apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I dearly feel for you! I spent an enormous amount of time agonizing over colors to paint my apartment. Then, I got married and figured I'd just bring my color scheme into my husband's house (which desperately needed painting) until he threw me completely off with his choice of new kitchen flooring to replace what had been damaged with a water leak. Back to the paint store and bringing home dozens of paint chips. I finally settled on colors that remind me of my favorite place - the town of Cambria on the central California coast.

Since you've got a pretty blank slate to work with, that would be my advise - think about your favorite destination and the colors there. If the orange chair doesn't fit your vision, can it be re-upholstered? Can the white storage unit be stripped and stained or painted if necessary?

I know you'll get lots of great ideas from everyone here - good luck, and have fun with it.

I think you could go a bit darker than you think. If you head towards camel and caramel colours that compliment the oak and other wood, that will make the room feel more spacious.

If you want to stay really light (like off-whites), you could go toward something greyer, maybe with a hint of green or blue, which would be cooler than the warm tones of the wood.

I wouldn't paint the wood! Painted wood always looks, well, painted.

Heather, we recently painted a dark room in our apartment with a very light gray (Irish Mist by Behr) and it brightened the room so much that it actually feels sunny now. It's so light that it almost comes across as a cool off-white. You could probably even go a shade darker and still get a similar effect. The gray also goes well with wood tones.

If you want a burst of color, how about doing one wall in a feature color that you like? Lime green? Burnt orange? or like a grey blue color. Even if you did a dark brown, it would still look good with the white, blonde wood, and orange that you have in the room already.

Blue inspires calm and creativity - I'd choose an Ocean Blue for your office and do the trim in cream or pale grey.

I agree with you - it's impossible to process all of the available colors! I tend to buy my paints at Lowe's, and to make the options seem less overwhelming, I generally only consider the Valspar/American Traditions chips with the "historic preservation" icon on them.

You might try Gypsy Gold from Lowe's (think it's from the Eddie Bauer or Martha Stewart brand). Super-cheerful and bright, and it looks good with blacks and whites too.

Periwinkle blue could make for an appealing choice as well...

Quince - I should have clarified. I think the doors are already painted. they aren't solid wood or nice at all. I shouldn't have called them "blonde wood." they were painted to get that effect, it seems.

thanks everyone for your suggestions so far. i am paying attention!

I absolutely cannot get over this image I saw on sfgirlbybay's blog. I LOVE the idea of light walls and painted trim and think it would be great for an office!

http://bp3.blogger.com/_M4kLYcJUnH4/SEhm_wBGD7I/AAAAAAAAKZs/xS40Ye4zAAQ/s1600-h/2551557337_9901bb2491.jpg

A clear sky blue (maybe Glidden Wildflower Wind) - will go with white furniture, black furniture and the orange chair. Paint the room trim and the "blonde" door white also.

You'll need to bring home some swatches to compare various blues with your oak floor and furniture. Some will look better than others. glidden.com has a site where you can add paint colours to various rooms to compare how they work with each other.

Area rug and maybe a roman blind in a print: black, white, orange and blue.

First I would have the furniture you want in place as well as any new window coverings and lighting. This will affect how any color will read. If you really cannot make up your mind look for the preselected color combinations at the paint store. The chips that have a selection of coordinated colors on them. Take a few chips home and see how they read in the space. Then, buy a quart of each color and test it on the wall, ceiling, trim. You may want to prime the room first so you don't have that dirty white color reflecting into the new paint. If you are doing the work yourself one thing to remember is that it is only paint and is by far one of the most reasonably priced things you can do to change your space. yes time is money, but as material costs go it is inexpensive.

calm down, relax, this is the best time to paint , when all is still in boxes. if it is a home office i think the best color is a light grey. start by peeling all that is loose and fill in all holes and blemishes then always always prime it with a good primer then paint you will not regret it.
happy painting.

I find it helps for me to find a room picture with a color I like on the walls and then match a paint chip to the color (they won't be able to reliable color-match a magazine photo).

I usually go for something like Benjamin Moore Vanilla Ice Cream (a verrry nice cream color) though, so probably am no help if you like strong colors!

(Although I am finding that ICI/Dulux is actually a *much* better paint than BM, despite BM's reputation for being a primo paint. Much better coverage and ease of going on. And it is much cheaper!)