Q: I am normally inspired when it comes to decorating my 1904 Denver Square. But as I anticipate remodeling the master bedroom, I don't know what kind of color scheme to use. It is all because of the stained glass windows (original to the house) in green, yellow, and red. Although you can't tell from the attached photo, the trim around the window is semi-gloss white. Any ideas?
Sent by Jen
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Shaw's Original Fir...
You don't indicate whether you own or rent, whether you *like* the windows or not, and what your personal style is (trad, mod, minimalist, asian, etc).
If you own, and you love craftsman style, then what a great problem to have! If you rent, and you're a minimalist, then I can see how this might be an eyesore. Pleaes provide more info for readers. Thanks!
I'd love to see more of the bathroom. Would you mind posting another picture so I can get an idea of the space? Thank you!
You can never go wrong with an all-white bathroom.
I had a similarly styled stained glass window on the front door to my apartment, until about a few months ago when the landlord decided to do a few renovations. My roommate and I were so sad to see our little windows go, so we ended up snagging them from each of the four units.
We have them displayed in our living room now against a pale seafoam blue. It's not a bathroom, but it looks great.
I love the window. I would do a predominately white bathroom with black accents, wrought iron towel bar etc. The red, yellow, and green are a little hard to incorporate. Maybe a vintage mirror with some patina.
bedroom, not bathroom.
I'd probably paint the walls grey with white trim, have white bedding and get some accent items that are or include red, green, yellow in the pattern. Accent items can be pillows, lamps, artwork, throws, rug, statues (thrift store + spray paint!). That way if you get sick of them, they are easy to replace :)
Title says bathroom, copy says bedroom...?
What is your preference of style for the bathroom? You could use black and white combo and make the room vintage w/ a lot of white with black touches. What kind of floor do you have? If you have a lot of woodwork, do it white shiny enamel.
Yes, there seems to be some disagreement about bedroom or bathroom. But either way I think the answers are probably similar.
White could look good in either space depending on what you add to it. But I also think a light yellow or a light green could be really nice too - in either space. Black might be really interesting and that's a more daring choice, but one that I think could look awesome.
IF it's a bathroom, I'd go white. It's the accessories I'd carefully chose to make the room. Deep red or green towels. Find great pieces of colored Depression glass for soap dish, drinking glass, to put cotton balls in. Or even just old etched pieces of glassware to go with colorless glass in your window.
First, I love the stained glass! Second, I stopped and looked at the window before reading the comments to figure out if I had that problem, what colors would I pick, and decided on white and black with maybe pops of the color from the stained glass here and there. Glad to see others were thinking the same. However, this was when I thought this window was in the bathroom. If it's in the bedroom..not sure. That one is hard. Good luck and would love to see an after photo.
The post itself says bedroom, so that's what I'll answer here.
If you like more minimal/modern, perhaps looking for a great wallpaper that incorporates at least two of the colours in the window would tie it into a more updated look. Of course, it could also freshen up a more traditional room.
or use a stencil with nice lines like this one (I just pulled this one off Etsy as an example, I'm not affiliated with the seller) and stencil a bit of the colours in the window over the walls in the style of wallpaper
e.g.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/62763007/wallpaper-stencil-hourglass-reusable?ref=sr_gallery_5&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=wallpaper&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade%2Fhousewares
http://www.etsy.com/listing/73305449/wall-stencil-vision-reusable-wallpaper?ref=sr_gallery_13&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=wallpaper+stencil&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_ship_to=US&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade
I think white bedding, wrought iron furniture, painted or stained wood furniture, and either a pale blue wall or a pale version of any of the colours in the stained glass would work very nicely.
It depends whether you want to parlay this into a kind of shabby-chic, or an updated-Victorian, or a true-craftsman type thing.
I just don't really get the question. Having had original 100 year old stained glass in my last two homes, one in the bathroom and three in the next living room, I can honestly say I did not plan my decor around them at all. And I am the sort who carries swatches of my fabrics around with me, and paint chips and pages ripped from magazines to represent colors in my rugs and other things I can't carry around with me, to make sure colors won't clash when buying almost anything for my home, so it isn't like I don't pay a LOT of attention to color. The thing about these old windows is they look great whatever you do. Trust me, they do. Mine did, and yours will too. Occasionally one color in the window will pick up a similar color in something in the room; other times nothing will be the same at all....it won't matter, either way. So just paint and decorate without thinking about the windows, and they will look fine. I honestly can't think of a color that won't look fine with them (OK, I wouldn't go dark burgundy, or midnight blue-violet, or army green, but you weren't going there in any event, I would guess.) You are lucky to have these...resist the temptation to turn them into a problem, because they aren't. The colors will enhance subtly whatever colors you choose, as long as yout don't choose ugly. How I miss having stained glass in my current place...it was one of my favorite features in each of my last two places. So much that I keep looking for large stained glass panels or windows to hang in front of one of my windows.
OK, so to be helpful, here's what comes to mind, for either bedroom or bathroom. A nice golden yellow (not trying to match a color in the window, just a yellow you like on the wall) would look good with the yellow glass; a coral color, or a light violet, either would pick up on the red a bit; I'm not a fan or green in either bed or bath, but you could go there if you wanted; if you are partial to blue, pick one with a red tone in the mix, and it shouldn't clash; or one of those beigey, browny neutrals that are so popular would let the window colors shine. I wouldn't paint all white, unless you are partial to white walls. These windows look better with some colors to contrast with, really.
Though I would use paint, not wallpaper, as I think that would be too busy, and not in keeping with the simplicity of the window design. Though plenty of victorian homes show that many do wallpaper with stained glass.
Bedroom or bathroom, I'd suggest going with light neutrals (white, dove gray, pale blue, pale yellow) for wall colors. Go monochrome for textiles, with rich saturated pops of one or all three colors from the glass for accents.
I'm with Textiles on this one. Treat the window as a neutral and chose colors that you love for your bedroom/bathroom. Unless the window is huge, it won't clash with whatever your color scheme is. I've lived in several older homes with stained glass, and visited in many more. No one really takes their decorating cues from the stained glass.
Unless you really like the colors in the window and want to use it as your inspiration piece for the room, just let it be.
I have some stained glass in my entry way. If I had to stick to the colors in that to decorate the area, it would be all purple, pink and yellow. Which is not my most favorite color combination.
White and grey with pops of yellow! Bed or bath, you can't go wrong.
Any neutral color would work, of course, including grayer shades of yellow, green, and red -- the colors in the window.
If you go with a vintage color scheme, the room will instantly look classic and "natural" to its era. For ideas on what a bathroom of that era would've looked like, check out the Jane Powell book "Bungalow Bathrooms." Otherwise, the colors in that window are subtle enough that I think you could basically go with any color scheme that you like.
I agree with textiles re: "The thing about these old windows is they look great whatever you do. Trust me, they do." And I also would like to vote for an earthy gray in the medium to light range. It would pick up the leading in the windows, and make the pink, yellow and green look sophisticated.
A mid-tone grey/charcoal.