Vestige Home Favorites, Paint Colors
One of the comments that we receive most often on social media is, “What color is that?”
And we certainly understand the curiosity! We love embracing color and even consider allover color as a “neutral base” when we are designing unique spaces for our clients. The impact of paint is undeniable. It’s one of the fastest and least expensive ways to transform a space, top that off with a low commitment level (you can always repaint!) and paint is firmly cemented as an interior design hero.
We’ve rounded up a few of our most requested spaces and we’re sharing the paint details below, but first, here are a couple of quick tips.
Photo by Rebecca McAlpin
Selecting Paint Finishes
Usually, unless it’s for a heavy-use, high-moisture space such as a bathroom, we like to use a matte finish on the walls and a satin finish for trim work. For bathrooms and other high-use spaces, we usually specify a satin finish for the walls unless we are using a specifically-formulated matte paint for high moisture areas such as Benjamin Moore Aura Bath & Spa. Our most used paint brand is Benjamin Moore (the Regal Select and Advance Lines are great).
Choosing a Color to Match the Light
Our number one rule when choosing color for a space - and design in general - is to think about how you want to FEEL in the space. In all of our design work, their is a functional consideration, and an emotional consideration. Consideration of the room’s location is also important. For north-facing rooms, the natural lighting is softer, cool, and slightly bluish. North-facing or low-light rooms can be a great option for embracing bold, darker colors as they will look especially lovely in the softer lighting. South facing rooms are bold and bright, lighter or mid-tone colors can be really wonderful in these spaces. We always lean towards colors that have a little bit of “muddiness” for these spaces to keep the color from reading to electric or bright on the eyes.
I selected Benjamin Moore’s “Creekside Green” in a matte finish for the front living room and stairwell at our "#PhillyStoneQueen. Photo by Traci Elaine
Interior Spaces Like Hallways
There’s no hard and fast color rules for hallways as they can be located in so many areas of the home. There is opportunity for them to lead to great focal points, or potentially have showstopper flooring, art, or lighting as part of the design. Hallways that are going to be a focal point in the space can benefit from a bold color on the walls (or even consider something interesting for the 5th wall - the ceiling) and hallways that act as pass through spaces are lovely with soft neutrals like whites and greys.
At our #PhillyStoneQueen the hallway that houses our butler’s pantry is painted in soft gray (Benjamin Moore’s “Revere Pewter”) and soft whites to transition between our front Living Room that’s painted a saturated green (Benjamin Moore’s “Creekside Green”) and our soft pink kitchen (Farrow and Ball’s “Dead Salmon”). Photo by Rebecca McAlpin
Choosing Whole House Color Schemes
This is a BIG questions with many, many possible answers! My best piece of advice here is to think about the emotion you want in your home and let that guide you color choices. Don’t think you always have to make a room look “bigger” or keep colors neutral to play it safe… your home is your own sanctuary and should be a reflection of you and what you love. Experimenting with paint is a great way to hone one element of your design eye.
We’’ll have another post coming your way soon that give a little insight into our preferences for painting trim, bookshelves and other features. We hope that these posts inspire you to bring a little bit of that vestige HOME look into your own home.
Photo by Rebecca McAlpin
At our #TraditionalGraduate project we wrapped the first floor in “Sea Glass” by Benjamin Moore. The perfect soft gray/green/blue the color shifts throughout the day and looks especially incredible paired with the rich rust velvet upholstery on the bench seat.
Photo by Rebecca McAlpin
Speaking of colors that shift throughout the day, for our #PhillyStoneQueen Kitchen Refresh we used “Dead Salmon” by Farrow and Ball on the walls and “Off-Black” by Farrow and Ball for the cabinetry. This muddy pink instantly delivered those Modern English Country vibes and created the perfect backdrop for my collections of handmade treasures.
Photo by Rebecca McAlpin
A small shift in tone can make all of the difference in choosing the right paint color. At our #ArtfulEnglishRowhouse project, the homeowners had previously painted the space a bright blue. We kept the blue, but toned it way down with Benjamin Moore’s “Oxford Gray.” The new softer blue pairs beautifully with the original floor color and allows the homeowner’s collections of books and art to really shine.
Photo by Rebecca McAlpin
Inspired by trips to Upstate New York our clients at our #SocietyPines project wanted us to bring the outdoors, in and so we wrapped their second-story sitting room in Benjamin Moore’s “Cypress Green.” The color draws the eye up to the new wood ceiling treatment while framing amazing garden views. We couldn’t resist some tone-on-tone action here and had the custom sleeper sofa upholstered in a rich emerald.
Photo by Rebecca McAlpin
When I designed the dining room at our #PhillyStoneQueen I designed wainscotting to wrap the lower portion of the space, creating balance with the other large features and high ceilings and setting the perfect grounding for the incredible hand-painted original mural by Carla Weeks. I went with a tried and true color here, “Revere Pewter” by Benjamin Moore. Some describe this color as the perfect warm “greige” with it’s mushroom-y undertones. Here, it pairs beautifully with our custom white oak dining table and is soft enough that it doesn’t compete with the other more graphic elements in the space.
