go with white and be done with it

IDK what your floor is but some shades of gray would work with brick and walnut. Can't you go with some warm light gray?

It might be a crazy idea but can you 'faux' the walls so more than one color could be used?

Green is a difficult color to get just right. We just did a master bath renovation not too long ago that the client kept revisiting the paint Store for samples. By the end we were all joking that it looked like camouflage. It's tough. Hope you get what you are looking for.

Have you visited Maria Killiam's site? Sounds like you're having undertone problems and she has a few tips to combat that when you can't change the clashing undertones.

Have you visited Maria Killiam's site? Sounds like you're having undertone problems and she has a few tips to combat that when you can't change the clashing undertones.

I would go with a color that's good with the cabinets and brick. Wood floors make a great backdorp and tend to fade into netural-ness. I would never choose a paint color based on whether or not I thought it "went" with the wood floor, because I actually think wood floors look good with any color. Also, looking at colors on a fan deck is misleading. Colors look different depending on what they're next to, and when you're looking at a fan deck, you're seeing all the other colors next to the one you're looking at which influences the way you perceive it. You need to look at the colors in isolation. I've got walls painted BM desert tan, which looks beige on the strip, but actually looks very yellow on the walls. I have another room painted a color that looks like a muddy grayish beige on the strip, but is actually a lovely shade of green on the walls.

I wouldn't worry about the floor at all. Pick what looks great with the brick and cabinets. I agree with hemera that the floors tend to blend with the surroundings. I would think that walnut floors would look great with anything and I think walnut may just be the up and coming wood of choice.

It would help to see pictures. I found some in another thread, without counter and backsplash.

Your brick and flooring seem to go together beautifully. If you like green, I would try a grayed green, with a little blue in it. Or even one on the grayed teal side.

I think a taupe could also work but usually is not a fav online, lol.

This post was edited by snookums2 on Wed, Apr 10, 13 at 10:21

Not sure if this is an option for you, but can you ask someone at the store where you are getting the paint from to help (assuming it is not a big box store)? When I went to pick colors, I knew what I wanted the end result to look and "feel" like, but I wasn't confident in my ability to make that happen. One of the colors I wanted was purple, which is certainly not a common choice, so it was hard to find images of family rooms painted purple to use as inspiration. While looking at samples, I was approached by someone at the store who is essentially a color consultant. I described to him what I was after, and he picked two colors for me almost immediately (I needed two - one for family room, one for kitchen and eating area, and they would be smack up against each other so they would need to look really good together).

Anyway, long story short, I got samples of many different colors and put them up on the wall to consider them against my furniture and in different lights. At the end of the day, the colors that the consultant picked out were the clear winners. He won me over so much that when my tween daughter wanted to paint her room blue, I took her to consult with him, and he found her a perfect color in about 10 seconds. So I guess this is basically a vote for a color specialist - anyplace that sells paint other than a big box store will generally have someone good, and they don'g charge for the service. It's worth a shot.

I'd add my vote to not worrying about floors. We are currently repainting our house. We have blue carpets and blue is not at all one of the colors we like to decorate with. It's really not that noticeable.

As far as choosing paint colors, Benjamin Moore has huge paint chips (18" square) do other brands have them? They are $5 apiece, but worth it to help make a good decision. We once got a pretty red we liked for our dining room held up the chip and the rich red turned raisin brown. That $5 saved us $70 plus all the time and hassle of painting a room, only to have to paint it again.

We have had good success with getting sample paints as well (small 8oz or so). Paint your walls in a few areas and see how the paint looks morning, noon, and night, sunny days and cloudy days, and with your indoor lighting. See if you love it more or less after a couple of weeks. We had at least 8 sample paints up on our dining room wall while we were deciding what color to paint the upper and lower half of the wall. The sample paints we used washed right off when we prepped the walls for painting.

I second getting a color consultant, too.

I bought samples of paint and painted them on white posterboard to hold up and live with. Maybe try some other paint stores for other shades, too. Even if you get the chip and sample from one store, another brand can usually match it.

