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?