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Warning: Rant Alert on The Tackiest Advice Ever

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I'm not usually this cranky, but I recently came across some of the fluffiest, dumbest interior design advice I've ever read. Continue reading

My Sister's New Kitchen: Surprise! It's NOT White or Subway Tile!

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When my sister Lea and her partner were getting ready to move into the Eco Village in our town, I helped Lea choose finishes, colours, and lighting. Greg wanted wood-stained cabinets (not white) and Lea really didn't mind either way, so I specified a light maple, along with medium brown engineered wood flooring. She did NOT want subway tile because she thinks it's boring (clearly not brainwashed enough by reading my blog, sigh), but agreed that we would stay away from accent tile and keep it off-white to coordinate with the quartz. We settled on this moroccan pattern. Continue reading

Tour My House: Learn the 6 Best Ways to Transition Colour

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Take a walk with me through my house for a real-time example of how to create perfect colour flow in your home. Continue reading

Two Classic White Kitchens To Copy

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We are finalizing the finishes and colours for Crystal's white kitchen (see the before pics here). These are the two options we discussed. Option 1 Marble looking quartz with off-white cabinets and a walnut island with light floors (rift white oak), here are some inspiration pics. Via DecorPad This floor is darker than what we are installing but this is the idea… Continue reading

The post Two Classic White Kitchens To Copy appeared first on Maria Killam | True Colour Expert | Decorator.

Sell Your Classic House in 24 Hours Flat

The Stunning and Classic Home of the Giannetti's at Patina Farm

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Roses from Brooke's garden to greet us in the guest house Many of us in blogland followed Brooke and Steve Giannetti when they built their dream home in Ojai, California and moved from their previous house in Santa Monica. They have lived there now for three years since it was finished, but in the Spring of 2014, Brooke posted photos of… Continue reading

The post The Stunning and Classic Home of the Giannetti's at Patina Farm appeared first on Maria Killam | True Colour Expert | Decorator.

How Styling Saved this Kitchen and Why I love HomeSense: Before & After

The Minimalist Way to Inject Color: Before & After (Blue Accent Wall)

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When my sister Elizabeth and her husband Bill first took possession of their house she asked if she could paint the walls in her kitchen blue (they were brown at the time). I said unfortunately no, because it would look like she was ignoring her countertops and her backsplash.

At the time we had to go with HC-45 Shaker Beige because it related to her countertops and very busy backsplash (until she replaced it here), but after the painter replaced the brown wall colour with the new one, she was still left with the old connecting colour (something close to Ranchwood) that went all the way up the stairs.

When we were freshening up her family room for her birthday, I said, “Why don’t we paint that wall a blue shade to relate to the painting in the living room, then you’ll get the hit of blue you’ve wanted in your kitchen all this time.

Well she loved that plan and this morning I arrived with my paint brush and roller. I said “How long could this take? I am tired of looking at the patch created by my Mom’s head after she fell while running after one of the kids!” Eeeek, it’s a good thing her head just went through the drywall and did not hit a stud. It’s been patched–below–but has looked like this for a while.

Before

Before

Painting Day

Markus totally got into it. I told him I needed some newspaper to protect the carpet on the stairs while I was painting and he ran out and brought in every single flyer and newspaper in the mailbox!

Painting Day

 

Blue Accent Wall

P&L 27-22 Lovebird

And here is the lovely and fresh result. This took maybe one hour for me to paint. And another 20 minutes for the second coat. The colour, was totally inspired by the art she looks at every day from her kitchen.

The yellow in the adjoining living room is existing, that room needs to be decorated too. It’s currently filled with black leather furniture. Elizabeth uses this room to fold laundry now that her family room has a fresh and happy new colour scheme.

Blue Painting

I decided the kitchen needed a new piece of art to complete the colour scheme so I dropped into HomeSense in the afternoon, $119 later, we have a hit of fresh in my sisters kitchen.

I am not a snob about placeholder art. Until your house is decorated and looks the way you want, this is one way to get fresh and fun artwork until you have the budget for real art, after all, there are so many creative ways to fill your walls, I’ve written some posts here, here and here.

Before

Here’s the before again.

Blue Accent Wall

After

My sister inherited hardwood floors that run through her kitchen and family room which are great, it’s unfortunate they are so red! A medium brown would have been perfect. But, as I told her today, hardwood is better than tile any day. If this kitchen had an existing, bossy tile that related to her already bossy countertops, this blue would not have been possible.

Do you have a room you could make happy with a one hour paint job?

Related posts:

My Sister’s Fresh New Backsplash: Before & After

What Everyone Should Know about Blue

When Should you Rip out Perfectly Good Tile?

What is Beauty? Three Ways to Know

If you would like your home to fill you with happiness every time you walk in, become a client. On-line or In-person.

Download my eBook, How to Choose Paint Colours – It’s All in the Undertones to get my complete step-by-step system on how to get colour to do what you want.

To make sure the undertones in your home are right, get some large samples!

If you would like to learn how to choose colour with confidence, become a True Colour ExpertVancouver in September and October in Toronto. 

The post The Minimalist Way to Inject Color: Before & After (Blue Accent Wall) appeared first on Maria Killam.


Ask Maria: Help! I Don’t Want the Same Kitchen as Everyone Else!!

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AskMaria

Recently, I received this question from one of my lovely readers: 

“I’m trying to come up with a color of floor tile that matches a kitchen with Volga blue granite counter tops, white cabinets, very light grey walls, and stainless steel appliances.  I don’t want wood floors in the kitchen or anything that looks like wood.  I think too many people have that look and it’s worn out.  I know that a white floor would look really pretty but I don’t want to have to scrub the grout every week.  So I wanted to know if you thought that a neutral cream or beige travertine tile would match.” Amy

 

I chose this question to answer because black (Volga blue granite has a lot of black among the blue) is a very popular countertop choice. However, if you choose not to install wood flooring, your options are limited. Here’s my response to Amy’s great question:

 

“Dear Amy — if you install a ‘neutral’ cream or travertine floor tile, your kitchen will look like the one in the picture below (minus the cherry cabinets). Wood is the ONLY flooring option to coordinate with Volga blue counters if you don’t want something looks like this. If you are committed to a kitchen floor that’s tile rather than wood, the tile needs to have some black in it and I can’t even imagine what that would look like.”
volga-blue-granite

 

I know Amy is talking about blue countertops but see how much black is in this granite? Choosing a floor that in no way relates to the countertop is bad. Especially a travertine tile, which in actual fact, will always have some pink-beige in it just like you can see here in the above picture.

 

Now picture these cabinets painted white and you have three unrelated colour combinations that do not coordinate with each other— pink-beige travertine floor tile, blue/black granite countertops and white cabinets.

 

I am not even going to mention the “creative” backsplash tile with green undertones that you can also see here. Can you just repeat the mantra SUBWAY TILE after me one more time, haha.

