I recently received this question from a reader and I thought it would make a great blog post.
“We’ve got bossy dark carpet, low light, and mismatched furniture; these problems are not going away on our current budget or all at once, but I’m attempting to minimize them in various ways. The problem is the only color that seems like it will work with our various issues is a color I’m not really keen on. I don’t mind it. It will probably be fine. But I hesitate, and I’m not really one to hesitate. I’m just not jazzed about it. Maybe it’s because both the colors we’re working with are neutral and light, which are not really colors to get jazzed about? I have fabric for accent pillows, etc. I really like and I think thinks will look nice when done, but I still feel bleh…”
This is a great question for three reasons:
1. This reader understands that the colour that will coordinate with her existing furniture will not cause her to fall in love with it [her furniture].
2. I have conducted many consultations where my client will say “I love your style and colour sense and I really want that in my house but basically everything here has to stay”.
3. A new colour will not make furniture or carpeting that you do not love disappear.
As much as I would so love to help in these situations, my hands are tied.
And keep in mind neutral, pale colours look the most boring on the chip so in the end, you might even end up loving your space even if it doesn’t feel right prior to painting and it might have nothing to do with the above 3 reasons. Now that the gray trend is here, more and more boring, ‘putty’ colours are going up but without some great colour to make it pop you might very well be depressed if it’s all just gray-on-gray.
We all want our space to make us happy when we walk in the door so if you are living with furniture or fixed finishes like bossy carpet that you don’t like, here are 2 steps to take to love your space:
1. If decorating is not your business, find someone whose aesthetic you like and hire them to help you create a plan. This way you’ll know which pieces can stay and which ones eventually need to be replaced.
This will save you money in the long term because if you have already bought pieces that are not working, you will end up spending more money trying to make them look good and still not have the look and feel that you want. Throwing good money after bad is soooo not fun!
2. Bite the bullet and replace it. I recently received an email from a client who was moving into a new house with burgundy (almost new) carpeting throughout. She asked how she could make it work with turquoise and paler fresher colours. As this is not the most popular colour combination, this would be very difficult to pull off. I recommended taking it out instead of going to such great lengths to work with a colour she did not like. A burgandy carpet is impossible to ignore.
Bottom line, a pale, neutral colour (such as gray) looks way more boring on the chip than it is when it’s all over your walls and has been selected to pull your space together. Just make sure you introduce enough white or colour to keep it happy, otherwise you just might say gray is too much!
What about you? Are you struggling with a colour that seems right but doesn’t seem happy? Fill us in on the comments below!
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There was a time that I thought picking a color would be the answer, boy was I wrong. It is more important to really edit and hone in on the palest neutral. I think just because it is colour, it may or may not make you happy. My pear green kitchen is gone. It did make me happy for years, but now I am really sort of shy and in need of tinted neutrals and lots of white and gray.
pve
Two weeks ago I covered BM Whispering Spring with BM Pale Oak on the living room walls which sit next to the hall and kitchen which has been grey owl since '06. (I lucked into that color and love it.) I went Pale Oak due to fear of using too much grey owl in key spaces. Pale Oak sometimes looks grey and sometimes looks a little brown (gasp). Having never been a fan of brown and having read all your posts about how over brown is, I will admit that I am a little stressed about my Pale Oak.
Good post Maria, I am choosing a silvery pale grey paint for the walls in a new showroom, where the floor and some small parts of the walls are concrete (the floor and high celings will be painted in a slighter dark shade than now)and I am glad you said the chips are boring, the result could be great. I just hope I will choose the right grey, not blue, not green, but slightly warmer. You are an inspiration! Of course we will have lots of colors around with the merchandise.
A gorgeous silvery grey with white, lavender, plums, is dreamy even pops of fuchsia!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
Do come and enter my new Giveaway, a very special painting!
I read your blog like an addict so I just wanted to say hi and have a great day!
Mira
I've lived in some rentals with truly hideous carpets, and there's not much a huge rug can't fix! Big sisal ones can be cheap and are completely neutral; they'd reduce the ugly burgundy to a thin strip around the edges – much less bossy than a full floor of the stuff!
I'm not sure about the reasons why, (you could explain that im sure!) but I routinely recommend Dunne Edwards Salt Box, Floating Feather and Almond Latte, which are varying shades of beige. They seem to go with just about every piece of furniture and fabric choice there is.
Barbara
The Treasured Home
Great post, Maria. Sometimes it's hard to convince a client something just won't work (when they have certain constrictions). Paint goes a long way to improving a space, but it just can't make burgundy carpet go away!
Have a great weekend!
Kristie
“We've got bossy dark carpet, low light, and mismatched furniture; these problems are not going away on our current budget …. The problem is the only color that seems like it will work with our various issues is a color I'm not really keen on.
Sometimes you just have to live with the ugly, or a little ugly as possible until you can afford to change it.
In her case, picking a color she really likes will turn the UGLY dial up to 11.
so true maria.
miss you and so excited about everything for you!!!
xoxo,
lauren
Great post! being a designer myself I know just where you're coming from. Most clients are reluctant to release items they're not really keen on either color-wise or design-wise and expect the designer to come up with a 'miracle cure'. There is rarely a miracle cure for these cases and it is best to insist on changing what is most jarring in the scheme or else not to touch it at all, otherwise you risk being criticized for not achieving that much desired 'miracle'. One can suggest solutions such as the grey you mention, but then again there are so many tones of grey you have to be careful which to choose. Very difficult for an untrained eye…
LOVE your blog by the way 🙂
I hope that you were able to convince the client that wanted to add turquoise and other fresh colours to her room with burgundy carpet, to go in another direction. (I just can't see that working out!)
I always suggest that the carpeting can be donated, instead of ending up in a landfill. Waste can often be the reason why homeowners are reluctant to part with certain design elements in their space.
You've made some great colour recommendations, as always!
This was my question and I've been so overwhelmed with the reality of living this I haven't taken the time to post.
A brief update is: we painted the fireplace–1960s red brick–ultra white. I have been trying to talk my husband into doing this since we walked through it with the Realtor and he's been hesitant. Then, in the midst of shopping for furniture for some kind of insight into what the hell to do with the living room/dining room combo, we turned the furniture the other direction and he decided the fireplace had to be white.
Hallelujah!
The new layout of the room plus the white give a whole new world of color opportunities and I don't feel so blah about it anymore.
And, my massage therapist put it this way about the color: we had to wait until my husband decided it was his idea and not mine. It only took three years.
What seeds to plant in his head for 2014?
Interesting… reading anonymous comment about BM Pale Oak. I’m having my living room and dining room painted in that color as we speak, and the double-faced pale oak indeed looks *very* different in daylight vs nighttime/artificial light.
Initially I told the painters they’d mixed the wrong color…
Once they take the covers off our furniture, mostly gray and wood tones, I’m going to make a decision on replacing all of my lightbulbs with either daylight (5500K) lamps to unify night vs daytime colors, or I may just embrace this difference and highlight the brown nature by installing “yellow” 2700K bulbs everywhere.