I admire many of the white kitchens I see but I live in the cold north and don't think I'd like to live with one 6 months of the year.

I also admire many of the contemporary kitchens but my house in informal traditional so I didn't think that would work.

I went with raised panel cherry in a traditionally reddish-brown stain with simple crown molding.

I think how we embrace/reject/nuetralize/embellish color, etc. is a combination of many factors like personality, geography, racial and ethnic composition, family tradition, life style, to name just a few. As for me, I've always been a lover of color! And, although I swoon endlessly over the classic SGG kitchen and its typically white monochromatic offshoots, I found I could not do that with my own kitchen. As an African American, there are heavy cultural influences in my ancestral lineage which promote decorative (and fashion) use of strong, especially tropical colors. As such, I've grown up seeing the deepest greens of the rain forests; the bluest blues of the Caribbean Ocean, and the intense reds, yellows, oranges, purples, etc. the characterize the flora and fauna of Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America as rather customary -- almost mandatory-- in the design schemes of the homes of my family and friends and in the larger communities in which I have lived.

However, as I age, and living as I do in the "always on" City of New York, I'm also now finding myself in search of quieter, more serene environs. So perhaps that is why when I see Redroze's or Kelleg's or JBrodie's or Orchidluvr's or Blakey's kitchens, (just for example 'cause there are so many more!), I think I am seeing my Nirvana. At the same time, and in my daily, regular pursuits, I know I still need that shot of drama. So when it comes to kitchens that more closely reflect my design instincts, I think of those that have color palettes that are primarily quiet and soft but won't let you in or out of the room without giving you a healthy dose of color and/or pizzazz. So now, I'm talking about the kitchens like those of Elizpiz, Yesdear, Alku05, Pharoah, Momto4kids, Smarge or even largely monochramtic kitchens like those of Mamadapaige, Scottielee and Clingresga (again, this list is not exhaustive!) :-)

Interestingly enough, it was upon seeing a fabulous Ikea kitchen in riotous color -- that of Redrange-- that I found the anchor for my own kitchen color scheme. In one glance, when I saw her red range and hood, I was convinced I had to have it as well! Unlike Redrange, however, once I established that rather dramatic focal point with red colored appliances, I found myself falling back on use of classic white, black and gray, with a touch of soft yellow walls to round out the palette. Now, with each passing day, as I grow into my new "sophisticated urban cottage kitchen", I am thrilled to say that it works for me!

I appreciate that you have brought up this intriguing topic of color choices, how they make us feel, and how they are perceived by others. I, too, adore the wondrous and beautiful white kitchens that I have seen here on GW.

Now, as we are in the middle of our kitchen reno, I recently HAD all of those color/pattern/texture choices to make, but did not choose a strikingly lovely white kitchen for several reasons. First, the style of my home is Spanish/traditional, and a pure white kitchen would not have fit. Second, my DH LOVES color, and since I made most of the decisions on cabinet style, backsplash, floor, windows, etc., he was very instrumental in choosing the granite (our major source of color). And third, we are not the neatest people, and I'm afraid I might feel intimidated by the clean, crisp look. It might be a bit unforgiving!

I think that people are capable of appreciating beauty in many diverse manifestations, and this is just as true in kitchen design as it is in nature.

Great responses!!

Marthavila, I get how that gorgeous red range can satisfy that part of the cultural imperative that you describe. I'm an outsider, but I've worked with African fabrics, and seen how they relate, evolutionarily, to African-American church hats. You bring up a good point about the cultural color heritage. My people are more desert than tropics, and sure enough have a lot of tendencies toward desert colors. In fact, my kitchen will have, arguably, desert colors. SO interesting!!

Love this thread!

My BFF and I often comment on how different our decorating styles and color choices are from each other, and yet we admire and appreciate not only how beautiful they look in our homes, but how beautifully they capture our taste(s). In fact, despite my friend's decorating choices (in her own home); a very monochromatic blend of beiges upstairs, darker browns downstairs, she has been quite helpful in helping me decorate my home. She's acted as a sounding board and as an all-too-willing "accomplice" on shopping trips and internet searches. While the contemporary furnishings and brightly colored accent pieces that make my heart sing, wouldn't be her cup of tea, she has a good eye, and knows what I like, and knows what would work, and what wouldn't in this spot or that. She knows the look I am trying to achieve, and often tells me that I have achieved it and achieved it perfectly (she's a great ego-booster!). By the same token, while I wouldn't have chosen a palette of beiges and browns for myself, I love how it looks in her home, and I love the soothing and calming atmosphere it provides. I am very comfortable there because it just feels right--a perfect reflection of my friend, and very welcoming and inviting.

Through this forum, I have been exposed to pics of some of the most gorgeous kitchens, ones that I'd have never thought I'd like, given my own personal preferences. But, seeing some that are absolutely perfection, and perfect examples of their style or type, I can honestly say, I would take those kitchens in a heartbeat. I wouldn't have planned them myself, but would surely get much enjoyment out of them.

I love that I get to have my "dream" look, colors, etc., in my house, while appreciating the beautifully different looks in other's houses!

An ongong significant factor for almost all of is the fashion waves that swell and ebb all through our lives. Some are more powerful influences on some of us than others, but always felt and of influence.

As I look back, I remember my junkyard-eclectic period, crewel embroidery and Jacobean period, my ultra-contemporary period, the fishtank! period, primary colors period, houseplant-jungle and quilts period, and so on, all enthusiastic loves in their times, rolled-eyes memories once their time passed.

Age is an influence. I see what I've always liked, a protection against being carried away and reach for them.

Geography. SoCal, where I spent most of my adult life, just isn't a brown sort of place to me, and I just never cared for it anywhere no matter how many times it rolled by or where, but in the temperate climate of the Southeast for the first time in my life doing rooms in beiges and browns is appealing. Does it have anything to do with the fact that the countryside here is green and brown, while the California desert is a complete range of lovely soft pastels--except for brown?