 

My consultation with Cindy yesterday is another example of this same issue. Cindy and I were choosing colours for her new home and fortunately she had made the choice to have wood floors installed in her kitchen (hooray!) so it made choosing the right colours easy.

 

She included some pictures of the kitchen finishes the developer decided to feature in the show house. You can see that the floor tile actually does relate somewhat to the black countertop:

 

Kitchen with Black Galaxy Granite

 

However, the question is, do you love it? Or can you see why I wrote this post about porcelain tile and how it’s mostly botchy and bad and dates almost as quickly as accent tile does?

 

Can you also see how the floor tile is greener than the pink tumbled marble backsplash? Wouldn’t you be SLIGHTLY upset if this was your brand new kitchen?

 

Red and Beige kitchen

 

I do think the show home decorator did the best job she could to take the attention away from the mis-matched undertones and onto something designery and pretty. None of the decorating is my taste but it does help distract from all the bad tile.

 

The best tile floors for a black countertop would be something like this (below):

 

Best Tile Floors
Kitchen from Cashmere Mafia
It repeats the white of the cabinets and the black of the countertops and gives you a classic look and feel. That’s always the direction you want to go in my opinion.

 

“I don’t want the same kitchen as everyone else!” is such a common statement that I want to address that next:

 

The kitchen with the red wallpaper in the above show home is certainly not like everyone else’s but do you love it?  Choosing red for the walls at least solved the problem of choosing one neutral that could work with the floors but then will not work with the backsplash or vice versa.

 

If you go out of your way to make sure your kitchen or bathroom doesn’t look like all the ones you see on Houzz and Pinterest, you will surely end up with something unique, but with finishes that clash.

 

The reason the “different” kitchen you’re planning is not the same as everyone else, is because it’s not pretty enough to be pinned over and over.

 

Classic White Kitchen
Take my advice and choose a pretty, basically white kitchen, install hardwood floors if you can and I promise you, your kitchen will, in your neighbourhood, not look the same as everyone else’s.

 

Because most everyone else has the kitchen we’ve just talked about.

 

If you have a question for an Ask Maria post, email me here.

 

Related posts:
What Everyone Should Know about Porcelain Tile
The Best Tile Floor for your White Kitchen

 

If you would like your home to fill you with happiness every time you walk in the  door, become a client. On-line or In-person.

Download my eBook, How to Choose Paint Colours – It’s All in the Undertones to get my complete step-by-step system on how to get colour to do what you want and to make sure the undertones in your home are right, get some large samples!

If you would like to learn how to choose colour with confidence, become a True Colour Expert

 

The post Ask Maria: Help! I Don’t Want the Same Kitchen as Everyone Else!! appeared first on Maria Killam.

Can you have White Cabinets with Espresso Hardwood Floors?

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I was on google recently, and three times in a row, with different searches, this post kept showing up right at the top: How to completely mess up your kitchen remodel: a step-by-step tutorial.

espresso floors

This is the kitchen she coveted

This DIY blogger named Kelly is a great writer and so entertaining. She generously shared her mistakes so that others could avoid making the same ones.

Under ‘Huge Mistake #1″ here is what she shared:

When we went cabinet shopping, we shopped all over: big box stores, tiny cabinet makers in boutique shops, weird warehouses in the ghetto, you name it. At one place, there was a “designer” wandering the showroom to help customers choose their finishes. I told her that I had dark wood floors and wanted white cabinets. To which she replied: “Oh, you don’t want white cabinets. That’ll be too stark a contrast with your floors. You need cream.”

 That was where her first mistake snowballed into a kitchen that she does not madly love.

And she should right?

Kitchen Renovation

This is her kitchen now.

I have often wondered how someone could have a Pinterest board filled with images of their perfect kitchen and end up with something that doesn’t look anything they thought they wanted.

Now I get it. 

Even more than when I wrote this post: Ask Maria: Help, I Don’t Want the Same Kitchen as Everyone Else!

Anyway, I wrote this post about white vs. cream kitchens in September 2009, where I said that brown goes with creams and white goes with black.

The exception to this is with floors. When I read about this designers (bad) advice it struck me that my readers might think the same thing with that post.

I want to be clear, this is a general guideline to keep in mind when you are thinking about brown vs. black.

Medium brown floors are the new timeless colour but can you have a white kitchen with them?

Yes.

If you install espresso brown floors (every single speck will show, but that is besides the point) can you still have white cabinets?

Absolutely.

Neutral as Denim

Flooring reads a lot like denim unless it’s really red or some designer colour. The same rules do not apply regarding white/black vs. cream/brown.

For the record, after reading Kelly’s awesome post, I wanted you to make sure you had it right!

You know I live to make sure your kitchen is a space that fills you with happiness when you walk in the door which means there can be no room for advice taken THAT literally : )   xoxo Maria

Related posts:

How Important is the Colour of Wood vs. Wall Colour

5 Steps to a Kitchen You will Love!

Which Flooring is the Best for your Kitchen? Tile or Hardwood

If you would like your home to fill you with happiness every time you walk in the door, become a client. On-line or In-person.

To get your exterior colours right, download my How to Choose Exterior Colours with Confidence webinar and get my go-to list of colours.

Download my eBook, How to Choose Paint Colours – It’s All in the Undertones to get my complete step-by-step system on how to get colour to do what you want and to make sure the undertones in your home are right, get some large samples!

If you would like to learn how to choose colour with confidence, become a True Colour Expert

The post Can you have White Cabinets with Espresso Hardwood Floors? appeared first on Maria Killam.

How to Quiet a Small Herd of Elephants

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This is another post from my genius Director of All Things Wonderful, Irene Hill. It’s been just over three years since she came into Terreeia’s and my life and we cannot imagine being without her.

“For those of you who have been following Maria’s fabulous blog for awhile, you probably read the Two Magic Words post I wrote in October of last year about the huge renovation rebuild my husband and I are suffering through bonding together through.

Fast forward nine months and our two-bedroom, second-storey suite (the whole reason for the rebuild) is complete. And beautiful. We actually gave it a trial run by living there while we were completing the insidiously dusty job of drywalling the entire main house.

We loved living in this new 1,100 square foot suite! The space is light-filled, a nice breeze flows through the great room, it’s cheap to heat as the gas fire warmth from downstairs helps keep upstairs temperate. And, of course, it’s pretty because we made sure all the finishes followed Maria’s classic and timeless principles: mid-tone laminate flooring, subtle-patterned countertops, subway tile backsplash, etc.

How to layer area rugs

Everything was going great. We found an ideal tenant – a single mom and her darling 3 1/2 year old son who want to stay put in our suite for several years.

And then it was less great. Not because of our tenant and her little boy, but for reasons that could have given this post a headline like this — The Trials and Tribulations of Floating Laminate Flooring, or What You Should Know, But No One Ever Tells You, About Floating Laminate Flooring.” I could go on and on, but you get the point.

