Thursday, July 17, 2008

Color Choices

Pink and pastels are fine for some purposes.



The Astilbe, bought in all its colors reverts to this pink. There are pink Astilbe stem to stern.



Red has been on my mind today. Red is bold. I am thinking of a cozy cabin with red trim. What would that be like? What should the house color be with red trim?



Stark white is not an option for a wet, often muddy, deep green forest or the generally filthy inhabitant lurking the grounds.



Blue is good. Blue has a chance.



Green is the standby color. It is just too obvious to capture my color imagination.

11 comments:

chuck b. said...

As long as it's not yellow with red trim, I'm sure whatever you pick will be fine.

Anonymous said...

I love RED! and red trim would be something unexpected. I also agree with Frances on a previous post, suggesting you paint the door a wilder color. I think there is a website, maybe the Benjamin Moore site that lets you change the colors on the house and trim so you can see how they look together. Have you driven around to see some cabins that have a color combination you really like? I know you will come up with the perfect solution in the end. A friend of ours has red trim, but they have a dark green roof and dark siding. What color are you thinking for the siding?

Frances, said...

Oh that butterfly! What about black and blue? Looks good on him. Are you sold on the siding being lighter than the roof? Could go darker too. I like the seeing it with different colors on the site Siria mentioned. I may go there just for fun. I love that stuff.

Anonymous said...

Christopher,
Go to www.benjaminmoore.com and then go to the "personal color viewer". Then go to "home exterior" and you can select from several pictures of houses they have loaded. You can change the exterior color, trim and door colors to see how you like the color combinations. The only thing is that you can't change the color of the roof and it looked like they were all dark roofs. Try it...it's pretty interesting.

Christopher C. NC said...

No red and yellow Chuck. Damn!

I've been playing with colors on the Valspar Paint site. I can choose a color palette and it will paint a house for me.

The door will definitely be a bold color, the same as the trim or a near color with a different tone. I'm waffling on whether or not I want the siding lighter or darker than the Light Stone roof color, which is a light gray green.

Anonymous said...

That butterfly is so beautiful - I've never seen one like that before. And as for paint - barn-ish red for the trim? That would look great with khaki tan or a little darker for the siding and then you could add blue or green as an accent - woodsy yet classic.

Anonymous said...

Think about how the cabin will fit in with the surroundings, too. Do you want it to stand out or blend in? And then I guess you have to consider the color of your eventual house, too; will they be identical or contrasting?
I am lousy at colors so won't offer specific advice on that!

ps I loved the toe nails story. The officials don't seem to get that code is meant to be a minimum standard; if you've exceeded the standard, why meet their specific code??!! Oh, well; easy enough to placate them I guess.

bev

lisa said...

In the woods, I see a natural wood exterior, clear varnished in a light to medium tan. Then red trim, and a hunter green door. Now if you're talking 1800's farmhouse with "painted-lady"-ish possibilities, I've always liked sage house with mouse brown trim and deep red innner trim/accents. Or the federal blue house with confederate gray trim and apple red inner trim/accents. Stone would look nice in the woods, as either a bottom layer or full-on exterior. :) IMO...

Christopher C. NC said...

Kim those black and blue butterflies are here by the dozens and dozens now.

The tan/brown house with a red trim was were I was headed until I was distracted by a light cream yellow trim color with a red door, to spite Chuck. Then the colors on the computer were nothing like the swatches in the store. So which color of tan/brown/khaki and red or yellow exactly are we talking about now. The ones I choose on the computer sucked on the swatches.

Bev, that may be part of the problem. I want the house to belong and I want it to have pizazz. My contractor fumed about the ridiculous, crappy, no good toe nails all afternoon. How could they be so ignorant and not approve a better quality of fastening?

Lisa those are some good color combos. I'm going to have to check the blue/gray look. Back to square one. You know I have the stone in the form of the dry stack walls on the down hill side of the cabin.

Anonymous said...

I totally agree that paint colors are very frustrating to pick out, especially from the little swatches at the paint store. Some colors look totally different in different surrounding and light. Because you are in the woods and your light is so different than a house that would be out in a sunny place, you might want to see if Lowe's will give you (or buy)some small paint samples you can paint to see what it looks like in your location. I'm not sure if Lowe's will do it, but other paint stores will. It helps to see it in a large square instead of the tiny swatch! Good luck!

Lisa at Greenbow said...

A red door is always so inviting.