Excited for Spring Spruce-Ups
March 5, 2009 § 45 Comments
Hi Bloggers,
It’s been ages since I posted although I’ve been busy answering your questions both on the blog and via email. Keep them coming. I’m happy to help you prepare for spring painting projects.
I’m working on a big basement re-do at the moment and I’ll have photos to post as we go along. I also have some new photos of the chocolate brown bedroom. Check back again.
Thanks for visiting.
-Barbara, Your Home & Color Coach
Your Home & Color Coach 
Hello Amy-
I need help in deciding on the front door color of our house… We have a red brick ranch with fresh new vinyl siding done in a beigey-taupe, with white trim and new white gutters. The front door is tricky (I think) because it has the criss-cross diamond shaped windows in the upper half. I can only recall seeing this type of door done in white, but I sure love the look of a deep red door. Your thoughts?
We also have to paint the garage door. Does this have to be the trim-matching white, or would it be strange to match the beigey-taupe of the siding color?
-Maria in NC
Hi Maria,
Let’s start with the garage door. Definitely paint it the siding color. With white trim, it will look terrific. Then, as for the front door, I suggest taking the deepest of your brick colors and going one shade darker. That will give you a rich, rusty red and with the white trim around it, the door will look very inviting. Don’t worry about the windows. Paint the whole door the same color.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
I have to buy paint this weekend and am so useless choosing colours, my ceiling right through the house is white, my walls are all like a very light champayne color(has a very light yellow look to it) my doors are all white, i need to paint the ceilings, doors and bedroom cupboards, what color do you suggest to math the walls, thankyou so much.
Regards
Brenda
Hi Brenda,
With such light walls, I suggest a bright, clear white for your ceiling (flat finish super white) and doors/cupboards (semi-gloss finish super white). That way the champagne color will really pop.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
hey there. . .
keep running into your blog, so i thought i would see what you had to say.
i had to make a decision today on my windows. last minute, so i just went with almond. i think i may have made the wrong decision. that’s beside the point. i’m going to make them work, and my house will be beautiful, right?
🙂
ok.
here’s my house:
http://www.larryjames.com/house_plans_asp/full_color.asp?PlanNumber=9720
right now, all i have is the beige windows. i have to make a decision by the morning on roof color.
do you suggest i go with black or a grey? driftwood or black is what my builder calls it?
these are the two bricks that i like:
http://www.larryjames.com/house_plans_asp/full_color.asp?PlanNumber=9720
and
http://www.generalshale.com/products_fb.php?tx=1236741274
the carrington tudor
my questions. which roof should i go with? my gut says black, what do you think?
also, do you think my home will be pretty? i don’t want the beige too overpowering. i’m such a white person, but my husband and my mom said i should go with beige, so of course, i listened and didn’t follow my gut.
what do you suggest?
Hi Jessica,
You can’t go wrong with black for your roof color, especially with the almond windows. (I didn’t see the brick choices you mentioned, but the house plan came through okay.)
Not to worry about the window color. It will look wonderful.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
i’m glad you said that.
i told someone today we went with black, and they snarled their nose at me!
Jessica,
Black is timeless. Not to worry…
You’ll like the black much better with your window color than gray. More options for house color.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi,
Its brenda again, i forgot to ask you, i have to paint my window sills outside, Do i have to use Stoep paint which is very expensive, my shutters on the side of the windows are green, should i go green or should i just use the normal brown? thanks for the early advise on colour,
Hi Brenda,
Just be sure to scrape away old paint on the window sills and use a good primer. After that you can use just ordinary exterior latex paint. As for color, I would use the same color as your window trim, not the shutter color.
Hope that helps.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi Barbara!
I wanted to show you the results of your helping with our house paint. It came out beautiful! Thank you!
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/EVww1TIz3PxjOPhwXMpU7w?authkey=Gv1sRgCMbDg-q5yoPQpAE&feat=directlink
Now, are you up for the worlds smallest kitchen? It’s very narrow and impossible to widen to to zoning laws on one side and a bedroom on the other. It was “decorated” in 1944 with red counters and ship varnished plywood cabinets. I want to do hardwood floors and butcher block counter, and one of those big farm house sinks. but maybe butcher block and wood floors are too much wood .maybe just paint the cabinets white? Or should we just refinish them wood and go with a different flooring? 12 years I have thought about different schemes…to scared to try any of them!
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/9wpW-Cc-ERAst6Yr051Rdw?authkey=Gv1sRgCMbDg-q5yoPQpAE&feat=directlink
and
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/8LTbZeI-o7MxCBEtBne7Ww?authkey=Gv1sRgCMbDg-q5yoPQpAE&feat=directlink
Thank you thank you!
