Craftsman paint scheme dilemma

[Lily left the valley]

*nods* I understand overthinking, and I definitely understand the weighty desire to fix what seems broken.

"Leave it better than you found it." One of my Girl Scout leaders quoted this to our troop often. Usually about campsites, but the notion spilled over to other aspects of life.

I love variety. I have never understood why so many folks seem to love just white for outside their home. I sort of understand that with vinyl, that was part of the point---no maintenance and all, so if you started with white, it stays that way--heck I grew up in a multifamily home that was white for my entire life living there. It wasn't until I moved out during college that my grandparents got sea foam green siding put on half of the home to help distinguish the two residences.

I have been trying to gather some old windows myself, but until we move out of our rental, space is limited, so I got that "not yet" look from spouse. I've done some minor work on them in the past, but never a full restore. (Would have liked to at one place because a few desperately needed it, but my cheap boss said no--he'd just replace them when they completely failed.)

[phil]

funny about overthinking , I tend to agree about white and beige or grey. maybe it suits some houses. I too remember growing up whee it seemed almost every wall was white and feel "there must be more to life than eggshell" I have now stripped and replaced al the drywall in my living room and entryway I'm on to corner beads and then it'll be taping and pretty soon Ill be skimcoating. thats my schedule .. lol no time limits..

I went to my girlfriend and asked her what color she would like. I said you can pick any color I just dont' want it to be too loud and to be a color that kinda fits with the old house theme so not scarlet or bright purple or anything weird.. I got blank stare.... then as I think gee why didn't I just ask what color she likes without the stipulations..."I think you;lve already decided" hmm "no I haven't, but I wouldn't mind a color that goes with the wood like maybe light green?".. more blank stare..
maybe I should be safe and pick beige lol ...

my thinking, as long as it isnt' super "loud" I can repaint over any color. I thought maybe it was a place where she could have influence and say in it.. Sometimes I should just ask and listen. maybe its the Leo I don't' know .. lol

I've got butter yellow in the kitchen, a mild peach in the main floor bedrooms, medium green up in the attic. I dont' really have a strong opinion on it. My thinking is if I ever do resell I don't want a potential buyer to go "eeew!" over the paint color but otherwise.. I just don't know.. I think I should let it wait and ask again... I wont' really know if I have to sand the floors until I pull the carpets but I can put an initial coat of paint on before I do that.. then that wall to wall carpet in the living room will finally go in the trash.

I think some have a talent to envision colors and furnishings in rooms and maybe it's just a talent I wasn't blessed with. making them flat. I can do... I resisted the urge to install overhead lights so I probably need a fairly reflective cieling color but I figure it never had them and maybe it's an excuse for more old free standing lamps.

[eclecticcottage]

the hardest part about color is it looks different in every house...in every room...at different times of the day.

I have about 100 paint chips and scotch tape ready to go for the day I get the keys. DH just looks at me like "no, please no" when I start looking at the paint chips at the various stores lol. I have some time to pick colors, so I'll tape them up in various rooms at various locations and check them out at different times. I know the standard is white-it's easy. It looks basically the same.

I'm ok with certain warm grays-but NOT greige. (brownish gray) I can't handle beige. BUT if by chance I end up with a place with a newly redone room in beige that looks good, I'll shut the door and deal with it lol. I personally want to do all old homes but I know I'll probably wind up with some ranches and capes, so more "modern" stuff will have to be in the ole portfolio. I don't know if I can bring myself to do glass tile though. Maybe the big glass subway tiles. Or those "lantern" tiles. Maybe. At least I won't feel bad doing that in a ranch or cape. I kind of think I'm going to have a signature kitchen-classic black and white. It just has a timeless style-and I don't have to face glass tile backs plashes-or the new trend of doing the tile verticle, which makes me crazy.

The hard part is it would probably be cheaper and easier to just do everything white. But then the moldings that are already painted just get lost-they are so nice that would be a shame. It's a risk that someone wouldn't like the colors, but luckily the popular pinterest shades are ones I'm choosing-warm cream, blue gray, green gray, warm gray.

