apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I know it was a hot color not so long ago, and in the right hands i'm sure could look lovely, but almost anything mauve - especially walls - would not make me happy. so not my bag.

also, anything that resembles a flesh tone. yuck.

I painted my dining room Benjamin-Moore Tuscon Red (a deeper, warmer red) with the Aura paint and love the look. It went up in two coats, but I had some problems with the Matte finish looking kind of patchy still. It's also so thick that I ended up with obvious brushstrokes in areas where I cut it with a brush. I haven't had this problem with other paints before, so I don't know if it's the Aura, or if my technique is lacking. Anyone else have this happen?

Real Estate "beige" You know, the neutral color everyone paints an interior when they are putting their home on the market...I would almost rather they didnt paint at all considering Im gonna paint over whatever is there anyway.

I used Aura this weekend in grey cashmere. It went up really easily in only one coat, no stroke/streak problems, but when i took the tape off the next day some paint peeled off the walls! Any advice on touching that up (two of the spots are LARGE) or do I need to recoat the whole thing?

I'm moving next week, and my new house features two, yes two, least favorite colors. Every wall that isn't another specific color is pancake batter yellow. That's going to have to stay for a little while. The bedrooms are both flesh toned. That will change right away.

While house hunting, I saw a few more atrocities. Each room of one house was a super-bright primary color or an awful mix. For example, the purple room looked like they took the leftover paint from the red room and poured it into the leftover paint from the blue room. The result was a muddy, nasty purple. Shudder.

On a positive note, I used aura for my current bathroom and loved it. It was so frustratingly close to covering in one coat, though, that I was sad to have to use two.

every colour my new renovation rental apartment is painted - skintone beige, lilac bathroom (with fake blue marble tiles), and hangover-throw-up beigeypink in the kitchen. i never want to see these colours again.

i agree with those above- any color that resembles flesh tones, make-up, or bandaids makes me cringe

The color can be bad depending on the room too...I would say a HORRIBLE color for a bathroom would be chartreuse, or any kind of green with a lot of yellow in it. It will make anyone's skin tone look awful. On the flip side, years ago, I talked to a great interior designer who said she always uses white with a powdery pink base (barely discernable) in bathrooms, because it makes everyone's skin look lovely and glowing. And you know what, she was right.

Any beige (ooh ... and peach!) - I pretty much hate anything beige at all. I also used to despise powder blue because my parents had the most awful nautical-themed bathroom in powder blue when i was growing up, but ... I've seen seen some gorgeous pale blues in some better contexts than that bathroom so now I like it.

I'm with you on the Pepto bismol (dismal??!!) pink, but something weird is happening in my home right now with this color ... I am in the midst of repainting my bedroom after repairs from some rain damage, and I painted the room this color (Benjamin Moore ... Can't remember the shade) as an under-layer to a paint effect. (When it's done, you won't even see the bubble-gum pink really) However, the last few weeks I haven't had time to do the top layer paint effect and I have to say the pepto is growing on me ... At least as an idea for a nursery.

I love a nice hot hot hot pink....and I think I just bought a poster in bubble gum pink.

Each to his own I suppose!

What exactly is everyone referring to when saying 'flesh-colored' paint? What color flesh, all of them?

I really love all colors. For me, it truly is contextual.

ccs -

I think they mean the color that comes in the crayon box that says "flesh" on it, which is pretty much a Caucasian peachy-pinky-beige skin color.

Actually, I think that sometimes colors near that one can be kind of warm and nice, depending on the context.

Salmon is the absolute worst color. I once lived in a building with hallways painted in a glossy salmon. No, it wasn't the 80s. Yes, it was horrible.

Bettencourt Green Building Supply will match any color with no VOC paint and I think my order for 2 gallons came to $84 or so which would make it cheaper than the aura line...

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/brooklyn/bart-bettencourt-green-design-supplies-000559

I have to agree with some of the others that it's so contextual...and there are SO many colors out there, that it's hard to classify all beiges as horrible and all reds as nice or something like that, in my opinion.

To the "Don't Use" list, I'd add...

Cement gray (too institutional)
Mauve (any shade)
Blue (any shade - it's been done to death)

I've seen walls painted in colors that I normally hate look really good. Depends on the lighting and surrounding decor. Maybe I COULD like a mauve or blue room?