To be clear, there’s an important distinction between hardwood flooring and laminate flooring. Hardwood is, obviously, made from real wood that grew on a real tree at some point in its lifetime.

http://www.houzz.com/David-Lewis-Builder/p/984 Houzz

Laminate flooring on the other hand is a “multi-layer synthetic flooring product fused together with a laminate process that simulates wood with a photographic appliqué layer under a clear protective layer. The inner core layer is usually composed of melamine resin and fiber board materials.” Thank you Wikipedia.

The floating part comes when the laminate floor doesn’t require glue to keep it adhered to the subfloor (that’s so old school). Nowadays, popular laminate simply “clicks” together and is kept in place by the locking system and the fact that all the boards are wedged together, never to part.

And therein lies the problem. Between the bottom of the laminate inner core and the top of the subfloor there is still enough of a space to create the most amazing echo. Amazing, that is, unless you are living below it. And this was coming from a 110-pound young woman and a 45-pound little boy who really like us and aren’t stomping around with any kind of bad mood.

Before you rush to judgement leave a comment below, let me tell you how hard we worked to ensure there wouldn’t be any echo and we wouldn’t be able to track a sweet little boy’s footsteps as he enthusiastically runs from one end of their house to the other. A lot.

The first thing you’ll be told when you purchase a floating laminate floor is the thicker the laminate board, the quieter it will be. Ours is as thick as possible and 15 mm (which is the same type used in commercial application).

The next piece of advice you’ll get is to make sure you invest in an underlay padding. Unlike underlay for carpet, this particular type looks really thin but is specifically designed to cut the echo. We bought the best/highest quality/highest rated underlay in town. It was good.

Of course, what is between the floor above and the ceiling below will also affect any echo. If you have been following my rebuild story, you’ll remember that we took the roof off of our bungalow and built a brand-new second story. The mechanics of this were that we left the original ceiling joists in place, left an area that we stuffed with rockwall insulation (designed for soundproofing), built an entire new set of floor joists above this and even installed “rez bars” (resilient channels that run between the bottom of the joists and the top of your drywalled ceiling).

imagesoundproofing.org

Did you follow all that? It really doesn’t matter – what matters is we did everything possible to be soundproofed but we still hear every footstep our tenants make!

You don’t need to send cards and letters— we’re working on a fix, but it got me interested in how other people deal with this. I found that this is becoming a hot new issue, especially in multi-storied apartments and condos. Home owners in these type of buildings are all getting the bug to rip out the ubiquitous wall-to-wall carpeting and install the look of a wood floor for a fraction of the price. Plus, any reasonably handy person can install it themselves. What’s not to love?

How to Quiet a Small Herd of ElephantsClick on image for source

But, because of the echo (thudding, sound of a small herd of elephants) most floating laminates create, more and more strata board members find themselves writing new by-laws governing how and what and what needs to be in place before a homeowner may install floating laminate floors.

So, what are we doing to fix it? We haven’t settled on the final fix but one option is to provide serious area rugs throughout the entire main part of the suite. And not just dinky area rugs that only sit under the furniture. We need area rugs that cover all the traffic paths throughout the hallway and great room.

The actual size of rugs we’ll need to have for these areas are not standard sizes so that option is out. We’re left with buying carpet off a roll (maximum 12′ wide) and having each piece bound on all four sides. I’m concerned that won’t make enough of a difference as area rugs don’t usually come with underlay.

imagehttp://www.naturalarearugs.com

 A second option we’re considering is taking out the “guts” of the laminate flooring and just leave a 14″ border of laminate around the edges. This will create a poor-man’s wood floor look as we’ll then install carpet tack strips in the centre and have 10-pound underlay and carpet installed.

Neither option is cheap. But perhaps that’s the price to quiet the lovable elephants that live overhead.

Over to you. Have you lived with noisy laminate flooring. What have you done or would you do to quiet down the noise from a laminate floor overhead?”

Related posts:

Wood Flooring in the Bathroom – Yay or Nay

The Most Timeless Laminate Flooring

If you would like help creating a palette for your home, become a client. Online or In-person.

To get your exterior colours right, download my How to Choose Exterior Colours with Confidence webinar and get my go-to list of colours.

Download my eBook, How to Choose Paint Colours – It’s All in the Undertones to get my complete step-by-step system on how to get colour to do what you want.

To make sure the undertones in your home are right, get some large samples!

And, if you would like to learn how to choose colour with confidence, become a True Colour Expert.

The post How to Quiet a Small Herd of Elephants appeared first on Maria Killam.

Should You Install Gray Wood Floors?

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Should you Install Gray Wood Flooring?

The first day of my Specify Colour with Confidence™ Training is my favourite. It’s when all the participants of my courses have their biggest transformation about understanding colour and undertones.

But before they experience this transformation, I set up the entire three days of training with a conversation about magic, about selling the right colour, about selling classic and timeless and about creating a look and a feel.

About what they need to know (and are going to learn) to be the kind of designer who can confidently help their clients. Like I do.

I was in a client’s home last year who was right in the middle of a kitchen renovation. She had hired trades and they were already working on her house. She had come to a standstill because she didn’t know what to do, which cabinets to choose, and how far she should go inside her kitchen renovation. So she called me for help.

She had just been referred to my blog from a friend and hadn’t spent any time reading my many posts, so she didn’t know my position on white kitchen cabinets. We had to spend a little longer on the subject so I could explain why she should choose white for her cabinets.

She patiently listened to what I said and then said, “Maria, I just can’t visualize white cabinets in my kitchen. All the inspiration photos that I’m drawn to have brown cabinets.”

So then I said, “Look, I have given you my best pitch for a white kitchen and if you still feel that dark wood is the way to go then you should do that. It’s your house after all.”

Should you Install Gray Wood Flooring? | Maria Killam

via {Pinterest}

I left and less than a week later, she emailed me and said, “I’m doing a white kitchen.”

And when her renovation was all done she emailed me photos and said, “I’m so glad I hired you to help me! I absolutely LOVE my new white kitchen.”

Was she happy because I talked her into a white kitchen? Maybe. But I think she was really happy because I could help her see how the finishes she was admiring online would look in her home, with her unique set of considerations.

The other day I was looking at a photo of an interior and immediately said to Irene, “That was installed in the mid-90’s.” As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I scrolled down and read that it had been installed in  1995. Irene said, “How do you know this stuff?! How can you look at almost any room and know when it was decorated or renovated?”

And the answer is because I’ve literally been in thousands of homes over the last 15 years.

And because I’ve been in so many homes over the past 15 years and seen the fall-out from bad design decisions, I have come to believe that, as a designer, your job is to create a look and a feel that your client will love.

That’s why they are hiring you. Your client will often choose all the trendiest finishes on their own. They will try and combine patterns in hard finishes as well as the old with the new and it’s your job to educate them on the finished result and help them visualize what it will look like.

When I read articles where designers give this advice: “It’s important to choose what you like,” I’m clear they haven’t formed an opinion yet on how to create a look and a feel, so they think their job is simply to install what their client likes.

