Color: Angelina - 1376
Brand: Benjamin Moore

Cute, isn't it? This almost looks like a bathroom in a summer lake house, but we're actually in a brownstone in Brooklyn. The wife and I picked this color at the same time we selected a dark brown for the bedroom next to it. We were jumping up and down with excitement while the husband wondered what he would tell his mother...

As I recall there was a problem: the wainscoting was a weird shade of gray, and the net effect was that of a hippie apartment in Haight-Ashbury in the 60's. My clients were unsure about this color, but painted the trim in the off-white pictured here to tone things down a bit and this is the result.

Devotees of this column will know that in almost every instance I prefer wood trim that is painted off-white, unless it is stained.

And voila! Instant charm.

- Mark Chamberlain, interior and decorative painter

(Re-Edited from 2007-03-13 - MGR)