apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I would go for a reddish orange!

a gorgeous melon! almost salmon would look so great with white woodwork and the citrus green.

agreed! this is such a cute kitchen. a yellow would be nice, but i think a bold sky blue or bright but soft aqua would really work with the light in the room and the woodwork.

i agree with the soft, buttery yellow recommendation. what a cute kitchen!

i'm curious: it looks as if your metal baker's rack cuts off a couple of the doors on your closet. is this a hassle or just unused space?

Coral or tangerine

I think yellow walls would be nice, but I'd keep the ceiling white.

I think a beautiful shade of green would be fabulous... the color of the paper lanterns in the corner perhaps? Nothing too matchy/matchy with the curtains.

I agree that a nice soft yellow would look good. Lots of paint sources now offer small cans as samples for about $4. I would suggest getting a couple and trying out different options. I think a nearly chartreuse yellow would also be interesting. The highlight will be around the windows/curtains. That should be part of your test area.

The suggested yellow would work. So would a soft, sky blue or a deeper shade of green, leaf green maybe, like the color of the darker leaves in your curtains.

If you really want bold, why not go with cranberry, similar to the pop of color thats in the drapes.

I second the pale, buttery yellow suggestion.

For my own selfish reasons, what should Emily and myself do with these cords that stretch from one end of the room, up and across the wall to the ceiling. I do not live with Emily, obvi, but I suffer from poorly placed outlets.

Any cool ideas to hide it or incorporate it into a wall art piece???

My last place had light yellow walls in the kitchen and it was so lovely. I would definitely recommend yellow to go with the lime.

@sassifrassi - there are cord covers you can buy that are made of rigid plastic so you can run cords neatly inside of them along molding and edges of the walls. Even though they are noticeable, they can be painted and something about the straight lines makes them better. There are right angle attachments, and even t-attachments so that you can go around corners or combine more than one cord behind them. Most hardware stores carry them.

If we're decorating around those draperies, I think I'd choose the pale celery green from the lightest leaves in the pattern and do the upper walls in that and painting the wainscot and trim a slightly creamier white than the background fabric. (the existing stark white seems so cold to me)

As far as cords, I'd start be repositioning the hanging lamp to above the table rather than in the corner, and much lower - to 36-42" above the tabletop. Then I'd simply tie off the excess cord in large knots on the hook above the lamp itself as well as a second hook directly above the outlet.

I see blue like this to work with the lime green and natural wood cabinets and white waincott-
http://cptnrin.smugmug.com/photos/606478119_diw6g-O.jpg

I'm for a bold yellow. I recently used Martha Stewart's "plantain" on my kitchen cabinets. Love it. And I have pale green walls (a bit lighter than the color of your kitchen table) and it all works well together.
By the way, you don't live in Holland by any chance, do you? Because I lived there for a few years and it seems to be a national law that the outlets must all be placed high up on the wall... very annoying!

very nice kitchen. any of the suggestions would look great - butter yellow, aqua or lite blue, even celery or celadon green would be great

where, oh where did you get those beautiful curtains?? I love them. and I'm for the daring, go with a cranberry or something in that family.

I say peacock blue. Those curtains would look so crisp against a bold blue wall.

I love layers of green on green. I'd suggest that you try not to match, but choose as different a green as you can find (that still complements of course.) Maybe with lots of blue in it, or a pale jadite color.
But then again... The suggestion to do tangerine or coral might look amazing as well.

Sassifrassi- if you look at the picture of the wall with stove and pantry on it...I think I can see one of those cord covers running up emily's wall along her pantry molding.

Emily- I have personally been getting into layering different shades of the same color lately (mmmm....that would be green right now). So my suggestion is going to come from that bias...I would keep your woodwork and ceiling white but I think a lovely punch of a deep complimenting green on the walls would look great...it would make the space seem a little cozier to me. It looks like the stove, pantry and bakers rack need to be surrounded with a bold color and I wouldn't paint the woodwork to do it. I would throw a colorful rug on the floor over there too.

Good Luck....and pick a color that makes you happy inside :)

I agree with LoriSF - blue! The color blue she shows is perfect!

I don't know...the soft colors are nice, but it already looks like it's pale yellow, and a little washed out. I would go for a really bold peacock blue, or even a darker dove gray would be really nice, make the lime table and white trim REALLY pop out. Such a cute kitchen!

With lots of that nice white trim in place, you could go almost anywhere with colour and it will look great!

I think the room would really come together with more or larger art on the big wall area. (I hope you don't mind me saying so.)

vLeigh- I have these same curtains they are from Ikea.

I have been staring at these in my kitchen as well trying to figure out what color to go with. I think the dove grey and very light blue suggestions are great. The curtains themselves are very boisterous so a nice calm color would let them stand out.

I agree with a few of the above, very pale citrus green or the yellow/green. It would feel nice and fresh!

I'm with the blue camp. I don't think it needs to be too soft, perhaps just a little less intense than the blue in the curtains. I think it's a little less expected than red or yellow.

Citrusy green or whatever red/orange is in the drapes.