Hunter green, loden green, forest green, olive green. I loath dark green walls. At best these colors belong on a billiards table, at worst they look like a cave.

I am not fond of wine reds, chocolate browns, or other colors that read close to black in dim light at night.

It's interesting, isn't it. People using "flesh" to describe a color, when most people of the world don't have anything near that color on their skin. Very white-centric to use flesh to describe a wan pink color. Crayola changed that crayon for that very reason.

Many flesh tones of black people look really awesome in rooms and are quite trendy right now.

Dark purple -- ugh! I really, really hate dark mauve and forest green, too. Reminds me of bad suburban fake hunting-lodge "dens."

Incidentally, here's my office. It's a pretty crazy color of pink. It looked horribly Pepto when I first painted it, but it feels good when I'm in there. Nice and bright for an overcast Seattle day.

http://flickr.com/photos/halfmad/2341446659/

Crayola came out with a pack of flesh toned markers in the mid-nineties that is far more representative than the original "flesh" crayola.

I can't stand maroons, or "wine reds". Ditto on forest green.

yellow is number one on my list -- closely followed by all shades of beige, and certain pallettes -- the "traditional" pallette, with hunter green, tan, and hunting red (occasionally complemented by teddy bear brown); and garish bright pallettes that are popular in certain places back home -- they often feature bright yellow, a bright blue, orange, and purple, often with green mixed in (believe it or not, I am thinking of houses I have been to...).

I also hate peach, and especially peach combined with silvery grey and silvery green. Very popular in hospital clinic waiting rooms.

I painted 2 walls in my daughter's room fuschia -- just like the "P " in THERAPY above. since it didn't look right with the builder's off-white the rest of the room was painted (it needed a crisp white), I painted one wall about a 50% tint of it -- sort of a Barbie pink, which I personally hate. but in this context, with a lot of white on it (expedit shelving unit with drawers, etc.), it looks good.

ljh - you need to remove the tape while the paint is still wet. The paint will peel off (doesn't matter what brand you use) if you wait until it dries.

I agree... The Aura Paint is bad ass!

Any color that's too pure and saturated is wrong for most walls. Colors with lots of different hues within them tend to look best to me and also harmonize better with whatever is inside the room. They allow more design flexibility. I like complex colors that are hard to name and change dramatically in different lighting. I hate it when houses that are painted in wild palettes with no thought or system are called "artistic."

Red with yellow is the worst color combo—ever, for anything. And yet it seems to enjoy a long and stalwart following among those who want a "cottage" look. More like a fast food look!

Context matters. A salmon hallway would suck depending on the type of lighting. Pepto pink can be mitigated by other things.

It comes down to context.

We used Aura in our home and love the quality. But I do have a complaint about their white, Frostine--when you look at their samples, it looks like a pure white. We tried painting swatches and saw nothing wrong with it. Then we painted two coats (along with a primer) and realized that in a certain light it has a green tinge to it, just like a glacier! Hence the name Frostine.

I think it really depends on the people and the room. Beige might be okay with the right lighting and decor, but it's usually used to suck all the personality out of a room.

Then again, my bedroom when I was a kid was painted white with kelly green trim and I still love it.

yes. it does come down to context.

The last house i lived in had a neon-yellow/green bathroom with this brown-ish purple paneling. ughhh.
i have a strong dislike for certain shades of dark red.. especially when glossy.
of course beige and off-whites (in most cases)

my favorite wall color is grey. grey with white trim.
i would love to paint all the rooms of a house in different shades of grey. let the art and furniture provide the color.

TEAL makes me angry.

Almost any color can look horrible depending on the context, and some colors you would never think would work, some people somehow do make it work. It all depends on the light in the room and what folks do to it.

peach, seafoam green, forest green, and most shades of beige are probably colours I would never ever use. I am not a big fan of coloured walls in my own house anyway- I like whites and greys mostly with any colour coming from furnishings, etc. I had to fight our realtor not to paint our loft "beige" for the open house.

farmhouse, you MUST be thinking of the apartment I moved into last fall...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24801165@N04/

The kitchen is yellow with a red accent wall. Gross!

