Color Your Spirits Bright
March 19, 2009 § 17 Comments
For years decorators have ignored an entire section of the paint color fandeck, labeling these colors as garish, for children only, or just simply in bad taste. Not anymore. Now colors like Mellow Yellow (Ben Moore’s 2020-50 that’s hardly mellow) and Bermuda Teal (2044-50) are making a fresh new statement of uplifting optimism in the design world. A splash of Marmalade (2016-40) or just a smattering of Sherwin Williams’ Gladiola (SW6875) cannot help but lift your spirits. Behr’s wonderful yellow green called Carolina Parakeet (410B-4) is such a happy color that even the name makes me smile.
I wrote about this topic months ago when we started to watch our savings go down the tubes, etc, etc, (no need to drag us through a rehash of events), and today’s Boston Globe has a great article entitled “What is the Color of Hope.” Here’s the link:
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/house/articles/2009/03/19/what_is_the_color_of_hope/
Even if you’re not planning any massive redecorating projects this spring, adding clear happy color as an accent either on a wall, backsplash, or pillows on the sofa may actually improve your mood, enhance the good feelings in your home, and help you cope. A note of caution: If you decide to paint with these bright colors, be sure to mix in lots of white in trim, furniture and accessories not only to bring out the color but give the eye a little rest if needed.
Happy Spring!
Your Home & Color Coach 
Hi, I asked a question a couple weeks ago re painting a room with sloped ceilings and a sloped dormer area, and wondering about trim and door stain color, etc. Not sure where I posted it on your site and not finding it on recent post comments. Did you see it? Thanks.
Hi Mary,
Sorry about that… I didn’t see your post for some reason. Write back again if you can.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi Mary,
We are building a rather large Craftsman style home that is situated on a busy downtown Main St corner. We will be using stone and brick on the exterior and copper elements as well. There is alot of trim with all the knee braces, korbels and wrap around porch. I really like the Ben Moore colors and am considering “Chestertown Buff” for the siding/main color and possibly “Deep in Thought” or “Lancaster Whitewash” for the trim. I’m a little concerned the CB will be too bold. Our neighbors in the area have overused every shade of green and we want to be different yet not known as the BIG YELLOW HOUSE! what is your opinion? Thanks.
Hi Della,
The Chestertown Buff is a nice color but on a large house, it might be a little mustardy. Not so sure. Have you considered all the taupes like Quincy Tan (HC-25)? With your Lancaster Whitewash trim or Bone White, I think the house would look sharp. (Maybe that’s too green like your neighbors’ houses… ). You could use an accent color for the korbels, etc. — perhaps something on the rust side. A traditional look, but on your main street location, I would go with tastefully historic and not too daring. Just me, I suppose.
See what you think about the taupes in the Historic colors.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Barbara 🙂 ,
Thank you. I will get a sample of Quincy and see how it looks. It looks a little generic to me though. I am partial to the golds I think after brainstorming for a few weeks. What do you think of Wilmington Tan or Shelburne Buff? Let me know if there are others I should look at (I am testing colors on the actual house). We live near the beach so there are more than enough blue houses too.
Thanks, Della
Hi Della,
Yes, Wilmington Tan is wonderful! Same with Selburne Buff. That’s the idea. I think you’ll be very pleased with either
of those medium shades on your house.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Barbara,
I just realized I had a sample pot of Powell Buff that I was planning on painting a powder room with. (so many decisions…) Since I am fairly settled on using Deep in Thought for the trim and Silhouette for the shutters and accent trim (Our roof will be dark gray)- what do you think of PB? Since there is so much house- maybe this will be a softer look? I am using Lancaster Whitewash for all the inside trim and cabinet work.
Hope you had a wonderful celebration with your father! Thank you so much for this great blog and your help with color choices. I think we are settling in on Shelburne Buff for siding/stucco with Lancaster White trim, and Silhouette and maybe even some Mayflower Red for accents. There is so much trim on this house there is plenty of room for 4 colors I think. I will send pics when done. And I’m sure I’ll be back when we finalize the interior colors!!!
Hi there!
I’m having major problems picking a BM paint color for the walls of my entry foyer (and second story hall). The flooring in the foyer will be honed Jerusalem Stone (gold) and the freestanding curved stair will have stained oak risers and a oil-rubbed bronze railing. The second story hall flooring will be a warm/medium color stained white oak. I tried picking up the honey colors, but they all seem too tan and dull on the wall. If I went more to the cream shades, which colors option would you propose for wall and trim?
As I type this my builder is calling me for color decisions. Help!!!
Tali
Hi Tali,
I’ve given out this color several times today, but it just seems to work. Try BM Powell Buff (HC-35) with white dove trim and see how well that works.
Good luck.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
We actually went w/Accadia white for all ground floor trim. My contractor forced me to pick a trim color before I got your response!!
Would you still go with the Powell Buff? I don’t want the walls to look too yellow. I am going for a creamy look. Thanks!
Hi Tali,
I like it. There’s also Papaya which is a little less yellow. See what you think.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Thank you. I’ll let you know how it goes…
We narrowed it down between Palace White and Indian Whiite and I think we are going to take the plunge with Indian White.
Here’s another question for my Master Bedroom which gets a lot of natural light. We are going with Carrington Beige on the walls. I think I want to go with a color on the tray ceiling. Eventually I plan to bring pale aqua/turquoise bedding and gold leaf accents in the room. Can I go with a pale bluish color on the ceiling, or should I pick a neutral color? Any recommendations for a Benjamin Moore tray ceiling paint color and what to paint the ceiling around the tray?
Hi Tali,
I love the idea of blue on the ceiling. You could go with either your trim color around the tray or another accent color. Painting the bedroom ceiling is a terrific idea — in what other rooms do you have the opportunity to lie around and stare up at the ceiling??
Go for it!
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
(original post March 29th) Hi Mary. We’re almost finished painting the outside of our new craftsman home and we ended up using BM Shelburne Buff at 200% for the siding, Dunn Edwards Whisper Gray for the trim and MB Silouhette for the shutters and accents. Its looks fabulous with the stone we chose! I think we’re going to use Dunn Edwards Cherry Cola for the side exterior doors which are visible from the street since we’re on a corner. Our entry door is Walnut. Do you think that will work? I’ll send a pic as soon as I can figure out how 🙂
Thank you so much for all your comments.
Della
Hi Della,
All sounds terrific. I’d love to see a photo — you can add a link to this reply box or email it to me.
Thanks.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach