came from a local discount shop. They get moved from room to room, lol.

  • User
    13 years ago

    Hi Loribee,

    I actually just did it in the SW site, so the Persimmon color wasn't available but when I tried other similar colors they were either too bright or just looked gross.

    There is a color in BM I'll mock up with your photo later today that may work but keep in mind that since the colors tend to get a little distorted I don't think it will really do the color justice.

  • loribee
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks sooo much and I'll check out the SW site. Is it really hard to do or maybe I can learn??!
    Thanks again, Lukkiirish !

  • Sheeisback_GW
    13 years ago

    You know I love your home. I'm a fan of the current color. If you really want a change, I would stay away from any lighter blues. I like Protege Bronze and the Colonial in the mock ups. Wonder what BM Baby Turtle would look like?

  • loribee
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Very kind, Shee, thanks!
    We went to get BM paint chips this afternoon and the fan deck was only $8.50. I thought the young man meant it was $8.50 to rent, but no... so I now have a fan deck!
    When all is said and done, I'm sure I'll do what I always do and get some exciting shade of off-white!! :)

  • User
    13 years ago

    Ok, so here you go! This is the closest I could find that matched MS Persimmon on my monitor. I can almost guarantee in real life they look nothing a like. LOL I saw you just got a BM fan deck, well this is actually BM Audoban Red but hey if it can give you a good visual online....what the heck, right? As far as how easy or difficult the sites are, it's really a given. A lot of people seem to have trouble with the BM site, so far I do ok with it. You should give it a try, if you have trouble figuring it out and want to email me, I'll be happy to walk you through it.


  • saltnpeppa
    13 years ago

    I really love the Protege Bronze! But of course, I am also in the camp that loves the original as well.

    Smiles:)

  • User
    13 years ago

    Sorry Shee, didn't see your suggestion, here you go...BM Baby Turtle...looks a little washed out to me.

  • loribee
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks so much, Luk, truly appreciate your time!!!
    Course I adore the BM Audoban Red ~~~~ that's my fave so far but it wouldn't stand a chance in their football room!

    Here's SW cachet cream and I guess I'm not very good at painting, I have it all over the couch!

  • elle3
    13 years ago

    I also love your home! I love the bronze color that was posted. I know you said the room was dark, but it appears warm and inviting online. I'm going to throw out two other colors for you--Wilmington Tan and Olive Branch. Blues are gorgeous, but I think in this case, it might be better used as an accent. There is a post I saw yesterday containing a link to color me happy which used blue as an accent with Monroe Bisque on the walls--gorgeous! Did you see it?

  • loribee
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks, Elle~
    I did check out the color me happy blog and LOVED that room. When I viewed the Monroe Bisque chip though, it seemed to have a greenish tint? I will look at it again today and at the 2 others you suggested, once it's light out. Thanks for your help... :)

  • User
    13 years ago

    Hey Loribee, I think you did great on your first try. You'll get the hang of it.

    You know...this is just my take on it, but it seems to me that even though you are either ready for a change or want to step out of your comfort zone, it would appear that the colors you already have up are what feel most comfortable to you or at least colors in the same family. There is nothing wrong with staying close to home, like everyone has said, the space is lovely. So why fix what isn't broken? The other thing is, since the collection of pieces as well as the accessories in the room all harmonize with that wall color so well it also seems that no matter what other color you choose, it's just not going to balance out or harmonize the room in the same way.

    If you're really sure you want to make a change, I would remove everything but the pieces that for whatever reason have to stay in the room including the drapery. Then get a fresh photo and start trying different colors with a blank space to see what works. It may give you a different perspective.

  • never_ending
    13 years ago

    Lori you always do a beautiful job and I always stop in to see what you are up to! I will echo Lukkiirish and say you are on the edge girlfriend!!!! =)

    I know you love a neutral because it allows you to switch out your accessories BUT is that because you love change or is it because you keep wanting to bring a better/dramatic change to this room? Now...I LOVE seeing change but...paint is change and an accessory too, at least in my book!! =) Take a chance go for it!

    I liked the pewter in there and I could see something light warm and watery in there without the paint saying "Look at me- I'm blue...I'm green...I'm gray...I'm cream. Maybe consider Ellen Kennon, Farrow-Ball colors? They have such a nice tightly edited collection of "to die for" neutrals.

    Here is a link that might be useful: F&B

  • Kathie738 P
    13 years ago

    My idea for you...come do my house, I love the way yours looks just the way it is now.

