Dear people who know anything about color:

[bironic]

Acquiring the couch tipped me over from "should really paint the walls" to "time to paint the walls." Everything in here is white, off-white, wood, or gray, which was fine when I didn't think I'd be living here long, but has been getting to me over the past months. So today I picked up a couple of samples: one pale green, one pink. I haven't historically been much of a pink person, but I think the right shade would look good against all the orangey browns.

Well, neither patch looks quite right on the wall, and I can't figure out if I should go lighter or darker -- this place has northern(ish) exposure, so I was thinking darker wouldn't be smart, but this shade is just shouting PINK! so something needs to be done -- or more or less saturated, or other things I can't articulate/conceptualize because I don't have the vocabulary. Is anyone any good at this kind of thing?

This is what it looked like all plain:





Main room, with sample patches:





And over the bed, which is dark brown:

Comments

[leiascully.livejournal.com]

I like the pink for the bedroom and the green for the living room, although it is quite saturated. Maybe a slightly dustier rose?

[theninth.livejournal.com]

seconding a dusty rose-ish shade. Just be careful... what was a lovely greyish-pink in the store turned into pepto-pink on my dining room walls.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Yuh-oh. No pepto or bubble gum, please.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I should add that this is a studio apartment, so the bed area and the main area don't have any separating walls. There *is* a nook of sorts where the bed resides, though, so two colors might still work... I don't really know much about interior decorating!

Can you elaborate on what you mean by dustier?

[leiascully.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I think if there's a nook, it should work! Especially if you had a shelf or something dividing them. Otherwise, I might go for the green throughout.

Dustier means more grey/brown undertones. For instance, on this palatte (http://www.sandscripts.com/catalog/wedding/gif/tulle_color_chart.jpg), the dusty rose and the rosette both look like they'd be nice, but what you've got looks closer to the paris pink.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thank you, that's really helpful! I have not done palettes since art class in 9th grade, so I appreciate it. (I also just sketched out [sort of] the layout for perspi below.)

[leiascully.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I'm no expert or anything, but I have painted a few rooms in my time. I find that less-saturated colors are more peaceful, at least for me.

[perspi.livejournal.com]

HI! I would love to talk color, but I can't see your last two pictures? (EDITED TO SAY NEVERMIND!!)

Also, you may not want to talk color with ME, as you *have* seen the colors I've painted in my house, right? I went with some rather strong colors on the 'accent' walls. Although I tried to keep them the same 'feel,' as they're all a bit gray-toned, or muted, I think it's called.

And now that I've seen the pictures, I have to go with Leiascully on the pink for the bedroom and green for the living room. Except, what I would do? A BOLD green in the living room, for just the alcove wall where the couch sits--I'd go a similar shade to what we saw in House's old apartment--you know, that wonderful gray-green of the living room? And a deep dusty rose, just on that wall you've already painted.

But I like BOLD-COLORED accent walls. I have a BOLD accent wall in almost every room in our house, and the other walls are vanilla. (Seriously, the paint color that unifies the whole house is 'vanilla delight.' :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I am not against bold colors! I just didn't know where to start, here. I really like the first photo in your house, of the brown (I'm not a yellow person). Hmmmmmmmm, one pink wall + one green wall could work.

[perspi.livejournal.com]

Right, pink and green play well together! EDITED TO ADD: In my 'vision', you'd paint just the nook green, and the single wall by your bed pink, and then everything else would stay white, so--that would mean there's white walls between the pink and green, right? Am I 'seeing' your studio correctly? (Also, this is a very fun distraction. :)

I can't find any pictures of House's old apartment, but I'm reasonably sure that's the deep gray-green I'm talking about, and it would pair well with a dusty rose color--take the shade of pink you have now, darken it a couple shades, and add just a little gray, and that's what I'd call a deep dusty rose. :)

(Also, here's a sample of the blue color I've got at home. The only one I don't have a picture of is my own gray-green wall, which is the living room. Heh.

AND ONE MORE EDIT! Your bed looks a LOT like mine!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

*g* The bed's the part in the "nook," so I'm assuming the couch would be the green and the bed would be the pink? Sounds better that way, since the green clashes with the green in my throw pillows. Or maybe just all pink. Or maybe something else, as comments come in!

Room layout is hard to describe, so I sketched it out for you on this piece of paper with a grease stain. A little skewed, but whatever.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

My artist friend is recommending earth tones over the pinks and greens, too. (And also advocating not painting too-dark colors since I'll have to repaint them white when I leave...!)

[perspi.livejournal.com]

Ah, your artist friend will steer you well! And it does make sense not painting too dark--we had a blood-red living room, and needed two coats of primer to cover it! :)

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I think you could go with a very pale pink/very pale green (by which I mean, just a hint of color). Northern exposures can get dark.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

They can indeed. I am intrigued by the idea of doing one or two accent walls with the rest white, though, for some contrast in here. Hmmmm.

[takes-a-fairy.livejournal.com]

This would save you repainting time/work when you do move out.

[perspi.livejournal.com]

OOooh, I do like this idea, too...

[takes-a-fairy.livejournal.com]

My thoughts: do green in the living room area and leave the bedroom nook white or if you must use the pink go to a paler shade of it and only use it on the wall behind the headboard leaving two side walls white.

You've got green in that blue rug on the floor for one thing and your nook isn't all that big and the white will give your eyes the needed change of pace from green in the living room area.

[l-eremita.livejournal.com]

My 2 cents (which in Canada is worth less, by the way!)

I'm a huge minimalist, so I would recommend for a studio apartment possibly the light green for the living room but a darker shade of the same green for the bed nook, to make it blend together, but yet have the "bedroom" still distinct, as an accent. Kinda Martha Stewart (in a good way), if the colours were subtle.

On the other hand, I love earth tones too -- perhaps a light warm mocha throughout? It would make the dark brown bed pop, and also the creamy chesterfield. Kinda Giorgio Armani! If you wanted to add some wonderful art posters, a more neutral wall colour would be great for the art.

It sort of depends if you want fresh and light (the green) or warm and cuddly (the mocha).

Can't wait to hear what you decide :D

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I know nothing about color (you've seen our place) -- but you need wall art! Ikea has fun stuff for cheap, or I've also had fun going to garage sales and seeing what people are getting rid of.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

So sayeth my artist friend! (Though of course the test patches are already up...)

[synn.livejournal.com]

I think the green goes better with your rug and bedding. Maybe the 'dusty' equivalent of the green you have? Like... a light moss green. Or the 'sassy green' or 'mountain botanical' here:
http://valspar.com/explore-colors/choose-a-color.html?source=p&mcode=Search_Google
Something that will bring it closer to a kind of earth tone.

Not looking at any blues?

I do think the pink would be fun, maybe as the dusty rose version people are suggesting. What about putting it in the hallway and/or bathroom? I think there's less risk of you getting sick of it there, and those places are enclosed, so the lighter pink might brighten them up.

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

That pink really came out pink on the wall!

We just repainted most of the inside of our house, and found a light cream-in-your-coffee color that worked great in the living area, which has carpet about the color of your couch and a lot of wood. We got the paint store to mix Benjamin Moore Shaker Beige and Sea Urchin together. These colors use the same base, so it was easy to do this.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hi, appropriate icon!

Hm, cream. This khaki kind of green called "avocado" looked good in the online color matcher thing, too. And then there is the wall art two people have recommended. Grargh, choices! I long for the days of 8-color crayon boxes.

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

The color we used is closer to a khaki than a cream. I put off doing the repainting for a year because all the colors were so overwhelming. My brain locks up when faced with a sample rack in a paint store. Then we found great paint at the Habitat for Humanity Restore and I came home and mixed the colors I wanted myself. It was oddly liberating. :D

If it was me, I'd paint the whole place something neutral, like a light creamy-khaki, and mix that color with a small amount of pink for the bed area and a small amount of green for the couch area. It would give the accents you want in a subtle way. Then pick up the blue in the rug with a couple of throw pillows for the couch and punch up the pink with some pink and brown patterned throw pillows for the bed.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, now you're just getting fancy. :)

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

Hehee! But I like to paint, so probably yes, I am. :D

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

I like the green in the bedroom and the pink in the living room, personally.

[secondsilk.livejournal.com]

Maybe a little yellower in the pink? Cut it with something other than white to make it a little palers.

You could also get a half strength version of the colour you chose for the darker corner or nook of the apartment. That's what they did in my parents' hall way, the front bit, with light from the glass in the door, is half as strong as the colour in the long bit of the hall, which has no direct light.