When I was looking for my first house, I encountered one house that had bright gold-yellow walls with black floors and another that had crayon-purple walls and hot pink plush carpeting. I couldn't get past the colors to actually consider liking the houses...

my bedroom is bright pink, or hot pink, with brown and I love it. I also have white accents. It is gorgeous, but I like color

Maroon, Forest green & lime green

dark purple (eggplant), deep brown, mustard yellow

ljh - you always peel it off asap when you're done painting. don't wait until the next day or it peels.

As a corporate relocation director for a real estate firm in the Midwest, part of my responsibility is to manage corporate inventory homes when individuals have been transferred to another location and left their homes to be sold by their employer. A lot of these employers in effect “purchase” the home from the employee so they have the equity out of the home to purchase in a new location. It then becomes my job to ready these homes for the open market and get them sold. Neutralizing is a basic in my industry. I have seen some wallpaper and paint combinations you wouldn’t believe. I even have a PowerPoint presentation I use from time to time for certain meetings, etc. that shows some of these creative uses color. We use a color called “Biscuit” for neutralizing most homes. It’s a soft light taupe color. What we’ve found is that most potential buyers have a very hard time visualizing what a home will look like without wallpaper and/or “custom” or designer colors. Also, most buyers today don’t want to re-hab houses and have to paint, etc. after they move in (especially in the higher price ranges). They want to move in, put their stuff away and go on with their life. All that said I love colors and just painted one bedroom wall a deep chocolate brown – which will have to be “neutralized” should we ever decide to sell this home. Just my 0.2 cents and a little different perspective.

Trish

Kelly green, maroon, beige.

Ugh I painted my office what I was hoping would be a bright but calm blue...it turned out Carolina Blue and I REALLY don't like it....but that room will one day be a nursery and somehow I would be ok with the blue in that case....until then.

When I moved into my apartment, my bathroom (yes, the bathroom) was painted DARK YELLOW. Like the crayon Maize. The connotations were just awful, and did I mention they never finished it? The outside wall was a nasty maroon gloss.

This was in a loft.

lime green...blech!

What's so bad about super white? I've got a loft where some spaces are warm and some cool. The super bright white (Behr) keeps the whole place feeling clean and modern while also being able to reflect the colors of the various spaces and various times of day without clashing.

In any case, anything it better than the various shades of "band-aid" color most of the place was when I moved in.

I like the realtor's point. If you love colour or care about colour, you won't want beige. But if you don't care, you just want something to "go with" what you got, hence, beige.

magnolia. I lived in a room with magnolia weatherboards for 2 years its just.....nothing.

I do agree in theory about pepto pink walls, and generally about lime green...
HOWEVER -
- I moved into an apartment in Chicago where the previous tenant of 50 years had painted the large living room pepto pink (left the working fireplace mantel white, and large beams on the ceiling dark wood). It was fabulous, so I kept it.
- I had a awful apartment in Seattle where the living room received very little sunlight. I painted some of the walls a bright yellowish green (not unlike the bottom green in the photo), which really perked the room (and myself) up!

haha... I think every color I've painted a wall, have helped someone paint, or am currently considering painting rooms and walls in my new apartment has been listed: teal (loved it as an ascent wall to a Indian themed room), a light kelly green (my favorite color) as a back-splash to white kitchen cabinets; chocolate brown; butter yellow; red; and various shades of blues and greens. Each to his own.

There are no ugly colors , just ugly color combinations.

But I really, really, really despise anything pink.

Curtis ... ccs was being sarcastic. Crayola hasn't had the "flesh" colored crayon since the 80's. Lets get with the times here.

I have flesh colored flesh... *sigh* It's not a pretty color.

Growing up I hated the "white" thumbalina (or something) doll, but I loved my darked skin one. It looked so much more normal. The white one creeped me out.

I hate Coral/salmon. Even on flowers in a garden. I like red, orange and pink, but not coral. (brights in the garden, pales on the walls.)

I have not yet found a pink that I really want on the walls.

I hate pepto bismal/ bubblegum pink too. A local coffee shop recently painted their entire women's washroom bubblegum pink and it looks atrocious.

I'm not at all fond of turquoise/aqua. Those not quite green & not quite blue colors. It kinda makes me angry.
There's a house I drive by every day that was just painted bright yellow w/bright red trim. So ketchup & mustard. So McDonald's!