Painting the walls white or off-white is not a cop out. It is not a 'wimpy' choice. Painting the walls white can be empowering. Color IS another element. You may have enough elements already.
The mom of one of my son's good friend's came over while we were in the midst of our renovation. She said, unsolicited, that with the wood floors, the wood beams, the wood cabinets, etc... that we should really just paint out the first floor white(open floor plan). Her comment was that we didn't want a color to attract the eye, that white allows the eye to rest. Using color sparingly is more impactful.
So, if you want a color, pick a color, but don't accuse white of being a non-choice. White is something your kitchen has to be strong enough to support.

White is always beautiful, imo. Classic and not a bad choice at all.

OK, I took some advice and went to Sherwin Williams. I took a cabinet door, a piece of walnut floor/countertop, the color sample I had from the island and 3 different color bricks. I sat with both workers there, although I'm not sure either was a consultant. The lady was a fruitcake, but convinced me that I should try red. I bought a sample, but I don't think I'm going to like it. I think the color might be antique red, but it's in the car, because it was pouring down rain when I got home. I think I made a mistake in telling her I wasn't afraid of color. I'm not afraid of color, but I wasn't seeing how the red matched the pink colored brick. Either way, I'll slap some on a couple walls and test it for a couple weeks. I'm trying to keep an open mind. I'm thinking if I can disregard the floor and just go with a color that I like, I saw a dusty brownish pink that I thought was really pretty and brought home enough sample pieces to make a fairly large square. I'm going to tape it up too. I'm not sure it will go that great with the brick though, but at that point I was just grabbing all of the bigger chips that they had. I couldn't find any greige, beige, tans, taupes or grays that really looked that good with anything I had. Not to say they aren't out there, but a lot have weird undertones. I did pick up a few at Menards that had more green in them, but I just don't know. If white isn't a non-choice, it might just be the easiest and the best decision. I saw a bunch of pretty whites that I liked.

I've never been anywhere that sells BM paint. There is an ACE about 20 miles from here that carries it, but I always forget to look for it.

I keep forgetting to take pictures, but if you saw the state that our house is in, you would understand why they don't exist. It's hard enough keeping a tiny space suitable for food preparation and cooking in there on a daily basis. I feel like we're going to be on one of those hoarder shows, but instead of trash and junk, it's going to be lumber, flooring, paint chips and cans, cabinets, and plumbing supplies. I'm not sure where it all came from, but there is a lot of it.

Hang in there, mrsmortarmixer! As I type this, I am sitting in a living room that looks like it is pulled from "Hoarders", with a narrow aisleway to the door. I too have paint cans, samples, merchandise, and three rooms worth of stuff mounded around me.

On color, I would give a light grey with green / brown undertones a try. Or an off white with grey undertones. These things always look different (and darker) when put on a big wall and in your own light, so a small patch is never enough.

BM has a great website and tools to help pick color. They also have a dealer locator. All brands should be able to do a color match.

A greyed white might be just the ticket and agreed that it definitely is not a 'non-choice'.

Re: stuff all over the house from remodeling-- I wonder if a person could have a "kitchen remodeling samples rummage sale". I have BOXES full of samples of all kind.

(crying quietly in the bathtub over paint chips) :(
Isn't it amazing how something so, well, not important in the big scheme gets to be such a big deal? Poor you, but it'll get better... soon.

What has really helped me is seeing everything together. If you could take individual pictures of the different elements, I/we can mock up a moodboard for you.

The right color IS out there and we are here to help you find it! Best, oldbat2be

Well it turns out, I was right about the red. It looks 100x worse than the green. I will add a picture of everything in the kitchen taken under the same lighting. The island cabinet isn't quite as dark as it shows, but you get the general idea. It's almost black or warm black.

I ran your picture through Sherwin-Williams Chip It! and this is what it came up with. "Imagine" has possibilities.

I'll probably be no help, but I'll share that I always get so excited to see white primer go on our walls when we redo our spaces. Then I always feel like we "ought" to have color. Sometimes I like what we choose, other times I secretly wish that it could have just stayed white. Maybe I should have been an architect?

