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funkyart_gw

Selected a paint color.. but having second thoughts

funkyart
11 years ago

I have been on the search for a great gray/neutral with green (and now blue) undertones. The problem I've had is that anything with a green-blue undertone is reading very blue in the bright light.. and those with green undertones are either disappearing or looking muddy next to the fireplace. It's been a real challenge.

I'd really like a color that leans more green but yesterday I thought I'd settled on SW Oyster Bay. It also leans blue in the living room but it is definitely more of a gray-blue than the others which all went to a playroom/nursery blue. In the kitchen it leans very aqua/light turquoise and I LOVE it there.

Now I am having second thoughts. I am concerned that the Oyster Bay will go aqua elsewhere.. or just be too "precious" for the whole living space. It's a lot less neutral than I was going for. I prefer a more organic, serious color than one that's pretty and playful. I am also concerned that it won't be as adaptable over time (I'll be replacing rugs and furniture).

I didnt take photos of the samples but I've tried Austere Gray, Comfort Gray, Gray Mirage, Ancient Marble, Creekside Green and Carolina Gull. The photo below has the Oyster Bay swatch color applied (but note that it goes more blue in reality). I am considering a darker color as an accent on the fireplace wall.. Carolina Gull looked great so I added a block of SW Retreat (one darker on the Oyster Bay color strip) on the photo.

Talk me off the ledge! Am I fretting over the Oyster Bay unnecessarily? Would you just paint the fireplace white so that it won't continue to throw off my beloved gray-greens? Should I break away from the cool neutrals and try some warm neutrals?

Comments (17)

  • User
    11 years ago

    With that orange floor, any cool toned paint that you choose will immediately look bluer and greener than it does in the store because of the contrast with the orange. I'd investigate the warmer grays with reddish or yellowish undertones. That will tone down the orange of the floor and play better with the colors in the fireplace as well.

    And don't feel the need to use only one color in the home. Even in an open concept home, using different color shades in the same value will create interest yet harmonize.

  • SparklingWater
    11 years ago

    Sherwin Williams Haute Couture (2005) matched SW 7066-Gray Matters, a cool neutral with SW 6228-Refuge (blue) and SW 6403-Escapade Gold (greenish). Gray looks so crisp next to a white as in a fireplace mantel. If Gray Matters is too dark for you, SW 7065 -Argos is a shade lighter. Maybe you can play with these colors on wall and fireplace. Good luck.

  • bestyears
    11 years ago

    oh girl, I feel your pain! I think your conflict is similar to what I've felt in the past... I soooo wanted to paint my family room Revere Pewter. I loved the sample, everyone loves this color, blah, blah, blah.... but the more paint I had on the wall (samples on every wall), the louder my inner voice got, telling me that it just didn't work in this room. So on the one hand, I think you do have to listen to that little inner voice. On the other hand, you may not have enough of the color up yet to truly have a sense of it. You should have a good sized sample (2ftx2ft) on EACH wall. Also, paint a nice wide stripe (at least a foot) on both sides of a corner. It's always interesting to see how the color bounces off itself.

    I do think life would be simpler if you painted the fireplace white.

    Another thought.. if you do decide to go with it, and then once it's up, you really, really don't like it, I would re-do it immediately. I've been at this junction too, and usually decide it will grow on me, it will look better once everything is back in, etc. But in reality what happens is I have a room that pains me every time I'm in it until a few years down the road when I bite the bullet and repaint it. Of course it's much more work to repaint it then....

  • bestyears
    11 years ago

    Have you considered Sensible Hue (6198). It seems very similar to Oyster Bay in hue and depth, but without the blue....

  • funkyart
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Hollysprings, I keep thinking that I should look at warm colors but it's the cool colors that attract me (and calm me).

    Sparklingwater, thanks for the recommends. I will check them out.

    Bestyears, it's so good to know I am not alone ha. Of course, I've seen others agonize over paint color but it feels like I am agonizing MORE ha. I had decided to do the same.. try the Oyster Bay on a larger expanse of wall. I really do love it in the kitchen so I think I'll keep it for there regardless. I don't mind mixing colors through the house but I do want it to be pretty cohesive.

    And funny that you mention Revere Pewter. It's one I want to try too but I just know it won't work well with the fireplace. And yes, perhaps I should just bite the bullet and paint it. It really will make it easier.. fighting the floor and the fireplace has complicated things. I have kind of grown to like the gray brick though.

    I think I just have a fear of blue. It can so easily go to that precious playroom look.

