Please bare with the rather lenthy preamble.
My spouse and I just changed cities and apartments for employment reasons. I am completely remodelling the place (sweat equity): a total floor refinish (sanded and restained/varnished), prime/paint, total kitchen remodel (all new cupboards/countertops and appliances (including convection micorwave and induction cooktop. Of course that all will be comming with us when we move), etc, etc.) I have done or will do basically everything short of putting up new drywall (the building was erected in 1937 and asbestos would be an issue. Anyway, it's not our property and we're already going way above and beyond the call as it is ;-P ...) I've even stripped all the moulding, and restained/varnished that! I kid you not: take a few 5 gallon buckets of gell stripper, and a length of eves troughing with caps on either end to use as a dipping tray. Load it up with stripper, and drop in the moulding (which you previously removed) for 20-30 minutes. Works like a charm. Anyway, I digress. :-P I do actually need input:
The style at the moment seems to be light, neutral colours, chosen by designers (and thus why they're so popular, I recon) because they provide an inert background to show-off the *contents* of the room. I, on the other hand, have chosen *very* dark shades as the primary wall colour, and a much lighter shade of the same colour for the trim (and one shade lighter still for the ceiling.) I've also chosen to do each room in a different colour: 'bitter' chocolate brown in the livingroom; deep, deep yellow in the dining room; green for the bedroom; dark blue for the office; light (this time) grey for the bathroom, to play off the detailing in the subway-style art deco tile (though that room hasn't been done yet. We may end-up going with red (as it's really the only clolour left lol!) to keep in line with the tone on tone them in the rest of the place); deep deep orange in the main hall; and a deep, just short of espresso-shade purple in the kitchen (with black laminate countertops and black/stainless steel appliances.) I also chose dark walnut brown as the stain and satin finish, oil-based varnish for the floors. Now, it wasn't so long ago that these shades were all the rage, but not at the moment. Frankly, I'm not too fond of the current interest in lighter shades: too wishy-washy for my liking. Our next place will be the house we've either built or renovated. If anything, we were thinking at that time about going with a 'post modern ultra modern' look, using shades of grey in every room (though that's a few years down the road so who knows...) The point of all this? I'm concerned we may be viewed as 'style pariahs' for shoosing the colours we did. Not that we ultimately give a rat's behind one way or the other, since it is *we* that have to live in the space. On the other hand, it *would* be interesting to know if these dark tones are expected to come back any time in the near future, or is this 'lighter colours thing' a long-term trend. Who knows, maybe instead of being ostracized we'll be viewed as 'innovators.'
All our furniture is very stylish (w/o being specific): a perfect balance of new and old that works very well with the colours we've chosen.
I'd (we'd) very much appreciate input from all of you: any thoughts, comments, criticisms, musings. Whatever pops into your head as you are reading this, please post it.
It will help give me some context and perspective in terms of what I'm doing with the space.
STIA for the replies!
Keith
PS ^^ Oh yes, one other question. We've already chosen the colours brown, yellow, purple, green, grey, red, blue and orange. Can you recommend any others that *aren't* shades of one of the above? (So not olive or tan for instance, since they shades or green and brown.
The reason I ask is we haven't actually commited to using the purple or red, and frankly I'd rather not in this space/context if I can find an alternative. It's not easy I know, but hey you guys might know of some magical shade that I don't.
Thanks again!
