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I'm buying a vintage condo

julesnpurls
10 years ago

and need help with everything! So overwhelmed and want to decide on paint for every room but think I should focus on one thing at a time, so the living room it is.

The trim is a dark wood and most of my furniture is dark brown - leather sofa, long dark wood sideboard, an old wood trunk I use as a coffee table, wood side table, an upright piano in a medium wood. And the wood floors are orangey. It could be seriously depressing with the wrong paint color. I'm definitely on a budget so new furniture is not in the cards but I could buy an area rug and some curtain panels, throw pillows, inexpensive lamps to lighten things up.

The photo is from the real estate listing so the furniture is not mine. I don't care for the off-white walls with the wood trim in this room and would like to add color. I think a blue-gray would make the trim look lovely but I saw a room painted light pink with wood trim and it was fantastic! Then i think it should be green. I'm all over the place and need some focus and direction. Help? And thank you. :) And I hope the photo shows up.

Comments (25)

  • julesnpurls
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    This is the view from the window are looking toward the foyer with the dining room beyond that.

  • Fun2BHere
    10 years ago

    Wow! That's a gorgeous room. My only suggestion to you is to go slow and give yourself time to make decisions. Get your furniture moved in and then paint large, large sample boards with possible colors and live with them. I always hear people say that it's only paint, but frankly, painting is a big deal to me so I don't want to make a mistake. It's worthwhile, to me anyway, to invest in sample pots and good boards and some time before painting.

    My oak floors are that orange color, too, but I have white trim so I like all of my medium toned wood furniture against the floor. I do have rugs and lighter upholstered sofas and chairs to break up the expanse of orange.

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    10 years ago

    Congratulations! It's a lovely room. Maybe you can post some of the rooms you like? It is hard to give advice when the options are so wide open!

    First, decide if you want to paint the trim or not (all else equal, it's probably a better idea not to, if you are up in the air about it)

  • joaniepoanie
    10 years ago

    Since all your furniture is neutral, maybe find an area rug you love and use that as a jumping off point. Or do you have some favorite art work you will be using in the room you can pull a color from? It looks like a beautiful place!

  • julesnpurls
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks for the reply and I know you're right - I need to wait until my things are in the room and live with it first. It would just be so much easier to paint before I move in since I have two weeks after closing to leave my current apartment. And I'm excited to be able to paint and have my home feel personal. :)

    Maybe I should look into having the floors refinished before I move in. They're in perfect condition so it would be solely for color - now that's a big expense. I'd have to have the whole apartment done.

  • tibbrix
    10 years ago

    The color you choose for the walls will help tone down the orange in the floors. Go with a cool color, i.e.: blue base.

    Do you want to keep the trim wood or do you want to paint it?

    What is your style?

  • julesnpurls
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    As far as art, not much. :( I do have many vintage gilt frames and gold framed mirrors. I love them.

    Here is a photo I found of a room with similar windows - hard to find! I like the color with the wood and I like the panels in between the windows. I'm not painting the trim, I love it. It just seems to complicate the paint color choice, though.

  • julesnpurls
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The photo I just posted looks like my old home, color- wise. Style, too.

    I'd love to pull all the woods together with paint.

    Then I saw this photo on Houzz while trying to find wood trim inspiration. So pretty.

    Here is a link that might be useful: [Pink with wood trim[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/cambridge-residence-traditional-living-room-boston-phvw-vp~118388)

  • tibbrix
    10 years ago

    I love the blue grays with wood.

  • tibbrix
    10 years ago

    Another

  • julesnpurls
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Those blue grays make the wood trim look lovely. And the orange floors in the first photo look great, too. Thank you for posting those.

  • tibbrix
    10 years ago

    Your condo is lovely. Very typical of the Back Bay in Boston (Commonwealth Ave.). So much character, which means you have a lot to work with.

  • julesnpurls
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thank you, I'm excited and terrified. Ha! I have owned a home before but that was with my husband - this is me and my daughter. It was nice to have someone to share the blame with when things went wrong (as they will) with the house. Lol.

  • Fun2BHere
    10 years ago

    If it's within your budget to refinish and re-stain the floors to a less orange color, I would definitely do it before moving in. You will have more options with regard to color to use in decorating and you will enjoy the darker floors for a long time. Just don't go too dark as that shows too much dust and is a little trendy. Also, I would stay with a matte or satin polyurethane finish as it wears better over time than a glossy finish.

  • julesnpurls
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I really do prefer a darker floor, and I can fit it in my budget. We had the floors in my old home sanded and stained or $1.10 per sf., though that was 12 years ago. Any suggestions on color? The dining and bedrooms have painted trim with unpainted wood doors (unpainted French doors in the dining room). The kitchen was redone a few years go, not in keeping with the style of the apartment, though. Orange-ish maple cabinets with black granite and new orange wood trim, not at all vintage like the rest of the place. It's a hodge-podge.

    Dining room

  • julesnpurls
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    And kitchen

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    10 years ago

    Jules,

    Why not do a pink living room? Search under "Mamorella" --- IIRC --- on here. She has a lovely pink LR.

  • sjhockeyfan325
    10 years ago

    I love those dining room chairs! What are they?

  • nosoccermom
    10 years ago

    But have to say that I really like blue --- pretty much any shade from the likes of BM Wythe Blue to Van Duesen and darker.

    And: I also like the floors and wouldn't sand and restain if they are in good shape, especially not darker. There's a limited number of times one can sand floors.

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    10 years ago

    Just for fun, I ran your photo through the Sherwin Wms color visualizer and here are some results. The software is very easy to use so you might want to play with it yourself to get some ideas. In all cases, I painted the ceiling a color as well as the walls.

    Cardboard and Urban Putty

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    10 years ago

    Renwick Beige and Rookwood Dark Red

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    10 years ago

    Needlepoint navy and colonial revival gray

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    10 years ago

    Salute and cupola yellow

  • Fun2BHere
    10 years ago

    If you are going to re-stain, I would choose something close to the trim color. It's been a while since I looked at stains, but I think I remember English chestnut and Jacobean as colors that I liked. You can also have a custom stain color mixed. Someone who specializes in refinishing floors should be able to help you.

    Nice job with the color visualizer, Anniedeighnaugh!

  • bonnieann925
    10 years ago

    The blue is very nice with the dark workwork (sometimes it is referred to as gumwood), which is very common in Boston and surrounding cities in houses of that vintage.

    Several of the condos my daughter is looking at have the bay windows and the dark woodwork. The "orange" floors are also common. Even if you take red oak and put polyurethane on it you tend to get that result. I wouldn't stress over that. Once you have your furnishings, rugs and accessories in place they will "fit" they style of the condo.

    Can't wait to see what you do! Have fun with this project.