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| Living room: Chocolate Shake Greige with a Tomato colored couch. |
I am painting my doors.
All of them.
Most of them have gaps at the top and need to be rehung and/or sanded down anyway, so as long as they are coming down they are getting a facelift. Not that they need it or anything — I have great doors. I love my doors.
Love them.
One of the first things I noticed about this place was the doors — they are nice and sturdy Midwestern farm house doors with substantial molding in every room. Even the bathroom. Nothing fancy but they lend a lot of character and I have wanted to paint them each a different color for months. Months I tell you. Probably since moving day last fall. But I resisted because, 1. I wanted to live in the space a while before making a color decision, and 2. To get a rich, saturated color I’m going to need to use oil-based paint, which means I will need to keep the windows open for 24 hours or more (and in my neck of the woods, with my allergies, late summer is the only time of the year I can do that).
So it looks like I’m about to embark on a door painting blitz and I’m starting with the living room.
Initially I was thinking red doors. Red doors are classic, no? But then I bought a ginormous reddish-orange couch (cushion pictured at the bottom) and that’s too matchy-matchy for me. According to Ye Ol’ Color Wheel, the exact opposite of the tomato color couch is teal. I never thought about teal doors before but the idea is growing on me. But is a teal a happy color? Maybe I would be better with yellow. Then again, yellow might not look that nice in gloss lacquer next to brass hardware. It needs to be dark. What about Navy? Is Navy too boring? Maybe Navy would look better in the kitchen with the hot pink.
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| Dark Teal | Red | Navy | Blue | Orange |
Generally, I like to consider myself a decisive person, especially when it comes to the look of things. I have never been one of those people who takes three friends to the dressing room to get outside opinions before buying something. I know what I like and get it. Period. But Geez, this door thing has thrown me for a loop! I can’t decide.
What do you guys think?
I’m open to suggestions. Anything. Anything but white.
Teal, teal, real!!!
Oops – TEAL, not real. I love teal and red! If you’ve already painted, I hope you chose teal
I ALWAYS choose teal. So Dark Teal is my vote!
http://www.justyoumeandallthesekids.blogspot.com
Teal is a great color for just about anything, including doors.
What might really be fun and add some pop to the room – paint the door a very light color, or leave it white, and paint an oversized floral/paisley pattern with all the colors you’re considering (Teal, Red, Navy, Blue AND Orange) that emanates from a corner.
Colour – anything your heart desires. I’ve always been a fan of the Mask of the Red Death where each room and everything in it is a different colour.
OK, doors: it looks like the bottom door hinge needs shimmed. This is a two person job. Unscrew the bottom hinge where it fits into the frame. Raise the door up until it sits level in the frame at the top, then reattach hinge with shim behind. You buy wooden shims (they look like long skinny triangles, and come in a bundle) at the lumber yard/home improvement store like Lowes. If your door frames are straight, a spirit level will come in handy. If not, eyeball it. You might need longer screws to fit through the shim(s) and hinge as you’re adding depth. Not a hard job, just a pita. Tools: screwdriver, maybe longer screws, box knife or chisel to cut shims, spirit level (maybe), and a good natured person who won’t complain if you drop the door on him.
this is close to teal… but better… peacock blue. i have it on my front and back doors and it looks good with everything. i can’t wait to see what you choose. happy painting.
Teal is sounding very exciting! Perhaps a grayish tone teal (not too dark; not too heavy or boreish), but somewhere in the tealy-duck egg bluish family! Whatever you choose Peaches, I’m confident will turn out fantastic! But….GO TEAL! Hugs from your cheese-head neighbor!
Teal !!! I’m glad to see that there are many other who suggest this too! Teal, and red, and your grey wall colour. Parfait!
Didn’t you say you were thinking of doing each door a different color? That’s my vote. I might even go different colors on each side of the door. Another door thing I’m obsessed with is a bright color painted on the edge of the door (the edge that opens) so you only see it when the door is open. It’s a fun little detail.
I’ll be joining you in the door painting in the near future. In 3 days, I’m moving into a house and all the doors are white. I’ll be waiting for them to tell me what colors (note the plural 🙂 they want to be.
TEAL!! Teal and shades of red-orange are my fave color combo, ever!!