I’ll go one step further and tell you that, if you’re a designer, you will best be able to help your clients if you know what your look and feel is like, so you can help them create a look they will love. One of the biggest mistakes I see designers and decorators make is not understanding that your work and the help you give your clients is better when you have a look that people want to hire you for.

Learning what your “look” is, takes time. It took me 10 years before I realized what my look was. It took even more time before I got that, as a professional, it’s my job is to educate my client on exactly which finishes will be perfect for their home. NOT just ask them what they like.

Just this week I was working with a couple on choosing all their interior finishes for a new house they were building.

They had done some homework before our consultation and sourced a bunch of engineered hardwood samples in their price range so that I could choose the right colour for them.

I immediately eliminated three of the dark gray wood flooring samples they had selected.

Should you Install Gray Wood Flooring? | Maria Killam

via {Hooked on Houses}

Later, after we had chosen all the colours for all their hard finishes including colours for walls she confided that without me, she would definitely have chosen one of the dark gray hardwoods.

The dining room (above) with gray floors is from Coastal Living.  When Julia from Hooked on Houses posted this interior on her blog she said, “The rooms lack a little oomph for me–I’d have to add a little more color if I lived here“. Notice how the cool gray floors contribute to that feeling.

Should you Install Gray Wood Flooring? | Maria Killam

via {Pinterest}

Gray is cool and should be a backdrop to colour as well as provide a balance of cool among warm wood tones. Like this example (above).

Should you Install Gray Wood Flooring? | Maria Killam

via {Better Homes & Gardens}

This is why, when I get emails from readers in despair asking which colours work with homes that are filled with dated 70s, 80s and 90s wood trim, I often say, “Green-grays.” Not only is this undertones of gray completely current, nothing warms up the new trend of grays faster than the old trend of yellow and orange wood tones.

Should you Install Gray Wood Flooring? | Maria Killam

via {Houzz}

And I have one more hot tip for you since we are talking about wood trim.

What if your house is entirely filled with dated honey oak trim and floors and you’re thinking about re-staining your floors a different colour to update them? Or you want to rip out your current floors and introduce a totally different wood floor that does not relate to your honey oak trim?

You can’t. Unless you change everything it will look like, “New floors, old and dated oak trim.” A new gray floor is definitely NOT an option here to create a look you love.

As a designer, when you learn how to sell classic and timeless first before you even start discussing finishes, your job becomes a lot easier, and you can do that at a True Colour Expert™ training this year! Register here.

Have a great week everyone! xo Maria

Related posts:

First Rule of Design: Boring Now Equals Timeless Later

Which Hardwood Floor is the Most Timeless?

Do you Give your Clients Exactly What they Want?

The post Should You Install Gray Wood Floors? appeared first on Maria Killam.

How to Make Standard vs. Custom Colour Choices

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How to Make Standard vs. Custom Colour Choices | Maria Killam

Have you noticed that you can listen to a salesperson list all the features and benefits of a product all day and all night, but if you don’t know what colour to buy. . . ?

You hesitate.

You fret.

You lose sleep at night.

And unless you are in a position where you’re forced to make decisions, like choosing finishes for a new build, you’ll quite often, just walk away without buying anything.

Recently, I was helping a client choose the right flooring colour for her new renovation. In order to make her flooring consistent through the kitchen, great room and hallways her budget was limited to a vinyl look wood floor.

The only item that was already a given, was the wood stained cabinet she had chosen.

After we eliminated most of them we got to the one that resembled a medium brown shade. Not only did it look bad with her cabinet choice, because the undertones did not coordinate, it was not the prettiest sample in the collection. So we chose the second best floor which happened to have grey tones.

Yesterday, I received this email from a reader:

My heart sank while reading your blog “Should you install gray wood floors”

We just bought a townhouse which is in the process of being built.  We had two options when it came to picking the flooring, tiles and counter tops; light or dark.  Since I’ve been reading your blog I know how you feel about white cabinets so we chose the light option.

The dark option wasn’t really that dark it was more of a dark medium brown.  The counters, tile and carpet are pretty much the same colour but the counters and floor seemed a flat, dirty brown.

So we chose the white cupboard option which includes; you guessed it GRAY FLOORS.  The gray floors picture enclosed have a purple undertone (I think). After reading your blog I feel like I will hate them already.  I could try and ask the contractor if he could install the brown floors but he has already explained to me “these are not custom homes”.

How to Make Standard vs. Custom Colour Choices | Maria Killam

Picture of her floors

Here was my response:

“Let me give you some freedom right now, if you only have two options and the one that’s not totally classic is prettier then the other one, then that’s the right choice.”

Her floor has some yellow (and pink) tones in it and it’s light enough to still read neutral, just like denim. It’s a pretty floor with nice movement, I’m personally not a fan of really flat looking floors with barely any wood grain.”

How to Make Standard vs. Custom Colour Choices | Maria Killam
Here’s a room with a very similar floor {via pinterest}

It’s the dark charcoal ones that are the equivalent of painting your floors charcoal that are trendy.

So here’s the thing,

When you have a budget or you’re working with a builder and you have STANDARD colour choices and finishes to choose from? This will shift your colour choices and may force you to bend the rules of classic and timeless in order to get a coordinated and beautiful colour scheme.

How to Make Standard vs. Custom Colour Choices | Maria Killam
{via pinterest}

If you are building a home and you have chosen a white kitchen and then you shop for white tiles for bathrooms but the one that you like the best and fits within your budget is cream?

What do you do?

You go with the cream option. And you paint the trim cream in that bathroom, even though it’s white everywhere else.

Maybe It’s not perfect flow, but better to have something that you love that also fits inside your budget, rather than the second best choice.

When have you bent the rules to get what you want?

Related posts:

If you would like help creating a palette for your home, become a client. Online or In-person.

To get your exterior colours right, download my How to Choose Exterior Colours with Confidence webinar and get my go-to list of colours.

Download my eBook, How to Choose Paint Colours – It’s All in the Undertones to get my complete step-by-step system on how to get colour to do what you want.

To make sure the undertones in your home are right, get some large samples!

And, if you would like to learn how to choose colour with confidence, become a True Colour Expert.

The post How to Make Standard vs. Custom Colour Choices appeared first on Maria Killam.

Soft Blues, Ethereal Whites & Grays: Before & After

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Remember the exterior transformation of this navy blue house I showed you awhile ago? Well, here’s the interior.

Clearly my sweet reader and client Nicole has a wonderful creative eye and just needed some colour direction from me.

Soft Blues, Ethereal Whites & Grays: Before & After | Maria Killam

 Lovely medium brown floors.