  • scanmike
    13 years ago

    Just wanted to add my own thoughts. Everytime I see a posting with your room in it, I always find it warm and inviting. I also like it the way it is. I think blue would make it too cold. BTW, I know some of those colors in the mock ups and they look so off on my monitor, especially Baby Turtle. I have always liked the way Wilmington Tan or Decateur Buf looks in other people's rooms. When I see the color swatch it looks so bold to me. I too, stay with the safer colors, but wish I would have chosen a more saturated color myself. I do love the way your sitting room looks, with the punch of color from your drapes. I think you would be better off getting some sample boards up and then repost. I would try WT or DB or Monroe Bisque or perhaps something on the SW Believable Buff strip (forgot the name of the deeper one).

  • loribee
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    You girls are so kind to me! :)

    I had hoped to spend the day HUNTING for colors, but I helped my elderly aunt w/ her car this morning & sewed a duvet cover for my daughter this afternoon instead. She's so sweet...so it's okay!
    I did get a sample of secluded beach early this AM in between and painted it- but it's same color I already have, lol!!!

    Hope to keep hunting~ let me know if you have any other ideas...
    THANKS for hanging in there with me- truly.

  • loribee
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Just wondering this morning about SW blonde...does anyone have that? Is it too gold? Thanks!

  • missmary - 6b/Central Maryland
    13 years ago

    Loribee -
    Your name always catches my attention because I've noticed that you are a fan of Standish White like I am. The difference between us is that you post pictures of your rooms --- which helps me pretend I'm looking at pictures of my own rooms, since I don't post pictures.

    So, coincidentally I came across this posting of yours as I've been researching various neutral tans b/c the Fam Rm in my new, north facing, Fam Rm is "too yellowish" and I'm looking to change it.

    Question: Have you decided what color you're going to change to?

    I've been looking at Moccasin, Everlasting, Muslin and Sea Urchin. I thought for awhile it was going to be Manchester Tan, but that turned out to be a tad bit too gray-beige for me. These new ones I'm considering seem like lovely neutral beiges that coordinate well with warm tones in a room.

    Miss Mary

  • justgotabme
    13 years ago

    Well not sure how I missed all this Lori, but I like it just the way it is too and if I made any changes I would ask the paint guy if they could darken the color you have now. I've heard they can do that. Sorry if someone already said that. Too many posts and I'm lazy. Just coming down from severe pain and I just don't want to take a chance of it coming back with too many ideas getting in the way of calm.

  • loribee
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    "Question: Have you decided what color you're going to change to?"

    Hi Miss Mary, no paint color yet, though I still look at my fan deck and check out new colors periodically~ I just haven't come up with a solution. I've been concentrating on my breakfast room changes too much, I guess. Thanks for asking though. Would you kindly share your newest paint finds with me???
    Hi Becky, great idea to see if they could simply darken/deepen standish. Easy way out, huh??? :) Stay calm!

  • missmary - 6b/Central Maryland
    13 years ago

    I forgot to mention that I do think your room is very, very attractive! I do love it. All the pictures I've seen of your house are beautiful

    Having said that, I know that when people say that to me when I have an underlying dissatisfaction with some element of a room, it doesn't make any difference. I just think to myself "well, just think how much more you'd like it if it was the way I think it should be!" Only you can decide (but it is a lovely, charming, attractive room).

    This morning I am back to mulling over Manchester Tan or Natural Linen. I've got to have my room repainted before Tuesday - so I have to decide!

  • justgotabme
    13 years ago

    Ha ha ha Lori! Maybe I need one of those "Stay Calm and Carry On" posters, huh?
    I hope they can darken your current color for you. That would be the easiest way instead of a search for the right new color. Good luck my friend!

  • bepeace
    13 years ago

    Just thought I would echo justgotabeme - I read that in Texas designers like to add brown to their paint to get a muted effect. Perhaps that would work with standish white? I think your room is lovely now though.

  • loribee
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks very much, girls!
    Mary....will it be Manchester Tan or Natural Linen???
    2 days to decide~~~

  • juddgirl2
    13 years ago

    I. Want. Your. Rooms. :-D

    They're gorgeous and I would not change a thing. You have a lot of gold in your room so I would stay with an off-white for the fireplace. Maybe SW Antique white? Love it on all of my trim.

  • loribee
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Juddgirl2...you made my day, thanks! I'm in the process of attempting to copy your lovely baby turtle paint finish!!!