We live in a two story open floor design.  We have a light beige carpet throughout most of the house, except for the foyer and kitchen area that divide the middle of the house which has wood flooring. Depending on the time of day the carpet has a slight pink hue.

We are having trouble finding the right wall color everything we see seems to clash, perhaps we are choosing the wrong hue?  I am looking for a nice neutral color that can be used in several rooms (ie, two story great room, living room and adjoining dining rooms etc.) that won’t clash with the carpet.  Any suggestions?  Warm Regards, Cindy

Kate suggests:

Cindy, you are not alone when it comes to feeling frustrated when trying to find a wall color that matches beige carpet.  The main reason people have difficulty is that they cannot determine the undertone of the carpet or the paint or both.

If you have a carpet with yellow undertones and a wall color with red undertones they are not going to go as well together as two colors with the same undertones.  It sounds like your carpet has red undertones (since you mention it can look slightly pinkish at times) so my suggestion is to look for beiges with red undertones.

So I’m imagining your next questions is how to know if a beige has red undertones and that would be a very good question.  Of course your paint dealer should be able to answer that questions for you but to get an immediate idea I suggest you look at the Behr paint website.

I noticed when I was in Home Depot that Behr has tried to take the guess work out of the undertone issue for their customers by arranging the paint swatches not only by color family but also by undertone.  When you view the display looking up and down you see the color family and going across the bands are by undertone.  For example if you look at the section of green swatches in the upper section the swatches are the ones with blue undertones, the ones in the middle have yellow undertones and towards the bottom red undertones [Not sure if that is the exact order but you get my point].

The same is true on their website although not as clearly spelled out for all color families for the neutrals they give you the choice of yellow based, red based or blue based.  A look at the color swatches listed for each can start to give you an idea of the differences and set you in the right direction for finding a color that matches your carpet.

Here are screen shots of their red based and yellow based neutrals to give you an idea.

RED-BASED NEUTRALS

YELLOW-BASED NEUTRALS

Are your current paint swatches more yellow or blue based than red? If so this could be the reason that they are “clashing” with your carpet.

Your advice is wonderful, and I’m hoping my home can be helped as well. Here’s why: Built in the 80’s, my country style home has 4 brick colors: a few tan, mostly orange, very few charcoal brown, and some a light orange. Currently, trim (over garage and all around, is slate blue. Shutters are blue with white trim. also have a country railing (white) around front porch. (all windows are those 80’s brown) My husband won’t repaint until I choose a different color, and we must paint extremely soon. I hate orange and brown…

Can you help?  ~Donna

Bethany*suggests:

Yes!!  To start off with, notice all the different colors in the brick.  There must be a color in there that you can embellish, such as the tan.  The tan/beige colors also will look very well with the slate blue.  Also, slightly changing the existing brown color will make more of a difference than you might think.

A color of past decades is repeated years later altered slightly gives it the updated look.  A slight change makes all the difference!!

Another idea would be to take out the slate blue color altogether and replace it with the dark charcoal brown, 6076 Turkish Coffee, you have mentioned for the trim.  This color will look fabulous when coupled with a lighter color (pulled out of the brick conglomeration) such as Sherwin Williams Tatami Tan 6116 for the shutters.  Instead of just plain white for the rails, you can choose a white version of Tatami Tan: 7124 Crescent Moon- this slight change will give the home a cozy glow.

*Not just Any Beth

Today’s decorating dilemma: I need a little guidance, I am renovating a Katrina damaged home,. It is taking a long time and I want everything perfect, or as much as it can be.

I have a town home, living room, and kitchen run together, maple cabinets with a mocha stain, so the cabinets are basically almond with a little color, I am using teak, hand scraped floors throughout, not much light, just a large set of french doors leading to patio, and a small garden window in kitchen, I was thinking black galaxy granite, little spec of bronze, its beautiful, and oil rubbed chandeliers and faucets. Soooo, what color do I paint, or should I change something? please help! –Sharon

Bethany’s suggests:

It sounds like what you have is generally dark so I am envisioning a scheme with lots of contrast. Something light and airy, since you don’t have much natural light coming in.

Since you indicate you are going with some deeper, dramatic shades of wood and incorporating black (which makes a strong statement) I would suggest a light tan/beige color for the walls, such as Sherwin Williams 6092 Lightweight Beige.

Really study the nuances of the colors that you already have…what direction are they going in?  More towards yellow or warmer tones or more towards blue and cooler tones?

It is the consistency with the undertones of the colors in your room that will give you a unified look.

Illustrious Bronze #40013 from Valspar,  can be used as a reference color or to splash on an accent wall in one of the adjoining rooms to carry out the bronze theme.

Because this palette is neutral you may want to incorporate one other bold, fun accent color you are drawn to such as a Rose, or Lime Green to add interest.

Embellish the bronze in the granite by repeating it with canisters, salt & pepper shakers, or some other dazzling, decorative centerpiece for the dining room table.

Resources:  The tile sample was found at www.stonetilesupply.com

What color do I paint the walls? –Azsa

Kate suggests…

I would pick out the light color from the background of your sofa and go with that or a step darker. This would allow the sofa to visually blend into the space. I would use the same color on the walls and ceiling, which would help to expand the feeling of the room. If you want to add a bit more color I would do that by adding artwork or and area rug.

From the picture it looks like this may be close to what you have although the walls look like they are a bit more yellow than the sofa so it may just be a matter of finding the right hue and depth of color you want.

This may not be different enough from what you have already so if you are looking for a more noticeable change you could go in a completely different direction and select a color not currently in the room. Since I don’t know what you have in the surrounding rooms it’s difficult to say what color would work in your home.

An example of what I’m thinking would be Benjamin Moore Covington Blue HC-138. This is one of their historic colors and it works beautifully with reds and tans. Or maybe Sherwin-Williams SW2395 Rainy Day.

You can see how nicely this type of color works with beige in this Glidden palette, which includes their color Still Waters. Add in the red from your chair and you’ll have a beautiful color scheme to work with.

Resources:

• Type in your zip code for a list of Sherwin-Williams dealers near you.
• Type in your zip code for a list of Glidden dealers near you.
• 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.