Soft Blues, Ethereal Whites & Grays: Before & After | Maria Killam

Before

Soft Blues, Ethereal Whites & Grays: Before & After | Maria Killam

 Walls – BM Stonington Gray After

Soft Blues, Ethereal Whites & Grays: Before & After | Maria Killam

Before

Soft Blues, Ethereal Whites & Grays: Before & After | Maria Killam

 After

Soft Blues, Ethereal Whites & Grays: Before & After | Maria Killam

The blue ceiling is BM Healing Aloe. Walls are BM Tapestry Beige. Soft Blues, Ethereal Whites & Grays: Before & After | Maria Killam

Before

Soft Blues, Ethereal Whites & Grays: Before & After | Maria Killam

After – BM Quiet Moments

Soft Blues, Ethereal Whites & Grays: Before & After | Maria Killam

Dining room is Farrow and Ball Pointing

These are Nicole’s comments, in the meantime she’s moved and renovating her next house!

“When I look at my old house with a critical eye, I am very proud of the transformation …we started with the renovation of the interior the first year, the second year we tackled the exterior including designing the outdoor fireplace/ patio and the third year I started to decorate (January, I started the dining room…paneling, furniture and rug ) I had not finished the curtains  ( I only had two panels done in the picture , so I put one up on each side of the window for staging ) and no window seat.. when we decided to move to Boston.


The only room that was finished was the living room. I think you asked me why I had no rug and honestly, I just loved the herringbone and that is why I opted for no rug
I did the project in stages because there is never enough money to do it all at once. I also love the process of mulling it all over.  I want to thank you for your help as always. I can’t wait to read your book on whites. I have learned a ton from you.” Nicole.

I love the blue ceilings and of course the kitchen transformation!

What’s your favourite room?

Related posts:

What Everyone Should Know about Blue

Need an Extra Window Somewhere? Do this Instead?

The Minimalist Way to Inject Colour: Before & After

If you would like your home to fill you with happiness when you walk in the door, become a client. Online or In-person.

To get your exterior colours right, download my How to Choose Exterior Colours with Confidence webinar and get my go-to list of colours.

Get the confidence you need to choose your whites, download my White is Complicated: A Decorator’s Guide to Choosing the Right White.

Download my eBook, How to Choose Paint Colours – It’s All in the Undertones to get my complete step-by-step system on how to get colour to do what you want.

To make sure the undertones in your home are right, get some large samples!

And, if you would like to learn how to choose colour with confidence, become a True Colour Expert

The post Soft Blues, Ethereal Whites & Grays: Before & After appeared first on Maria Killam.

The Problem with Your Orange/Yellow Floors

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The Problem with Your Orange/Yellow Floors | Maria Killam

I get this question so much, it’s time to focus on it for a moment. A lot of people have this problem. Or should I say “problem”?

The Problem with Your Orange/Yellow Floors | Maria Killam

{Yellow/orange floors. Anything wrong here?}

So here’s the question from a reader:

“Have you ever had to decorate around a maple floor? Yes, I have just moved into what was an elegant maple floors + maple wall-to-wall counters + dark granite countertop 1990s extravaganza. Since I don’t think I’m going to be able to stain maple darker [you can’t!], do you have any blogs that deal with flooring color – and what can and can’t be done when paired with this 1980s/90s yellowy wood obsession?”

Here’s my best advice: start decorating and shopping. You don’t need to match the floor unless you want to install a yellow/gold rug to blend in, and I probably wouldn’t recommend that, anyway. Having said that, you could still get away with a natural fiber rug in the same tones. Almost any colour will work on the walls.

Your floors are like denim. If you want to introduce greys, that’s fine. Nothing brings grey to life faster than yellow or orange.

And that’s it. Really. Replace yellow and orange maple floors with honey oak floors, and my answer is still the same.

If you have just moved into a new house and need to buy furniture, your flooring will not give you enough clues to help you.

I’m serious. Let me say it again so you’ll remember.

Your flooring is not your starting point.

It’s not friendly or chatty. It’s just hanging out and neutral for the most part. It will not help you choose your outfit for the day, never mind the colour of your sofa. ; ) ; )

No, it doesn’t feel current, and that’s because it’s not, but it doesn’t narrow down your options into a tiny box, either.

It’s a classic mistake to think your flooring will give you cues for colour. I did that as a new colour consultant. If you haven’t read that story, it’s at the bottom of this post I wrote ages ago.

Here are some lovely interiors with orange/yellow maple, honey oak, or fir floors.

The Problem with Your Orange/Yellow Floors | Maria Killam{Lots of different colours here. Nothing clashes with the orange floors.}

The Problem with Your Orange/Yellow Floors | Maria Killam {Notice the cool blue-grey walls. The floors warm up this kitchen nicely.}

The Problem with Your Orange/Yellow Floors | Maria Killam{Almost white/greige walls}

The Problem with Your Orange/Yellow Floors | Maria Killam{Williams & Sonoma}

Are the floors yellow or orange here? The focus is on the area rug and the beautifully decorated room. Here, the flooring colour doesn’t matter at all, and it certainly wasn’t used as the inspiration for this colour scheme.

And that’s the point. It’s why wood flooring is mostly like jeans. No one is looking to the wood flooring for a relationship to fabrics or paint colours.

The Problem with Your Orange/Yellow Floors | Maria Killam{via Pinterest}

The Problem with Your Orange/Yellow Floors | Maria Killam{Yellow walls with orange floors. Still looks great.}

The Problem with Your Orange/Yellow Floors | Maria Killam{Pink-beige sofa, colourful cushions, and green-grey walls. Yellow floors are still neutral.}

So stop worrying about your floors and focus on finding SOMETHING ELSE that inspires you, like a piece of art, a throw pillow, or an area rug to help you create a colour scheme.

I find throw pillows are the best place to start. If you’d like some inspiration, check out my consultations board on Pinterest. If you scroll down, you’ll see all the combinations of pillows I’ve helped my clients coordinate!

Are you loving your yellow/orange floors now? Good. There’s nothing wrong with them.

Related posts:

The New Timeless Hardwood Floor

How NOT to choose Paint Colours But Everybody Does it

Are you Waiting for your Paint Colours to Propose?

4 Ways to Work with Colour over Neutrals

If you would like to transform the way you see colour, become a True Colour Expert.

The post The Problem with Your Orange/Yellow Floors appeared first on Maria Killam.


Ask Maria: Must my Kitchen Coordinate With the Dining Room?

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Ask Maria
I’m am a big fan and follower of your “Ask Maria” series. I’ve never done anything like this before so I thought I’d give it a go. 
We’re looking to update our kitchen and our dilemma is what color to paint our cabinets and island. Our cabinets are in good condition so we can’t justify replacing them. The sink, faucet and appliances will be swapped out for stainless. We’re also looking to replace the countertops to either granite or quartz. 
We needed additional storage and added the dark cabinets in our dining room which adjoins the kitchen. My husband and I want to see the blonde cabinets go but can’t agree on what to do. One item I will have is a subway tile backsplash. I love the white fresh look with Carrera accents (maybe backsplash?) and he would love to have grey cabinets. His one concern is whatever we end up doing not looking dumb with the dark cabinets in the dining room.  
So here’s where I seek your professional advise because I’m stuck. What do you suggest we do? Should we repaint the cabinets white, grey or dark like in the dining room? Or, a dark island with white cabinets? Dark with white quartz countertop? Ahhhhhh it’s all so overwhelming. 

askmariakitchen

This is such a great question because it’s such a common dilemma.

