HELP! Painting question :)

[tink2020]

Hello! We just moved into a brand new house just under a month ago. We are finally getting around to painting, and just realized our dilemma. The Family Room and Breakfast/Kitchen area are entirely open to one another. For some reason, we had planned on painting the FR a dark color and leaving the kitchen/breakfast our "neutral" base color. I guess we were remembering the model, but it had a morning room off the back to separate the two areas.

So now we don't know what to do. It seems like we have 2 options. Either paint the whole area the darker color (as in, from the family room all the way into the kitchen, all walls), or have 1-2 walls the darker color. That being said, it would have to be the walls in the FR with the couch and the entertainment center, not the one with the fireplace (which would traditionally be a good candidate for an accent wall).

Any other suggestions? Or opinions on those two options?

Here is a link some pictures, but they are not taken specifically for this situation, so I'm not sure if they'll help

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jerri...=&.done=http://photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

 

[LAinSEA]

We have the same type of problem - our tri-level familyroom is adjacent to the kitchen also and share high-ceiling walls. Finding a "natural" break to change paint colors would look just out-of-place in my opinion. Now that we are planning a kitchen remodel, I'm waiting for the designer's take on it before beginning the painting process again.

In our dining/living room - one long continuous room - we did paint two of the dining room walls a warmer shade than the rest of the living room. The change in color is subtle, yet it really helps to define the dining room space. So I would try painting those walls in your family room a different shade (lighter or darker) than the rest of the walls and see if it achieves the same result. After all, it is only paint and it can be re-painted if you don't like it.

-Laurie

 

[pppiglet]

When we moved into our house the kitchen and dining area shared a wall and the whole kitchen along with this wall was purple, pink, and gold wallpaper. (stuck on real good!) So we painted over it. Found a cut off spot and painted the kitchen a med/dk green and the dining wall a teal blue. At the same time, the dining room is actually a continued space off the living room, so the other walls in the living room are Swiss Coffee (cream or off white) and then a beige color for the accents around the fireplace.

You could find a cut off spot and just slightly change the color or just paint 1 or two walls different colors. I am a fan of color now!

 

[ksjayhawks]

Question--can't quite tell from pics--which wall is the fireplace on? The one that goes into kitchen or opposite that wall?

We have a similiar situation to you. Carried the whole color into the family room and kitchen/eating area. Used an accent color on fireplace wall--I have bookcases, though, so painted the backs of them. also used this accent color in two small hallways I have--into dining/garage door/basement door and into laundry/bath/pantry. found a border with the colors in it and used over cabinets.

You could just do two walls in family room the darker and rest lighter. Or carry color all the way through with 1-the fireplace wall the accent color or 2-the two other kitchen walls the accent color.

It looks like you have enough light coming in that you could handle the darker color.

Another option would be to build a divider--you could put a "column" at the dividing point of kitchen/family room. Not sure how that would look in your house, but I have seen that done.

I love open houses, but it can sure make decorating hard!

 

[tink2020]

unfortunately, the fireplace is on THE wall that's causing the problems (the one that goes into the breakfast area and kitchen.

Thanks everyone, for the suggestions though!

 

[ksjayhawks]

unfortunately, the fireplace is on THE wall that's causing the problems (the one that goes into the breakfast area and kitchen.

Thanks everyone, for the suggestions though!

That is what I thought. Bummer!

I would probably do the kitchen and the fireplace wall your neutral, then accent the other two walls. Bring in your accent color in the window treatments, pics, pillows, kitchen accessories. That would look good, especially with a painting over the fireplace with your colors in it!