I have a question regarding brick. I have a two story house. Red school house brick on the bottom half, shakers on the top. Dark grey roof. I am thinking of a grey with green undertones. The motar in my brick is grey. How deep a color can I make the grey without being top heavy. I am thinking of doing shutters and door in a chimney color (dark, grey). Will this make my house too dull. The trim will be a french white, outling window and bay window. could I please get some feed back.

Barbara suggests:

You have raised a good question. Because your brick is  on the lower portion of the house, I am imagining is is a deeper color.

You can probably use a gray of the hue you described, and when you go to the paint store to select the color ask them to show you a color that is on the deeper side of “base 2″ or the lighter side of “base 3.” The “base” designation refers to the depth or saturation level of colors that are possible within a specific range, with “base 1″ being the very lightest.  How they are set up will depend on the brand you choose.

RE: dullness – how about a beautiful accent color for the shutters, and a brighter or more vivid color for your front door—something like a deep pumpkin, just for example. Your shutters might then be a rusty color. But, this is just a non-visual guess since I have no idea from your description of what you mean by .”RED brick.” There’s so much variation in actual colors of brick and color names, too, for that matter. Often, if you look closely at brick, what looks “red” also includes hues of rusty orange/brown, mauve/ lilac, deep purple-gray.  You can use those colors as a cue for your accent colors for shutters and doors.

I am really struggling with this – trapped by brick around the lower half of my house (yellow-beige with almost no variation in the brick) and dark brown vinyl window frames. Currently the siding, doors and trim around the windows is painted dark brown as well. We would like to go lighter on the siding but are really stuck about what might fit with the two “set” colors. Most of the neighborhood is 1960’s muted – whites, taupes, grays. Both of our neighbors have mostly white houses. Any ideas?

Barbara suggests:

Try something earthy but not of the same color family as what you currently have that can’t be changed.  Perhaps a gray-green-something mossy or sage type. Maybe it could be just a little deeper in color than the brick.  It’s hard to say exactly, but this could be a color direction you might try.

Another idea in a different direction: Rust type. But as I often say, it’s hard to make a recommendation without seeing even a picture, so you will have to test,test,test, on large areas, and view the colors at different times of day on different areas of the house – to see what looks good.

Suggestion: Use Tru-Hue test boards or poster boards, at least two of each color and at least 24 inches square for your testing.

If you use poster board prepare them just as if they were the actual siding by starting with a coat of prime.  If you use the Tru-Hue test boards they are already prepped so you can skip the Prime.  Then roll two or three coats of your color.

You will be able to move them around, tape them to the siding, etc.  Do NOT do little brush strokes of colors on the side of your house, it won’t give you a true idea of the color and just leads to being more confused.

Hi Kate. We are in the process of finishing our basement. It is about 2100 feet and will have a main living area (pool table, air hockey, TV area, and a large bar/kitchen), exercise room (the wall that connects to the main living area will be half glass with glass doors), a bedroom and a bath.

The bar and pool table will be a medium oak. Our house is decorated in warm earth tones throughout, and we would like to carry this down to the basement. However, we don’t want to simply replicate the upstairs. I would like it to be a little bit more lively and fun.

We have no direct light from windows, so we are concerned about the space feeling too dark. If you have any color suggestions, we would love to hear them! FYI, our contractor includes Behr or Benjamin Moore paint. Many thanks, Francie

Note from Kate–

Hi Francie, I am out of town presenting at the House Beautiful Color Institute in Chicago but your in luck because the very talented Barbara Jacobs will be responding to your question. Take it away Barbara.

Barbara suggests…

You are thinking in the right direction to want to make your more active space have a more energetic and lively ambiance. Not only will it create variety of design in your home, but it is really more effective from the ‘color psychology’ perspective to create a more high-energy feeling in the kind of social area you’ve described.

Having no direct light from windows is not such a problem in itself; it’s more a question of the type of light you /do/ have there. I recommend working with a good lighting designer if there is someone in your area. Color is one thing—but paint is just one part of ‘color’.

Color does not exist without light, and each type of lighting has a different affect on any color. This effect is called ‘metamerism.’ I often work in conjunction with a lighting designer, because I can use any colors that I think best and that please my client , and the lighting designer will create the lighting plan according to the paint colors and the space itself. That’s what makes it really work well – the combination of Color + Light.

So, in answer to your question about color suggestions: In general, your colors can be a bit brighter and more saturated in some areas, and also have more contrast within the room. You can still carry some of the earth tones into this room as the ‘foundation colors,’ and use them on the floor, but add some contrast and punch in some areas.

For example: behind the bar you could use a rich, rusty color; around or behind the TV, a deep plum. The exercise room area could have some Teal accents. Other accent colors you might include in accessories like pillows, etc. (if you have a sofa) might be a brighter ‘tangerine’ orange, or olive green (or both? Depending…) These are the types of colors I am imagining would work, based on your description.

Use a paint finish like a washable matte, not reflective.
Ceilings might be a creamy off-white

I hope that helps. If any of our readers have suggestions please feel free to leave them for Francie in the comments.

We have a rather large bedroom which includes a fireplace with standard, red/pinkish brick surrounded by a medium cherry/maple color mantle. There is also a bay window, also surrounded by cherry/maple trim. We have medium cherry stained furniture, dresser and panel bed, from Restoration Hardware more of an arts and crafts style.