Hi- Emily here,

Thanks for all the great suggestions! I love the idea of peacock blue and yellow-green especially. I actually have a new painting above the bakers rack (I got it since the photo was taken) that has a nice shade of peacock blue in it that could work, hadn't even occurred to me before.

About the cord issue, yes it is very annoying, but the cord covers would definitely help.

About the bakers rack blocking the cabinet- yes it does block but I manage to just reach around and grab what I need from the right hand door, it's not a huge inconvenience and I like that placement for the rack. It is a somewhat weird layout for a kitchen, seemingly spacious but not super easy to arrange in a logical way (you'll notice there's no refrigerator- that's because it didn't fit so it's in the alcove next to the kitchen!)

emily, where'd you find your kitchen table? i'm moving to a new apartment and we're looking for something similar

Table is called Muddus from Ikea
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10125113

Looks like they only have yellow, black and white now. They used to also sell one in bright orange that was really cool.

Red!

Emily, it looks like the fridge could fit to the right of the doorway, in front of that high outlet. You'd have to move the table, maybe by turning it 90 degrees and placing it in front of the window, but the fridge would work better in the kitchen, no?

and I like the idea of a bright green paint.

How do people feel about this color?
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_lg8ywj_8z9U/SUnqKEjsDxI/AAAAAAAAAo4/_8ySRoyUSl0/s400/peacock blue.jpg

pink! like those flowers in your curtains. It would be fun

I like the idea of layering green, but I also think pulling that blue from the curtains would be great. It'd give it a fresh, almost-but-not-trying-too-hard retro look.

p.s. that pendant is over my dining room table too:) good taste

Yeah I like the pendant too, another Ikea item (my kitchen is definitely the most Ikea-dominated room of my apartment :) Don't really know how that happened!

Something bold, like blue or coral.

love that table-top color. could be fun to play from that, lighter or darker tones.

I'd gofor a sunny, lemon-y yellow!

I must be color blind because I could swear the walls were already painted yellow from the pictures. Anyway, I guess my answer is yellow. LOL.

Aqua!

Then again, I like the idea of yellow or yellow-green also.

Yeah, one of those.

Check out Dark Celery by Benjamin Moore. I just painted my craft room this color and I LOVE it. The painting itself was horrible but the color rocks!

Good luck!

yes, emily, i LOVE that color.

I love the idea of a nice melon or coral. It would look so crisp with the white trim and balance out the curtains/green furniture nicely. Though I also am loving the idea of peacock blue...

Dare I suggest a variety of these colors?! They're really all great! Be bold, and don't overlook your ceiling. Kitchens are forgiving, you can get away with a lot of playfulness you might not express in other rooms if you're the inhibited type. The leafy pattern of your curtains is delightful! What colorful artwork do you have to display? Please, don't forget to send us an after pic, Emily!

Granny apple green!

I'd go for a bright sunny yellow.

While I love the blue color you, Emily, showed, I think it would make this fairly small space feel too dark.

http://www.houseandhome.com/design/photo-gallery-yellow-rooms

yellow kitchen on AP:
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/kitchen-spotlight/kitchen-spotlight-leslies-unpretentious-sunny-yellow--084708

For me, the most beautiful thing about the yellows is that it makes the other colors really snap, crackle pop.

um. AT not AP...duh.

Hi..I have those drapes in my one large living room window..ikea..past winter. The color pops are a dark teal and a dark raspberry...depending on what color makes you happy is def. the one to choose..I didn't like the peacock blue though...I have pale avocado from Ben. Moore..It's perfect...with dark teal toss pillows on the couch..and the rest super pale yellows and whites....and I love your kitchen as well!!!!!!!! Sooo cute!!

I'd color match the red color that's on your curtains. Not only are reddish-orange & limey-green an awesome contrast (and my fav color-combo :), but using your curtains as a reference will make picking the shade so easy! Your cupboards look like nice & new, but if ya you're looking for another ways to make them POP, painting them white and adding green/red glass or stainless steel hardware would look really fresh!

id also go with the red thats in the curtains. that would make it nice and bright...

i would paint it aqua to pick up the faint blue colors in the curtains.

cute kitchen. is that baker's rack from walmart? i've been looking for one like that. i think that a blueish green like that in the curtains would be adorable. i like bright, vibrant things in the kitchen.

I'm going to agree with the suggestions to color match to the blue in the curtains.

Also, for the pantry/baker's rack - why not just take the doors off? Maybe get a tension rod and hang curtains instead.

light yellow or that raspberry pink you have in the curtains

I would leave it like that. It looks great already.

How about a lovely light green? A warm yellowish green?

I think doing green with green, or yellow is kind of typical. I would do a cool purple, kind of a Tyrian Purple which has a little red and pink in it. If you wiki it it will show you the color. I think it would look really fresh and different, and its one of the complementary colors of the shades of green you have in your curtain.

Watermellon!!

When we were redoing our kitchen, we found a great kitchen/bath paint by Behr at Home Depot. It's washable and has a nice gentle glisten to it, without being shiny. I would keep the white trim and wainscotting (and definitely your awesome green table!) and paint the walls a very light green, like Green Shimmer or White Willow. We have a tiny kitchen, and the light green really brightens and makes things seem more open.