I really like everything you've chosen in your sample board. If you decide you want something other than white, it might be a good idea to go for something with a bit of pink undertone in it, to play off the brick. Maybe a pinky-gray or a pinky-tan.

Here is a link that might be useful: [An architect's guide to choosing white--just for fun : )[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/an-architects-guide-to-color-stsetivw-vs~2673164)

This post was edited by laughable on Thu, Apr 11, 13 at 15:07

You might find Mycolortopia to be helpful in finding the colors to work in your space. It's explained and linked in the Blog below.

You can upload an inspiration picture and choose an area of it that you'd like for your paint pallet and it will design colors that go with that area of your photo. Pretty simple and nifty. It's linked to Glidden, but I'm sure you could color-match to a different brand if their paint is not what you are after.

Here is a link that might be useful: How Mycolortopia works to help you find colors for your space

I really like Imagine, but it might have a pinkish undertone. It might just be my computer though. I have ARTICHOKE from Valspar. It has green/blue undertones.

Teachertile, I'm getting pinkish undertones undertones on Imagine as well, but with the pink brick, I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. I was going to suggest looking at pink paint, and Laughable mentioned it as well. Pink is a fine color for a kitchen (as long as you didn't get it by accident because you didn't pay attention to the undertones).

I like the Imagine sample. It pulls the elements together.

Good luck and cheer up ...it is only paint! You can always change your mind!

I really like pink, and I'm certainly up for painting walls any shade of pink. I see the pink undertones in Imagine, but is it too close to the cabinet color? I don't want it to look like I tried to match and it was a near miss. I'm going to check out Mycolortopia. It's cloudy and nasty outside today, so I have no desire to look at paint in there. Especially that weird square of orange-y red that the lady at SW suggested. Ugh.

laughable-I love it when we do new drywall and everything is primer white. But I get the same feelings that it's somehow a requirement to paint a wall something other than white. I see tons of beautiful homes that have very neutral homes with the predominant colors being whites and off whites. I like colors, but I like more neutral shades of colors. That being said, I've had dark purple and emerald green walls, and our last house had a berry pink color in the nursery. Boy did that need a lot of primer when we sold it lol

I wasn't sure how pink would go around here. It seems that everyone stays away from pink and pink undertones, where I was so terrified that something in my kitchen would look yellow that I was excited to have some pink in there.

If everyone likes the Imagine sample, I may go get a sample mixed. I get a quart for $6 at SW, so even if I hate it, there's usually enough for a piece of furniture or a closet, or I just let the girls have it to paint the inside of the block building or their playhouse. It works out pretty well.

Imagine looks to me to be a light taupe, and taupe always has a bit of purple or pink in it. I don't think it's too close to the cabinet color and it may pull it all together. I think it's worth 6 bucks.

Pink is only bad if you get it when you aren't expecting it, and it often looks bad with colors with yellow undertones. I don't see any yellow in your current elements, so you're good to go.

A gray that's close to the grout color will work with all -- provided you don't mind gray. I can't judge the undertone in the grout but a slight green undertone may be key. Since the wood tones are reddish and cabinet glaze looks umber (at least in the monitor) the green undertone should make the gray neutral.

I don't know why I obsess over other people's paint colors...

I remembered a previous thread where people photoshopped in various paint colors. I tried photoshopping imagine into your kitchen and it looked icky. I did a new "Chip It" with part of your kitchen and came up with this:

Of these I like keystone gray so I played with it a bit in Sherwin Williams color visualizer. None of the kitchens looked anything like yours, but I picked kitchen 5 for the wood tones and changed the countertop/backsplash to a color similar to your cabinets (and I don't know how well I captured the cabinet color). Here's what keystone gray looked like on the walls:

I know nothing about your kitchen or the original green you chose, but have you looked at SW "Filmy Green"? It's a really light neutral sage-y color that we've used in two bedrooms and a bathroom. I adore it. From the pictures you've put up, it might work.

Good luck. I don't look forward to the paint-picking part of our reno!

