Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Colors, Patterns and More

Benjamin Moore Simply White
Now that we're moving into the finishing stage of the project, I get to start working on the fun stuff!  For our houses, I typically go with neutrals - to help a future homeowner have something that will work with whatever furnishings they have.  And for this house I want to go 'extra' neutral.  We're using lots of reclaimed lumber and I really want it to 'pop'.  Maybe that was influenced by Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams choices for the 'Color of the Year'.  But I'm loving the idea of a simple off white!


Sherwin Williams Color of the Year 2016 - Alabaster
But choosing a white isn't so simple.  There are warm hues and cool hues (think blue undertones).  And for a house with such an open floor plan, I really want something that I can use for the whole house.  So I needed to look at a way to unify all the fabrics that I've bought for the house.  That mean I had to look at all the rooms and figure out a shade that unites them.

I'm planning to use a lot of navy and indigo for accents - with a few pops of red.  When I started looking at a room by room approach, a few swatches of the paint fans started to look promising.








For the living room, I have these blue pillows (LOVE the lobster pillow from Target!) and a neutral pattern for the drapes.  That starts to push me towards a 'warm' white.


For the master bedroom, I bought this great Pottery Barn duvet and sham, which I'll mix with their burlap dust ruffle.














                                                       The new hexagonal tile in the upstairs bath also lends itself to a warm white.





















So what's the winner, for a neutral that works across all of them?  A Sherwin Williams color, called Steamed Milk.  I was a bit worried that it wasn't pale enough, but the sample I bought looks great on the walls (maybe because the south facing rooms are so bright?) and it provides a nice boost to the Extra White trim paint that we'll use.









We have lots of finishing work to do, but we'll be ready for paint soon!

Want more tips on choosing paint colors?  Click here for a simple approach!






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9 comments:

  1. Laurel do you use one wall color throughout? I'd love to see a summary of your light fixtures with points of purchase. Did you post that? Looks lovely. Really nice work. And well priced. Good luck this weekend.

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    1. Thanks Kim! I used Steamed Milk throughout - except for the downstairs bathroom which had so much white in it....I thought it might be blinding! So I used a Sherwin Williams color called Favorite Jeans.

      I'll be posting the before and afters soon - and will have links to all the light fixtures. They really do make a dramatic difference in how a house looks!

      Laurel

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  2. Hi there! Can you please tell me what steamed milk's undertone is? I'm thinking of using this to paint our kitchen cabinets. The countertops are brown so I didn't want to use a white paint that looks too stark.

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    1. Ritchil - It has really warm undertones, which should do well with brown countertops. I really liked how it worked with all the reclaimed wood we used in the house. You can check out how it looked throughout the house here: http://www.sopocottage.com/2016/07/cherished-bungalow-before-and-after.html

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    2. Thank you so much for the response Laurel! I love how the steamed milk wall color made the rooms look so light and airy. And yes, they do look great with all the wood tones.

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  3. Replies
    1. I always use a Matte finish. In an old house, I don't like to put anything glossy on the walls - it tends to highlight imperfections!!!

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  4. I know,this post is old. Looking to use steamed milk paint. Can you tell me does it come up a light tan? Or yellow/cream. Need a light tan. Have a south/west facing room

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    Replies
    1. I’d say a warm tan - but it really depends on your lighting. But a sample can from Sherwin Williams and look at your swatch on the wall in different light. It’s the only way to be sure!

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