Fantastic post, pllog.

Color is so difficult for me - maybe because I'm one of those New Yorkers who wears black all the time. (You know you're in NYC when you go out to dinner with five of your closest friends, and the only one who's not wearing black is wearing charcoal gray!)

I've been dealing with this color issue for a long time - starting with my kitchen and bathroom renovations, and now in redecorating my living room. The only thing I knew was that I liked warm colors. So I ended up with warm medium brown cabinets and dark brown countertops. (The walls will be painted light grey-ish green in a couple of weeks - finally!) And a neutral tan bathroom. (With green towels.) And now I think I've chosen my sofa and chair - dark brown and light green. (But with super-colorful pillows!) Uh, do we sense a theme going on? And in theory, I don't even like green!

I do love the color schemes I see other people use - all the whites and grays and bright, brave colors... Part of it is I'm not that brave. Part of it is I have NO IDEA how to put colors together. And part of it is I have to choose something that's *me* - even if I wish me were more sophisticated.

(Pllog, your dining room sounds GORGEOUS! And marthavila - you know what I think of your kitchen. ;-))

This is a fascinating discussion and seeing how we have all been influenced by our past favorite color schemes (enough already said!!), fashion, and of course our surroundings. Our upcoming remodel is in colors that weren't exactly what we thought when we started out either... we were thinking more of cobalt blue and white with stainless and something in a wood that would go with the rest. We were struggling to find a cabinet color that would work with that strong contemporary look and for the heck of it, we tried a different countertop material and oh wow, everything finally clicked. So our colors are turquoise and white, honey/butternut, and stainless. Only a few more months!!

Great post plllog!

I think some spaces need color to warm them up or to make them more approachable (or personal), and some need just the opposite to make them feel open or calm, or connected to other spaces. You made a great point (other post) about long sight lines in your own kitchen. I think color does the same thing. It can unify, or add punch, or open up a space, or make it more intimate; just like that.

Now kitchens as workspaces...I think that has a lot to do with how one is inspired to work: some kitchens are a bit like the sheet of blank paper in front of you with a brand new box of crayons. This is greatly inspiring for some, and terrifying for others (same can be said for a variety of different things all out in the open).

Personally, I love contrast in textures and patterns and styles (a bit like layering history) far too much, and that tends to limit the scope of how much color a room can take (for me, color acts as a unifying factor).

That said, we have been struggling with finding the right wall color for over a year. The problem: two serious art people in one house ;).

I'm loving all your posts!! Such interesting and thoughtful answers.

Ruby pointed out something I hadn't even thought of. I'm also an artist, and I can't create in a tidy studio. I do tidy up and clean, but then I pull a bunch of stuff out for the next project and stick it up all over the place.

Heavens!!! I wonder if my melange of color and pattern in my new kitchen is meant as a replacement for the clutter it used to have because so many pantry items lived on the counter? Say it ain't so, Joe!!!!

Since my design still only exists in theory, I'll say that the cabinets are blond bamboo (pale yellow striped), the knobs are 1.25" glass "pebbles" in 7 shades of green (one is blueish, one tannish, one very dark), the appliance pulls and island drawer pulls are satin brass with natural abalone inlay, the island top is leathered green soapstone, the "table" counter below it is natural (wheatish with blackish background) sunflower seed husk board), and the counters will be a variety of green tiles with light and dark pattern stencils. The backsplash will be stria of green and yellow, ranging into red and dark blue over the stove, also with stencils, and the window casings (also tile) are a few greens moving up through gold, rose, red and dark cobalt. Natural colors. Desert colors even. Earth tones. But hardly restrained!!

I just realized: Flowers would be lost. But then I'm not one to "decorate" a kitchen. I'm totally about function. I won't be having a strategically placed bowl of limes. It all has to happen in the finishes. So...a lot's happening!

I once worked with a woman who had moved here (the north east) from India, who wore the most brightly coloured sari's she owned in the winter. I will always remember a discussion we had where she said, "I don't understand you North Americans. In the summer when the world is bright and colourful you wear bright and colourful clothes, and in the winter, when it's drab and dreary, you wear drab and dreary clothes. Shouldn't you be wearing bright and colourful clothes in the winter to brighten up your day?" I have been influenced by that one statement ever since.

My work life is crazy and hectic, so I strive to create calm and serene at home. For me, that seems to translate to 'beach cottage' style. Bright whites, grey-greens, sandy beiges, you get the idea :)

And I still try and wear nice bright colours in the winter :)

Wow, Plllog, that's sounding like my kind of kitchen! :-)

Donka, thanks for making a great point! You've helped me to verbalize something else I've been trying to say as well. Often times, we change up color patterns in order to reflect a mood or purpose for a room. So, in my kitchen and dining room, for example, I see the color red as encouraging feelings of warmth, "gatherings round the hearth", and general sociability. Yet, on the upper floor of the house where the master bedroom suite and home office are located, the colors are largely pale blue, lavender, grays and whites, and intended to encourage more the feelings of no-nonsense (gray -- office) sanctuary and retreat (lavendar,blue --bath and bed).

When we first bought our old house, it had nothing but neutrals--white, black, taupe. I love color. But now, 24 years later, our KD is encouraging us to go simple, classic, white kitchen, neutrals...to keep with the original feel of the home. So when I post my "before" photos in a few months, I expect howls of recognition (fruity wallpaper! Pale pink cabinets!) and sighs of understanding with the relatively neutral feel of the new kitchen. At least that's what we're shooting for. We still don't have our granite, but we're close.

I look at my wild, wavy, big-haired 80's and think: Huh? What was I thinking? And I look at my polyester pants from the childbearing years and think the same thing.

I keep saying to myself, "In the span of eternity, will it matter that I made a mistake on the pendants? Or that I chose the wrong flooring?" We all do the best we can.