Whitney
Hi Whitney,
Wow, your house looks great! Nice job!
And now on to your kitchen. I’ve seen smaller… but yes, yours needs a little updating. I definitely recommend painting your cabinets, but here’s the tricky part. If you go with white, you run the risk of having every little nick show. It’s really hard to get a painted surface that does not show wear over time from opening the cabinets (fingernail digs) and other mishaps. One way around the fingernail digs (at least for the drawers) is to use old-fashioned half-moon drawer pulls. That way any scrapes to the paint will be hidden under the pull. Also, make sure you research the painting process before starting. There’s even a special kind of paint that hardens up and is perfect for cabinets. You can find all that info on the web.
As for color, it’s fine to bring the wood floor into the kitchen from the dining room as long as you can get the wood to match up. It will make the whole area seem larger. And it’s fine to go with a butcher block counter top (an excellent and affordable option) — it will not be too much wood, especially if separated by painted cabinets. White would blend the cabinets into the stove and make that wall seem less chopped up, but don’t overlook the possibility of color on the cabinets. Another option is putting a darker color on the bottom cabinets and lighter on the top. Less kitcheny and more interesting.
Another idea is to paint the cabinets a slightly off-white shade of white (so you don’t make the stove look dirty) and put stainless steel on your backsplash to tie in with the stainless refrigerator on the other side of the room and reflect light. Although you may feel that it’s too contemporary for your house (subway tiles would probably be more historically accurate), I thought I’d mention the stainless idea in case you’re interested. Black and white tiles would also work and then put color into your dishes and accessories. A nice updated country look.
Wish I were there to help you. Kitchens are fun!
Good luck.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
I have to make a decision as to what color to paint my 1925 Craftsman bungalow soon. It has a greyish green mottled composition shingle roof that I’m pretty much stuck with. I’d like an unusual, not boring color scheme, but not something that will freak my neighbors out. Any suggestions?
Hi Laura,
How about capitalizing on that grey/green roof and bumping it up a notch. I assume you have white trim…
Take a look at Carolina gull (2138-40), a gray green itself, and consider pairing that with something like Shadow (2117-30) a wonderful grape, for your door and any other accent areas. With lots of white and lavendar (and maybe some orange) flowers in pots by the door, you’ve got a winning look. Smashing!
See what you think.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi Barbara,
I took your advise and painted the ceilings white and the bedroom cupboards etc with a semi white super gloss, it looks so wonderful, and i took your advise for my window sills, i bought a chocolate brown stoep paint and NOT the green which i was going to get, thank you it looks divine, have a smiling day.
Hi Barbara,
I’m looking for some advice on the front of our house. My wife and I are thinking about adding different brick to the front of our house. We currently have gray siding and a black roof. We would like to do a red color brick and some shakes that go with gray siding. Do you have any suggestions? I’m including a picture of the front of our house.
Thanks,
Jon
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2002124&id=1344531547&saved#/photo.php?pid=327401&id=1344531547
Hi Jon,
I couldn’t view your photo for some reason, but I have an idea anyway. I suggest not doing red brick but sticking with more neutral earth tones for a more contemporary look. Then do coordinating shakes in a tone taken from the brick and you’ll have a very “put-together” house. (Red brick with gray doesn’t really do much for the gray — or the brick, for that matter.)
Hope that helps.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi Barbara,
Love your blog! Just found it… We have a small 1923 bungalow in Portland painted a light taupe / beige. We would like to paint the front door black (currently burgundy). For the roof we’re looking at Weathered Wood (brownish black?) or Midnight Black. Leaning towards black, but didn’t know if it would be too harsh on our little bungalow.
Your thoughts?
Thanks so much!
–Alicia
Hi Alicia,
Since you’re concerned with the size of the house, I suggest going with the Weathered Wood roof and maybe a not-quite-black front door to coordinate with the roof. Have a look at Ben Moore’s Night horizon (2134-10) for an idea.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi Barbara,
We are having our house painted next month. It is all aluminum siding with very white windows and 5-inch framing boards around the windows. There is limited brick showing on the foundation — it is an old-fashioned red brick with lots of variation. Is there some way I can attached a photo for you to see? We painted 8 years ago and I “missed” the mark with what I wanted. I wanted a tannish/khaki siding with olive trim and at that point, we painted the inside window trim an ivory color. The roof is a Driftwood — light brownish grey. I used Sherwin-Williams “Headlands” and it turned out so yellowish-green I cannot stand it. In the winter when snow covers the ground it looks like pea-soup. I love houses I see with khaki siding and white windows and trim, but my neighbor down the street did that with Pebblstone Clay Alcoa siding and white trim and I would feel bad copying her idea. Do you have any suggestions for an all siding color and trim that goes with white windows. We live in Pittsburgh, PA on a wooded lot with lots of shading here and there.