I'll play along. : )

Here's a picture I took from the My Colortopia page. (The colors are showing up a lot darker in the photo, ick.) I wasn't savvy enough to get your picture into the program from GW, so I tried to find one of their sample photos that had some colors that might work. I chose the one you see here. I'm wondering how these colors might look with your kitchen. I kind of like the "Natural Wicker" color on my monitor. No clue in real life though!

Here is a link that might be useful: Let's hope this link shows you what I found that might work

This post was edited by laughable on Fri, Apr 12, 13 at 16:15

Oooh I'm glad we're still playing. It's been bleh weather still and I haven't been that excited about sitting in the kitchen holding up paint chips to cabinets, then brick, and then staring while I try to figure out if it would work. I'm circling all of the SW colors in my deck to try out when the weather is more cheerful. Plus, I only have the tiny chips for most of the SW colors. I have some bigger ones from Behr and Dutch Boy. I can tell you that my monitor is not color accurate at all, so I don't know how accurate any of my colors are showing for you all. I'm going to go take some pictures and post them here in a second.

I'm not sure if this will work, but here is the link to my flickr with some pictures. The colors are WAY off on my monitor, but I don't know how to fix it. There are some neutrals and then I played around with some pinks that all look like some weird orange brown color or something other than what they are supposed to look like. Taken without flash, but wondering if flash pics may give better results. Anyways, all of the colors are written on the pictures, so maybe that will give you a better idea of what they are supposed to look like. The two Dutchboy pinks are my absolute favorites (Moosup Valley and Copperidge) IRL, but I'm not sure pink pinks are right in there, so one will probably go in the dining room. They do not look anything like the colors that Dutch Boy has on the website unfortunately.

Here is a link that might be useful: Paint Samples

On my monitor I like SWKeystone gray and Copperidge. I would paint some sample boards and leave them up a few days. However, I think the grays presented here are a soft background to let your other finishes be the focus. The Copperidge will stand out more.
Diane

My gut response was the copperidge and the simple white. On my monitor the copperidge really seems to pull from both the brick and the color under your can color and it also seems like it would hold it's own with the beautiful but visually imposing brick. The white would just allow the other things like the brick and the cab finish to take front and center. Totally worth a paint sample, IMO.

Course, this is a 'monitor driven' conclusion.

Oh my goodness, I think the Copperidge is lovely. It really pops the pinky tone of the brick and looks fabulous with your cabinets, which I think are spectacular!

On my monitor the Copperidge is a nice toasted salmon and I like it much better than I thought I would from your description of it as "pink".

Your other swatches: for a green, I really like Pure Earth, then Rolling Pebble (I always tend to favor green); for grays, totem taupe, then red river brown and stony path; the only white is Malted Milk (the others seem too white). Perfect taupe works well too, it is just a bit too cool for my taste -- what do you like, more cool or more warm?

I seem to remember from the other thread, you don't want a yellowish or tan?

Home Depot/Behr used to have a color analysis machine in the store that would suggest a trio of colors to go with your sample. IDK if it would work with one of the bricks since they are so multicolored but I would def give it a try!

I dread reaching decision day for paint, I just like too many of the options!

I want to thank everyone here that has helped with paint colors since this whole saga started. I can't thank you all enough. It's been so nice to have someone who actually has an opinion.

I think I like more warm, and I know Mr. MM certainly does, but in the end, I just want the color to look nice. Moosup Valley and Copperidge are both darker colors and I wasn't sure if they were too bold. Both definitely match some of the colors in the bricks. Copperidge has more orange and Moosup has more pink or purple or just brown (I'm not really sure what I'm seeing lol). They both have a dusty pinkish/burnt orange look though. I'll probably get a sample of both. There were a few colors similar to both that I like better by themselves, but most look too pink or purple up next to the brick I think. Even if Copperidge is too bold for the kitchen, I can paint it in the dining room, at least I know it coordinates. And there's always that good chance that it will look absolutely nothing like the chip and it will be just like the green that I was so in love with.

I'm just going to buy samples of all of the colors that might look good. I wish pictures and monitors would show the true colors that I'm seeing as I stand in there. Today is a lot sunnier, I might go try some of the SW colors too.

raee- definitely no yellows.

Here is a link that might be useful: This is closer to what my Copperidge chip looks like