Paint problems..solved!

This month's challenge was a lot of fun for me. I got to select paint for one of our reader's homes! The beautiful house belongs to Donna of Kansas City.

Her home was built in 1929 and the exterior is that of a brown/putty color- but she hopes someday to change it to yellow! She moved in about 4-1/2 years ago and initially painted every wall Benjamin Moore's Linen White. She has since decided that she is ready for some color!

When you first walk into the home, the formal Living Room is to your right. It is painted a deep gold, Benjamin Moore's Dijon 193 and contains red, off white and black accents. She wanted to keep this wall color in here and since it is visible from the entry, tv room, and dining room, she also wanted it to flow well with the new paint selections for the rest of the house. '

She had mentioned that the Entry was a possible candidate for paint; however, I think that she should just leave it Linen White since it looks straight into the Dining Room (and I chose to do a color-color for that room)

The Dining Room color was her biggest challenge by far! It's currently painted Linen White but she wanted to add some color to the room to set it apart. Her furniture is traditional cherry with shield back chairs. The chair seats are upholstered in a graphic black and white stripe, her hardwoods are fairly light and the drapes are an oatmeal linen with black grosgrain ribbon trim.

The Dining Room is adjacent to the entry, sunroom, and kitchen/tv room (all Linen White). The things that I had to consider when choosing paint for this room were her six small cartoons that she purchased in China and wishes to get framed, another colorful piece of art that she got in China and is currently hung up in the room, a simple frameless mirror, white oyster plates with minimal gray/black detail, and clear crystal pieces. Her one request was that we don't do red in the dining room since it has been done too much. I think I can handle that!

I ended up selecting Benjamin Moore's Mill Springs Blue- HC-137 for this room. Since you can see the kitchen wall tile from here, I wanted something that would complement it and not fight its colors. I also wanted a color that wasn't too shocking nor too playful. I wanted to keep with the sophisticated and elegant look that she has throughout her home.

I would paint this color from the top of the ceiling to the chair rail and then install crisp white wainscoting below so the room stays light and doesn't get too cave-like.

The Mill Springs paint would bring out the shades of blue/green in her existing framed artwork as well as coordinate well with her Chinese cartoons (which have a lot of gray/green and gray/blue in them). This color would provide a nice dramatic backdrop for the room, break up all of that white, and make the larger piece of artwork really pop!

This brings me to the next room- the Sunroom. Visible through the dining area, this room's walls are pure white paneled "worm wood". The drapes are white sheeting and upholstered pieces are off-white, black, and off-white toile. Sunny yellow pillows on the chairs and window seat bring in some color. The flooring is a beige sisal carpet that someday will be a natural stone or brick.

She recently had glass doors made for the shelves, so she could display heirloom pieces and keep them safe out of her kitty's reach! She loves the crystal hurricane lamps that belonged to her mother, but she was disappointed in how they disappear in the cabinet and wanted to know what accent color she could do to make her heirlooms stand out more!

For the back of the bookshelves, I chose Sherwin William's Haven- SW 6437 as an accent color. Normally I would never tell a client to go to two different vendors to get their paint- it's just a hassel. But out of ALL of the Benjamin Moore greens, I could not find one that matched her accessories well enough! And with paint, I always try to find the most perfect match- I become a little bit of a paint perfectionist and won't stop until I find something that I am really happy with! All of the Benjamin Moore greens either had too much yellow, too much gray, or too much blue!

This one from Sherwin was perfect. It complements the colors in her accessories nicely and also provides a perfect background for sunny yellow. No other color but green could work here. She has a few yellow accessories in the bookshelves already (so painting yellow at the back of the bookshelves wouldn't work!), light pink or purple (which would have coordinated with her floral teapots) would have clashed miserably with the yellow accessories and looked too "Easter basket". Green really is the best solution here since there is a teeny bit of green in most all of her shelf accessories and it provides a nice, fresh, citrus look coupled with the yellow.

It's always so much fun to do color consultations- virtual or in person! Thanks for sharing your home with us Donna- enjoy your new paint selections!

{For any color consultation inquiries, please email emily@ejinteriors.net}

Be sure to enter next month's challenge by 3/30- Julia is going to transform your bookshelves!!