Neutral Color for the Hallways
I am a committed anti-white-waller. I have no intention of leaving a single wall in my house white. Ceilings are okay, but white walls just don’t look finished to me. I’ve seen plenty of exceptions to the rule. This completely white room in BHG manages to look warm despite the lack of color:
but the very thought of those white couches makes me spill my coffee as I write this! I also think this room could really work with blue-gray walls and tan furniture with navy accents and still have the same country-chic feeling without so much white.
I’m starting to think about paint colors for the house. So far I know a mid-tone sunny green in the kitchen, a moody green in the dining room, a taupe in the master bedroom with a spring green in the closet and bathroom, my favorite one is definitely the bedroom one, it matches my new mattress perfectly, I got it thanks to the reviews by Each Night. At the moment I am stuck on what color to paint the White trim and what color for the entry/hall/stairs. I want a nice warm neutral but it has to go with the wood trim on the first floor, the white trim on the 2nd floor, and blend with the greens I’m using throughout the house.
I have to be sure to stay away from anything with orange tones. It looks terrible with my chestnut woodwork. I wish I had learned to use the best portable table saw my uncle used to have, that way I could simply make my own furniture in whatever color scheme I want. But for now I rent furniture from furniture hire Perth. Since I don’t and can’t that rules out most tans and sands and leaves colors in the mushroom color-space. I don’t really want to go too gray though a taupe wouldn’t be bad. What do you think about colored neutrals?
I’m loving this pale muted green.
here is a great mushroom color.
I could try to find a gold color that worked but I just don’t know how well it fits with the color scheme in the rest of the house. Sometimes though, if you have doubts as for the color, you may entrust it to real professionals, such as Ottawa Painter. (Photo: BHG)
This is a great tan that goes beautifully with a variety of greens but I’m not sure about the reddish tint to my woodwork. (Photo: BHG)
So many options! I currently have about 6 different samples up on the walls and nothing in perfect. What direction do you think I should focus on?
Source: http://www.elizabethgordonstudio.com/
I am so doing this
I saw this on the Country Living website and I must say, I am doing this! Stefan has a big spool at work that I’ve got ear-marked!
Sarah
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I so love this as well. It would be great in a childs room, playroom or your den.
Kitchen Lighting
Now that I have room for a small island, it greatly simplifies my search for lighting. I know I like the darkened bronze industrial-look lights that will match our hardware and I love milk-glass shades. I have a couple options though.
Stefan and I are both ga-ga over this pulley lamp for over the kitchen island
It is, of course, over $500. Pricey for a light. Pricey for me at least. But so cool!
Other options include a pair of these great pendent lights from Lowes:
At $118.00 each, they are pricey but they have a great presence and are a good size. We may use something like this over the kitchen dining table.
Above the sink, we are going to have a large window. Above the window is an 18″ cabinet to continue with the rest of the cabinets around the room. There will be about 6 inches between the top of the cabinet and the bottom of the 18″ cabinet. I was thinking about attaching a wall-mount light though I could do a small pendent hanging from the upper cabinet.
This was the wall-mount number I was thinking of. At just $49, it is a steal from lowes. It is technically an outdoor light but I think it would work great for the sink area.
Another option is to hang pendent lights made from a pair of hobnail milkglass platers I found at an estate sale. I’ve had various plants in them but they would make great pendent light shades. They look just like this:
Those are the main contenders at this point. I do love this light from Home Depot, but Stefan is skeptical.
If we do spring for the pulley light for above the island, what should go above the dining table. I don’t want it to compete but I also don’t want to leave the table out of the lighting game.
What do you think?
Sarah
Kitchen Island options.
The next thing I’m starting to think about for the kitchen is how to do the lighting. I think I’m going to have room for a 21″ wide island. The kitchen is 117 inches wide. 24″ for the cabinets, 36″ on each side clearance for doors, that leaves 21″. I’m looking at a couple options for the island. One day I was an awesome antique workbench like this one:
But in the short-term, I’m looking at something open-legged, probably from ikea. I think I’m going to paint the legs something colorful and bright. I’m thinking pink but I may wimp-out and do white. I’d like to give it a distressed look as well. I’m not sure if Stefan will go for it though.
One option is this $199.00 island from ikea.
At 20 7/8″x 4 feet, it is the perfect maximum size. If I want to go slightly smaller, I can go with this $99 model:
I like the addition of drawers on this one but at 17″ by 40″ it is small. Then again, it would be less likely to close off the space.
There is also this $79 pine option.
At just 15.5 inches, this is the narrowest table. It is a great little table regardless. I love a good sofa table to hold remotes and laptops and this number could be great.
Stefan and I are going to head to ikea in 2 weeks to pick up the countertops and I guess we’ll pick out the island then. So exciting to get to the buying stage of the remodel!
Here is a great inspiration photo for my brightly colored island. Not my color but I love how fun it is!
What do you think? Let me know!
Sarah
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We have that 100 one from Ikea with the drawers.. it is quite smaller than it looks when you try to use it as a counter. We have our microwave and mixer on it now. Also.. depending on what you put on the shelves.. its a weird width, so theres either lots of room loft over on on side, or something hangs off the edge.
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I think you have room for the bigger island. 36 is way more than you need for clearance. The main area is dishwasher door and refrigerator doors. Add wheels if you think you may need more space at times. You want it usable. You may want to wait until you get the cabinets in before you purchase something though. I do love the painted piece. Also a sofa table is so handy when you have stuff!!
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Yeah, the dishwasher is on one side and the door to the outside is on the other so we are actually space constrained but we’ve got the 21 inches to work with and the swing of the door is only 33 inches so we have a little flexibility. I was excited to finally run the numbers and see how much room we actually have. I think one day we’ll be able to find an antique workbench to fit in that size space!
At the apartment, we’ve got the TV box behind the sofa as a sofa table and it is so functional! It holds the power strip for the large quantity of computers and provides a safe place to stash the laptops. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to go back!
sheila
4/6/2012 | 5:18 pm Permalink
not sure about the gold. I think it would be hard to pull off the right hue. I’m liking the mushroom shades – very modern chic up against your vintage house and accessories. but vintage is very hip right now.
Love all the greens just get them all in the same hue to blend. We found a great paint lady at Lowes last night. she was helping everyone. i would definitely go back to her if i needed something specific.