“Designers, I need your advice. I’m expecting and it’s time to start getting the nursery together (yaaaaay!).  My partner and I have decided NOT to find out the sex of the baby, so I’m having a really difficult time settling on a paint color for the walls.  I know people tend to go with yellow or green colors because they’re supposed to be gender neutral, but I can’t seem to find anything in either color palette I like.  Any other color suggestions?”

Jamie says…

Congratulations! If you’re not feeling inspired by yellows or greens, I would recommend an orange color.  Orange is a pretty gender neutral color for the walls, and you can go with white or wood finishes for the larger furniture items like the crib, changing table, etc.  Once you do know the sex of the baby, you can add accents to the room in colors like blue if you have a little boy, or pink if you have a little girl – both of these colors look great with orange.  I’ve included some images below for a little color palette inspiration.  Good luck!

• I’m a bit of a purist, so I tend to paint ceilings flat white in small rooms or open floor plans where there are no natural starts and stops to ceiling lines. You should use flat paint on a ceiling to hide imperfections that are easily seen when light reflects off of a ceiling. Only when your ceilings are PERFECT should they be painted in an eggshell finish or a paint with more gloss.

• If you have very high ceilings and want to visually bring them down, then choose something darker. I once had a 3-story ceiling over a staircase painted dark charcoal and it was a great effect.

• In bedrooms and bathrooms, painting the ceiling a slight blush color can help warm up a space and make it particularly complimentary on skin tones.

• There are many unique and architectural ceilings especially here in Washington, DC. So have fun with coffered ceilings. Paint the recessed areas dark (or a color) and the ribs gloss white or cream. Or flip it around and paint the recessed areas light and the ribs dark. Below is a photo where the ribs and recesses of a ceiling are painted a dark, warm gray (2 shades) to give this large media room a more cozy feel.

What do you think? Painted ceilings…yay or nay?

“I’m going room by room in my new place and I’m currently focused on the kitchen. I’ve painted the walls and LOVE the color, but I’m wondering if I should paint my cabinets white (or some other color) or leave them as is. What do you think?”

Krissy says…

Great wall color! To update the look even more, I would definitely suggest painting the cabinets. White or grey-ish white cabinets would take your kitchen to the next level and give it a more seamless, modern aesthetic. For other quick updates consider changing out the cabinet hardware to something sleeker and more modern, and adding a valence above the kitchen window to provide some softness. Best of luck!

“Hi!  So I saw on all my favorite design blogs that turquoise is the color for 2010.  I was thinking this may make a good wall color for my twins’ bedroom – a boy and a girl.  I figured it might be good because it looks good with pinks (for my daughter’s side of the room) and greens (for my son’s side).  Are there any good turquoise paint colors out there or would you suggest another color that is fairly gender neutral?”

Jamie says…

I would definitely consider certain shades of turquoise to be gender neutral. There are many shades of turquoise, but a true turquoise will usually relate closely with blues which could possibly identify more with a boy than a girl, so I would try and stick with shades closer to green side of the color wheel. I would suggest Benjamin Moore’s Misty Teal, and Poolside Blue as great gender neutral turquoises. You can never go wrong with green! I feel like green is the most gender neutral color that there is. If you decide to “go green” I would recommend colors like Benjamin Moore’s Shimmering Lime, or Citrus Green. Good Luck!

What do you think?

Jason likes…

Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige, Shoji White and Worldly Gray

Jamie likes…

Benjamin Moore Blue Springs and Silver Mink for clients interested in blues, and Smokey Taupe and Stone Hearth for interesting neutrals.

Sarita likes…

Sherwin Williams Kilim Biege

“Hello Designers!  I am in LOVE with this orange paint I came across while shopping at the hardware store.  I am thinking I’d like to use the paint as an accent wall in my kitchen.  The kitchen area is pretty devoid of color right now, so I think it’ll be a fun punch of color.  If I use the orange as an accent color, what color should I paint the other walls?”

Krissy says…

I see you’re not afraid of color!  This a bold color and a kitchen is a great place to take color up a notch.  I definitely agree that the color should be used on an accent wall and not go on all the walls in the space.  For the non-accent walls, I’d suggest you paint them a soft, warm brown tone like Benjamin Moore ‘Blond Wood‘ or ‘Squire Hill Buff‘.

When you head out to get paint you’ll find that there are a number of interior paint finish options out there.  Flat, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss and gloss.  Here are some great guidelines from an articlebase.com article by the owner of Smoky Mountain Painting on when/where to use each finish…

Flat paint finishes absorb light, they don’t reflect it. This particular paint finish is great for hiding any surface imperfections and looks good in most colors. The best rooms to use a flat finish is in spaces that receive little traffic such as bedrooms or closets. Keep in mind that flat paint is difficult to clean so try not to use flat paint in rooms that will require a lot of cleaning.

An eggshell paint has about as much sheen as an actual eggshell. It is similar to flat but offers a bit of luster and looks good in most colors. It is easier to clean than flat paint so it is ok for use in areas of your home that receive more traffic such as a hallway or a living room.

A satin paint finish is much easier to clean than both the flat and eggshell paint finishes.  However, don’t scrub too hard when cleaning because you could possibly remove some of the sheen which will leave an uneven finish in your wall. A satin finish doesn’t hide surface imperfections well, but the ease of cleaning makes it a good choice for spaces where walls may get dirty, like a kids room, kitchen or bathroom.

Semi gloss paints are a step up on the luster scale from satin as they reflect more light. It is a good choice for painting trim but could be used for a kitchen or bathroom because it doesn’t absorb kitchen grease or bathroom condensations as much as the other paint finishes do. Semi gloss paints generally look better in a lighter shade of paint.

Gloss paints offer the most sheen of all of the other paint finishes and is the easiest to clean. Gloss paint is generally used for painting trim and is usually not a good choice for walls. Gloss paint is also commonly used to paint cabinetry in kitchens and bathrooms.

Remember, these are just guidelines and not hard an fast rules.  At the end of the day, choosing a paint finish is a matter of personal preference.

“I have seen the walls beside sliding glass doors painted a dark shade to frame a view. I was thinking of doing this in my apartment with a medium blue green shade – Ralph Lauren Sanctuary is the paint colour. I have painted my backsplash and island this colour as well. Let me know what you think.”

Krissy says…

I think if done correctly, using an accent color or wallpaper to draw attention to a window wall can be a great idea! I was actually just in a Manhattan restaurant that used this technique; a window wall was wallpapered to draw attention to the wonderful Madison Avenue view out of the large windows while the other walls were painted a neutral color. In my opinion, it was very effective. Framing your view in this manner will definitely make the sliding glass door wall a focal point of the room. I would caution you to make sure you don’t have competing focal points on other walls such as a large fireplace, as too many focal points can be jarring in a single room as they compete with each other. I think Ralph Lauren Sanctuary looks like a beautiful color and it sounds as if it goes with your color scheme throughout the apartment. I would also suggest taking into account the view from your doors or window as you select a paint color for this use, perhaps drawing on the colors outside of the window to bring the outside in and visually extend the space. Thank you for your question!

What do you think?