Here’s why neither of you can decide what to do: your Maple kitchen was most likely installed around the early 90s. Then the Tuscan Brown trend came along, and during that time, you decided to add millwork into your dining room.

Great idea, right?

Unconsciously or not, you made the decision to ‘move forward’ when you ordered them. Your kitchen was dated, so it made no sense to introduce more maple cabinets in the dining room.

But then, the brown trend came and went before you had time to get to the kitchen.

Now we are in the grey trend. Painting the cabinets espresso to coordinate with the dining room might seem like the right thing to do to update your kitchen, but if you do that, the entire kitchen will immediately look about 15 years old, depending on where in the country you live.

Why would it look 15 years old (here in the Westcoast)? Because that’s how long the brown trend has been around.

Just like I said in this post, if I’m looking at anything but a white kitchen, I can tell you within five years when it was installed.

But let’s move on, shall we? Some of you have brown kitchens, and I don’t want you to get cranky. This is just my opinion. It doesn’t mean its right.

Okay, so how do we fix this dilemma?

espressopluswhite

McGill Design Group

Well, technically, your espresso cabinets should be painted to coordinate with your new kitchen (above). Except to work better with your dining room, your countertops should be cream not white.

The white or cream you choose will depend entirely upon the countertop. Since you mentioned that you like Carrara marble and might want to include that in your backsplash, that would dictate a true white colour for your cabinets.

However, this would not work when you got back around to your dining room because it looks like you’ve got a more earthy granite countertop there. This dictates that you paint your kitchen an off-white or creamy shade.

If you paint your cabinets grey and leave your dining room as is, it will look like “brown trend over here, grey trend over there.”

Yesterday and Today.

whitecabinetsgranite

{via pinterest}

In a perfect world, your granite should match the dining room (similar to this look above), but if you don’t want to keep going with the same granite, choose a solid off-white quartz and paint your cabinets off-white. (You will find all the details, including which whites to choose, in my White is Complicated e-book).

Thank you, Heather, for sending in this question. Your dilemma will help many others who have the same one!!

If you have a question for my Ask Maria column, email it here.

Thank you so much to all of you who bought my set of 25 white and grey large samples from Sherwin Williams! 100% of the proceeds will go to CARE to help the people of Nepal.

Related posts:

White Kitchen Cabinets

How to Mix Yesterday and Today in your Renovation

5 Steps to a Kitchen You’ll Love

The post Ask Maria: Must my Kitchen Coordinate With the Dining Room? appeared first on Maria Killam.

Where to Start When You Have a Blank Slate

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blankThe view from my client’s home

Jacqueline called me and said:

“Help! My laundry room is finished, it’s white, I followed all the advice on your blog right down to copying the shelves in your laundry room, but now that I have a white Maria Killam laundry room and I can do anything I want, I have no idea where to start!

What colour should I paint it? I painted it BM Grey Owl because I had some leftover paint but it’s doing nothing for me!”

I said, “First, Grey Owl is almost like a neutral, muted blue/green grey that would look great in a bathroom with lots of blue grey marble that coordinated with it, but for your white-on-white laundry room to look fabulous, it needs a colour!

It’s better if we find some art and accessories for this room before we pick some random colour. Bring photos, we’ll meet at HomeSense. It’s a laundry room, we should be able to find most of it there.”

ackward

Laundry room before

Jacqueline made the shelves herself from leftover pieces of wood. That’s why they weren’t quite long enough, which created an awkward space between the shelves and the window.

“Don’t worry,” I assured her. “The right artwork can make this look completely intentional.”

We started in the art department. I pulled out several pieces of art that coordinated in two groups so that we could then source a carpet, towels, and accessories to finish the room.

Jacqueline laughed when she watched me pulling out art and propping it up all down the aisle. “If that was me,” she said, “I would have walked up and down this aisle once and left.”

Below is the first collection we found. Jacqueline liked how bright this colour scheme felt, BUT…

turquoise

…she chose the second option instead. The rug was prettier, and she loves green:

purple

Jacqueline and her husband have been renovating their house for three years. All this time, they have been living with their old furniture from their last house, but now they can start to think about colour flow between the newly renovated rooms. When I asked if she could imagine her great room with a green sofa, she said, “I love that idea!”

This year, the laundry room is the last project before we begin choosing colours and furnishings for her great room and dining room. Since this small room could look finished without a lot of expense, we started here.

Here’s what the laundry room looks like now:

greenlaundryThe colour is BM Guildford Green. Much better.

We installed the art directly on the subway tile wall with 3M picture-hanging tape. Worked like a charm!

purpleart

I used the top shelf in this room to guide where the art would hang. Obviously if the art had been a lot bigger or smaller, this would not apply, but sometimes it’s a good place to look if you’re not sure where to hang it. Line up your artwork with the top of a cabinet in the room, for example.

Jacqueline has been following my blog for many years. After she read this post about how I’m a sucker for cute faces, she said she’s noticed them ever since. She approved of the white frog when I picked him up in the garden department, he looks like he’s smiling a greeting when you walk in because he’s smack in the middle of the shelves!

frog

I find it way easier to shop with my clients for accessories than to try and decide on my own if I should get the frog with the cheshire cat grin or a funky snail instead, haha.

So, again, before:

beforelaundry

 And after:

fullaundry

Photography by Maria Killam (aren’t you impressed? I can hardly believe it myself)

Jacqueline installed solid, handscraped white oak in a medium brown finish throughout her entire main floor, including the powder and laundry room. It’s stunning!

Next, she’s going to paint the ceiling! Before I left, I chose this colour:

voiletmist

BM 1437 Violet Mist

Jacqueline sent me this text later that day:

“I want you to know HOW happy that laundry room has made me…It’s so inspiring and makes me love the entire renovation, even though the rest of the house is not even decorated yet! Thank you so much.”

Bottom line, if you don’t have a starting point, art, fabric, a rug, SOMETHING, you might as well throw a dart on the colour wheel because it’s very difficult to get inspired when the colour relates to NOTHING whatsoever in the room.

Choose a starting point (like a designer would if you hired them to decorate your house) and you’ll be much happier with the end result!

And I want you to be happy ; ) That’s why I write this blog!

Speaking of happy, to all the moms who read this blog, I hope you had a wonderful Mothers’ Day!! You’re special to me because you’re here!

And thanks for everyone who contributed to my fundraiser for the earthquake in Nepal these last few days! I love my readers!

Have a great week, everyone! xoxo

Related posts:

6 Things About Me

The New Timeless Hardwood Floor

Are you Waiting for your Paint Colour to Propose?

If you would like your home to fill you with happiness every time you walk in, contact us! We would love to help you choose colours, select the right combination of hard finishes or create a plan to pull your room together. You can find our fabulous e-design consultation packages here.