Thanks so much.
~ Rose
Hi Barbara,
It’s Rose again and I had an idea about the siding today, which I wanted to swing by you. Have you heard of Hardie Board?
http://www.jameshardie.com/homeowner/siding.shtml
They have a very nice line of siding colors.
I was thinking for my old new england, 2-story colonial house on a very wooded lot, I could do the Monterey Taupe for the siding, Cobblestone for the 5-inch trim boards around my bright white-framed windows. And a Red door. (SW–Roycroft Copper Red).
Wish I could get you a photo so you could imagine it better.
Thanks again.
~ Rose
Hi Rose,
Perfect color combo. Good job!
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi Barbara,
I keep running into your blog so it must be meant to ask your opinion! I am in the process of painting my main living area which is open to my recently painting dining room. I choose a very beautiful turquoise/teal for the dining room and for the life of me, I can NOT pick a paint color for the living area. See draft 1 of dining room paint and living room space:
http://tinyurl.com/dcxce3
http://tinyurl.com/ckyz3w
You can ignore the accessories and sofa as those will all be changed. like i said looking for a good main color for the living room. the current color looks nice in that photo, but it is very pink/peachy in person which i dont want. I was thinking a really nice cream or a warm inviting pale gray or silvery-blue gray. CLUELESS and just giving up… Please help!!
Hi Elizabeth,
I LOVE the color of your dining room. Can you share it with us? It’s just so rich and beautiful.
As for your adjoining living room, have a look at Ben Moore’s Papaya (957) for a wonderful rich cream. Also Natural wicker (950) for a slightly grayer tone. I would stay on the warm side so the rooms don’t look too cold. See what you think.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi Barbara,
I hope you can help me–I can’t even begin to tell you how confused I am about wall colors. Our family room has lt. beige/off white carpet. The furniture includes a dark brown leather chair, another chair with brown chenille with a light green stripe in the weave and and a large sofa that looks brownish green. Accent pillows and ottoman have a Moroccan look–muted red, gold, some green–same with the 3 handerchief drapes. Furniture is mixed–some light oak, some English pine. A couple of the pictures on the wall have gray frames. I love the room-it’s an eclectic combination that works. The decision for paint color for the walls is completely confusing me! I went with my husband’s choice about 10 years ago and it’s painted a muted green, that almost looks gray–very boring! I want to pep things up and not turn visitor’s off. Any suggestions?
Hi RLBKNC,
How about a nice warm Gingerbread man (Ben Moore 1111)? Or Ivy lane (523)? See what you think.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi Barbara.
In our new home we just painted with Gingerbread man (Ben Moore 1111) Love the warmth of the color. However we are struggling with the color of curtains to put on both windows. Our furniture is dark cherry wood. What color scheme would you recommend for curtains?
Hi Shelley,
You might find a stripe with some cream/rust/brown/burgundy that would complement your color scheme perfectly. You can always use plain cream panels on the windows and add your bold patterns with pillows on the furniture. Or you can go bold with a dark chocolate. But be prepared to add some white/cream accessories to the room to lighten it up if you go dark on the windows. Stick with the autumn palette for the big stuff and then add a punch of color (light blue?).
Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi:
I would appreciate help. My wife and I are renovating an old building and the second floor we want as a yoga studio/wellness/health classes/spinning, etc. The ceiling is 9 foot high with steel trusses spanning and supporting a concrete roof deck. Hence, very industrial and impossible to soften.
It was painted black and we sprayed it out black and it looks good. One might think if makes one feel enclosed but it actually gives a feeling of space.
So, Black concrete ceiling with lots of steel trusses all black with one heat run of rectangular steel plenum that I do not want to paint.
Ideas for wall color?
THanks
Hi Bruce,
Have a look at Ben Moore’s Beach Glass 1564 with either Healing Aloe 1562 or a rich cream for any trim or accents around the space. Very soothing combo.
Best of luck!
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
We just built a 1 BR guest apartment above a large garage. I’m new at starting from scratch with deciding on cabinets, wood trim stain, etc. What we have so far is a cherry vanity cabinet on order, red oak unstained flooring (which my husband wants to keep fairly light) to install yet, fir doors, and Devine Oat on the walls in main room. I don’t know what to stain the doors, baseboards and wood trim around windows and how it should relate to the floors. We have a pretty blank slate as far as furnishings. There is a small kitchen area in the dormer to the side we will get cabinets for. Should we do the baseboards in white- an additional color as we did the walls and sloped ceiling all in the Oat. We will probably put some open shelving /cabinets around the t.v. so this may be another wood, or white? And we plan to put some wood beams in the ceiling- any idea for stain color for these? I’m worried about all these different woods not looking good together. What would you do? We live in the northwest and the unit doesn’t get a great deal of light. Thanks for your advice.
