Is there anything a woman frets over more than choosing a paint color? Perhaps the health of her children, the future of the planet, the crazed folks in charge of the House of Representatives right now? Right now paint color is ranking very high in my life. Why? Because I screwed it up. BIG. TIME.
Yesterday I was on top of the world....my stars were aligned...everything was working out perfectly...just one of those days. SO....I did what no DIY'er should ever do. I bought full gallons of paint without sampling first. Yep, I did it. I should go to paint prison. I thought I had chosen the perfect color. I knew how I wanted it to look.
I started painting as soon as I got home....the paint color was....well...pretty.....but just didn't look right with my oak woodwork. As a sidenote, apparently EVERYONE EVERYWHERE has white woodwork. My inspiration photos all had white woodwork. NEWS FLASH JENNIFER....you don't have white woodwork. The colors that look so pretty against white DON'T look so pretty against dark oak.
I stopped painting. I slept on it. I prayed when I crept down the stairs that it would look completely different in the light of day. It didn't. It looks worse. My husband has assured me this is not the catastrophe I am making it out to be.....as he pointed at the kitchen ceiling....THAT was a catastrophe, he says. Touche.
My husband told me to keep the red....my mom said "the red is pretty, I like the red"....everyone who visits the house comments on the red....but I don't want the red anymore. stomping feet, pouty lip why couldnt someone have just painted the damn woodwork before me....
SO....I NEED HELP PEEPS!!! Now I am a fish on the beach, floundering on the sand. Ack. I want light, airy, farmhouse by the sea....but that farmhouse has to keep oak woodwork. What should I do? Light neutral? White? Remember the kitchen has tall white beadboard, white woodwork (I took liberties in there because it had already been painted)....so how do I get the "look through" from room to room to look right? Oh brother. help
Jen, how about a light blue/gray color? Or, a light tan?
ReplyDeleteSorry about the color not working. Live and learn, huh?
Nancy
This is a delemia! If you have to keep the oak trim I would go back to searching the internet for inspiration. I was just watching a show on HGTV and they had wood trim that they ended up painting white and adding wainscoting. Sorry not much help. Remember let the house speak to you.
ReplyDeleteI feel very "boxed in" by my oak trim, too, but I don't think I'll ever paint it. Someday it will be back "in." (Although I may end up painting it upstairs in the bedrooms.)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, we have a soft gray/tan/neutral, which always shows up a little dark in pictures. It's called "wicker" and I think it's the Eddie Bauer line from lowes. It has a SLIGHTLY green undertone, which helps tone down the orange woodwork a bit.
Adam's room and our upstairs hallway are one of the Laura Ashley golds from Lowes. They are very pretty, too.
Any shade of blue is going to make the woodwork orangier, because they're opposite on the color wheel.
If you go for a really light neutral (like white) I would look for one that is kind of gray/green. I kind of want to go lighter in my living room and I'm thinking about having them mix wicker at half strength to see what happens.
Good luck! We had blue walls with wood trim in our first house and I regretted it the next morning, too. Then, we decided to paint the trim (and repaint the walls) and I have to say, we started painting the trim white and all of the sudden I LOVED the blue. Our oak trim is very special, but it's definitely hard to decorate with!
I have a color called Natural Choice on my Living room walls. I love it! My trim is white but I have dark stained frames on the wall and it looks good against that. My doors are chocolate color and they look fine against it as well. It seems to play nice with all the colors. It is from Sherwin Williams but I took the swatch to Walmart and they matched it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with something more on the line of grey. I think that will balance the woodwork. Although I honestly think your woodwork is really pretty woodwork. (Easy for me to say, I'm painting all my woodwork white.)
ReplyDeleteXOXO - It's definitely not a catastrphe, but it always feels like one.