  • funkyart
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I do like independent gold and antiquity (two lighter stops on the escapade gold strip). In fact, I'd planned to try antiquity and then bailed. It's a different direction for me but it did attract my eye.. so what the heck. I'll give it a try.

  • jerseygirl_1
    11 years ago

    Try BM Waynesboro Taupe at 50% and 25%. At 50% it's more griege. At 25% it leans more gray and is not griege.

    Waynesboro in full strength is a brown taupe with gray and green undertones. Cut it becomes less brown.

    We really struggled with so many samples before we came up with these. Everyone who comes in our home wants to know what colors we used. It looks great with eggplant, turguoise, and just about every other color.

  • funkyart
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I love the waynesboro taupe images I am seeing online-- it goes all the directions I'd want it to. I will try it at 50%..

    Antiquity is looking horrible with the floors.

  • User
    11 years ago

    You can always have the floors re-finished to a cooler toned brown so that you can use the cooler tones that you love. But, it's easier to just choose something more neutral in color to begin with, because it will take on cooler tones when contrasted to the warm floor.

  • SparklingWater
    11 years ago

    GreenDesigns, I never knew brown wood floors went well with cooler tones. Maybe that's why I picked the SW Haute Couture color palette. It's worked well with maintenance.

  • Sueb20
    11 years ago

    Have you checked out BM Fieldstone? When I was looking for a neutral gray-green, I loved Fieldstone but it was too blue for me. It might work for you, though. I don't have any experience with Oyster Bay so I have no idea how it compares.

    I just did a search for Fieldstone and found the blog linked below. To me, these cabinets look like a more straightforward gray, but in my sample of Fieldstone, I was seeing green and blue. Also. I am in love with that collage of plates over her island.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Fieldstone cabs

  • chispa
    11 years ago

    Check out BM Grant beige, a greige with green undertone.

  • funkyart
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Sue, I love fieldstone but it's in the range of colors that is swallowed by the gray brick and the sunlight. Perhaps the answer is to just paint the fireplace.

    I really like the slight blue in Oyster Bay but I am scared of it too.

    I think I am going to go one more round of samples. Ugh. I am liking the Waynesboro Taupe and I am going to try a few greens with a little more yellow in them. Grant Beige is a little too yellow/tan for me but I think I may need to lean in that yellow/tan direction.

    I appreciate all the suggestions. I thought I was pretty good with nailing down colors but this has been hard.

  • gmp3
    11 years ago

    A neutral will work better with the floor, blue/gray will pop the orange as others have posted. I second the griege. Perhaps Oyster Bay in the bathrooms or kitchen.

  • funkyart
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Hmm.. I am confused. Greige IS a gray with green undertones.. which is what I am going for, a neutral with a cool undertone. I understand that the floors and wall color will accentuate each other.. but don't want to reinforce the warm tones by using a warm color on the walls. I prefer cool tones.

    The problem I've been running into with the grey-greens (color strips and paint samples) is that they are either disappearing or turning too muddy.. and those with a blue-green undertone are pulling blue.

    I am going to try some greens that have more yellow in the hope that they won't go so muddy. I don't mind a neutral--I mind a color that looks like it has dog doo mixed in. That's how my beloved creekside green looked. :(

    My rug will most likely have both cool and warm colors. This is my current rug (it will be replaced soon.. soon as I find a rug I like that's in budget)

  • funkyart
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I feel the need to apologize for turning away from all the recommendations to go with a warm wall color. I love looking at rooms with warm colors-- especially golds, but it's not the warm colors that I want to enveloped me.

    It's possible (likely) that I'll darken the floors at some point in the future.. it's just not an option right now. I need to move forward with and in spite of the orange oak.

  • lizzie_grow
    11 years ago

    Funky,

    We have warm oak flooring in our home & for our family room/kitchen we chose a RH color called Sea Green. It is a bluish green but greyed down a little. When we bought the house, they had a dog poo color (sorry, but that's what it looked like) on the walls in here. We changed that to yellow & chose wrong...too much green undertone, and just wasn't right.

    I struggled & struggled, and went with the Sea Green.. It is an easy color to live with, and easy to accessorize with other colors such as red, pink, green, rusts. Our sofa is a caramel (darkish) leather.

    Hope that helps....our color goes great with the wood floors.

    Our main living space has Devine Oak and it also is easy to live with and goes wellwith the floors. It would look great with your existing rug. RH also has some green/greyish paints that are nice. Our painter said it went on well, and so far so good with maintenance.