Decorating/Painting Color Help!

I agree with Katie F. For just one small room, a consultation should be relatively inexpensive. Compared to the cost of living with colors that you don't like or the expense of repainting the room, it may be worth it.
Also, like one poster said, if you pick one main item (even if it is just a toothbrush holder that you love) you can ask for a decorator to help you work around that.

Do you have a friend who has a nicely designed house? A relative who is good with colors and coordination? Ask their advice. Also, what line of work are you in? There are times that people will "trade" their professional work for yours which saves you both money!

I agree with the others who posted by saying that you should pick a painting, shower curtain, bedspread, etc. as the "center piece" then use those colors.

Now, if your tastes are the same as mine, then here are some suggestions - Ralph Lauren paint while more costly than others at Home Depot have become a favorite of my husband and I because each color seems to have a "layer" of colors that really look different in different lighting. For example: We really like Manor Gray...Everyone sees it as a different color when it's on the walls...Is it gray, tan, or green? --Seems to be a chameleon. You'd never guess how great it is from the little card. We have a house on the water with a LOT of light coming in during the day and the bedroom painted in Manor Gray looks green but then at night or with natural lighting it looks more tan and sometimes does look gray - we really love the look. In our upstairs living/dining, etc. we have a Ralph Lauren color called Tack Room which is white but not really - in the right lighting it has a beautiful subtle BLUE tone - we love it with the lighting in our house!

Good luck!
blessings,
Stacy

Go and buy 5 decorating magazines. Make sure to get Elle Decor and House Beautiful. Tear out everything you like. You will see a pattern in colors and things you like, then go from there. Maybe you will even find a room you want to copy. You could also check out decorating books at Home Depot or a book store.

Then, when you find a color you like, you MUST try swatches on the wall, and make sure they are large, at least 5' by 5', so you get an idea of the true color. Benjamin Moore has little color samples you can buy. Paint your ceilings and moldings white. Try Decorator's White - I think it's Behr paint. Make sure there is some gloss in the paint - either eggshell or satin -- it's prettier and cleanable. Also use acrylic (water-based), not oil.

p.s. - Good brands of paint: Behr, Ralph Lauren, Benjamin Moore. Don't bother with the others. Also use the highest quality paint they sell -- it's worth it.

You first need to decide if you like 'warm' tones or 'cool' tones.
That is how I am.

Warm tones are like yellow, browns, earth tones, reds,... etc.
Cool tones are like blues, green, gray, reds etc.
But, it depends on the undertones of the color.

Next, what is your favorite color? If you have one?

Do you want it to look contemporary or traditional?
Relaxing or stimulating?
Monochromatic or colorful?
Neutral or lively?
Trendy or not?

Even white, can be 'warm' or 'cool' depending on the undertones of the pigment. Warm whites are nice. Cool whites are more formal. For example.

Often, a Painter will have good advice too. Ask him.

AND it depends on your counter tops/lavatory/sink/faucets too. What are those colors and styles? It all has to be coordinated.

You have to narrow down... go online and look at HGTV or something, to get ideas. Look at magazines and see what you like.

Have you checked out any blogs on decorating? A great start is thenester.com. She's fantastic, has low/no budget ideas, search "paint" in her site, and you'll get some great ideas. She has links to other great sites as well. Have fun!

look at magazines and see what color scheme you like.

the painter SHOULD have an opinion if they are good painters.

pick a color or two that you like and talk to your husband and the painter.

My mom's light-blue w/ white & yellow accent is very soothing. My bright orange bathroom (in a rental) is NOT soothing. I personally like a creme and olive green color. My SIL bathroom is olive green with palm tree pictures. Her other bathroom is dark blue and she brought other colors in from her wedding bouquet which she has in a vase in her bathroom. So perhaps find a picture or a shower curtain or towels that you just love, then find accent colors and matching colors.

Read online! Found this googling "color paint ideas for bathroom":

When decorating bathrooms bathroom paint color ideas should be top on your list. If you have a small bathroom steer away from dark colors that will make the room feel like you’re crawling into a cave. Colors like yellows, light blues tend to give the best results.

Yellow is cheery and may be just the color you’ll like to see first thing in the morning. It is especially good to use this as one of your bathroom paint color ideas if you have natural light in your bathroom. The yellow walls will reflect the natural light all over the room for a fresh glow. Be sure to use a pure yellow. It will probably be named something like Sunshine Yellow. Stay away from tints of orange or green. I made the mistake once of choosing a tint of yellowish-orange. I wasn’t happy with it at all! It looked like someone had smeared an ice cream pop all over my walls!

On the other hand, shades of white may be just the relaxing edge you need. When planned properly this can be a beautifully calming combo. If not put together purposefully it may appear that you just lack imagination. You can read more about how to accomplish this style here.

Cool colors like a light blue or sage make you relax. Depending on how you decorate, blue can be reminiscent of a day at the beach. Sage with purple accents can make you feel as though you just stretched out to nap in a lavender field. With these bathroom paint color ideas, you may want to add extra lighting, especially around the mirror. Cool colors like these, even thought they are light, still may soak up a lot of light. If you’re not careful, it will seem as though the lights have dimmed.

Choose bathroom paint color rather quickly. Once you understand how light affects color, you’re best decision will likely be the first. Don’t be intimidated. It’s a small space and can be painted over if you don’t get the results you’re looking for.

When you’re choosing bathroom paint color ideas it is important to remember to keep things simple. Too much design, pattern and color can confuse the eye and lead to decorating disappointment. No matter what colors you choose, limit your palette to two paint colors. One for the walls shower curtain and towels and one color to use in small amounts for an accent color.

