"If you want to have a black and white kitchen, what color would you paint the walls?"

Topics: home, arts & crafts
Asked by Cab2007 36 months ago

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I have a open kitchen that flows into our living room. I would like to have a Country black & white kitchen but am lost on what color I should paint (NO white) the walls since my living room will be painted Taupe/grey.


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"What about . . ."
 by Pam_I_Am on Feb 18 2007 (36 months ago)
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. . . a bright red with shiny white trim; then pick up the black and white theme in the appliances, decorations, etc?
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"Red or maybe green."
 by Mistral on Feb 18 2007 (36 months ago)
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I would paint the walls a deep shade of red (not candy apple or anything orangey).  Red goes very well with black and white and Taupe/grey and I think it gives a room some flare.  To get a good shade of red on your walls you should first paint them black, let the black primer coat dry and then paint red on top of that.  You will get a much better tone that way than if you just paint red over white.

If you think red is too much for you, I would suggest a medium green (this time an apple-like green might be good), which once again looks good with all the possible colors and does have the added bonus that you don't need the black primer coat.

Either way check out the Ralph Lauren and Martha Stewart paint chips for good ideas.
Sources: My mother's belief that white walls are an abomination in the home.

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"For kitchens, I like a warm yellow (shading to cream), with warm white trim."
 by Joram on Feb 18 2007 (36 months ago)
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Yellow goes well in kitchens. If you're a believer in "color influences behavior" theories, it encourages eating...so maybe that's not such a good idea. :) Still, it looks good, and warms the room up. Yellow pairs well with the B&W motif you're talking about, but keep it pale and warm. Make it too bright, and your kitchen will look like a Yellow Cab office. :)

Good luck!

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"Ask the pros"
 by trekmuse on Feb 18 2007 (36 months ago)
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HGTV Decorating
COLORSwatch: 5 Color Tips
Mark McCauley
By Mark McCauley, ASID,
Special to HGTV.com
In part two of our coloring lesson, learn five more tips that
can take the fear out of using color in your home.

There is nothing like color to add personality or punch to a room. There’s also nothing like color (the wrong color) to make a negative impression or (not enough color) to make no impression at all! No wonder that when we contemplate a color change in our homes we are sometimes afraid, very afraid.

Part one of this color series offered five color basics to get you started. Here we present five more tips that will take away the fear and arm you with the color confidence you need.
6. Flow the Color
In order to create a flow of colors from one room to another, simply choose a color you’re using in one room and restate it in a different way in an adjoining space. For example, if your sofa is green, use the same green for seat fabric in the dining room.

Use the color in larger or smaller degrees as you move about the home. That same green from the living room sofa mentioned above can also translate as, say, lampshades in the family room or place mats in the kitchen.
7. Consider Contrast
A high-contrast space (a room that uses light and dark values of colors in combination—for example, deep burgundy with light gold) appears clearer and more highly defined than a space that incorporates low contrasts (say, saffron yellow with sage green). So think about using high contrast to enhance the formality of a room and low contrast to introduce soothing qualities.
 
When paired, black and white (which, by the way, are not colors but rather the addition or subtraction of light) are somewhat formal in appearance, not unlike a tuxedo. White with beige, however, has a low contrast and a feeling of calmness. Combining white and black with gray is very low key and also creates a restful space.		 Flow
8. Get Emotional With Color
We all associate colors with what they represent. In our minds, red may represent fire, blue the air and sea, yellow the sun, and brown and green often represent trees. These are generally considered to be emotional responses to color as opposed to intellectual responses.

Use these emotional associations to their greatest effect in a space by deciding on what emotional impact you want the room to have. Would you like it to be lively? Choose reds and yellows. If you prefer subdued, try blues and browns.

The emotional impact of color should reflect the activities being performed in the space. If it is for rest, such as a bedroom or family room, choose darker values of colors that relate to restfulness such as greens, blues and browns.

Emotional
Contrast
9. Think About Local or Seasonal Color
By studying color schemes from the past—Victorian, arts and crafts or, perhaps, 18th century, for example—you can build a room’s colors quite simply by incorporating these already-accepted color schemes.

By using colors from your locale, be it the Southwest or New England, you easily can choose colors that reflect the area in which you live.

Seasonal color variations are another painless way to choose colors. Fall colors such as mustard yellows, russets and browns will create a calm and subdued space, perfect for resting. Spring colors, on the other hand, are more uplifting; pinks, lilac and saffron yellow impart a naive, fresh look to a room.
Local & Seasonal 10. Live With Color Before You Buy
When shopping for upholstery fabric, furniture finishes, window treatments or rugs, always ask for a sample to take home to see in the space you are decorating. Then leave it in the room for a couple of days and see what the color looks like in the different kinds of lighting used in that space. Pay careful attention to how the samples look during the times when the room will be used the most.

If the room is used most often at night, after everyone is home from work and school (under the "artificial" light of lamps), check out the color during the late afternoon and evening hours. If the room is used during the day, when there is an abundance of natural sunlight, check out the colors during the morning and early afternoon hours.

The direction the room’s windows face (where the natural light is coming from) will also impact how a color appears in the room. Dark colors tend to look darker in rooms with northern exposures. You may want to lighten the color values of your choices a bit to reflect this in such spaces. The opposite is true for rooms with southern exposures: colors appear lighter.

Before You Buy
First Five Color Basics >>
1. Use the 60-30-10 rule
2. Choose a color scheme
3. Don’t forget the black
4. Follow nature’s lead
5. Pull from the pattern
Read more tips from Mark McCauley:
Anatomy of a Chair >>
The Art of Furniture Arrangement >>
Fabricology 101 >>
Mark McCauley is a professional member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and is author of Color Therapy at Home (Rockport Publishers, 2000) and Interior Design for Idiots (Great Quotations Publishing Company, 1995). He is senior designer at Darleen’s Interiors in Naperville,Ill.
Sign up for the HGTV Decorating Newsletter for more stories like this »
Sources: www.hgtv.com
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"Silver"
 by Spamgirl on Feb 18 2007 (36 months ago)
Official Rating

A very very light silver would be nice. Personally, I'd have a red, black and white kitchen so I'd go with red... but silver is nice, too - our whole house is painted in shades of gray :)
Sources: My opinion
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that sounds like a good idea. I love tin ceiling tiles. I bought some reasonable on e-bay because they are not highly available in the east. I think they are more common in the Midwest,you can get authentic ones from out of old buildings. but they have new ones also that you can paint to look old.

I think you have to also take into consideration how much wall is showing also. with cabinets and apliances in the way --there may not be much, one might choose a color that otherwise may not choose for a whole length of 4 walls.
like Chocolate.
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