I can appreciate and admire any concept that is well executed and looks amazing as a whole, even if it isn't one I'd choose to live in myself. Some I could 'stand' to be around, but other rooms I can appreciate in photos would drive me crazy to live in.

I was agreeing with Marthavila, feeling a move toward more serene surrounds as I get older, but all white doesn't do that for me. It feels too controlled. I don't like to be controlled or have to keep my surroundings under control to that extent. I need to be able to be barefoot-comfortable, where a little mess and lack of perfection are OK and 'fit', rather than stick out like a sore thumb. Where taking awhile to visit is more important that getting everything back in perfect order.

Grayed colors offer the serenity, but I need a splash of sun and color somehow to contribute to the somewhat-organized chaos and fun; to keep things upbeat. I also like to design in some 'unexpected.' People tend to think they know who I am and what I'm like, but they don't realize all of what's going on underneath...So my designing and decorating is like that: A certain accepted impression at first glance, then a discovery of some 'attitude' one doesn't expect.

When I started planning my kitchen, I was going for strong (clear and dark) colors and simple elegance...my usual. But either I'm past that in my life, or tired of it as a color choice, because I couldn't shake the idea of a soft gray instead of black...and the desire for earthy materials actually surprised me. A new turn for me. I think there is enough noise and activity in my house, that I don't need loud color, too! But to go all soft couldn't be me either, so I have a secondary wall of color, a bold side of the kitchen to match my bold side.

I used to surround myself with the same colors that work on me for clothing...But maybe though I'm kind of stuck with those for clothes, I can branch out in the house.

These haphazard thoughts may give a clue to what my house looks like!

Plllog, great thread!!

RHome's post reminds me of a dear friend, and former boss. When I showed up on my first day, she was wearing a classic - and very traditional - navy blue suit. Very prim and proper. Later that day we were going to see a client; she was driving. Turns out she drove a bright purple Suzuki Jeep - and from that moment I realised that there was WAY more to this woman than met the eye. It echoes what a lot of you have said that where we work and where we live are two very different places and "home" truly has to feel that way. Her purple Jeep was a way of breaking out of the corporate mold she was in and saying "Stick around - you ainÂt seen nothing yet!"

Funny thing, colour. When we started out I though for sure we would do a white kitchen. We had just redone our bathroom a couple of years before and I loved the clean look of white and black, and how it suited our old house. But I too, love colour, and slowly, as I tore out kitchen photos from magazines, I kept seeing yellows, greens, REDS (my favourite colour of all), and trying to figure out how to make that work in the kitchen.

Then there are the details. As ruby said, every element adds a dimension that reveals something about you and who you are (and not just what you like). So as the kitchen slowly gets "finished" with accessories, my auction find of old fruit crates reside very comfortably with our rooster from France, my garage sale cookbooks, gifts from dear friends and the myriad things that make up the fabric of our lives. And I don't streess about what goes where - it just does.

Our old kitchen was way too tiny for anyone but me, so when company came over, I was invariably cut off from the conversation. Now, they are gathered around (Martha, my red Turbo Chef is my gathering beacon!); IÂm dicing, slicing, cooking, chatting, and totally in my element. I love what catmom said: "I am very comfortable there because it just feels right--a perfect reflection of my friend, and very welcoming and inviting." That is so important  to create an environment where people feel immediately at ease and comfortable. My green and cream and wood and black and red kitchen does that for me, and I think, for our guests.

I love DonkaÂs story too. As I sit here in my multi (and I mean MULTI) striped sweater of turquoise, brown, pink, mauve, rose, grey, and so on (you have to trust me that itÂs actually quite nice!), I realise that being surrounded by colour is my "happy" place. I guess it reminds me of being in the best kind of farmers market, or better yet, takes me back to my parents backyard in the middle of summer, when absolutely everything was ripe and glorious.

Ah yes, that really delicious red of a ripe tomato - yum!

Eliz

I love this thread!! It's so wonderful to read about, and visualize, each writer's unique relationship with color, where that comes from and how colors make us feel - and how we need to surround ourselves with different colors at different stages of our lives.

I called myself crzyktchnlady because I knew many of my ideas went against the grain of what others were sure I should do. Not the least of these is my plan to paint my kitchen purple. I am absolutely certain that when the painter learns of my paint choices for this and my other soon-to-be-repainted rooms, he will be convinced I am crazy. But purple it will be. Does anyone know the poem "When I am Old I Will Wear Purple"? I've always worn purple, but now, finally, I will throw it on the walls and let it surround me (I'm a redhead by the way). I can't wait to see what I am inspired to cook up in my purple kitchen. If you don't know the poem, here is a link to it. Substitute your own favorite color!!

I am sitting here all in purple, including my fingernail polish, reading the posts since my last one and am LOL and wishing we could do a kitchen tour! Also, saw that several of us are artists as well... I was feeling frustrated for a month or so because I have been really wanting to get into my studio, but have been obsessing over details. Now, that those are almost wrapped up, I have been in my studio and really appreciated the comments about organized versus all over. I keep trying to straighten it up and then I get ready for an exhibit and well...

If I was doing this for me... I would be having purple in there too! So what shade of purple are we talking about?? Wine, Grape or Eggplant??

I know a woman who used to wear purple all the time (not with a red hat, however, but she also doesn't sit on the curb and spit). She painted her house purple and planted a purple garden. This seems to have freed her up to wear other colors. She looks excellent in her red pantsuit, and lounging in her white caftan. :)

Eliz, I'm so glad you posted about your kitchen. When I was trying to think of a particular kitchen I could move into and not mess with at all, it was yours! Thanks for letting us know the thinking behind the palette.

BTW, when I described my kitchen above? I forgot to mention the orange paint!

I can appreciate and admire any concept that is well executed and looks amazing as a whole, even if it isn't one I'd choose to live in myself. Some I could 'stand' to be around, but other rooms I can appreciate in photos would drive me crazy to live in.

