Hello AT,
I'm moving into a new apartment next month and the management company has agreed to paint the rooms whatever colors I choose! I usually like to live in the space a while to decide, but this is an opportunity I can't pass up...
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you will not regret it. i say go for it. walls are like a blank canvas WAITING to be painted other than white! besides... you can always paint over it if you hate it. that's the beauty of paint.
view bl@ckd0g's profile
There's a way to simplify your decision. Grab a handful of paint chips in the reds that might appear in your brick. Brand doesn't matter, as you're not going to buy this paint -- you're using the chips to determine the dominant colors of your bricks and your mortar.
Determine which chips actually represent the dominant colors in your brick. These are now your reference chips that you will hold up to chips for the paint colors you're considering, until you find a combination you're happy with.
If you don't like using paint chips, any sort of tangible reference will work: fabric, crayons, ribbons, bath towels, carrying around a pillow. You just need a concrete way to visualize that brick color with the wall color, as very few people have super-accurate color memory for all colors.
view wende in phoenix's profile
or use photoshop :)
view Meg's profile
If you actually have some time to hang out in the paint store for a while, and have a look at those paint chips, some stores that carry Benjamin Moore also carry these fairly huge (18" x 18" or so) samples of certain colors. They NEVER have the full line, and those ones aren't free, but you can buy a handful of those, or just one or two, after looking at the small chips, to give yourself a better idea of what you like before choosing a color for good.
ALSO, for almost that same money, you can get the tiny sample jars of the actual paint, itself, althought they only come in an eggshell finish, which might not be the finish you'll want to end up with.
view Curtis's profile
Best bet, without paint chips, with red brick is a green. Dark green, sage green and even lime green - they are just natural together.
view Alex in DC's profile
Next to brick, you won't regret.
ON brick, YES, you'd regret.
view GothamTomato's profile
I think you'd potentially only regret a color that demands attention or makes a bold statement, ie anything overly dark or bright. While I love the lime green idea (I used to have an office painted this color), that might be an example of a color that you'd need to thoroughly consider inside the specific space.
I'd recommend sage or olive green. Both colors match deliciously with a whole range of reds. Both can swing from serene/spa-like to modern and punchy, depending on your other decorating devices. And lastly, both colors are suprisingly great neutrals-- they'll suit black- or brown-accented furniture and decorations equally well.
Just my two cents. Have fun and good luck!
view Helena Handbasket's profile
Yes, PLEASE make sure the management doesn't paint ON the brick! Hopefully they'd know better, but you never know!
view pollyhyper's profile
Fifi,
Check out these Smallest Coolest entries to see how brick looks next to some strong colors:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/small-cool-2007-entries/22-42andersons-love-eat-party-021647
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/small-cool-2007-entries/35-craigs-inviting-chinatown-loft-022192
What do you think?
view Sea's profile
I agree with Maxwell's opinion, but would add a footnote. I noted someone commented to get a red. Red would be nice if you like that kind of thing, but if the majority of your furniture are medium value in color they will blend with the wall and not stand out. So would be a similar risk if your furniture was dark... But if your furniture let's say is all off white, or linnen color, go for red... Otherwise you should go for the lime green (or a bright yellow), bcs no matter how light, medium, or dark your furniture is, they would stand out off the lime green, since that is a lot of chroma in a room.
view Anusha73's profile
Lime green! It's the opposite of the color spectrum from brick red so will make your brick stand out. I've had Benjamin Moore's Tequila Lime next to brick in my last two apartments. Here are the before and afters:
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/suzannepreston/album/576460762338729766?change_count=4
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/suzannepreston/album/576460762338733165
The previous owners went red but left the wall with the brick white so obviously they realized red right next to brick is bad. It might have worked if they'd painted the white wall the color of the mortar, but leaving it white just looked like they forgot to finish.
view Suzanne's profile
If I were you, I'd go with a bright yellow like in posted by jennifer in sf on 2007-05-14 13:30:30
view jennifer in sf's profile