In the neutrals maze – choosing the right colour

As announced in the previous post – I am swimming against the flow by working on my project one, while the entire design is not yet clear. I dare believe some success can be achieved, but let’s face it – it is resources management and I only have as much time!

So, we know at this point in time that my living room project is yet undecided in terms of spatial planning, but as colouring there is no choice – I have to go neutral!

And to the point – I’d like to explore certain aspect of “neutrals” in the present post.

Back to my ode to small spaces, I do confess some preference towards Asian design… Now Asian design can mean a lot – for instance it can be simplistic, or highly ornamental, profess love for small spaces or embrace grandeur, hyper-modern, or traditional to impracticality…

Therefore, it is interesting to deal with the “digested” version of Asian design. Trivial as it may seem, but the working formulas of Asian design are quite well set by Kelly Hoppen (you should have guessed my direction of thought at the post’s title).

Indeed, she advises on neutrals as a the only logical backdrop to any colour, or no colour if we so choose. In the case of my future living room – I have an existing door which matches in colour all other doors; I have a flooring which ties with some other areas. And that is how two important elements were pre-decided.

In addition, I ordered a taupe door – wouldn’t I – feels so safe given the rest? And now I have to accommodate a paint colour around all these…

To be fair, another crucial advice from Kelly’s work is the typology of neutral, more specifically what she calls “taupe” – like my door, and “sand” – well, like my other door. Apparently, they won’t match each other, even if technically both are neutrals. The reason is pretty obvious – taupe has a reddish undertone, whereas sand, or beige, or toffee if you will – is on the colder side of the colour wheel.

So, in between those two doors, I have a tiled floor, and the marble-like veins also do carry some kind of red. But the floor is mostly clear, thus good match for any of my doors…

Now, most DIY shops (Brico in Belgium) provide a selection of samples, and in the neutral range those samples are alarmingly identical. It is only at close inspection that one sees how none of them is good.

For a start – they do have some extra colour which distinguishes them from a “pure” neutral. I.e. once laid against a real neutral they look bluish, greenish, yellowish.

Then, I also have a problem with colour intensity – I wish I’d have walls into which my taupe door will blend in, but my oak door won’t stand out. This rules out colours derivative of white.

Last but not least – the light! The expected spectrum of possible lights is enormous n Belgium! Actually, my runner-up colours look almost the same in certain light, or when in the shade, but in the months of long days I suspect they won’t agree with each other, or with the environment! Shall I wait for the summer in order to choose?

So, as you can see in the photo here-under – so many samples, mostly passable, but none of them really good.

It was easy to weed the ones of wrong colour intensity – too black or white-like. Then, remove the ones which strongly mismatch either of the doors…And that is how I ended up with my two runners-up and am still undecided.

I’d lay them against the doors, and won’t come with conclusion!

I’d check them in light and shadow – may be is a god chance for you to check them for yourself: I am hesitating between two clear browns: A40 and B50. B50 looks more neutral when looked at separately, A40 less agreeable but seems like the impossible perfect match for the doors.

And here I have to stop, because, I really wouldn’t know how to pick between them. A possible next step would be to paint larger surfaces, next to the doors, and see what happens. Interestingly, and you may have noticed already – the colours from the links resemble each other way too much! Thus, I shouldn’t doodle either - participants may pick the colour with the better name.

I still have to work out a method to decide on the colour before painting the room first option and then the second… My point is – this is a typical example of how a project is delayed until a decision would mature.

In real life – I suspect I’d buy a small pot of the paint which would seem the better choice on a given day, and see where it takes me.

Do you have a favourite between those two? What would you do in my place?

While design ideas are brewing – do up some of the “real” work

Books on interior design suggest not to start anything before being certain about the final look of a space. It is impossible to disagree with this advice, when we look at the design from a result oriented point of view…

And yet – this is so theoretical!

This post therefore aims to prove that we can move towards the desired end, with baby steps, and without compromising the idea.

For a start, the classic theory of design also says that selection of colours, can only start when the layout is clear...If you’ve read my last post, you may have noticed that I am on my third round of layout design. And I am finally warming up, almost completely towards an idea, inspired by Asian minimalism and optimal use of space.

Then, with respect of colours, the classic design theory also suggests to start with a concept board – a terribly abstract thing to do. In the same time, for many of us there are things which do not/cannot change, or which we cannot afford to change. To me, the question of how to inject into a concept board, an element, which is already there, is really a serious one!

So, to summarise, here is my level of deviation from the standard design process:

1) A concept board – I do not have – may need to skip this highly abstract part, as I have very firmly unchangeable door and floor!

2) Layout, which by-the-way is based on zoning, as explained in the original layout post – still work in progress. I just cannot churn out the number of ideas necessary to make it functional, doable, and most importantly likable, in a nick of time.

3) Choosing material – well ahead of time, some materials have chosen themselves.

So, while the all-important layout matures in my head, I turn my attention to something which needs doing anyway: the ceiling! For a start – I am a 100% certain that I dislike coloured ceilings, so the colour white is not a variable.

Additional problem are the flaking edges!

I suspect this happened because the room is adjacent to the bathroom, which did not have a door for many years, so paint was exposed to humidity and vapour. (in my new scheme, this is going to be the living/dining room!) As a bedroom it lacked the beautiful Cornish finishes the other rooms have. And here is the solution – I will apply corniches to this one too!

In a perfect world, corniches are made of gypsum. Apparently it is a bit outdated, I discover after some phone calls. Plan B is some solid material, ideally wood – but also impossible. What is widely available in the shops, are the Styrofoam corniches, and it is precisely the one I am getting!

It is easy to manipulate – cutting is done on a special platform, to respect the angles (but so much trouble until I work out differences between internal and external angles). On top of that the room has the most irregular perimeter – as a former bedroom, who cared?

So, installing those took longer than expected, and even though the ceiling colour was fresh enough, I needed to apply an extra layer – to seal the Styrofoam, and to make it uniform.

Final hitch on this kind of job – joints of all kinds – suspect I did not do the expected nice finish – and maybe a reason to call a handyman next time! In a way, I think being myopic helps not to see those, or shall we say – makes it authentic?

Important thing is – was able to do the job all by myself, and was very happy to identify it as “not being on the critical path”. And now to you: how many identical tasks could you list? Is there something you could do about your design projects, which is indispensable and couldn’t possibly conflict with any chosen design?