Walls to show off a panoramic bay view

Today’s color dilemma…

I have gold/yellow furniture with bronze/tangerine accents and a deep Victorian rose carpet with yellows and yellow/green flowers. There is dark wood around also in assorted antique furniture.

I have a panoramic view of the San Francisco Bay, fortunately, and am thinking of doing the walls in a water color….I love the water also. How would you describe this color? Can I find H2 Ahh! at CSI paints in San Francisco?

Then what to do with the ceiling which is now white? It is 8 foot tall only.

Thanks, Kate in Frisco

Ellen suggests…

We’d be delighted to send you samples of H2 Ahh! and a complimentary set of cuttings of our other colors if you’ll send us your mailing address. The ICI stores do not stock our samples, they just mix the paint up in their product once we fax them our special formulas.

H2 Ahh! Kate Smith’s Signature Paint Color

available through Ellen Kennon Full Spectrum Paint

There are several ICI Paints stores in your area that we can use. San Francisco is one of our biggest customer bases, so we use them often. H2 Ahh! Is a great “water” color that works well with most anything.

The color is sort of one of those “no color” colors in that it’s not quite blue, not quite green, not quite gray. . . I could see it working very well with your panoramic view of the bay. We also have “Gustavian Grey” and “Christine’s Cloud” which are lighter versions of this color and while many may use one of these on the ceiling, it depends on whether your room has crown molding or not.

A color that is close to H2 Ahh! but lighter is Gustavian Grey

Seen here in a room designed by color consultant Lori Sawaya

If it has crown molding, then I’d do one of the lighter colors. However, if there is no crown molding, I would paint both walls and ceiling the same color as it will visually raise the ceiling height. It also softens the space so that it’s not so geometrical and cloaks the room in color.

When I am working with clients who are either renovating and/or building new spaces, I always point out that if they are blowing their budget towards the end, they can always opt out of having crown molding in some rooms and paint the walls and ceilings the same color. The ceilings seem to disappear!

If you haven’t already visited our “Photo and Reviews” page, you may want to see some photos that clients sent of rooms finished in various colors. Hopefully, if you end up using “H2 Ahh!”, you’ll send us a photo of your finished product.

Resources:

• Ellen Kennon Full Spectrum Paint
  
• 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.