Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > House > Home Interior Design and Decorating
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
 
Old 07-08-2012, 04:42 PM
 
Location: Florida
2 posts, read 7,110 times
Reputation: 11

Advertisements

Hi everyone! I found this forum when I was searching for "Advice on what color to paint", so I thought I'd pose my question to this group and see if anyone has any advice.

The problem my wife and I are running into when trying to paint the living room is that it's a bit of an unusual shape, and because of the open-ness, it's hard to pick colors that will match everywhere. We were thinking probably 1 main color, and 1-2 accent colors, but are open to suggestion.

I've attached a picture to give some idea of what the room looks like.



Things that aren't clear in the photo:
- Above the stairs is a "knee" wall, until it meets the bedroom (which is directly above the dining room) and becomes a full-height wall
- Living room ceiling is open
- Baseboards and ceilings are (and will remain) white
- The spot where the photo was taken is a corner that features a blue armchair/ottoman
- The picture is actually 3 or 4 pictures taken from the same spot, and "stitched" together with photo editing software, which ends up "bending" the picture a little.
- The "wave" print takes up the entire horizontal space of the wall it's on. There is a 2 inch border on top and 2 inches on the bottom. (And yes, it is level, but the photos were taken before the wave went on the wall, and adding it in using photoshop with the bent effect from the photo-stitch didn't work as well as I had planned)

Thanks in advance for your help!

Last edited by SyracuseWolvrine; 07-08-2012 at 04:54 PM..
Quick reply to this message

 
Old 07-08-2012, 05:10 PM
 
Location: Brevard, NC
165 posts, read 1,281,404 times
Reputation: 146
We have an open floor plan with a high vaulted ceiling in one area and flat 9' elsewhere. We painted all the walls, plus the vaulted ceilings, ONE color.
With the variation in light throughout the day, plus areas in shadow and those facing the windows and those which are angled, there is an amazing variation in the color. We've had guests comment on our painting scheme, how all the different colors seem to flow really well, only to be surprised when we tell them it's all one color. At different times of day and in different areas of the floor plan the walls can look almost white, sometimes like cream, or yellow (pale or dark), sometimes orangy or peachy, even tending towards rose or brown in lowest light.
I'm not sure how this would work on a different place in the color wheel (our color was Toffee Crunch) but I'd start with one color, live with it a while, then add colors later if you think it's needed.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-09-2012, 12:05 PM
 
Location: Asheville
1,160 posts, read 4,228,043 times
Reputation: 1215
I agree with the above poster, but I also just like the color of that wave picture so much, you could consider a more daring idea and that's to at least paint the exact same color blue onto that curved wall thing, from the rail on up, just that whole wall, nothing else... consider hanging a big throw at the top of the stairs over the wall, to prevent it from looking like an arrow.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-10-2012, 05:21 AM
 
20,793 posts, read 61,077,703 times
Reputation: 10691
If your budget allows, take out the "walls" of the stairway and put in some kind of an open stairway. The walls make that stairway really narrow and kind of goofy looking. Keep the higher one but the partial walls on the one side and the bottom need to go. I also think that by doing that you will have an easier time painting or choosing what to paint.

That picture is way too big for that space. You need to move that but I agree, it's a great inspiration for a color scheme.

For the wall colors--use your paint chip well. Paint the wall where the vertical blinds are one of the darkest colors on the chip, paint the rest of the walls 2 or 3 shades lighter then pick a complimentary color/accent color for the wall leading upstairs. Is that wall rounded like it looks or is that the photoshop effect?
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-10-2012, 09:50 AM
 
452 posts, read 894,382 times
Reputation: 567
If you want to apply different colors but still keep the openness of the flow you could also float some draperies in between the family room and dining room. There are rods out there that are swing rods you mount to one surface (they only come out maybe 5 or 6 inches) and have the drapes be the defining factor in-between the rooms then you can switch out your wall color and still have the open flow. It would bring a different color into the rooms. This can also be done with open bookcases like they used as room dividers/storage for knickknacks back in the 60's.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-10-2012, 05:29 PM
 
Location: Florida
2 posts, read 7,110 times
Reputation: 11
Thanks for all the suggestions! Looks like we have a lot of decisions to make. Our initial thoughts with regards to colours were Blue/light Gray/possibly a deep Orange. Maybe try the orange on the wall with the vertical blinds, and put the blue somewhere near the wave picture, but not right next to it?

Hadn't thought about trying to open up the staircase, I'm not sure how feasible that one would be. It's not visible in the picture, but there is actually a closet running underneath the staircase. Its not the MOST functional space (due to the sloped ceiling), but it is a good storage space, which may be lost if we tried opening up the stairwell.

All the walls are straight. The curved appearance is a side-effect of combining multiple pictures into one larger picture.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-10-2012, 09:13 PM
 
Location: the AZ desert
5,035 posts, read 9,179,214 times
Reputation: 8289
You have a gorgeous room to work with. To me, it screams for color.

I love your idea of blue and orange. I would use a light beige for the neutral, instead of white, and use an orange with a lot of yellow undertones. I'd make it all in keeping with your picture and use "beach" colors... the colors of the ocean, sand and sun.

(I'm not a decorator and I happen to love color, so take my thoughts for what they're worth.)
Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


 
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:
Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > House > Home Interior Design and Decorating
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top