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electratoo_gw

Toning down my WAY too yellow-orange walls...

ElectraToo
11 years ago

Cross posting this in the Home Decorating forum.

So I picked out the paint colors for my new construction house. The colors that came off the neutral paint strips? No problems at all. They look great. I can also live with the green and blue I chose for the bedrooms even though I'd like a bit more gray in both because they are not very far off what I was going for (but I'll probably re-paint myself at some point after we've lived in a bit if I still am not 100% happy).

The family room/kitchen/dining room, however, are another story. I chose SW6668 Sunrise because I was going for a very sunny, South-of-France kind of look. The result resembles something more like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. It would probably be fine in a small room but on such a large area, it's a bit much. I think really what I need is more of beige with golden undertones (and no orange at all). I'm kind of embarrassed not to have figured this out before it went up because I'm a graphic designer and I KNOW colors are always brighter when there's more of it. I also know yellow is very tricky. Alas, here we are, the painters are finished, and I just know I can't live with these walls.

I am prepared for it to cost me to have them come back out and paint over it (and I'm a little annoyed that they they took down all of the tape and stuff before I OK'ed it, but that's another post). I'm just trying to figure out what would be the most economical way to do it. I don't want to have to (pay to) prime the walls again. I am tempted to just pick a color and stick it up on one of the walls and see if it works. If I had to choose right now, I would probably go with SW6128 Blonde. However, since it would be going over Mac n Cheese instead of white, I'm not sure.

Any predictions on what kind of results I would get if I just tried to paint over this existing color? Should I go lighter and more muted than I think I want, knowing that this brighter color is underneath?

Or maybe I should just go with Builder Beige and not worry about it. ;o)

Comments (19)

  • PRO
    Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
    11 years ago

    No need to prime it again

  • Vertise
    11 years ago

    How long can you wait to repaint before having to scruff up the surface again for proper adhesion?

  • PRO
    Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
    11 years ago

    What sheen did you put on?

  • lazy_gardens
    11 years ago

    Don't worry about the underneath color, just apply two good coats of your new color.

    You don't have to paint, sand or do much - it's really fresh paint.

    Yellows and oranges have the annoying habit of intensifying on a wall, so your sunny butter turns into highway stripe orange. I'd suggest going even lighter - SW 7681 Tea Light for example. Warm and glowing without turning into pumpkin.

    And buy a sample pot of your candidates, paint a BIG swatch onto some white paper and hang them in various places in the room. Leave a white border so the existing color doesn't influence you too much.

  • Vertise
    11 years ago

    I think I'm going to use matte and eggshell. Maybe satin for the woodwork. Semi or gloss, I know you have to degloss once cured.

  • domino123
    11 years ago

    I think the ability to cover a dark color has a lot to do with the quality of paint. I always apply two coats regardless, but I've even painted over red walls with a pastel green, two coats, without any problem but I also use quality paint, most often Benjamin Moore - all without priming over the previous color.

    BTW - I love your mac & cheese reference. I made the mistake of picking a "gold" yellow in the evening hours, purchased the can the next morning and it went on my walls like a big bold pumpkin. Bad. I now look at color swatches in both daylight and in evening, and still don't always get it right.

    Good luck!

  • JXBrown (Sunset 24, N San Diego County)
    11 years ago

    We just painted our living room BM Cream Yellow. Definitely sunny and yellow, but not overwhelming. I was worried, but it came out just right. White trim.

  • Scarlett001
    11 years ago

    Hmmm. I too am attempting a south-of-France sunny look and got scared of getting the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (!!) colour by accident so went tamer. I went SW Ivoire (colour-matched by BM). It is soft and lovely in the day - creamy yellow with apricot undertones - not a true Provence/Tuscany look but a good safe colour to achieve this kind of feel. I felt like I had made a good (albeit very safe) choice.

    Then tonight I went BLAH when the sun set and I saw the rooms at night - some walls it looks okay, but sometimes I see dreaded green undertones and not a hint of apricot undertone - at best, it is a very yellow beige. I imagined the creamy yellow with apricot undertones would play out very golden/apricot and night and look amazing. Sigh. You just can't win with paint colour. I suspect that to achieve the nice golden/apricot glow in the evening, I would have to go much more bold/gare-ish/orange in terms of with what the paint would like in the daylight. Seems one has to compromise at times.

    What colour are you thinking of using for your repainting??

  • Vertise
    11 years ago

    Scarlett, what type of light bulbs do you have there? Play with your lighting. The paint color can change dramatically between incandescent, CFL, LED, and halogen (there's a new lower wattage halogen based one out in the incandescent style which doesn't go green like the CFLs).

    It's very frustrating. Maybe try one of the daylight color bulbs if you love that color during the day.

  • Scarlett001
    11 years ago

    Snookuks, I was researching it and wondered about the daylight bulbs. I was trying to figure out why the basic incandescent builds that I have in my room might be doing this (turning a yellow-ish apricot paint less apricot-y). Maybe something in the incandescent light filters out the apricot rather than accentuating it. I will try some daylight bulbs and see if that helps a bit!!

    Not trying to hijack this thread, but it seemed that my issues do relate to this post about walls being too orange as I had been trying to avoid that and encountered a new problem. :)

    It is frustrating. I wrote that post last night when the greenish overtones were out in full force and I was pretty upset. Writing this now as the sun is rising in a gray cloudy sky and already my lovely colour is reappearing. Maybe something in a daylight bulb will better mimic this natural lighting and whatever it is doing!! Honestly, if I were to repaint and added more orange to like the paint at night, I may end up with the Kraft Dinner look during the day and I would have a new (and maybe bigger) problem on my hands!! :D

  • Ally1
    11 years ago

    How do you pick a creamy white with not too much yellowing problems and definitely no beige undertones? Does anyone have any paint color suggestions? It has to compliment my Alaska White Granite countertops and white cabinets in our new open concept kitchen/living room.
    Sure would appreciate lots of suggestions on paint colors with brand names.
    Already tried Valspar Veranda White and ended up looking like a flock of canaries hit the wall at 100 mph.
    Thanks everyone!

  • Vertise
    11 years ago

    Ally, that's a great topic. You might want to start another thread.

  • Ally1
    11 years ago

    How do you pick a creamy white with not too much yellowing problems and definitely no beige undertones? Does anyone have any paint color suggestions? It has to compliment my Alaska White Granite countertops and white cabinets in our new open concept kitchen/living room.
    Sure would appreciate lots of suggestions on paint colors with brand names.
    Already tried Valspar Veranda White and ended up looking like a flock of canaries hit the wall at 100 mph.
    Thanks everyone!

  • Vertise
    11 years ago

    Scarlett, I would love to hear how your light bulb experiments go. Please post back what you find.

  • Scarlett001
    11 years ago

    Will do. I noticed that the paint is playing less green in the room where I have ceramic tiles in a warm tone and a chandelier with bulbs that give a really warm light. Going to see if I can buy those bulbs in a regular bulb (not chandelier) for the rest of the house (not a make sold at Home Depot).

    I did not mention that part of the issue may be due to the grey/light blue carpets on the floor that may be playing a part in the problem (blue reflection on yellow walls might be leading to the green undertone on walls??). The living room carpet is being replaced in the next few months with hardwood floors, and the carpet upstairs will be changed to creamy/warm colour. So I am hoping that the flooring change may help matters, and in the meantime I want to see if some lightbulb changes can tone down the green undertones. Perhaps with these changes the green undertones will vanish in due course!!

    Fingers crossed!

  • Vertise
    11 years ago

    Your carpet color will definitely affect your paint color as it bounces its coloring around. It might get washed out by daylight or bounce around differently with a natural light source. Some people see a green cast during the day because they have a lot of trees outside. It will be interesting to see if the flooring change makes a big difference.

  • Scarlett001
    11 years ago

    I do wonder what will happen. I have a thread going in Home Decorating on this issue, so I will update that thread once I attempt various things to try to tone down this issue. :)

  • ElectraToo
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    lazygardens, Highway Stripe Orange is how my builder described the color too! He tried to make me feel better by claiming it was growing on him but finally admitted it was pretty bad.

    Scarlett, we used Ivoire for the ceiling and it's lovely. I took lazygardens' advice and painted some swatches on large white sheets of poster board and checked them at different times of the day. I ultimately decided to go with SW Blonde, which coincidentally is the color my painter has in his own house. He said he'd painted it several times in spec homes and liked it so when he repainted his house, he used it. That made me feel quite a bit better.

    Anyway, he repainted my walls this weekend and hardly charged me much for the change. It is SO much better. I was worried it might be too neutral, but it still has a golden tone in most light. I don't have fixtures in yet, but as I tend to prefer warmer light bulbs, I imagine the lights will only enhance the golden tones which is what I want. I'm very happy with it. If anyone else is going for that South of France yellowy gold color, I recommend trying it. I almost went with SW Restrained Gold which is one shade darker on the same paint strip, but I'm glad I went with my first instinct. It's perfect.

    Oh, and for those who asked, the finish was and is eggshell. No problem at all covering the orange color with the new golden color. I'd say there was about four days between paint and repaint.

  • Scarlett001
    11 years ago

    Great to hear that you are happy with the new choice.

    I admit that I am a bit jealous. I don't have time to deal with a repaint before xmas and I do not even know what colour I am going to use yet. You are lucky that you are not living in the house yet and could clear this up quickly. That is great that the painter gave you a good rate. :)