Yes, this. Though I'd be terrified to venture into many of the finished kitchen posted here, as I'd probably be the clumsy fool guest who stained the white marble counter with pomegranate juice, accidentally gouged the wood cabinets with my belt buckle, or carelessly put that first scratch on the stainless refrigerator. ;)

I bounce back and forth between 'cool and serene' and 'wild and colorful' in my kitchen dreaming. I admire the kitchens with the cool-neutral palette of blacks, whites, creams, grays and/or tans. I like their sophisticated, urbane vibe and imagine myself 20 pounds thinner and a lot more polished in a kitchen like that. You know, the kind of person who sips vintage wine when dining alone, instead of the me who eats cold leftover Thai noodles from the takeout container while reading last week's Sports Illustrated.

The essential me is happier cooking in an environment with more color, especially deep rich jewel tones. I grew up in a house with a yellow kitchen until Dad painted the cabs orange, keeping the counters and floors yellow. The wallpaper was orange and yellow with roosters on it. That kitchen, as tacky and ill-laid-out as it was, imprinted the idea of color as necessary to achieve the warmth and feel that I want in my kitchen. While I admire and compliment the more neutral kitchen I see (because they are truly beautiful), my heart belongs to the colorful ones posted here.

Dee

Sorry, don't know why the name "Dee" popped up at the end of my post - I'm Zeebee!

I bounce back and forth between 'cool and serene' and 'wild and colorful' in my kitchen dreaming.

Zeebee, we really seem to be on the same wavelength. Maybe you need a kitchen like mine with 2 personalities-- Mostly serene on 2 walls and rich-jewel-tone-colorful on the other. I have to admit that the colorful edge sneaks into the serene side, too, in bowls, books, and pots. (I love the Sports Illustrated mixed with the sophisticated wine moment...Yes!)

Another thing I like is to choose 'permanent' color that, with the addition of other colors, can change personality and mood, as I decide. It can work as a 'neutral' without being blah. I see my burgundy like that. Can be sophisticated for awhile and whimsical and bold for another while, depending on what I put with it.

Gosh I love this post! I logged on while taking a break (from painting!) LOL.

DH and I argued about color and technique for a looong time. Right now in the living room, there are 24 swatches on the wall, and none of them are right. Since we live in a small place with small rooms, we had resolved early on to minimize the visual breaks by (ehem) using one wall color throughout the whole house (relying on accents in color and texture from room to room to add visual interest) . We wanted a warm color that opened up the spaces, but we needed a color that had a translucence that changed as the light did (the flat colors closed in the space and made it feel heavy). This proved much harder to find than anticipated.

After about 40 attempts, I think I finally got it (I'll know for sure in the next few days). The "right" color is a slightly yellow "creamy vanilla" base (one coat rolled, the next hand brushed) with hand-rubbed layers in deeper yellows and golds in a limewash paint that I hand mixed (as I write this, I know it sounds insane, but having a small house does have some advantages...one being that hand brushing walls of color doesn't take all that long :) ). For this to work, the layering of colors is key. Because the pigments are pure and they are suspended in thin layers, the walls look different throughout the day. They "read" as a single (rather neutral) color, but they sort of glow.

I love, love, love colorful rooms, but I fear in a kitchen I would be so distracted by colors and textures that I would destroy what I was cooking!

Some designers, Mariette Himes Gomez comes to mind, play with colors (whites usually) to get a completely flat, monochromatic envelope to a room. She may use five different whites in one room (as I understand it, anyway) so that the corners of the room do not "read" differently.

If you have a room that is the same color including the ceiling, take a look at it: north, south, east, and west walls and the ceiling will all look slightly different, with the ceiling being coolest. (Apparently this is called metameric failure, kind of like buying separates that match in the store under fluorescents but look like hell out on the street.)

I think we may also see this when we watch design shows on TV and they are going on about how good of a color match it is, or how well it goes, and it looks "off" on TV...it probably has to do with the fact that they are looking at it "realtime" and then it is shot under TV lighting.

However, I like a certain amount of metameric failure, or at least colors that are tricky. I like colors that you can't always tell what they are. But I am also a contents-oriented designer, rather than a wall-color oriented designer. I am not against color, but one of my favorite projects is an entire apartment that is a mutable white envelope: walls, ceiling, trim, floors, drapery--which is then punctuated with color with the contents. This particular homeowner happens to have a LOT of good artwork and a budget for good furniture--that makes a difference.

Metameric failure? Paint is so complicated! Maybe this explains why I fretted so much over finding the right cream cabinets. I'm sure the ones I'm getting are not "right" as I could find nothing in a semi-custom cabinet line that matched the warm glow of those in my inspiration photo. Design mag lighting most likely.

Pillog - I can't wait till your dream kitchen is a reality. It sounds like a South Seas island paradise.
All you need is the distant song of tropical birds as your background music.

Rubyfig - Can I hire you to come and paint my house??

Thanks, Crzy, do hummingbirds count? We have lots of them.

Just realized that my spice orange wall color clashes horribly with the bougainvillea just outside. Oh, well. That's nature for you. :)

Palimpsest, Mariette sounds like my kind of gal. I made my painters a little nuts with maps, but there are 7 shades of the same color, most of them whites, in my entry hall.

I posted this in another forum but I thought it might contribute to copy it here, since we are talking about color:

"forgot to add that since the countertops are staying, whatever paint colors you select are going to have to acknowlege the countertops, and not ignore them, as too much contrast will make them stand out rather than blend in.
A colleague of mine was once faced with lavender cabinets, that were very high quality and the homeowner could not afford to change (or paint cheaply, the finish was a beautiful lacquer). The homeowner had tried all sorts of fixes all of which made the cabinets look even more intensely purplish.

The solution was to basically use a paint color with purple undertones for the walls, brushed stainless hardware, grey countertops --everything to work *with the lavender.

