Help me paint my kitchen and dining room!

[JoyfulMama]

I am soooo decorating-challenged. I just don't know how to get things to flow.

 

We rent an old farmhouse - c 1860. Beautiful wide plank hardwood floors. My kitchen and dining room are like one big room, with two different floors (linoleum in kitchen). I know I'd like to choose two colors, with the dominant dining room wall color flowing into the kitchen area on that shared wall. Cabinets are country-oak style. Exposed ceiling beams. Hand-made window mouldings in light oak. I'm allowed to paint the walls only. Appliances are white.

Things I love:

1) My valances for the kitchen - two valances - one over the sink and one over the tall window next to the stove, looking toward the back of the property. They add warmth and energy with their bright spicy colors.

2) My 2 red stools at the kitchen counter (at edge of two floors). Picked them up at a yard sale, and painted them Ace Hardware's Dried Tomato Color (can't find online to share). Also have other red accents, including red carpets in the linoleum (to cover previous floor damage) and red towels.

3) My dishes: Corelle's Country Cottage.

 

So help me find wall colors for these two rooms!

I'm thinking maybe a yellow in the kitchen and a blue in the dining room and on the shared wall, which I could do white/blue toile valances on those two windows?

Would this be too much color?

What other great ideas can you share????

[Ferdie]

I think that would be nice. I have blue in my dining room and love it. The color is silvermist by Sherwin Williams. The adjacent living room is a wheaty goldish yellow color called Autumn Blonde by Sherwin Williams. The blue and wheaty goldish yellow look great together.

 

Here is the silvermist which looks blue on the walls:

http://www.sherwin-williams.com/search/?search_terms=silvermist&section=

 

Autumn Blonde is an older color so I can't link to it on their website. They have a newer version of the color, called Blonde, which according to the lady at the store has more green in it than the older color. We used the older color since it looked much warmer in our home next to the blue. They can mix up both colors for you in sample size to test. We used Blonde, Restrained Gold and Empire Gold in other parts of our home and I love all of them:

 

http://www.sherwin-williams.com/search/?search_terms=blonde&section=

 

Whatever you end up with make sure you test the paint before you buy it in bulk. I swear the color will change from the store to your home and again when you put it up on the wall.,

 

Have fun!

Edited December 29, 2009 by Ferdie

[Sophia]

Sherwin Williams Restrained Gold would look good in your kitchen.

I was going to add a link to S-W page, but the color on the computer looks nothing like the color on my walls.

You'd have to see it on the color chart in the store. Even then, it looks lighter on the wall once it's applied.

 

Dh is a painting contractor and R/G is one of the most popular colors used in houses.

Blonde is also pretty and what my sunroom is painted.

The color makes it my favorite room in the house.

[Harriet Vane]

I'd be concerned that the toile will fight with the rich reds and energetic stripey curtains. I'd stick with the colors in your striped curtains.

 

I think deep gold walls or perhaps sage green would look lovely.

[IdahoHomeschooler]

I don't think you could go wrong with Sherwin Williams Blonde. It is one shade below Restrained Gold. It would look good in both rooms. The blue would look fabulous as an accent color against it in the dining room, and the reds in the kitchen. It is a very neutral golden color. Your landlord will thank you for choosing it ;) The best thing, is that if you have a Home Depot nearby, they can mix it in their new Behr paint+primer Premium Plus Ultra. Definitely a win/win. They can mix a sample pint, also, if you want to try it out. I honestly don't think you'd regret this color.

[JoyfulMama]

Thanks so much! I was playing around on Sherwin Williams all morning, and couldn't come up with the right yellow - but I *LOVE* Blonde! It has more warmth than what I was finding.

 

I might still look for a blue to do the shared wall in as an accent. I think I like SW's denim color, but would definately need to see a swatch of that.

[Jean too]

I think a green on the dining room walls rather than blue with a yellow in the kitchen would work better with your stripey valance and country dishes. But then I have a thing about blue on the walls. It always seems cold to me.

[IdahoHomeschooler]

Before doing a contrasting color for an accent wall, go to goodwill or another thrift store and get some cheap plates and platters in different shapes. The dollar stores work good for this, too. You can spray paint them in a blue that you like and hang them in a grouping with some blue plates you may have with a pattern already. It makes a really nice focal point in a dining room, and is a more up-to-date look than having an accent wall. You still get that blue "feel," and it is much easier to move things around and change them. It may seem strange to spray paint plates, but it worked surprisingly well. If you would like an example of what I am talking about, I could find it for you :)

[jujsky]

I'd go with a yellow/gold and either a green or a red/rust color. I agree with the poster who said to stick to the colors in your curtains. I wouldn't do blue if you like warm and spicy as blue is a cool color.

[Parrothead]

A terra-cotta in both rooms.

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

Thanks so much! I was playing around on Sherwin Williams all morning, and couldn't come up with the right yellow - but I *LOVE* Blonde! It has more warmth than what I was finding.

 

I might still look for a blue to do the shared wall in as an accent. I think I like SW's denim color, but would definately need to see a swatch of that.

 

Whatever you choose, I would highly recommend getting samples of a few different colors (and maybe even multiple samples of the same color family) to test out big swatches on the wall. I have been burned buying the gallon size of paint that I just knew was the perfect color and it just was so, so not. The last time I painted (my schoolroom, actually), I bought 8 samples of yellow. I actually spent more on those samples than I did on the final paint purchase but I just love the color. It would not have been the color I chose if I had just picked one from the start with no samples.

 

So, I vote try all of the above...big swatches of them. Sit in the room and see how they look and feel at different times of the day when the sun and interior lighting hit them differently.