I didn't read all the way through but 'FLESH' color??? thats objectionable, really. Crayola stopped using that name for obvious reasons.

I had a tenant that painted the living room a shocking, almost caution cone, shade of orange. Which would have almost been okay if they hadn't used beige trim(over might I add the 100 year old molding and trim I lovingly stripped and stained) It was truly stomach churning. I did use a kelly green in the kid's playroom and it looks quite nice actually, the girls chose what they wanted and I'm pleased with the results. http://www.flickr.com/photos/21759161@N04/2395390941/
It's a bit of a mess, but hey it's a playroom what can you do

Cheap paint looks bad in any color. That's why rental beige and white is so awful. Bright and deep colors should be reserved for accent walls in a modern space.

Circus-peanut orange is hard to live with. There's some of that where I work, all the doors. It's not peach. In some of the spots where it is peeling, it is green the color of a box of apple jacks. I don't like teal things, usually. I think my apartment walls (and the interior office walls at work) are the color of pancake batter, but I never minded it until apparently finding out some people find it hideous. Maybe it's not, though. It's a pale buttery creamy color. I didn't choose it, is that how it works? I also don't like maroon colors, esp. maroon and hunter green. The halls at my apartment building were recently painted a caramel color that's pretty gross, like it was left over and so they didn't have to think what color paint would be bright enough - it frankly looks like a crummier building now.

And still, I wouldn't react initially to the bad colors if they were well-played. The colors aren't "bad", it's the amounts, combinations, contexts, and overuse/staleness, and whether or not the element of design and proportion are evident in the space with it.

Not a big fan of most mustard yellows or maroons. Though I do think the dark reds in that Aura photo are pretty nice.

Here's one for the "peachy/fleshy" under dog. In a 1950s very long rectangular den with red broken brick floors and very little natural light coming in, Colonial Revival Tan at 25% of formula (Sherwin Williams exterior color) looked incredible. It picked up the 1950s vibe and made our artwork really pop (even black and white photos). I tested it in the hallway of our new house - 1912 four-square with tons of light - and it looked AWFUL. But if you have a musty feeling dark room - check it out.

I agree with the pinks and beiges - blech! I also can't stand orange (terra cotta is about the orange-iest I will do - did it once in fact, though it was my husband's idea. Never quite fell in love with it, but it did grow on me a little after awhile, if the light was right). Teal and aquamarine are two more yucky wall colors for me. Any shade of yellow as well.

I love cranberry and chocolate as accent walls when paired with a lighter color. An entire room in those colors seems too cave-like for me, though. Tans are nice too, as long as they aren't beigey. Some shades of light, muted blues and greens are pretty, but dark blues and greens are awful.

I also despise pinky/beigey bandaid colors, yet the few times I've tried to paint my walls something 'neutral' I've ended up with exactly that on my walls and had to repaint immediately because I couldn't function. Which is why I keep my wall colors nice and bright and that's that. I can handle picking out aqua blue. I can't handle the neutral thing. (Although I know my decorating style isn't most people's bag).

I would normally never use pink on a wall but when I decided to put up vinyl art in my hallway the only color that I could picture it working with was a deep hot pink. It turned out so good I wanted to lick the wall when I was done. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the color.
I think the reason it works is because it's on 1 small wall. More than that would have been too much. But that exp has taught me never say never!

(the color was 'sputnik' from Beckers, but they make shitty paint so we took the swatch to Alcro. Their paint amazing, thick as sour scream, covers in one coat and looks good enought o eat)

The worst for me is what I call "Ace Bandage Tan." Gross. It's the color everyone's parents used in the 70s so it would "go with everything."

I can't stand "country colors" -- faded reds, "Williamsburg" blues, yellowed off-whites and greyed out yellows that have that sun-faded look. Colors that go with a red and white checkered couch and wooden geese on the mantle. I think it's some kind of reaction against growing up in the south.

My friend painted her open, airy living room Denver Bronco orange. With her spare decoration and brown leather furniture it looked spectacular! Who woulda thunk.....