The post Where to Start When You Have a Blank Slate appeared first on Maria Killam.

Warning: Rant Alert on The Tackiest Advice Ever

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karl

I recently came across some advice by an interior designer. She said outright that we won’t regret giving into our creative impulses when designing our homes. That we should choose tile and fixtures that are as trendy as our toss cushions, and that we shouldn’t worry about our fixtures being forever.

This is the fluffiest, dumbest advice I think I’ve ever read.

I talk to clients every single day who are upset either because they got carried away with too-creative finishes, or because they got the wrong advice from a professional and it’s way too late because everything is installed.

Other times, my clients can’t wait to rip out a previous homeowner’s burst of creativity in the house they’ve just moved into.

I don’t normally get this cranky, but this kind of advice — written for the novice who is already confused by all the unrealistic, ugly, and EXPENSIVE finishes they are seeing out there-is unnecessary and misleading.

The definition of fluffy advice? Frivolous words that fill up a page and help no one.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I don’t love well done, trendy spaces. It’s just that I recognize a trend for what it is: something with a short life.

How do I know this?

All you have to do is look at the house you just moved into (unless it’s brand new and filled with trendy finishes that you might find acceptable), and ask yourself: Do I love the previous homeowner’s trendy choices that are now so, so dated?

No.

That’s the first clue that although you love it now, you might regret it later.

So here are some images that you’ll never find on this blog in a regular blog post unless I’m warning you to avoid them.

So enjoy. . . and then keep it timeless, and break out the subway tile.

Just sayin’.

brassandgeometricVia Pinterest

blackkitchenvia Pinterest

charcoalkitchenvia Pinterest

kitchengeometricvia House Beautiful

housebeautifulvia House Beautiful

bathroomgreyvia Pinterest

bluegeometricVia Pinterest

greyfloorsvia Pinterest

One of my amazing True Colour Experts™ just shared a story recently of a consultation she had with a couple who were building their forever house. They kept showing her one grey hardwood floor sample after another, and finally she said:

“You are building your forever house. You can’t have any grey in your floor, period.”

It’s hard to stick to this when you’re loving it right now, but trust me. I’ve been there. Just like most of us are not buying brown sofas or painting our houses brown right now, we were doing exactly that just a short five years ago.

So enjoy the trendy images, but keep the trendy purchases to removable items in your home.

And remember, this is advice for those who have not made these mistakes yet. If you already have, just style the room.

So many decor-related mistakes can be saved with some creative styling.

Check out my Styling Interiors board for inspiration.

I love my readers, and I want you to feel inspired, not depressed, after you’ve read one of my ‘warning’ posts. Seriously, though, with that kind of advice floating around, it had to be said.

Have a wonderful week everyone! xoxo Maria

Related posts:

Ask Maria: What’s Next After Subway Tile?

The New Timeless Hardwood Floor

Grey is OUT! (Maybe) The Colour Trends is In

The post Warning: Rant Alert on The Tackiest Advice Ever appeared first on Maria Killam.

My Sister’s New Kitchen: Surprise! It’s NOT White or Subway Tile!

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kohlerfaucetwhite

When my sister Lea (I have 3 sisters) and her partner were getting ready to move into the Eco Village in our town, I helped her choose finishes, colours, and lighting.

Greg wanted wood-stained cabinets (not white) and Lea really didn’t mind either way, so I specified a light maple, along with medium brown engineered wood flooring.

Lighting was a challenge because we had a strict budget. Lea kept sending me light fixtures that I kept vetoing.

Then I’d send her a light that was in the budget, like this one, and she would say NO:

pendantlight

 

 

Then I found this image (below) and sent it to her. The pendants were inexpensive, but when arranged like this, they were so whimsical and reflected her personality.

She loved them!

whimsicalightsvia Pinterest

And here’s everything installed in her own kitchen:

leaskitchenPhotography, colours and styling by Maria Killam

There’s an entire pantry wall on the other side of her kitchen (not shown).

The cabinet maker had a special price on one style of quartz only (from China, I don’t have the name for you it was discontinued) if anyone in the Village wanted an upgrade from laminate. When Lea showed it to me, I decided it was neutral enough and not overly busy.

She did NOT want subway tile because she thinks it’s boring (clearly not brainwashed enough by reading my blog, sigh), but agreed that we would stay away from accent tile and keep it off-white to coordinate with the quartz. We settled on this moroccan pattern.

It’s smaller in scale than I would have liked, but the tile supplier to the Eco Village had only this size. It works with white grout, but definitely would have been too busy in a contrasting colour.

cookbooks

A sample of Lea’s vegetarian cookbooks (above). I also introduced her to the concept of buying vessels for herbs and potted plants in her house instead of simply plunking them down on a china tea plate. She now has about ten in varying sizes. I love the square one she chose for her bay leaf plant.

leastove

Lea did not end up with the knobs and pulls I specified. She chose the twisty pulls on her own (above). She said they were so expensive she had to compromise and go with cheaper knobs.

I’m just happy she went with a knob and a pull that look better (and more like a designer was here) instead of the exact same pull on every door and drawer.

The floor is a medium brown laminate. Just the right timeless colour.

kohlerfaucet

Greg chose the Kohler faucet (above). I love how simple and sleek it is.

chinesetea

In a perfect world (where everyone listens to every single piece of my advice), I would specify a solid countertop with this style of backsplash. Even though it’s white and there’s no contrast, this tile is definitely busier than regular subway tile and should be the feature of the kitchen.

sunflowers

I added the sunflowers at the end of the photo shoot!

Are you shocked? NOT a white kitchen and NOT subway tile.

I bet you thought I was just a one-trick pony ; ) ; )

We would love to help you choose colours, select the right combination of hard finishes or create a plan to pull your kitchen together. You can find our fabulous e-design consultation packages here.

Related posts:

Ask Maria: Help! I Don’t Want the Same Kitchen as Everyone Else

My Sisters Fresh New Backsplash: Before & After

The New Timeless Hardwood Floor

The post My Sister’s New Kitchen: Surprise! It’s NOT White or Subway Tile! appeared first on Maria Killam.

Tour My House: Learn the 6 Best Ways to Transition Colour

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transitioncolour

A lot of people think that the right way to create flow and transition colours from room to room with paint colours is to take a single strip of colours from the paint store and select a range of shades from light to dark.

When you do that, though, your house will basically end up painted lighter and darker versions of the same colour everywhere.

Also, who has a house (unless it’s brand new) where out of the nine neutral undertones available, one of them will work for every single room? What if you have pink beige carpet in the halls and bedrooms, blue grey tile in the entry, a green grey stone fireplace in the living room, and gold beige countertops in the kitchen?

Now what do you do?

The chances of this method of choosing paint colours coming out beautiful is very slim, indeed.

