In my last post, I spoke about my new home and how I select furniture for a new space. But what about what you DO to a new home to make it the perfect canvas for your beautiful furniture?
Of course, we all know there are the "big" things one can do-- add bookshelves (I'll talk about this in a future post), take out walls, tile a backsplash, the list goes on-- but one thing that can change the entire feel of a room is easily overlooked. And that is paint colors.
Designing homes from the east to west coast, I have found that blues, greens and beiges are my favorite wall colors. I know what you might be thinking *yawn*, but let me tell you why... With a neutral backdrop, you are giving your furniture a voice. Calm paint colors open the door to many design opportunities, should you decide to change out your pillows, accessories, or accent colors in the future.
There are a couple steps to take when choosing the perfect paint color: 1- Paint a few boards with various colors (or your chosen color) and hold it up in the room. 2- Revisit the color various times throughout the day to see how the color changes as the light shifts. 3- Select the right finish.
Just a note about paint finishes, which people ask me all the time:
- Walls: Eggshell
- Trim: Semi-Gloss
- Ceiling: Either Eggshell, or my new favorite discovery is Benjamin Moore's finish called Pearl (a middle between Eggshell and Semi-Gloss that adds a wonderful light reflection to the ceiling. This can be a wonderful option for low ceilings!)
Now for the fun part... Some of my favorite paint colors. Here are a few:
NEUTRALS:
Benjamin Moore HC-81 Manchester Tan
Benjamin Moore OC-9 Ballet White (This is in my Living Room, Guest Rooms, Halls, and Office)
Benjamin Moore OC-20 Pale Oak
Sherwin Williams 7035 Aesthetic White
Sherwin Williams 7002 Downy
Sherwin Williams 7631 City Loft
Sherwin Williams 7022 Alpaca
Sherwin Williams 9173 Shiitake
Sherwin Williams 7029 Agreeable Gray
Benjamin Moore OC-38 Acadia White
Benjamin Moore OC-17 White Dove (My Kitchen walls are White Dove and I love having a white Kitchen.)
GREEN:
Benjamin Moore 506 Silver Sage (This is in my Master Bedroom and we love it. Green is not an easy color, trust me I tried about 50! We finally landed on Silver Sage and it is an amazing color.)
BLUE:
Sherwin Williams 6204 Sea Salt (This is in my Powder Room and it's a lovely blue!)
Happy painting!