The end result was that the homeowner would mention having to work around lavender cabinets, and most people would not have noticed, they thought they were grey or taupe."
* * * * *
Anyway as for finding the "right" color, I am living with an apartment that is half the "wrong" colors, and I am living with them. One of them for the time being, the other color, perhaps forever.

After trying a number of shades of a grey-blue for the first floor, I finally settled on one that didn't look periwinkle once it was on the wall. The upper cabinets in my kitchen were custom sprayed, and the back painted glass backsplash installed. In the living room proper, (one archway away) the color is still a kind of disappointing pale blue. Its *not even with the blues in the fandeck, its with the grey-greens. It looks nice in the kitchen, it looks "ok" in the living room, and it looks almost insipid in photos. The lower cabinets in my kitchen are stained grey to coordinate with the paired black marble fireplaces (Greek Revival). The custom back of the island and the entire stairwell were painted to match these cabinets. The first island back looked so bad I painted it the next darker shade immediately. Now I think I may go the next shade darker and that will involve painting the stairwell again. Again the swatch matched, and read as a warm charcoal and on my wall it is cooler and not dark enough:(

Love these posts! Not only are many of you artists but many more of your are poets!

I used to be timid with color, not as much what I wore but how I decorated my home. Paint was mere hints of color, baby blue, soft pink, icy aqua, pale cream. It was color but it was barely there. The only thing I added that was not pastel were the couches - they were steely blue or navy. Safe. But I always felt like my home wasn't quite right, that it lacked a certain something that I admired but couldn't name in others' homes.

Then a friend, who also happened to be an interior designer, suggested that I paint one wall in my family room a deep, rich red.

So I bought a quart, took down the framed Ansel Adams print and painted a swatch on the wall. I put the print back up. For a whole year, I'd remove the print periodically, look at the red for awhile, and try to find the nerve to paint the wall red.

I finally did.

And I LOVED it! Loved it, loved it, loved it! So I painted my living room a deep Wedgewood Blue. Loved it! The master bedroom got a coat of warm, blue-y green that is really lovely. Not too blue, not too green, just right (and it only took me 18 samples to get there). A few years later, I repainted the living room in a yummy teal blue, the dining room top half was painted a clear red and the lower half was painted a soft gold, as was the hallway and entry. It's like sunshine! Even the exterior of my house didn't escape. It went from taupe (so safe) to a rich, slightly grayed green (so warm, so natural).

I told my friend that I had been a kid with only a black marker and then she gave me a whole box of crayons. I'm still not brave enough (or insane enough?) to go too crazy when it comes to color on big permanent-type things like kitchen cabinets but I'm an unabashed fan of color in my home now. I admire white kitchens but I know I'd be itching to splash color on them somehow were I to move into one (I know, scandalous! how dare I?).

If I were to relate this to my life, I'd say it has a lot to do with growing older (but not up, to paraphrase a Jimmy Buffett song) and feeling much more confident in my skin.

Isn't this like having a great conversation with your best girlfriends over a glass of wine? I love it!

Crzy, that's a wonderful poem. Have you seen the book? (linked below). Great gift, esp for women who are having milestone birthdays they aren't too happy about :-)

Plllog - blush! and thank you. You can come over any time and mess around in the kitchen. Nothing better than a big ole kitchen party.

Ruby, your wall colour sounds wonderful. I really wanted yellow walls but nothing seemed to work as well as the creamy colour we chose in the end. Plus the floors are really quite a sunny colour, so I get my yellow fix that way. The beauty of paint is that it's probably one of the easiest things to change up, so I may do those yellow walls yet. Just not so labour intensive as yours :-)

Lisa, your post made me laugh. When we bought the house, it was a crazy patchwork of colours (the PO was an artist too!). Bubblegum pink dining room; green and purple kitchen; oxblood red bedroom; screaming chartreuse green laundry room, plus a *lovely* Laura Ashley-type sprigged wallpaper in the foyer and stairwell - UGH. You name it, we had it. In retrospect, I'm very glad she didn't do a quick beige paint job because I think those colours scared away a lot of prospective buyers, leaving the house for us to discover.

During the first few years here we had some fun with colour - a deep rich red for the dining room, apple green for the master, and the stairwell was a wild wallpaper pattern. Now I feel the house has really come into its own. Stairwell is a deep beautiful mossy brown; master bedroom barn red; guest bedroom deep purple (called, appropriately enough, Bonne Nuit); classic white and black baths, still a deep red dining room and of course, our softly colourful kitchen. Again, you have to believe me - there's a great flow and it all works!

Yep, I love colour - just couldn't live any other way!

Eliz

Eliz, this is like sitting around having a great conversation with friends over a glass of wine. I love it!! There's something about this thread, and the conversation which has unfolded that just makes me smile :)

Well, me for, this conversation also feels like some kind of mini-confessional! I'm not so sure I would have stepped forward to so boldly proclaim my love for color here had Plllog not popped this question. You also cannot imagine how relieved I am to find out that so many of you might not shriek in horror at the rather diverse colors scheme I've got going on in the 3 floors of this old house. Heck, from the sounds of it, I would probably feel very much at home in your colorful homes. No doubt we would find much in common with our red dining rooms! Mine has Chinese red upper walls, BM Chestertown Buff lower walls (a mustardy gold) and chair rails, mouldings, fireplace mantle and all other wood trims in Linen White.

