Our Sixth House Paint Colors (and why I chose them)

Choosing house paint colors can be tricky, to say the least.  There are so many factors to consider when trying to select “the just right color” for a space.  Everything from lighting to house flow can affect how a color will play on the walls. (And of course resale potential is a factor if you know you will be moving in the near-ish future.)

So today in addition to finally putting all of our sixth house’s paint colors into one blog post (because paint color questions are one of the most asked reader questions), I thought I’d give you the why behind each color selection.  I think it’s helpful to hear the whys behind design decisions because, especially when it comes to paint colors, there is often so much more behind the decision than a simple ~ I really like that color.

Welcome to Our Sixth House

As many of you already know our house was this shade of green ~ Sherwin Williams Salt Marsh ~ when we moved in, but our front door was black.  While the black was classic it wasn’t quite giving off the happy, cheerful vibe I was craving.  Pink and green has long been a favorite color combo of mine, and the Charleston area is known for its love of pastel colors.  So I went with my gut and painted the front door ~ Sherwin Williams Rachel Pink.  It’s a warm pink that matches the color intensity of the green.

Entry Foyer

House flow was at the top of my design priority list in this house because of the very open floor plan.  The main living areas in our house are all open to each other.  While I wanted each space to feel like its own,  I also wanted the spaces to feel connected in some way.  And one of the easiest ways to do that is with paint colors.  In the foyer I opted to cover the walls in the same grasscloth with which I lined the back of the bookcases in our living room.  And I love how that simple design element ties these spaces together.

To add drama and disguise dirt (hi, we have two dogs) I painted the interior of the front door ~ Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze.  This is a very dark charcoal grey that often looks black.  But you’ll see how different this same color looks when we get to the living room where I used this color on the bookcases.  There it reads very grey and not at all black.  Lighting changes everything! 

My Office

This is the room directly across from the entry foyer that you see immediately as you walk through the front door.  I chose to carry the exterior pink and green color combo inside and had the same color I used on our front door ~ Sherwin Williams Rachel Pink ~ reduced 75% for the walls.  The result is a barely there, more of a blush pink, that ties in nicely with the front door.

Powder Room

The vanity was originally a deep dark grey, but with no windows in this very small powder room the dark vanity made the space feel even smaller.  So I again brought in that same shade of pink ~ Sherwin Williams Rachel Pink.  This time at its full color glory.  And I painted the walls ~ Sherwin Williams Aesthetic White ~ which I found to be almost an identical match to both the tile I chose for the vanity wall and whatever shade of white the builder used for the trim throughout the house.  So the walls and doors are all basically the same shade of white making this space feel much larger than it is.

Kitchen ~ Dining ~ Living Room

In this house the kitchen, dining and living room are basically one big giant room, so I knew all three spaces needed to be done in the same color.  I chose ~ Sherwin Williams Shoji White ~ which is on the same paint card as Urbane Bronze (the color I used on the interior front doors and living room bookcases), for the walls. It’s a soft white with grey undertones.  White isn’t a go-to for me, as many of you long-time readers well know.  I’m a color lover, so in choosing a white I wanted to be sure to select a shade of white that would create some contrast.  I chose a cool white rather than a warm white to make our french white kitchen cabinets pop.  While very neutral, there’s a subtle contrast that adds depth and dimension.

To add even more interest I chose a color two shades down the paint card from Shoji White ~ Sherwin Williams Amazing Grey ~ for the pantry door.

The back door leading to our screen porch also got a coat of ~ Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze ~ to tie in with the interior front doors and balance the bookcases in the living room.

The grasscloth I used to line the backs of the bookcases has subtle hints of grey weaved into it, which is why I chose to pair it with Urbane Bronze, a color that reads more charcoal grey than brown.

With no visual breaks between the downstairs living spaces and the staircase leading to the second floor I continued Shoji White all the way up the stairs throughout the entire upstairs hallway.

Upstairs Office Nook

This little spot at the top of the stairs flows nicely from downstairs, and the bookcases I had added around the door, that leads to the top front porch, make this space feel like a destination rather than a pass-through.