I have to go with the delicate balance of wide audience popular, flip, and making a home that people will walk in and feel comfortable in-homey, not sterile.

[Lily left the valley]

phil--I see your eggshell and raise you french vanilla. We lived in so many rentals that were french vanilla over the years.

eclectic, I don't envy your position, but given how in tune you are with trends now and then, I bet you'll find a happy middle ground and I look forward to seeing it. It will be a shame to lose the exterior details, but at the same time, you can hope that whomever buys it will be glad for the blank slate too. We're sort of like that with our bungalow, because we plan (not in 2017, but hopefully in or by 2020) to rescue the home from the current siding and return to the board style we found hidden under the basement exit's siding. We won't paint until then (well, only the front porch if we do break down and fix that before since it's got a slight "smile"), but when we do...hoo boy. It will be a much different home--especially if spouse talks me into his honeycomb detail notion--that will be a lot of research and saw work for me.

I've been known to grab "close enough, but not the brand I'll buy" chips if they're bigger for paint planning. I use pseudo painter's tape (masking tape where I lay it on my jeans to pick up lint so it sticks like painter's--an old poor student cheat when I couldn't afford drafting tape), but since you're refinishing the walls, scotch won't really matter.

I was looking at kitchen colors last night, and surprisingly, spouse didn't flinch at one really neat variation we saw, where it seems the linoleum looks like shades of soft greens with muted orange accent stained glass. I would never have thought of such a combo, but fell in love with it when I saw it. Maybe his reaction was instinctive--he was born in Florida, and maybe it reminds him of the groves. How folks react to color really is fascinating to me.

[Kmarissa]

"the hardest part about color is it looks different in every house...in every room...at different times of the day."

Wow, this is so true. I'm repainting much of our downstairs and had initially wanted to use the same color in our dining room and front hall. But the couple of colors I'm considering for the dining room look TOTALLY DIFFERENT in the hall. Like, one in particular looks like a warm gray in the dining room (might run afoul of your no greige rule, eclecticcottage!) but looks almost like a greenish off-white in the front hall, with no gray in it whatsoever. If I hadn't painted them both myself from the same sample can, I'd be absolutely convinced they weren't the same paint.

I'm usually pretty flexible on unorthodox paint colors in older homes interiors on the basis that, it's just paint, fashions change, and it can always be repainted over (doesn't apply to painting unpainted trim though), but one thing that really gets to me is our house's bright, bright white trim. It seems like an old home should have a softer, more organic or natural off-white color rather than this super modern, glaring white. It almost makes the trim seem like it's plastic or something. I guess I'll have to tackle that eventually.

[Vined Porch]

Cute house and love the kitchen built-in's. I also think the exterior white is fine seeing as you are going to sell it and it is not going to be your personal home..it looks like most of the white is on the side not facing the road? So maybe really not visible enough to worry about.
Anyway, congratulations and what an exciting venture.

[Powermuffin]

Sorry, but I hate the white siding too. Looks old and unkept. I would paint it a midrange taupe or mossy green. Both would look fine with the brick and with white siding.

My bath has crappy looking plumbing too. I added a simple white skirt out of nice quality fabric. I hope to replace the cracked sink with another old sink at some point and will probably change out the plumbing for chrome at that point.

[Lily left the valley]

I had forgotten I had saved this picture as part of my idea/looks folder.



It's a corner sink, but the intent is the same for covering the pipes underneath.

[Mick_VT]

I had forgotten I had saved this picture as part of my idea/looks folder.



It's a corner sink, but the intent is the same for covering the pipes underneath.

That looks familiar - I'm thinking it's the main bathroom in "the Petch House"

[Lily left the valley]

I had forgotten I had saved this picture as part of my idea/looks folder.



It's a corner sink, but the intent is the same for covering the pipes underneath.

That looks familiar - I'm thinking it's the main bathroom in "the Petch House"

Your thinking is right, Mick. I'm not going to ask how on Earth you remembered that.