Lisa -- I found your post especially fascinating when you talked about becoming more confident of your embrace of color as you get older. As I've already stated before, I seem to be going in the opposite direction, thus ratcheting down a bit on my color schemes as I age (although I admit that my bold red kitchen range and hood might not be very convincing proof of that!) :-)

You would definitely know what ratcheting down for me means, however, if only you could have seen my first apartment! Since it was also my first real opportunity to design a personal living space that was bigger than a college dorm room. I now see I went beyond wild in letting loose with color! The front door of that teeny one bedroom apartment in a NYC brownstone townhouse (maybe all of 300 sf max) opened onto a teeny little kitchen. Yet, I still managed to make a rather grand "opening statement" with walls of glossy contact paper that had humongous black and white flowers and a floor of peel and stick red carpet tile! (Hmmm, interesting how far back for me that red/white/black thing in kitchens goes. LOL!) From the kitchen you could walk directly ahead into an even teenier bathroom which I painted in at least 4 different shades of - - - green, from lime to olive! :-) And, to the immediate left of the kitchen was my living room of lilac walls and a deep, deep purple shag rug for just a bit of added drama. (Imagine the scene, if you can, walking into that teeny space with the bathroom door open). Thank goodness, I never got around to painting the bedroom off the living room; probably the result of color exhaustion, I left it free to remain totally unremarkable in the plain beige color that the landlord had chosen.

Of course, you have to keep in mind that the time was 1971. The baby boomers, in all our "make love-not war" glory were still letting loose with psychedelic statements in music, fashion, art, etc. In retrospect, though, I gotta be honest in admitting that I was still off the chart with respect to any basics of interior design -- even for that period. In fact, this conversation of ours makes me wonder how my mom must have processed the scene when she saw that first apartment of mine. To her credit, I don't remember any major reaction beyond there being much encouragement for her youngest daughter who was finally leaving the family nest in NJ and heading out on a life of her own in the Big Apple with a red and black kitchen, green on green bathroom, lilac and purple living room and all.

Color very much affects my mood, and I prefer cool tones opposed to warm ones. When I redid my kitchen, I chose light ash toned maple cabs, a white countertop and stainless appliances. My splash of color is in the jade green subway tiles I have as my backsplash. They are my favorite part of my kitchen as well as everyone else's. I chose a light blue-gray paint for the walls. A big improvement over the way it looked before, with dark brown cabs, mustard walls and harvest gold appliances (granted, it was done in the 70's). As well as being more cheerful and light, the kitchen also looks bigger now.

I know that one of the things of which I've been most conscious, is trying to avoid choosing things that will look dated, or at least, look dated quickly (at least as much as I can control that). I've really been trying to decorate and choose objects that have "legs" so to speak; staying true to my decorating and color taste while creating a "timeless" look within my chosen style's framework.

My tastes have evolved over time, a maturation process, or shift in sensibilities rather than a total change. I have always liked contemporary/modern decor, but have come to embrace "organic contemporary" as some have put it--or contemporary with warmth (rather than the sleeker more sterile decor that might have enraptured me when I was younger).

I think the strong desire to avoid having our decor pegged as belonging to a particular year or decade has helped me (us) to choose things we not only like or love now, but can envision ourselves liking, years down the road. Clean lines, classic (modern) pieces (with a little bit of a funky element thrown in to add in a twist here and there!), those are what I crave. White walls (love them!) and (mostly) black seating providing the perfect backdrop for those splashes of color that continue to make me smile.

I am so happy with how it's all turning out, I really do have to pinch myself to make sure it's real! And, I still can't believe that WE did this!! That's how I know we're on the right track! :-)

Oh, my gosh, marthavilla, your dining room could be my dining room! I went with BM Burnt Peanut Red and P&L Caramel Tint at half strength. Aren't those color names just perfect for a dining room? It's primed for dessert all the time. My LR is BM Buxton Blue, which isn't really a teal blue as I described it, more of a warm ocean-y kind of blue. And yes, you definitely are heading in the opposite direction I am, but given how different our starting points were, it looks more like we're meeting in the middle.

elizpiz, so glad I gave you a laugh. I'm a big believer in daily giggles and the more the better.

And oh, wow about the colors your home once wore. I think one way I've gotten away with the colors I use is that for all their depth and richness, they are muted. The paints have had a bit of gray mixed in with the color so they aren't quite as overwhelming look-at-me presences as they would be otherwise. Plus I chose colors that compliment and blend so that there aren't clashing tones as you move through the house. Or at least that's the rationalization that I tell myself. ;-)

laurap, I prefer cool tones, too, although I've discovered that I like my cool colors with a side of warm but not too much, please. Hubby loves orange but I just can't live with it. A friend who is an artist and a garden designer painted her LR ceiling a coppery-orange. It is stunning! In her house, not mine, that is. Thank goodness hubby also loves blue.

Thank you for all of your revealing thoughts! It has helped me so much in clarifying the colors for my kitchen. It is amazing how colors can change your mood. What I love to look at, the colors of "Susan Sargent" and "Maine Cottage", are not necessarily the ones I want to walk into in the morning before I have had my coffee. My work and life tend to be "up, up, up" all of the time with high energy, and I tend to be an introvert. That can be draining. There is something about rhythm with cool colors and whites I find very calming, and centered, and if that is the way I want to promote myself feeling, I can save touches of the whimsy for elsewhere rather than have those bright festive colors all over in the kitchen.

I just bought my paint, finally resulted to mixing the Benjamin Moore accent color myself 'cause I just could not find the right color (almost jumped on the woman who suggested that the color I made is so similar to one of the BM colors that why don't they just mix the BM color? - stayed calm and said that the other color had a little too much black in it, and not enough blue, and a touch too much green - she gave me a look. I nicely explained that the color I mixed looks just right in the lighting in my house, and could they please just scan it?) it is a like a slightly slate blue, but a little lighter with some green - more intense color that should look great with my milk glass bowls, and go well with the blue opaque vase from my grandmother's house I use for my wooden spoons. Fingers crossed! And the main color for the cabinets is the one suggested here often, Simply White. I am going to paint an "as is" door I picked up from Ikea for a test. Wish me luck!