Some of these fabrics might help tie it together…
http://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com/MMF/Swatch2.cfm?Gnam=Aqua%20Red%20-%20Color%20Story
x autumn
orangeautumn.com
Ooh, I vote navy. Or a navy to very dark teal. Your paint chips on the right side look navy with a touch of teal to them (at least on my screen they do) and it looks great. I think it would be lovely with a red couch and pink in the kitchen!
Teal or chocolate, or a combination of the two!
Yellow is very warm and welcoming with an energized bonus just like you! Not just straight yellow, maybe a yellow orange. You would have sunshine in your life all the time! Who doesn’t need that. My second choice is the brown which, as was commented earlier, would go with everything in your living room if that is our goal. But yellow is great! I wanna come help paint!
Aunt Peaches,
The door painting idea is a GREAT way to splash some color in a room! I just love the way your creativity never stops. And, the teal color? Well, that is a fun AND classy color. Go for it!
Turquoise blue, a very happy color!
I vote for a dark teal that leans toward blue— either that or a deep dark red that would compliment the couch but not match it–
Teal-rific!
Julie
http://www.franklysouthern.com
we have yellow walls which are super happy! and i have a great cushy red chair and other red things here and there…………so i say “yellow doors”
my mom went on a door painting spree when i was younger. the front door as well as the kitchen closet and basement entry doors are all teal. given that, i vote teal. it never really overwhelms the space.
White!!!
One of my friends painted all the doors in her foyer a dark, dark, almost black chocolate brown. Divine! You really can’t tell what color they are. The sofa looks red now, not especially orange. I have had 6 or 8 red sofas in my life. The dark brown would look good in the living room because of the zebra rug and the melted ice cream walls.
What about some sort o connection to the next room..like before you see the pink kitchen there is a pink door in the living room. Love the colored doors!
All those colors on the door in the photo make me think it might be fun to do multicolor panels on one door in the house. Maybe an homage to Modigliani.
Teal makes me smile!
Aunt Peaches,
I have always tried out the colour by painting a 2 foot board so I can see what it looks like in day and night time by taping it to the surface area I want to paint. You could just create a colour block by attaching scrapbook paper that matches the paint chip to the door inlay. Leave it up for a few days to see if your enthusiasm for a colour wanes.
I will never not suggest TARDIS blue for a door color. Cause it’s bigger on the inside.
I would have to say the dark teal in the first pic would be bold and rich when paired with your couch. They’d both draw attention to the other without being tacky. You could probably get away with making it look slightly distressed by dry-brushing some of the 4th picture teal over it around the corners, etc.
4th teal/turquoise from the left! Brilliant color!
TEAL TEAL TEAL!!! I love teal & red together… they are gorgeous.
Personally I think Teal is a very happy color and I love it next to reds and oranges. Your door looks just like my bathroom door which I just proclaimed to my mother recently was my favorite door in my house. I’m not sure she got my enthusiasm over the last original door in my house; it’s nice to see someone who does get it. Can’t wait to see what you choose.
Teal or navy would both look great, but teal seems more “you,” if that makes any sense? There’s also cornflower blue!
I LOVE teal with red, especially if it’s kind of an orange-red. Teal can be very calming, and the red is so energizing that they give each other good balance. Navy blue and hot pink sound like a great combo too. If you have any purple in your house, put an orange or green door with purple (purple & green or purple & orange are my favorite color combos, but I am wild about purple).
Not to give you more options and muddy things up more – but do you want the doors to be all one tone? What my aunt has done with her doors (that look very much like your currently white door above) is she’s painted some of them blue, with a darker blue accenting the molding. The darker blue is just a shade or two darker, so it’s pretty subtle. On her son’s door, she has painted the in-sets with chalkboard paint so my cousin can write messages or doodle on his door as he likes — that might be a fun option for a kitchen door too!
white frames and a dark teal/ petrol/ peacock green (blue) door. Makes me drool 🙂
I like colors too much to suggest just one, but I always head to http://www.design-seeds.com when I have a color palette conundrum. Your mind will be blown by the inspiration!
The red!! It’s definitely not too matchy with the sofa, I think it’d look great! I really LOVE blues, but sometimes they just make a room seem too cold, especially if you live in a State with long winter months.