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Hello all, I'm buying a house and currently all the walls are white. So I've been trying to think of all my decorating options.
This is my first home and I don't have alot of furniture. So I'm open to anything. One piece I do have is a dark cherrywood dining room set. So I was thinking of playing off that and painting the dining room a brown color -
The bedrooms are open for anything. I have a black metal & wood frame bed.
The bathroom is horrible - ugly gold & white vinyl and a blue toliet & tub! No idea why they thought that matched. I don't mind the blue though, but the gold is killing me. lol
I'm new to all of this and never had to decorate before. But I love the quirky odd modern vibe if that even makes sense
We need pix, otherwise, its a shot in the dark.
What style is the house, what color are the floors, what are the floors, kitchen cabinets, etc, etc.......
PS: Do NOT paint the DR to match your furniture!
I'd keep the bedroom white, it's a soothing color and helps you sleep better and relax more (red on the other hand is agitating for instance, rarely a good color for a bedroom), if you want some color in there, I'd use the furniture actively as well as possibly painting one wall an accent color.
If you like darker colors, as you say, remember that a dark room appears smaller and that it also needs a lot more light, so think about your lighting options and sources, generally I would advice against very dark colors on the wall, but it is possible to pull it off successfully, it does require good lighting design though.
I'd keep the bedroom white, it's a soothing color and helps you sleep better and relax more (red on the other hand is agitating for instance, rarely a good color for a bedroom), if you want some color in there, I'd use the furniture actively as well as possibly painting one wall an accent color.
If you like darker colors, as you say, remember that a dark room appears smaller and that it also needs a lot more light, so think about your lighting options and sources, generally I would advice against very dark colors on the wall, but it is possible to pull it off successfully, it does require good lighting design though.
Darker colors making a room look smaller is a fallacy.
Good lighting design is the key to any well-designed room.
"French country" might not be your thing either, but cherry wood furniture is tied in with that look. You could look up some French country photos for inspiration. Red accents in the dining room would pick up the red in the dining set wood.
Please don't do a brown in the DR with the cherrywood. Cherrywood will look garish if the brown is too yellow, and will disappear if too dark or red. It all depends on what you want it to do. I have a maple table, china cabinet, and interior trim (go figure - the table was a gift 30 years ago, the china cabinet a gift 10 years ago, and we bought the house 3 years ago!) - and I just painted the DR a soft gray-green. The yellow tint in the maple color is softened by the 'cold' gray-green; the paint draws out more of the red tones and makes the wood 'pop'. Spiced up with my posters-glazed-on-wood of French bistros, and my French Bistro curtains delicately trimmed in one-inch green gingham, plus the roosters, baskets, and wooden fruit and vegetable signs, it looks very appealing; like a place you would settle in for a cappucino with a friend or two.
I don't like a white BR; the sun reflects off of it too brilliantly and reminds me of the glare of snowdrifts. I do pale pale BR colors; I am particularly fond of pale lavenders, pale greens, around which I can 'build' my bed and window treatments, making them look soft and welcoming, mildly colorful or flowered if desired, or even pumped up with bold stripes or geometrics. If you are going for more of a "sultan" look, with opulent gold, black, red, or even green, you might want to go for a neutral light gray or even a very pale beige.
My bathroom here was maple trimmed, had huge overwhelming wood furnishings and cabinets, brass fixtures - and was painted what my father would have called "S___ muckle brown". It was dreadful. I painted it a cool blue, got a 'window opening onto a seaside' print curtain for the window that drew the wood and blue and seashells together, and used seashells for decoration on the tops of the cabinets and even the wooden light strip. I polished the brass to a fare-thee-well. The ceilings were 10 feet - so I put a tiny underwater seascape, with fishes and corals, 'way up near the top of the wall across from the 'throne' to add interest. Now instead of a dark cave, it shines with mischievous humor - everyone who walks out of there is grinning! Thank goodness the floor tile was a non-descript white as were the porcelains; so much easier to play with!
Your house should be an expression of you; your tastes and desires, the walls should make your furniture look like it was built-in or made for the room, everything tied together for the 'look' you want to give even the casual observer... plus something that makes YOU feel at home, at last.
If you prefer a "modern vibe" get a Crate and Barrel catalog. You'll get some ideas from there. The magazine House Beautiful found on any news stand is hardly dedicated to a modern vibe, but they have very good articles about choosing colors in each issue. They also print a separate publication every year that is just dedicated to discussing interior colors.
Darker colors making a room look smaller is a fallacy.
Good lighting design is the key to any well-designed room.
A fallacy? You base that on what exactly?
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