Hestia

What a fascinating topic Plllog. I have to say this with all certainty: If my kitchen were an outfit, I would absolutely wear it to death. I love and wear all the colours in my kitchen. I'd say it's the room equivalent of me and my style. Classic, elegant, understated, with dark browns, white button up shirts, greyish neutrals, with touches of pinky red, and a teeny bit of femininity and vintage in there. The main things I wear: dark brown or black or grey tops, blue jeans or black slacks, fitted white button up shirts. My favourite wool coat is white, my purse is white. I have a red Coach purse that I adore.

The only twist is that my husband was very involved. That's why we have more of the warm neutrals in the kitchen chairs, paint colour, curtains and sectional. If it were up to me, all of those things I mentioned would have been more of a warm grey...more grey than they are now, though not a cool grey. And there's some masculine touches I'd say, with the espresso brown stain, dark floors, very clean lines. So there's a bit of him in there too (he's okay with "a bit" as he cared more about the technical and structural design, less on the finishes and colours and patterns).

I keep wanting to introduce more girly elements - the chairs are a good example. But I'm glad I've held back because of DH. Interesting thing - when I first started dating DH years ago, I wore lots of bright colours and trendier things. He would always tell me I looked best in the classic clothing, with the clean simple lines, and non-trendy colours. My wardrobe has slowly whittled away all the trendy stuff (they've found their way into bags for charity). I normally wear all neutrals, except for some days when I want a pop of colour - red, or a lime or emerald green, or greyish or baby blue, or violet. I don't wear much jewelry at all, only one piece (necklace, bracelet) when I do. And I can honestly say I've never felt or looked more "me". So he helped me to find my style, and I think this kitchen is as much "his" for that very reason, although it's mainly a translation of "my" style.

Man, enough about me though!! I'm going to read all the other posts in this thread...what a great read!

Darn, I forgot another point. My finished kitchen photos look serene and calm yes, which I like when we're not cooking. But when we're cooking, the kitchen comes alive with all the colours of the food! Reds, lime greens, yellow...it just livens up the room and signals the warmth of cooking. I love when the reds come in, red peppers, tomatoes, strawberries...I feel so happy. Red is my favourite colour (thus my screen name, Redroze).It's the same reason why I have off-white plates. Yes they look great and "neat", but you put a plate of delicious steak, corn, salad on it...yowzers. The room comes alive.

Okay, here is my story.

I'm the whitest white girl you'll meet, ha ha. :) My parents came here from Ireland in the 50's. I have dark brown hair, blue eyes and what my husband calls "refrigerator white" skin. Until recently, I could not live without color in my life. Rich, bold, contrasty color and texture. My clothes, my surroundings, my cars -- a woman of color on the inside for sure. Same with music. Bold music, whatever the genre was key.

Did I ever have my fun with color for 10 years in my old house. Not one room was neutral except the hallway.

I had 11 ft ceilings, lots of light, and big rooms. I had comforting ocean blue turquoise in my MBR and bath, Energetic dusky apple green in the kitchen, bold and creative plum in my sewing room, and exciting red in the LR.
I'm a purple lover too. The outside of my house I painted Vocanic Agate. It was a lovely dusky purplish grey. Color made me happy, as had music for the previous 20 years before that time.
I was a total music freak - even worked a couple of years in music radio. Having kids changed being able to sit near a turntable and experience the multitude of music I craved. They and DH preferred TV to music and they won.

With both music and color, I like a diverse range, but when younger, I liked both louder and bolder. Now I prefer them just a tad bit calmer.

I'm the type of person who craves change in my life. Hobbies get old, the daily grind gets old. Color and music are two things you can surround yourself with and change easily. Color, be it in clothes or walls, is a way to achieve that change without getting in trouble.

I guess it helps that the house we moved into 2 years ago doesn't really allow for much bold color anyway. Except for the kitchen, their isn't enough light for that kind of color I used to have.
That, and DH thinks all walls should be white. :( Too bad he doesn't feel the same way about wood - but that's a topic for another thread.

Oh, I forgot to say, red is probably my favorite color, like you, redroze! Red with the mustards, golds - yummy.
Marthavilla and lisa a, I would love to see pics of your dining rooms!

Red, your fabulous kitchen speaks for itself! What it says is that you have one of the most all time popular kitchens here on GW. And that's for good reason: With it's "classic, elegant and understated" palette of warm neutrals, it's the kind of place where the people and the food ( and display items and accessories, etc. ) become the "artwork" that brings more color in the room. What's not to love about that? :-)

Redroze, I'm so glad you chimed in! And I love your description of your style. When I was a dancer, and was wearing your colors, they were definitely over the top! That was when people were wearing neon and other frightening colors, so my black/white/silver really stood out. I had a gray wool cape (great over dancewear), a white and silver lace skirt, a quilted silver jacket, etc. And a hot pink leotard and tap shoes.

I totally appreciate what you've said about the food providing the color. I had white counters for a long time. Classic, right? But they tended to swallow up all the colors! I'm hoping in the new kitchen, that the food I'm prepping will be nicely framed by the cutting boards, and set off by the surrounding colors.

Something I've been thinking about today is how calm most of the other rooms in the house are. Gentle, understated colors. Very little pattern. But somehow, I'm making the kitchen bold and wild and colorful.

Hestia, great insight! I guess I want my kitchen to be energizing and active.

Marthavila, as soon as you described your first place's colors I knew exactly when it was! Thanks for sharing that!

Something else I realized reading all of your responses is that while I have often been drawn to certain decorating trends, especially when I was quite young, when it comes to actually doing something about it, I'm much more influenced by the environment (style of architecture, light, etc.) and (sigh) my mother. She of pure good taste and wisdom. In my twenties I might have gone for grids and carpeted platforms, and was sorely tempted by, but too poor to get, the Arboreal Chair (there a Star Trek episode where Lt. Worf has one in his quarters, but I've never seen it anywhere else since. It's very high, made of wood, with a seat and a lot of branches with balls on them which become headrest, armrests, etc. Really out there.) I was also tempted by a Rauschenberg "chair" but that was more of an art piece than something you'd actually sit on. Ah. Expensive taste. Youth may be wasted on the young, but penury might be good for 'em. Instead, I've tended toward paler colors that pick up the SoCal sun, and classic, understated, design elements. Except in the kitchen :)

Oh, and if I get around to it, the powder room. I have these new flowery light fixtures for it, and if I ever get the kitchen done, I've been thinking about painting dead trees in there...