Here’s the best way to get it right:

pinkliving

CA-037 Rice Paper by Cloverdale Paint (Photo by Maria Killam)

1. Flow starts in the living room.

When I work with a client on creating a new colour palette for their home, we always start here. This is the room that influences the entire house.

So if you are spinning and have no idea which colours to paint your walls—or worse, have nine samples up and are waiting for one to step out and say, “Pick me, pick me!”—well, the chances of this happening without at least a basic decorating plan for your living room will be even slimmer.

Paint colours should be chosen last (in a perfect world). There isn’t a single colour I chose for my house without first knowing which fabrics or furniture were going in the room.

2. Don’t choose all your colours at once.

What if you really don’t know, or don’t have time to choose furniture or artwork?

Then don’t stress about choosing five colours. Start with one. And when you slowly start to make choices, you can repaint your dining room or powder room once you know what the accent colours will be.

My powder room (which is right past the laundry room, photo below) is painted a raspberry shade that ties in with the raspberry accent colour in my living room.

The main rooms of my house (living room, family room, and kitchen) are painted a colour that I consider to be greige. All the paint colours in my house are from Cloverdale paint because they generously sponsored all the paint when we renovated this house over three years ago.

A lot of my clients are simply looking for the perfect white or greige when repainting or choosing colours for a new build. I list a few perfect Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams options that can be found in my White is Complicated: A Decorator’s Guide to Choosing the Right White e-book, which you can download here.

The days of painting each room a different colour are OVER.

Because we are decorating with much cleaner colours in the colour trend than we did during the Tuscan Brown trend, we need a neutral on the walls that will not look dirty with all these fresh colours and a colourful sofa in the living room.

entryyellow

Entry (Cloverdale 7928)

3. If the colours in your living room are fresh, the rest of your house should be, too!

As you’ll see when you read this post, the palette throughout my house is not just raspberry, green, and sunflower yellow. Creating flow is not about simply repeating the same colours from your living room over and over. It’s about making sure all your colours are either clean or dirty.

The biggest mistake most people make (including design professionals) is combining clean and dirty colours. We will be talking about this throughout our in-class exercises coming up in San Francisco next week, and Houston next month!

I chose a softer yellow than my sofa through my entry and hallway because this colour is too intense to have in a main living area, but it’s fabulous through a hall you’re only walking through.

Now, obviously, it would be smart to continue your main neutral down your hallways if you have carpet. A bright colour with a more muted, earthy shade of carpeting will not be fabulous.

maria'skitchen

Cabinets | Artisan White by Cloverdale Paint

The same green found in my living room is the only accent in my white kitchen.

Maria Killam's White Kitchen

 Rice Paper, Cloverdale CA-037

marialaundry

Laundry Room (Cloverdale 7928)

4. If you have already chosen a few colours, repeat them.

I repeated the yellow from the hallway here in my laundry room. You can see my raspberry powder room colour here. It still needs to be renovated, so it’s not part of the tour.

family room

View from the family room into the kitchen

The raspberry accent colour in my house was inspired by this piece of art found at a big box store and custom framed. I love this piece of art. She looks sweet and kind, something I aspire to be daily. : )

orangefamily

The colours in my family room are orange and yellow, with a small hit of navy. Truthfully, I had these navy pillows kicking around, so one day, I installed them in here. I am a total pillow tramp, as many of you know.

colourfulvignette

These striped ginger jars I ordered in the summer from One Kings Lane.

family

I found that column in the corner from an antique store and chalk painted it. The end table came from the Pottery Barn.

yellowhall

Kelly Green front door | Cloverdale 7669

5. What colour is in your entry or adjoining rooms? That could be your front door colour.

I love my green front door. When it’s open, the colour relates to my living room. And as you can see, I’m breaking the clean and dirty rule with my carpet here. I have found that so many greens look good together this is when you can break the rules.

transition

Transitioning paint colour | BM Pale Sea Mist (Guest Room) 124 Orange Appeal (office),

6. Paint your bedrooms a colour. These smaller spaces can handle a brighter shade

There’s no greige, only colour at this end of the house. It’s just happiness here.

Our guest room is green (it’s not finished yet either) and Terreeia’s office is sorbet orange. You can see through the doorway that the green chair and ottoman repeats the green from the room right beside it, and the orange and yellow artwork in the bedroom repeats both colours, too.

I specifically created the vignette on the dresser facing the hallway in the guest room because this door is never closed, and I love looking at it when I walk in and out of the master bedroom.

Terreeia'soffice

Here’s a peak at Terreeia’s office. It still needs drapery. My studio office is behind the house here if you haven’t seen it. This post also includes my garden.

Tofficeview

Terreeia’s view from her desk is through the hall and into our turquoise master bedroom.

Master Bedroom

SW Rainwashed

Turquoise and yellow. This is really where turquoise is introduced. It’s nowhere else in the house, but the colours still flow.

sittingarea

I had an old black-and-gold striped ottoman that I slipcovered to go in this room’s sitting area. The sofa and loveseat are from Martha Stewart Furniture.

bedroomdrapes

I simply adore these custom-made, off-white drapes. See how the horizontal stripes are uneven? It creates a ballgown effect. The end table is from HomeSense.

birdsbedroom

Some of you know how obsessed I am with a cute face. I recently picked up these gossiping parrots at HomeSense. ; ) ; )

vignettebedroom

I did not schlep this vessel home from Tuscany this past summer; it’s from a gift shop in Fairhaven.

I love the soft and sweet look of maiden hair ferns. I simply replace them when they dry out if I forget to water them in time. If that’s monthly, so be it.

maria'sbathroom

And finally, I repeated the turquoise shade of the bedroom in our dated main bathroom right beside it. What will the colour be when it gets renovated? Only time will tell.

The only room you haven’t seen is our master bathroom ensuite. I also painted it the same turquoise shade, but when it gets renovated, I will paint it a coordinating colour from the master. I like looking into a different room and seeing a different colour.

When people walk through my house, they’ll say “It feels so fresh!” And that’s because it flows and all the colours are clean instead of more muted and dirty. It’s NOT because I’ve decorated the entire house with colours strictly found in the living room.

The same feeling of flow can be created with any colour scheme, even if you prefer earthier colours. Just because the colour/fresh trend is here doesn’t mean everyone loves it or can realistically re-decorate.

Once you’ve chosen your paint colours, arrange them in front of you and compare, compare, compare to make sure one doesn’t jump out more than the others. That usually means it’s a cleaner colour than the rest.

I’ve noticed clean colours are EVERYWHERE finally. It’s only taken 5 years for that to happen but even sofas are colourful which I think is fabulous!

Are you into the colour trend or do you prefer earthier colours?

Related posts:

Grey is Out! (Maybe) The Colour Trend is Here! 

Are you Waiting for your Paint Colour to Propose?

How NOT to Choose Paint Colours (But Everybody Does It)

If you would like to transform the way you see colour, become a True Colour Expert.

The post Tour My House: Learn the 6 Best Ways to Transition Colour appeared first on Maria Killam.

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