apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

that is a beautiful house, you could potentially have a lot of fun decorating this place. It's daunting, but stay positive!

The above tips are great, other than that I think you just have to experiment with small swatches, and don't be afraid to live in the space awhile before painting.

Hello JP, congrats on your move. I think you have a beautiful space. I am thinking of something like this for your living room http://tinyurl.com/yovsqj . Once I find the perfect shades that I saw I will post them.

Ok I am thinking the Sultry Origins collection by Sherman Williams http://tinyurl.com/2bdtuc . Especially Gingery and Leather Bound. You could choose colors in this family and they would work well together. Lets say Leather Bound in the living room, Gingery in the kitchen and Fine Wine would be lovely in a dining room. I think if you have these colors, your nice furniture, sumptous fabric on plillow and other accesories you can work that R&B, West Elm contemporary asthetic.

We painted our living room in Behr Chocolate Froth with Swiss Coffee trim. Our house is a small cottage style, but our furniture is primarily scandinavian in style and includes natural woods and woven throw rugs. I like this paint combination because it creates a nice canvas with which to decorate and it is also light and airy. Chocolate Froth is not too beige- it is much more light and airy.

I also plan to paint our other rooms in very pale neutral colors of the same value as Chocolate Froth. I am kind of tired of the Pottery Barn look where every room is a different rich color (orange and red dining rooms are so overdone). I was in a beautiful brownstone mansion in Boston that had been painted all in pale, natural colors that I would describe as pale moss, fog blue, eggshell white, etc. I can imagine these colors being paired with deeper colors as well, within the same families (like darker moss, slate gray, etc.). And I think you could create some really beautiful transitions between the rooms in this way.

Just wanted to give you another palette to consider. And also let you know we are happy with Chocolate Froth. (And with Behr paint, by the way. I'm sure BM is a little better and they do have some amazing colors, but I think Behr is just fine for less obsessive types.)

good luck-

I say, if your 'burbs contain 1929 era homes... that ain't a shabby, ugly burb!!!

Well done you!

Around here... burbs means 1980 and newer. Eeww!

While I'm never against light brown... those beams would look incredible with walls in a subtle lavender, the kind of color that looks deep beige in some lights and purply-silver in others. Martha Stewart had such a color, called Mercury Glass, when she did paints for K-Mart.

The pale, natural colors that Chococat mentions are worth looking at before you commit to a lot of brown paint when the woodwork is already contributing so much brown. The era of your house was an era of that kind of subtle color, so the woodwork should look good against colors like a very pale robin's egg blue or a hint of green.

I don't have any specific color recommendations, but I'd just remind you to work with your house, not against it. Don't try to make it something it's not.

I'm especially noticing the kitchen, which, despite your "not Pottery Barn" taste, looks like, well, Pottery Barn. Nothing wrong with that, but you should do what you can with it rather than trying to fight it into Room & Board submission. Unless, of course, you're planning a gut renovation that will turn your Pottery Barn kitchen into something with more modern bones.

My only piece of advice regarding color is to keep the beamed ceiling white or close to it, possibly even keep the walls of the room w/ the beamed ceilings white/beige. That'll preserve both the classic "cathedral ceiling" style, and also highlight the architectural features and expansive space. If you go dark on the ceiling, all that will sorta blur together or disappear.

i grew up in a house that was somewhat similar in age and basic overall "look."

my parents are nuts about decorating, art, kitsch, design, etc. and what i especially love about their house is that they were unafraid to use color in many unexpected places. the front hallway is a darkish lavender, the dining room is a light mauve, and their bedroom is antique-y bricky/tomato (can't think of the right color match). they have a bathroom with a slanted ceiling, so different wall zones are either peach-y orange, dusty purple, or a blue color i can't right now recall...

the point is, you can absolutely have fun with colors in spaces like this, even if they are "classic" and beautiful. so be adventurous, be funky, and good luck!

Color is such a personal thing, so you're bound to get a huge variety of opinions.

My opinion is to reiterate the essential piece of advice: Work with what you have, not against it.

This is particularly true for your dark, heavy woodwork and beams. Trying to do a bright white against such dark wood would look ridiculous. I don't think you need to paint the surfaces in dark colors, but you really should use hues sympathetic to the wood.


For inspiration, I'd urge you to look to the work of interior designer Clodagh, and to Martha Stewart. (I know Martha Stewart is cliche, but she really is a remarkable colorist, and one can pick up a used copy of her essential 1996 book "How to Decorate" for five bucks.)

I think you're basically on the right track so far. I love the suggestion of something brown and earthy for your main living spaces, though I'm not keen on Behr's Chocolate Froth specifically--to my eye it has sort of an odd lavender cast and looks too much like something from my mom's makeup case. My suggestion would be to look to your floors and choose a warm, nutty or suede leather brown.

Instead of lighter, I'd love to see you do your dining space in something much DARKER than your living room. Make it a cozy, intimate nook. Same hue as the living room, but a darker value. Treat is less like a dining room and more like a library in which you can also dine on occasion. (Pedestal table with power supply handy for a laptop, comfortable chairs, a sideboard/credenza with storage for office supplies, paperwork and maybe even a printer)


I love the suggestion of green for your kitchen, but I'm iffy on the two colors you've asked about. They both seem a bit...moody, and I'd be concerned that in tandem with the color of your cabinets, your kitchen would be rather depressing and even funereal. I'd go for a green that's still earthy, but a bit less drab. What's the color of sunlit locust tree leaves?

Thanks everyone. This is very helpful. Reminds me to focus on colors that will work well with the floor and beamed ceiling of the living room (rather than our furniture which will tie in later) and the cabinets in the kitchen.

We are in fact using a lot of cool neutrals for the upstairs bedrooms and office. I'm still trying to figure out warm neutrals. I'll work on it with a focus on complementing the beams and cabinets.

Chococat - it's hilarious that you paired CFroth with Swiss Coffee. That's exactly what we were eyeing.

I think we'll go with light browns for the dining room, and we're considering the ginger tone for the kitchen (Arabic Red and Pumpkin Butter from Behr).

THANK YOU ALL! Very much appreciated.

- a rook