The walls are currently a mauve color, probably to pick up the color in the brick. There is also a master bath (very small) off the bedroom, also in the mauve/pink paint. We plan to completely re-do the bathroom, but have not tackled that project yet.. Please suggest a paint color scheme for both the bath and bedroom, as I am stuck! Thanks,
Monique

Barbara suggests…

I understand your dilemma, and the desire to arrive at a decision for a color scheme for your bedroom and master bathroom.

Your description indicates a dominance of red-based colors, from the fireplace to the mantel, to the furniture. My thought is that rather than “pick up the color in the brick,” I’d recommend that you use colors that complement the brick and not try to replicate its color.

You didn’t describe the light conditions in either room, therefore I’ll recommend a middle-tone color—not pastel, and not too saturated. Your room is “large” so perhaps you would consider an accent wall color, maybe behind the bed—and that color can also bring out colors from your window treatments and bed coverings.

Incandescent lighting will make any color you use have a yellow cast, which in the bathroom will probably be a bit intensified if there are not windows to add the daylight element during the day time. A gold-based color is something you might want to avoid for the bathroom.

You also did not include any information about the floors in either – so, it’s hard to assume correctly what they might be–carpet? wood? tile?– and what color and material? In any case what covers the floor is an important ingredient when considering wall colors, which are not in any way isolated from all the other qualities of your space.

Ultimately, when you re-do the bathroom you will also want to consider the type and color of the hardware and fixtures you use.

Rather than give you specific colors—which may or may not be what you like—I’d just like to direct you to some basic things to consider when you are looking at paint colors:

• the kinds of colors you like, that resonate with you
• lighting in the room: natural and electric
• floor color and material
• decorating elements: fabrics and art work
• size of the room
• the feeling you want to create: intimate, lively, fresh, historic, etc.

I have more of a question than a comment. I have an open floor plan with all white walls that are making me crazy. I NEED color!

I want the rooms to flow, but be distinct. The front room gets a lot of sun and has oak colored bookcases, and a little darker piano. I would like to do a sage(ish) green, pale yellowish and raspberry-reddish colors. It flows into the kitchen with one wall that connects via a vaulted ceiling. The kitchen has med. wood cabinets, black countertops, and stainless steel appliances.

The current decor is sort of country(ish) with black, red and goldish yellow. The living room shares the same wall as the front room and kitchen, and currently has a reddish leather couch that will have to stay and is sporting and “Americana theme” which could stay or go.

Most Pictures that will stay as part of the decor are framed in black. All rooms receive a good amount of natural light Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance! -Mindi

Barbara suggests…

Your preference is for sage green, pale yellow and raspberry-red colors, although you did not indicate where you would like these colors to be used. However, colors of the type you mention that could do well together, depending on their location, combination and proportion. I’m going to propose a couple of ways to do this:

From Benjamin Moore:

Sage Green: some varieties of ’sage’ that are either toward blue/gray :Benjamin Moore 1579 Grayhound or 1580 Intrigue, or more yellow-based: 459 Woodland Green, 460 Herb Bouquet, 465 Antique Jade, or 466 Garden Path.

Yellow: Benjamin Moore HC-5 Weston Flax, HC-6 Windham Cream or HC-29 Dunmore Cream. These are all different from each other but each would work well with green.

Another suggestion would be HC-26 Monroe Bisque, which is a deeper, toned-down yellow (almost a “tan”) that might work for your Living room that shares a wall with the front room and kitchen.

Raspberry: Several hues that would work with the yellow and sage green are Benjamin Moore 1356 Fashion Rose, 1357 Bottle of Bordeaux, or 1364 Vintage Claret. All the greens above are grayed, soft colors and these vivid raspberry-like hues would create a real punch to the color scheme.

Another approach: the way you described the rooms I think you could benefit from a unique type of paint, “Full-Spectrum” color mixes (from Ellen Kennon Full Spectrum Paints) . Her Yellows are particularly beautiful and have the extra advantage of being Full-Spectrum, so in the light conditions you describe you will see a changeable kind of color that is a real pleasure to live with. The Yellows I recommend from her palette are Buttercream, Luminaire, and Sand. They range from luminous, to warmer, to almost-tan. The Full-Spectrum nature of these colors will give you the advantage of providing a bridge of sorts to connect the green and red in your color scheme. You’ll have a color-rich environment that is still very liveable.

Sage Green in Ellen’s Full Spectrum line: Clay (more blue-type Sage) and Sage (more yellow-type Sage)

Raspberry: More violet type, but check out Silk Road Plum

These would all be beautiful together.

For your vaulted ceiling try a creamy white like Benjamin Moore 967 Cloud White. This white will work very well with your color scheme.

Basically this is a palette with a lot of flexibility but you have to watch the contrasts and placement so it does not become garish. For example if the walls were painted in the Sage or the Yellow, you could bring the Raspberry in as accents or decorative accessories rather than on the walls.

Your artwork in the black frames will look great in with these colors as will your kitchen counter tops and stainless steel appliances.

Resources:

• Type in your zip code for a list of Benjamin Moore dealers near you.
• Do you have a color dilemma? Post it in the Makeover Gallery at RoomVues.com and you could be the next reader to have your color question answered on the Color For Your Home blog.

**Please note: Due to individual computer monitor limitations, colors seen here may not accurately reflect the paint colors. Please refer to an actual sample of the paint for an accurate rendition of the color.