Southern, I hear you about the whiteness--at times I've been blue-ish like skim milk, but I do get a little color between the freckles. An African-American artist friend of mine once said, "Honey, you're a woman of color too. You're just a lot paler than the rest of us." I thought that was really sweet!

I hadn't made the connection between music and color, but it's so true! I always have music on in the studio. And it has to have rhythm. I can create to a symphony (not my first choice usually, but I can), but I cannot to any kind of new age a-rhythmic twaddle. I've had to exit workrooms at conferences to work when they've played that stuff. For art, I sometimes choose something that goes with the theme of what I'm working on. If it's mostly working (craftsmanship) rather than creating, I like classic rock, chamber music, zydeco, and other bright, uptempo things. And when I'm cooking for holidays, it's cheesy, but I play that holiday's music, even the kiddie tracks.

What an amazing discussion of color. Does this mean the design wheel is once again screeching away and the long era of noncolor is finally coming to an end?

New technology allowing widespread use of stone neutraled us down considerably, happily, of course, with all the excitement over this new possibility. Was the greatly increased amount of money spent on better-quality materials for homes this last quarter century also a factor in choosing classic and calm materials one might be living with for a very long time?

Whatever, I'm ready for a kitchen floor of linoleum in a soft but real yellow with large-scale but dainty designs of red and orange drawn in it. A takeoff on the old oriental rug patterns of a century ago is actually also something I've wished for for a long time now.

Rosie, is that a dream, or do they really make that kind of lino?

Some of us never abandoned color :) But I have to admit, when I offered on a house that had (newish) pickled green cabinets and green and fuchsia trim tiles, I wasn't enchanted with the kitchen. If I thought I'd ever have to sell this house before the kitchen was old and tired, I wouldn't have let the lions out of the cage. ;)

You make interesting points about the quality of materials. I think I said that I opted against painted cabinets because I don't tolerate patina on paint very well, and I expect my kitchen to last forever, where a lot of people are glad if their kitchens last 10-15 years.

I don't know if this discussion is an indicator, but cars are!! After so many years of all the cars coming in shades of fog, there are colors cropping up. There's a bright copper orange, and a metallic mustardy color, and a kind of electric blue. I don't like these colors, but I'm encouraged to see them!

Colorschemes I've considered for my own kitchen:

White cabinets with grain of some kind, turquoise-ish natural glass colored bioglass counters and backsplash (this is a stratified recycled material made under pressure and very hard and dense), dark tiles on the floor with sponged looking turquoise elements and gold florets that only show when the light is in a particular direction (love these!), white-ish walls.

Glossy white cabinets--maybe metal, dark cobalt blue Pyrolave (enamelled lava rock) counters, lots of shiny chrome, white with a hint of aqua walls, blue and white floors.

Blond bamboo cabinets, green soapstone counters, gold with some reds granite island, neutral (beige tones) floor, not sure on the walls.

Bright white walls and floor, medium-dark blue Italian style lacquered cabinets with sinuous curves, lots of stainless, some kind of blingy counter.

Antique cream colored cabinets, antique French pavers on the floor (they run pink to peach), pewter counters with heavily detailed molding edge, pale apricot walls.

Okay...I'll stop at five. Most of these are way too expensive, anyway. I do see a theme running through (not including the white thing--I like white kitchens. I love Redroze's!): I didn't quite realize how much I wanted shiny dark blue! I mean, I knew when I saw the sample, that I wanted to put the glossy dark cobalt tiles in somewhere in my light matte green tile scheme, but this is interesting! I'm going to have three dash lines of it going around just above eye level. Against the orange walls and the brass hood. Should look great, but I didn't realize it was taking the place of the ridiculously expensive, environmentally poor choice, Pyrolave!

Here you go, southernstitcher! I think both the red and caramel look richer IRL than they do under flash or on my monitor.

I think the wedding photos of my two sets of great-grandparents in the antique frame looks great against the red wall, don't you?

I have other old photos on this wall. I love the way old black and white photos pop, plus they are protected from sun damage since this wall doesn't get direct sunlight.

But I must confess: this is what my dining room *really* looks like right now.

That cabinet on its side is what used to house the old refrigerator but it's too short for our new refrigerator. It's been laying in the DR since February while we've tried to figure out what to do about it - adapt it or get a new cabinet. We're going with new. Then there's all the stuff that used to sit inside that cabinet, plus all the stuff I've been cleaning out that needs to go to Goodwill. I mean, if I haven't used my '70's era fondue pot since the '70s, I probably don't need to hang on to it.

So when I get my new kitchen, I'll also get my DR back!

And hopefully in a year or two, we'll get new carpeting. I can't stand the taupe carpet we have now. It's so dingy looking with our colors.

I got such a chuckle out of "refrigerator white" skin! I'm fair, too, although not quite as fair as you from the sounds of it. Years ago I went with a bunch of college girlfriends to Daytona Beach, Florida. We slathered up and soaked up the rays - this was back before anyone worried about skin cancer. I returned feeling quite smug that I had a tan when all the other poor saps were still Illinois winter white. When a friend asked what I did for spring break, I answered, "Florida!" thinking it was obvious. Apparently not. She peered more closely at me and said, "Oh, I guess you do have a few new freckles." Yeah, that took the air out of my sails.

Lisa - the picutures in the gorgeous frame do look really great on that wall. Your red looks really rich. Thanks for posting it!