Any one with an eye for colour?

[alp]

We did redo our kitchen about 6 years ago now. It is open to the dinning room, thus the little walls shown in the kitchen and the walls in the dinning room are the same color. cupboards in the kitchen are very clear stained maple, it changes faint colors to blond or pinkish depending on the light. the color walls I picked is a medium to light gray. the back splash is smoked gray blue glass tiles no grout. the counter top is granite with wavy splashes of grays, golds, red garnets drifts, the sink is a brick red, my stove, dishwasher, fridge are cream. floor is a bone tile. room is not that large. size is good for two folks to cook in it, but small enough for good pivoting about with dealing with a multi taxing meal. Lights are open hanging, black iron with white glass shades.

Sounds nice. Could we have some visuals please, Esther?

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Sounds nice. Could we have some visuals please, Esther?

they are on my other computer. will get it out of the car later.

 

[Sheal]

@Sheal I am glad to see people using vibrant colors. Back when my wife and I were fixing up houses to sell the realtors always advised us to use “Earth tones”. Read - boring tan or beige. They also wanted no wood showing. All trim was to be painted white, not varnished wood. I think @Arden Sage you should look up some of @Colin posts. He too is a master of bringing the best out in a room with lively colors.

Thank you @Silentrunning. I'm with you on the earth tones, not only boring but dismal through the winter months. I loathe white apart from ceilings. I haven't got round to starting the decorating here in my new home and all walls and doors are currently white.

@Colin you've certainly worked hard and made a grand job of your home.

I need to choose some paint colours (ceilings and walls). I simply cannot think! The kitchen units are a bone white and charcoal with a pale grey stone effect flooring

Which way does your kitchen face please @Arden Sage?

 

[Colin]

Hi,

You're welcome to visit us alp but you'll need to bring along your deep sea trawler clothing because it tends to get a bit wet and if Gale is around you'll need a rope as well to to tie yourself down or you could disappear at speed.

You're most welcome Arden and thanks for your kind comments; my lovely Bron shares the credit as does the picture below. There are lots of members on here with great ideas only too willing to share them.

Bron and I many years ago visited a friend who had just redecorated his front room and was proud of his efforts; Bron says the colour was green; I felt physically sick sitting in the room with all the walls painted floor to ceiling in this green colour; I had to make the polite excuse that we had an appointment nearby; we've not been back since; it was so bad I felt I was going to vomit by the time we departed; other colours too have an undesirable effect upon me; certain colours together can make me feel dizzy such as black and white stripes behaving like strobes; it's most strange but it can hurt me.

Take lots of time Arden and rather than treat it just as decorating treat it like an interesting project; can you improve other aspects of the rooms such as lighting and perhaps lots more power sockets; I installed four double 13A sockets behind our TV and just above our heads were we sit on the sofa I installed a pair of wall lights into the window main frame uprights these being switched by reaching over our shoulder and they make good reading lamps.

Always look to improve and rather than try to complete every room at breakneck speed why not have a plan of action spreading the work over time only completing one room at a time before moving onto the next room; I've seen lots of TV programmes where a DIY'er has ripped the home apart then lost interest because it then became too much often leaving things quite dangerous. Bron and I have been working on our home for the last 31 years and I hope we never finish it.

Thanks Sheal; if only our weather was more cooperative I could enjoy working on our home all the year round.

Kind regards, Colin.

Having viewed hundreds of home exteriors on the web this one really pleased us thinking it would suit our bungalow; we sent the picture to Shaw's who kindly suggested the paint colours then we bought the paint; Benjamin Moore paint is incredible; expensive yes but cheap long term and it sure gives a WOW factor. Credit must go to the owners in America of this stunning home.

 

[alp]

You're welcome to visit us alp but you'll need to bring along your deep sea trawler clothing because it tends to get a bit wet and if Gale is around you'll need a rope as well to to tie yourself down or you could disappear at speed.

I sort of know what it is like. When we visited the Lake District, it was raining every day! When I look at the rolling landscape in Wales, I am always envious. However, the thought of gale force winds and perpetual rain can really put me off. Then when someone mentioned the dry spot of Snowdonia, I was put off even further. Nice and neat work, Colin!

 

[Esther Knapicius]

@Colin , that nice warm/red brown color is nice for that trim against the brown house.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

these were pic, I took in the process of the renovation. I did not push all the full image, somehow. but it gives you ideas of colors better.

 

[alp]

Love the granite top, Esther. I am not a yellow person. But the worktop works well with the yellow here! Well done!

Here in the UK, it's so dark that I just want everything WHITE!

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Love the granite top, Esther. I am not a yellow person. But the worktop works well with the yellow here! Well done!

Here in the UK, it's so dark that I just want everything WHITE!

Not sure where you see --yellow--. no yellow in kitchen.

 

[alp]

Woody colour.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

We picked out the granite counter top from this huge place, about 20 min drive from us. it is a very large metal type building, would say 4 planes could easily fit in it. there were row after row of slabs of granite to look at. you have to wear a hard hat to walk in there. when we finally picked the slab, they had a machine that hung it out also with a second slab, we were asked what area we want placement of the colors to areas to cover. was a neat experience.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Woody colour.

its solid maple wood, with a clear stain on it, no paint on it. it is the color that wood looks naturally.

 

[alp]

This wood business reminds me of a person selling a house which has a light blue frontage, but on photos, it almost looked cyan. He's a carpenter and loved all his wood kitchen units. I said they looked a bit dated and he lamented that they were made of genuine wood. I could understand and I think they were much better than the compressed ikea units that I have. My next kitchen won't be from Ikea! That's for sure. Fun to go round to see what the latest funky things are in Ikea. We had a chest drawers and the bar in between the drawers snapped in no time and the material is just shockingly useless. A snap and the bar between 2 and another one 4!

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Before I selected the cupboards for my kitchen, and other things for my kitchen. I did lots of research with consumer reports. the top recommended cupboard are Kraftmade . The drawers are dovetailed and the back board that is nailed/screwed to the studs are solid wood. We did the reno ourselves. Putting the pieces up took lots of grit and muscle to hold in place to get the drill positioned etc. My only negative is the one cupboard that has sliding out drawers --the sliding out drawers cannot handle a load of heavy can goods. However, if you just keep the lighter things there all is good. I put the can goods in the bottom corner part which works for me. I love the two big pot and pan drawers, they pull out totally open so I can easily grab what I need. And they are all soft closure.

 

[alp]

And they are all soft closure.

Sounds nice. Well done for the diy, Esther!