March
13
Designing Dilemmas- Debbie Shares Advice
My kitchen/breakfast area is adjacent/open to my family room and both
rooms are at the back of the house. The back of the house faces
southeast. There is a one foot step down from the kitchen/breakfast
area to the family room and 4 wide bottom kitchen cabinets help divide
the two rooms.
The family room has a rust-colored fireplace/mantle on the wall
opposite the kitchen (not a full fireplace). There are bookshelves
(to the ceiling) on both sides of the fireplace. There is a
flat-screen TV above the fireplace. There are 3 connecting windows on
the back family room wall with pleated fabric blinds (no
valance/curtains). With the one foot step down, the family room has
10-foot ceilings. The family room flooring is medium cherry laminate.
The kitchen/breakfast area has 9-foot ceilings. The flooring is
medium cherry laminate. The furniture is dark brown leather (sofa,
loveseat, chair, and ottoman). The 3 tables in the room are medium
dark wood.
The kitchen/breakfast area has 9-foot ceilings. The flooring is
laminate colored white with gray tints. The cabinets are medium oak.
Counter tops are white/grayish. Appliances are white. There are
French doors in the breakfast area opening to the back of the house.
All ceilings are painted white. Kitchen/breakfast area and family
room walls are cream. The house’s entryway and hallway leading to the
kitchen is also cream. The dining room (at the back of the house on
the other side of the kitchen) is painted light green
(white/reddish-burgundy curtains). The living room beside the dining
room and at the front of the house is painted a light yellowish/orange
color (green/dark red in the furniture and drapes).
My dilemma: My husband wants to paint the family room red. The
family room wall on the back of the house extends through the
breakfast area (with the French doors) and up to a short wall that
starts the upper kitchen cabinets. So whatever color is painted on
this wall will also appear partly in the kitchen/breakfast area. The
other family room wall (opposite this back wall) ends at the
kitchen/breakfast area step down into the family room. My husband
thinks we should leave the bookshelves and area above the fireplace
painted white. Should I paint the other two walls red? If only one
wall should be red, which one is red and what color would look good on
the other family room wall? I’d also like to paint the kitchen walls
(not a lot of wall space in the kitchen (little above and below
cabinets, wall around kitchen desk, and around pantry). But what
color to paint the kitchen if one/both walls in the family room (and
possibly a little in the breakfast area) are red?
The back of the house gets the morning sun and good lighting the first
half of the day. I favor more traditional design versus modern.
Any help would be really, really appreciated.
Thanks,
Tammy Wikner
Hi Tammy:
I really appreciate how difficult it is to choose color in today’s homes, with common walls that tie one end of the house to the other. The fact that you and husband might differ on what color to paint just compounds the problem.
I’ve read and re-read your email and I’ve tried to think of things to tell you, but emailing you the right paint color(s), even if it is one of 276 shades of red, would be like choosing hair color and make-up for you via email. Without a “look see” in person, I would be swinging in the dark.
Which leaves you with three options….
1. Try a few colors on the wall for yourself. Put a sample of the red, or whatever color you prefer, on the walls in all the areas and see how you like it.
2. Buy my book by clicking this link: http://www.amazon.com/Slob-Proof-Real-Life-Decorating-Solutions/dp/1592577695/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211561624&sr=1-1. It gets five out of five stars (and none of the reviewers are my friends or family!) and it includes a complete color palette to use as a guide and an entire chapter on how to choose paint colors.
3. Hire a professional to give you a color plan. That can be me or anyone you like, but perhaps there are colors and techniques you haven’t considered that would be a better choice than red- a choice that you and your husband will both love. There are thousands, literally thousands of possible colors. Ask for in-home help from someone who gets regular training and works with color day in and day out.
Let me know how your color project works out.
Best,
Debbie
Remember you can email your designing dilemmas to Debbie via debbie (at) slobproof (dot) com.
March 13th, 2010 at 8:01 am
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