The accent color is best used in small amounts in wall décor. You will be happiest with the outcome of your bathroom if you Keep the shower curtain the same color or as close as possible in color to the walls. It helps it to blend in better. You don’t want there to appear to be a tall wall separating the shower from the rest of the room. It is uninviting and makes the space feel smaller.

Sometimes if you choose a key item--like shower curtain, bedspread, or a wall hanging, that will help you determine the color scheme. For me it often seems harder to paint a certain color and then find stuff that goes with it. Good Luck--it IS overwhelming!

Probably the easiest way to do it would be to go to a store that has some paint samples. Take home a few colors you like and put up a 2 x 2 square on the wall. Watch it for a few days...notice how it looks at different times of the day. you should know where to go from there.

If your bath and bed are attached try using coordinated colors. Pick up a paint swatch with multiple shades on it. pick one color for one room and one color for the other.

Personally...for me it would depend on the amount of light the room gets. Our bed isn't that big and is a deeper blue color...but it works because we get great light. It is a very soothing room. Our bathroom doesn't really get any light...we tried darker colors but they made the room feel like a tiny cave.

If you want more help let me know. Interior Design is a hobby of mine (more like an obsession!!!) Let me know if you want to exchange emails...I could give you better ideas if I saw pics.

Hi K.~
I am an interior decorator and own a small local interior design firm.
I work from my home in the north Carrollton area and would be happy to help you pick the colors for your bathrooms. I charge a reduced hourly fee when I am just doing a paint consultation of only $40/hr and will come to your house with paint samples and fan decks. A meeting will usually only last about an hour when choosing colors for a few rooms so I waive my 2 hour design consult minimum. After narrowing down a few colors, in most cases I can order you a larger 8" x 10" sized sample that you can keep to look at in all types of light and live with in your bathrooms before making a final decision. I will also bring a few actual paint samples that I have used in past jobs to try out if you wish.

I hope to meet you soon,
A. Thompson
###-###-####
Meridian Designs

Benjamin Moore Serenity Collection has some nice choices

K. looks like you've gotten alot of good advice, I just wanted to add when I was painting my house and deciding on colors, www.behr.com was my best friend. It is the coolest thing to do to be able to "paint" the virtual walls and see what the color looks like and what it looks like next to another color. You can even upload pics of your rooms that you are wanting to paint and virtually paint and see what they'd look like. Have fun. Happy painting.

If you need an expert painter who knows color and is good at helping you make those choices for any room and decor then you really should check out C. B. owner of Creative Wall Designs, a faux finishing and mural company. Not for someone on a tight budget but I assure you she's worth every penny. A trip to Carrollton might cost you a trip charge but it would be applied to the cost of the job. Samplings of her work can be seen at www.creativewalldesigns.com

Not sure what size spaces you have... but think about the time you will spend IN the rooms. I had a pale, soft blue with a yellow in my old master bathroom, and it worked nicely with the rich dark blue floor tile. It perked me up a bit in the mornings. But since I am a SAHM now, I mostly like more relaxing shades in the bathroom area. We also have a much bigger bath area and too much color would be, well, TOO MUCH. So this time, we went with more neutral shades for the walls/hard surfaces: a light mocha on the walls, natural off white swirled marble countertops, natural limestone flooring, maple cabinetry. I can do ANYthing I want with accessories... right now I have some pale pink accessories on the counters, included a vase of eucalyptus in varying shades. But I could easily switch them out for lavender, or seaglass blue or green, or a sage-y green or a warm off-white/cream, and it still will have a nice clean look.

Stark white trim goes with everything and keeps things looking clean also.

We like dark wood furniture, and wanted rich colors in the bedroom, so we have a soothing shade of green on the bedroom walls and dark cherry furniture. If you need the bright cheery feel in your bedroom, (I like the cozy feel, not the airy feel) then bright colors with lots of white can feel really "beachy".

The best thing to do, once you think about how you want to FEEL when you are in those rooms (the majority of the time... obviously part of the time you will be in your bedroom you will be sleeping, but if you have a desk or spend a lot of time there in the daytime, you might have a different opinion about how you want to feel in there - awake, alert, energized), it to grab a variety of magazines and look for photos that bring out that FEELING you are wanting. You will probably notice a distinct pattern of colors that you can associate with your feelings about the space.

Good luck. And remember.... it's just PAINT. You can always paint over it again if you change your mind later.

K. - You sound like a good, level-headed person. But it sounds like you've bought into the modern consumer notion that there's a 'right' way your house should look and if you don't find 'it', you'll be upset and unhappy for lord knows how long! My advice: Take a breath. Then take another breath. Then take a good look at your wardrobe. Several studies have shown that people tend to pick the clothing colors that make them happiest and also flatter their coloring. Stick with color choices pulled from what you wear - forget about what design magazines and ads and so-called experts tell you - and you'll likely end up with a color scheme that you won't tire of in a year or two (paint companies push their latest colors; magazines push their advertisers' color schemes; designers push what they have on hand at the moment). I hope you end up with the rooms of your dreams! And don't forget...trust your own instincts. You're the one who'll be living with your choices and you're the only one you need to please (but please let your family have a little input, too).

It might be worth calling around to some interior designers. I wouldn't think that I could afford one either, but last summer when we were getting ready to buy all new living room furniture I called one in our area. She came out for an hour to "consult" for $75. To us, it was well worth it to give us direction before dropping a lot of money. We got advice about the furniture we were going to buy as well as paint colors in different rooms, and a handful of other great suggestions that we are slowly implementing. We could have had her do more "work" (searching out furniture, etc) and paid her more or end with just the consultation. We have done the legwork ourselves to save money but wouldn't hesitate to call her back if we start another big project. Good luck!