How to Choose a Pale Neutral Wall Colour (for my new kitchen)

Navigating neutral colours and finishes can be tricky. Basically you have three options when working with pale neutrals. Let me explain.

Here’s what happened in our kitchen this week. By the way, we’ve named our home.

We’ve named the property Timeless Acres Farm.

Decorating our new home

Last weekend I made the decision to move my main inspiration piece (the floral artwork) into the bedroom along with the lavender decor so now I need to come up with a new palette for my main rooms if I want some fun paint colours to go up.

The more inspiration and decorating decisions you’ve made BEFORE your renovation or new build, the more interesting your colours can be, so far I have created about 50 mood boards because I’m also looking for wallpaper. Want to learn how to create mood boards for your home? My Shop Online course is available here.

This is exactly what I teach in my Specify Colour with Confidence workshops, and there’s one more course this Fall. The last chance to register in plenty of time to receive your box of course materials is THIS Friday, November 4.

New kitchen wall colour

The painting has started and the first place we started was the kitchen walls. Notice how the cabinets look really creamy here because the existing paint colour is currently a deeper taupe (close to BM Stonehearth).

The contrast between the darker walls and the cabinets, make my green beige complex cream cabinets look creamy, don’t you think?

Here I am holding up one of 4 of my botanicals from my existing living room. I brought it over because I am contemplating painting my sunroom green or a shade of orange/apricot. So far, green is where I’m leaning. 

But which green? That is the question. Still working on my mood boards and sourcing fabrics so when my painter asks for colours, I’ll actually have them ready.

My yellow sofa is staying because my favourite colour, SURPRISE, is still yellow. 😉 

Anyway, I’m keeping the cabinets for the time being. They are in perfect shape, better actually than the wood stained island in this kitchen (which will be painted too, colour TBA) because it seems like after you paint cabinets that have been installed in your home they rarely hold up as well as the first round of paint.

3 ways to choose a pale neutral wall colour for a kitchen

My Calacatta subway backsplash is off-white so I chose an off-white paint colour from my system for the walls because there’s so little wall space left in this kitchen. And I don’t want them painted a random paint colour that doesn’t relate to any of the finishes.

When your dealing with pale neutrals like this you have 3 options for paint:

1. Either two shades lighter (which is what it is now)
2. Two shades darker (which is what it was before)
3. or a colour

Otherwise the paint colour starts to look like you tried to match it and you failed.

For option number 3, I could have chosen a pale blue grey to relate to the blues in the backsplash but I’m not decorating with blue grey so I didn’t choose that option. Had I chosen a pale blue grey, I wouldn’t have needed to worry about the value of the paint colour. Curious about value? Take my course! 

In case you are as alarmed as me to see that there’s no tile above the hood fan, rest easy, the moulding is sitting on the island. It was just removed to paint that area.

The island will still be painted. Colour TBA.

Now that there’s an off white on my walls, the fact that the ceiling was probably a 1/4 strength of the taupe walls has been illuminated (below):

That’s because the less contrast you have between neutrals, the more you’ll see them.

I wanted to paint this ceiling a colour but I might just go back to white since there’s so many cheese lights in it.

By the way my existing violet grey countertops will also be replaced but that won’t be happening until we move in. I’m keeping the timeless marble backsplash because I love it, so that demo will have to happen VERY carefully.

But now that the walls are no longer taupe, you can actually see the green in the green beige cabinets a lot more clearly.

Coordinating neutrals isn’t easy

Navigating neutrals is tricky. Learn how I do it in my last workshop this Fall, November 10 & 11, 2022.

Register here.

PS. After last weeks tree removal in the back of the property, our Arborist and his crew came on Monday to remove the dilapidated green house that was located beside our red barn as well as the swing set and did a lot of good general clean up.

Then I spoke to my neighbour who told me that this used to be a Christmas tree farm so that explains all the overgrown Christmas trees that were located exactly where our vegetable garden will be.

They were also shading the fruit trees behind them. We’ll create an orchard there probably. MaryAnne White is on it, and I can’t wait to show you her designs!

Related post: Professionals Know When to Avoid the Obvious

Here’s the before:

And here’s the after!

Hey local friends! Does anyone want a play shed with electricity (the lavender structure below)? You are welcome to come with a flatbed truck and a crane to pick it up! Let me know.

Here’s the overhead view:

Here I photoshopped out the play shed, nobody asked but I don’t want to turn it into a storage room, garden shed, or she shed. I just want it OUT.

It’s all very exciting, I am so grateful to have found a house with such a beautiful view and endless new projects for the blog!

Follow me here on Instagram if you want to see the day to day action!

PS. It’s my 14 year Blogoversary on Halloween! Here’s the first post I wrote. I had no idea how much my life would change from starting a blog! Thank you so much for following me, for all your love and support! I love you all! If you’ve been following me for more than 10 years I’d love to hear from you in the comments! Well I’d love to hear form you no matter how long you’ve been following me! Bloggers live for comments!

Related posts:

Our Next Chapter; We’re Moving

A Colour Expert with an All White Garden?

Even Minor Alterations Need Drawings: Before & After