Guest Bedroom

This bedroom has a relatively small footprint, so I chose to go with light walls and a dark ceiling.  Dark recedes, in this case creating the illusion of a really high ceiling which makes this small-ish room feel larger.  I again opted to use ~ Sherwin Williams Shoji White ~ for the walls and used ~ Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze ~ for the ceiling.  I used to think painting a house all the same color, or choosing different shades that all came off of the same paint card was boring.  But I’ve found, especially in a house with an open floor plan, that it’s the simplest way to create visual flow.  And just because the wall color is the same doesn’t mean every space looks the same.  The wall colors are just the tie that binds them all together.

Girl’s Room

Once again, Shoji White to the rescue.  In this case two things were behind this paint color decision.  1. This room shares a bathroom with the guest bedroom, so I wanted these two bedrooms to flow.  And 2. My girl wanted her furniture to be painted a bright color.  I knew Shoji White would create a nice, neutral backdrop for her colorful furniture wishes.

Jack ‘n Jill Bathroom

I again chose to use Aesthetic White on the walls, the same shade of white I used in the downstairs powder room, because it matches the white trim so well.  With this bathroom being a jack ‘n jill style there are doors on both sides, and painting the walls to match the trim allows these doors to visually disappear.  It all blends together making this space feel larger.  While the house is less than 10 years old, this vanity had seem some fairly heavy usage prior to us moving in to this house.  So while still in great shape, the drawers and doors were a little bruised.  To breathe fresh life into this bathroom vanity I painted it a fun shade of turquoise, the unifying color used in the design of the two bedrooms that share this bathroom.

Amy Howard at Home’s Vintage Affliction is a turquoise with a green undertone.

Boy’s Room

My son’s room is the largest bedroom besides the master, and it receives the prettiest afternoon light.  I wanted his space to feel cozy, so I landed on ~ Sherwin Williams Amazing Grey ~ for the walls.  (This is the same color I chose to paint the pantry door in our kitchen.)  This is such great true grey color.  It’s not too warm or too cool.

Boy’s Bathroom

This bathroom has the smallest footprint of all the bathrooms in the house, even the powder room.  And it has no windows which means it basically receives zero natural light.  So I once again opted to use Aesthetic White, the color I used in the powder and jack ‘n jill bathrooms, for the walls.  The subway tile matches the color almost exactly, yet it adds depth and dimension to keep the space from feeling plain and boring.  Here I chose to leave the vanity as is because 1. This vanity wasn’t as banged up as the vanity in the jack ‘n jill bathroom and 2. I wanted the vanity to disappear into the wall allowing the tile in the space to be the main center of attention.

Master Bedroom

I used Amazing Grey on the master bedroom walls as well.  This is a great example of how lighting can completely change how a color reads.  The master is on a different side of the house, and it receives diffused afternoon light.  This makes the walls in the master read a bit cooler than my son’s room, even though both spaces are painted the exact same color.

Mudroom/ Laundry Room

Here again is Amazing Grey at play.  This time I chose to switch things up painting the trim Amazing Grey and the walls Shoji White.  Amazing Grey excellently hides dust and dirt in our mudroom, which is the most heavily trafficked area of our home.  And just for fun and to tie in with our pink front door and powder room vanity, I used Rachel Pink on the door leading out to the garage.  This warm pink pairs really nicely with this neutral shade of grey, and it also hides paw prints fairly well.  😉

Screen Porch

Last but not least, is our screen porch where I chose to go “haint blue” on the ceiling, because when in South Carolina.  This specific shade is ~ Sherwin Williams Watery.  I wanted something that read sky blue but in a subtle not too bright kind of way.  This shade of light blue has a brown-ish undertone complimenting the green siding without overpowering.

The only spaces I haven’t shown you are the game room and the master bath.  And that’s only because I haven’t finished painting those spaces.  But I’ll be finishing the paint jobs in those spaces very soon!

Paint is the easiest, least expensive yet most fun way to give a space a fresh new look!  And it can be the simplest way to create visual flow in a home.