Hi Mary,
I like all your choices. Since you don’t have a lot of light, I would paint the window trim and baseboards white to maximize light reflection and offer some fresh contrast with all the woods. And any built-in shelving I would do in white as well just to lighten the apartment up. If you’re striving for more of a modern look than the traditional white trim, you can always paint the trim the same wall color. Makes the space look bigger and de-emphasizes the windows.
Hope that helps.
-Barbara.
Your Home & Color Coach
Also, we’re thinking of a light cherry cabinets for kitchen and we just painted the area a sagey green. We may go with Ipswich pine for the doors as that seems like a neutral light/med stain that shows the nice wood.
Barb,
Do you have one or two exterior house colors you can recommend in the “tan” department? My home has a driftwood-colored roof (brownish/grey) and a varigated red brick foundation. My inside window trim is PELLA white.
Thanks for your help.
~ Rose
Hi Rose,
Take a look at Ben Moore’s Lenox Tan (with green undertones HC-44) and Bradstreet Beige (with grayer/pinker undertones HC-48). I think either of those would work with your roof and brick. See what you think.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi Barb,
Thanks so much for your suggested tans. I tried the Lenox tan and it seems too “gold” for my brick and the Bradstreet Beige seems too “orange”. Are you familiar with the Alcoa siding color called Pebblestone Clay? Do you know of a lighter paint version of that color that might work? And if so, do you have a suggestion for a subtler complementary color for the 5-inch framing boards around the very white window frames?
Thanks so much.
~ Rose
HELP! I have white siding and a green roof. I would love to paint my trim and shutters something different, currently the trim is white and the shutters are green. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Hi Darla,
How about Ben Moore’s Caldwell green (HC-125) for the shutters, continued white for the trim, and (stepping outside the box a bit) a Shadow 2117-30 purple front door. Then replace any flowers with purple plantings around your yard and on the front step, and you’ve got a fresh look.
See what you think.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi,
We recently fnished our basement and I am undecided on colors to paint. The family room, kitchen/eating area
are open, and a office is to the side of the family room separated by a half wall. At the end of the kitchen is a half wall to separate my craft room. There is 5 small basement windows in the whole area, so i do ot have a lot of natural light. We installed a dropped ceiling, but do not have 8′ ceilings and down one side we enclosed the duct work with drywall. Should I use the same color through out or break the colors up for separation, or even an accent wall.
There will be wood trim, but at this time I have not chosen my floor covering. Would appreciate suggestions, Thanks,
Cheryl
Hi Cheryl,
I know I answered this post, but I don’t see it. So here goes. I would paint the entire basement one color, semi-light to enlarge the space. Then you can paint the half walls in accent colors to delineate the craft area, etc. Bring in accessories to coordinate with the half wall accent colors and you’ll have one unified basement.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
hi i have an office building that needs to be repainted. its located in a little prairie town and that paint is coming off the window trims. the stucco is white and the color around the windows are purple. ( done years before our purchase of it. ) there is brick on the building that is dark brown. i can send you an email of it, but couldn’t figure out how to do this. its only a small on story buidling. Can you help me with some ideas
Denise
Hi denise,
You might conider redoing the trim in a warm taupey gray to bridge the white stucco, the brick, and the gray roof. Taupe is kind of a funny color that can look tan or gray or green or a pinker version of any of those depending on the light. But it’s a great bridge color as it goes with lots of things.
See what you think.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi Barbara,
I have a modern two story ranch house with vertical T1-11 siding. We are going to be re-siding and repainting. My husband and I like sage green/gray green colors and we both like Kelly Moore’s Fern color KM3885-2. We are having trouble selecting two complementary colors to use with this for trim (we currently have 3 paint shades on our house….one for the window trim and belly bands around our house (that hide the t1-11 siding seems) and another shade for our entry way and fence that surrounds our home. Also, incase it impacts your opinion, the window frames on the house are dark brown (not white) Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you!
-Deana
Hi Deana,
How about choosing another green to coordinate with your KM Fern? Something like portage 3891-1 or even a slightly yellower green for the window trim and belly band? Then you could punctuate the house by painting the front door a dark grape with the trim color around it. As for the fence, you might choose a neutral brown that ties in the windows?
See what you think.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Thanks Barbara. I like that idea, it has been challenging to find something in stripes. I wanted to go with the Chocolate, but my husband thinks it’s a little dark for the room.
We ended up finding a dark green with a gold tone that looks pretty good.