Am I the only one who feels irritated when entering a room that has yellow walls? I know it is used to brighten up a space, but I find it really jarring, especially in small spaces, such as bathrooms. And I don't have anything against yellow as a color---yellow used as accents is wonderful.

color is so personal, and it really depends on what you are putting in the space.

when we painted our living room green we woke up the next day walked in and thought "holy shit what did we do?"

but then we put out stuff in there and it looked so good. i commend anyone who tries something different because there is nothing i hate more the beige.. beige.. beige.

people who are scared of regretting what colors they choose pick beige. but ANY color is better then that.

I tend to paint seasonally and with aura and no primer its even easier. I love the new Pottery Barn Sping colors

http://www.myperfectcolor.com/Benjamin-Moore-Pottery-Barn-Paint-Colors-Spring-2008-MPC-s/3408.htm

It is very hard to brush Aura but eaiser then ever with a 1/4" nap roller

Mint green. WORST color ever for interiors, unless you want your place to feel like a psych ward....

My sister-in-law actually paid a color consultant who suggested the color combination of (wait for it...) hot pink and turquoise for her sewing room/den -- and she actually went for it.

When you walk in that room, it's like Barbie lives there. The couch is turquoise, the curtains are hot pink, the desk is hot pink with turquoise drawers. Babies cry and puppies die when you walk into that room...

Color is indeed contextual. I went against the mantra of using soothing colors for the bedroom. I painted mine orange coral and it looks fabulous. Always gives me a good feeling before going to bed and waking up in the morning.

Generally I don't go for colors that cast a ghastly tone on our complexion. Also like the Benjamin Moore Historical colors- they have chameleon-like qualities. Tones change depending on the amount of sunlight.

Yellow:
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/color/colors/yellow-home-decorating-ideas/?page=5

And this is totally a Small, Cool headboard idea, I bet you could use seat cushions and simple board, it's yellow, choose your own color:
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/room/bedroom/neutral-bedroom-colors/?page=8

Hot bright pink:
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/color/colors/pink-home-decorating-ideas/?page=15

Couldn't find the right purple, but here's lavender:
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/color/colors/purple-home-decorating-ideas/?page=2

Another lavender:
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/color/colors/simply-perfect-color-schemes/?page=4

Green, in what appears to be a guest cottage/studio:
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/color/colors/green-home-decorating-ideas/?page=5

Intense key lime kitchen:
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/color/colors/green-home-decorating-ideas/?page=9

I have NO idea what color "Tenement Hall Beige" is. But here are a couple of images of a dining area with beige walls, white trim:
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/color/neutrals/neutral-color-home-decorating-pictures/?page=4
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/color/neutrals/neutral-color-home-decorating-pictures/?page=5

There's nothing wrong with beiges:
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/room/bedroom/neutral-bedroom-colors/

I can see the Hollywood Regency fans going nuts over this headboard treatment:
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/room/bedroom/neutral-bedroom-colors/?page=3

White? Why not white? This bed looks like a cloud:
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/room/bedroom/neutral-bedroom-colors/?page=14

And here, you see whites all over:
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/seasonal/summer/decorating-with-summer-whites/

Another Small, Cool idea, courtesy the color White:
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/seasonal/summer/decorating-with-summer-whites/?page=6

This room I adore, and it has beige and white! (use interactive arrows to see whole room):
http://www.bhg.com/app/decoratinggallery/item.jsp?itemid=/templatedata/bhg/dg-room/data/LR_modernvintagelivingroom_12052003.xml

And where would black be, without white?:
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/color/neutrals/decorating-in-black-and-white/?page=5

White looks so good with black and gray:
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/color/neutrals/decorating-in-black-and-white/?page=10

So, Mark, any other colors???

So true. No bad colors or color combinations, really. I have successfully worked baby pink, fuschia, orange, and lime into a color scheme. But as one who deals in color choices, I can tell you that it's always a crap shoot. Most people choose a paint chip and think that's the process. But it takes a lot of tweak-&-refine-time to get the color combination's tones, temperatures, and weights just right. Usually when a color scheme bothers someone, it's those imbalances that are the real problem. And when it's done perfectly, you barely even notice the color.

Colors are not bad! It's the people who present them in a bad way. I love all colors!!! I think it really depends on the space, light, mood, furnishings etc....

Found a great video demonstrating Benjamin Moore Aura covering black magic marker in 1 coat with a deep red.

Benjamin Moore
Aura Paint
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBofv-r1TLQ