Torn between 2 color schemes. Please give input

10 years ago

Hi. I am in the middle of a move. New home will have an open floor plan. Kitchen opens to family room & dining room. Cognac color cabinets (med/dark), wood floors (also med/dark) light/med granite and very light backsplash.

My colors now are greens, reds, little yellow. I had a French country love at one time. I still am drawn to those colors.

However, I also love the beach and am moving 2 miles from it. I have started over the past few years to re-do bedrooms & bathroom in blues. When I move one spare bd will have light/med blue and white quilt and white furniture. 2nd bed will be navy/red comforters on twin beds and navy, red stripe and checked pillows and valance.

So, what to do about family room and kitchen. Hard to give up my accessories in greens/reds/yellow, but really love the blues and seashells and lighter coloring. Oh, and my dining set is white with med/dark green coverings that I re-did few years back. New sectional will be a sandy/oatmeal/tan color.

OK, so what's a girl to do?? Any sites you can recommend? I need panels in the kitchen over my slider. And a coordinating valance or panels in DR since 2 rooms are adjacent. I truly love both styles.

Featured Answer

WendyB 5A/MA

10 years ago

I sympathize and empathize with you. My last place was also a lot of earthtones, reds, gold, copper. I moved here last summer and was ready for light and fresh and coastal but my darn orangey cabinets and brownish granite are not helping me go in that bright fresh direction. I am resisting going back though. I am sticking to neutrals. My LR is oatmeal/chocolate with some splashes of blue and green. The rest of the space is neutral and some more light green. It's not the bright white colorful modern look I had in my head, but it is warm and not as colorful as my past place (in a good way). I'm pleased with it. It is a new spin on the old me..

I did the bathrooms and bedrooms in light and fresh and airy and blue's so I got that out of my system. The whole place still has continuity because of all the neutral-ness going on. The bits of blue and green tie it together just fine.

Green seems to be a good connector color to bridge the earthtones and neutrals with the coastal tones. I've never used much green before but I like it a lot.

Comments (9)

Annie Deighnaugh
10 years ago
To me, the bedrooms don't need to match the public spaces in the house, so if you want, you could keep the beach look in the bedrooms and the other scheme in the public spaces....

And it sounds like the red.green.yellow will go better with your cabinets....
anele_gw
10 years ago
I agree with Annie in all regards.

Think of red as the thread that ties all of the rooms together.
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robo (z6a)
10 years ago
Red and yellow could go nautical with a bit stronger blue...but of course that leaves green out in the cold :(

Here is a link that might be useful: Coastal home blog

This post was edited by robotropolis on Tue, Apr 8, 14 at 9:59
junco East Georgia zone 8a
10 years ago
Do you have color on the walls yet? Perhaps a light neutral.
Then look for a fabric with the oatmeal and all the other colors in it. Would be light and beachy and allow you to use at least some of your old accessories.

Here is a link that might be useful: beachy stripe
chloenkitty
10 years ago
Will you have a basement in the new house that will be used? I am doing my first floor where all the living space is in lighter colors, but keeping the basement where my husband will have his mancave in darker, richer colors.
likewhatyoudo
10 years ago
I have red and cream in my main living space and I am in the process of changing out my accessories and pillows to blue and yellow for spring and summer. My guest room is done in blue and white, guest bathroom blue and white. My master bedroom is being changed from yellow and brown/ cream to yellow, grey cream.

I love red and will bring it back out in the fall. I say go for the change and save your red stuff to use in the fall.
cozyplace
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you for your replies. I do agree that my current colors of red & greens will go better with my cabinets. And if I could I would change out with seasons, but I think I'd like to keep with one general color scheme. I change out some accessories with seasons, but an entire color and decorating scheme would be too much. I will try to post some pictures so you can visualize my things. I have a lot of white furniture. A white small hutch in my DR which I keep china cups and teapots in. Another white ladder style eterge. And a white washed side table. My DR table is white washed too. The sectional I want to get is from Pottery Barn and it's a camel color. For curtain panels I am all over the place as well. I keep trying to find colorful ones to bring out color, but now I am thinking of neutral ones instead. I really am all over the place!
cozyplace
Original Author
10 years ago
Wendy, sounds like what I did. I have the 2 spare rooms and main bathroom in my blues. I am thinking too of having the main living area greens and pulling in blues, but, as was stated here earlier by others, the colors in my kitchen does lend itself much better to the reds & greens.

I think if I could maybe find a great area rug or fabric to make pillows or even some curtains in the colors I could then pull from there. Some of my favoritie things in my house are in my kitchen. They are on a shelf and I will be putting them on my bakers rack in the kitchen, but it'll be on a side of kitchen that doesn't face family room.

I do have to show you some pictures. It will help a lot to help me.

Any places you love to go to for curtains/pillows? Or fabrics? I can't make curtains but can make pillows.

Thanks!!!