Friday, January 7, 2011

the cream, the bone, the white, the off-white, the ivory or the beige?

Nothing to do with Richie Benaud's jacket (or the cricket - best not to mention the cricket in the house!), but everything to do with my hallway. I actually bought gorgeous red paint and was all ready to go when I had an attack of the "beige". It probably came from too many people saying things like ... a dark colour will make the space look smaller/darker/"interesting"(and we all know this word can be code for: revolting!). Decisions, decisions ...


Thoughts?

10 comments:

Red Letter Studio said...

I'm doing our new lounge room wth cherry red, white, cream and light warm greys... just pops of red though not too out-there. go red!!!! :) with warm beiges, nothing in the cooler shades. just my thoughts anyway! good luck ;) x

gret said...

I'd always go white. Natural White walls with Celing White Ceiling. Sounds boring, but there's nothing more beautiful than a room filled with light! Warm it up with other stuff.

Looking forward to seeing what you choose! :)

CurlyPops said...

I really like Dulux Chalk USA as a base colour, but I say go for the red. Live with it for a while - you might love it!
I painted my hallway hot pink at one of my previous houses, and I loved it.

One important tip though - if you do go for the red, make sure you use a tinted undercoat to get the right top colour.

Melinda @ Here We Go Loopy Lou said...

I do think red could look great with the lovely timber feature you have pictured here. I too am tossing up colours - beige v white - in my family room. In this month's Home Beautiful, I have fallen in love with the house on page 84. I love the white trims and beige walls. I like this with some accessories to add the pop!

Cath @ chunkychooky said...

it took me three years to convince chef to paint the entire interior Antique White USA. I love it. Our art work and cushions etc is bright enough and I do like the gallery look.
However our friends did a red hallway and it looked great!

Michelle said...

I'm having the same dilemma, and have decided on Chalkdust. It's no pink-beige, blue-beige, or yellow-beige. It's just right.

Mookah Studio said...

You know I love a bit of red myself, and I do have some red walls in my house, but I also say be careful in a darker area such as hallways tend to be.

If you want red, then do it. It's only paint. Worst case scenario is that you have to paint the wall again. If you never do it you will always wonder....

Maker Handmade said...

I'm a big fan of Antique White & Chalk USA. Commonly used so they won't set you apart, but gee they look good!

Jackie @ Fred-and-Cissy said...

I say go with the red. If you love it then you're going to get a buzz out of it every time you see it, and you can always paint over it if you find it too intense. Having said that I've been wanting to paint some red and/or blue over part of our exclusively Dulux Hog Bristle walls, but the Man is a bit intimidated by how bold it would be so we haven't taken the plunge. if you're going beige Hog Bristle is quite good as a not too yellow/pink backdrop.

Toughie said...

I'd go with the red. I had a really small bedroom, and painted it a really crimson red colour, and it looked really nice. It didn't make it dark, or appear smaller, and the reflected light was very cosy. Of course, my living room is a sort of storm cloud grey (Swordfight, I believe), and I rather like that as well. Good luck with choosing something you like :D