Agree on the red...
(um, chartreuse? strong mustard? whatever, have fun...)
I love red, and was what I was thinking when I said "a strong color", above. Black and white and red, though, is just too... something.
What I have now I can live with, a big Mexican poster from my L.A. days with some bright orange-y red in it, in a bright orange-y red frame, and with kitchen towels that are the same orange-y red.
<shrug>
There was a store in L.A. with some great Mexican fabrics -- would love some of that for the valances...
See, I no sooner type that than I say "hmm" and go to Google and put in "mexican fabric" and first result:
Don't want to get too thematic, though...
I love it. You've got yellow and blue in there, too. Your white kitchen could be a great canvas for eye popping fabrics like that. Go for it, Soz.
Yeh, strong fabric design can trigger ideas...picturing birds of paradise... but I can see that wailing into an extravaganza that doesn't make sense with the rest of the house, or would it?
Black, white. Both are sort of hard to match with exactitude, if one wanted to play with whites.
Exactly how much black is there? could one envision the room sans the black?
Well, my recent color dive has been into ochres and greyed cocoas and clays and generally cruddy colors, which might work with crisp black and white, with the odd greyed coral and wild mustard thrown in, and oh, a tad of lime.
Which reminds me of blueberry..
That bright orangey-red is EXACTLY what I was talking about...
On my monitor anyway...
Hmmm...
(Not sure if it's enough -- two valances out of 1.1 yards, 31 inch width? Prolly not.)
On the other hand, that fabric reminds me of some fabric someone bought for me in Tibet -- that'd be a way to break up the thematic factor...
<ponder ponder... thanks for getting this train of thought started...>
The black is gonna go, eventually. It's just <goes to look> a single row of ~2 inch square tiles that alternate -- black-white-black-white. The rest of the tiles are white. The cabinets are white. The walls are white. The countertops are white. The floors are oak. (Thank goodness, would be just waaaay too much white otherwise.) The two windows have the icky 80's checkerboard valances.
The progression I imagine is:
- Replace valances to go with the elements of color I have -- I also have variations of blue/green/turquoise vases/ bowls (ceramic) up on top of the cabinets. Live with that for a while.
- Re-paint cabinets and walls. (The white is getting dingy in places, has to happen sometime.) This could be another color scheme entirely, except that the white countertops and tiles would remain, so that'd have to be part of the color scheme. White's not really that hard to integrate (the black's a bit annoying though).
- Re-do tiles. It's a LOT of tile, probably half the (small) kitchen, a swath probably 3-4 feet high. Could really make an impact when we're ready. At this stage, we could re-paint again if needed.
You could paint out those black tiles. I like the blue/green/turquoisy thing.
Paint 'em out! Interesting. Never thought of that! (More pondering...)
Meanwhile, I started thinking that ~15 inches X 1.1 yards would work for valances, but then remembered it's really THREE of 'em -- the door, too.
Eh, nice food for thought as I go to bed.
Nighty-night!
I painted the lovely
tan on beige floral tiles in the bathroom.
Looked better immediately - and has held up for years (it was supposed to be a temporary fix, but what the heck - it looks more than all right).
<trying to remember what the paint product was called>
This site says to use Zinnser's Bull's Eye primer. That's available at any paint or home improvement store. It's really great primer.
Cool! That could be a quick 'n' easy fix. Easy-ish, anyway. Would want to be pretty precise with it, but taping carefully should do it.
By the way sozlet had some paint samples from the hardware store (she always chooses precisely the same pink color strip -- starting with "pink lily", ending with "freesia"), and I compared them against my "white" kitchen. As far as I can tell, the color is just a bit darker than antique white. I can't seem to grab a color swatch, but if you want you can go to the Sherman Williams site and search for "antique white" to see:
http://www.sherwin-williams.com/do_it_yourself/
So several shades off of true white. That'd be too too antiseptic (still a bit much as-is.)
Great link, Swimpy, thanks!
My ceilings are an antique white. Color 7012-Creamy.
I'n going back to the tile store tomorrow to try an decide on a tile for the backsplash. I'll probably go with the Travertine, but I'm open to be swayed.
The table arrived today:
The wrapping is still under the feet until I find something better to protect the floor.
Gorgeous, Swimpy... I'm so impressed with all that you've done and seeing it finished now is great. Whew. The colors look wonderful. The wood is just stunning.
Great job! How does it feel to sit at the table? Is it comfy??
Weeelll, it's a little snug. Since I ordered it so long ago, I didn't factor in the upholstered back. We'll make it work though. It is beautiful. I had dinner at it tonight. Felt great!
That wood has such a glow to it. Gorgeous stuff.
(After the little flurry of kitchen speculation I put in a new poster in my frame -- looks GREAT, much better than the thing I had which was faded and too busy. It was a sheet that you cut Mexican tarot cards from, cool individually but en masse looks more like wrapping paper or something, no focal point. So replaced it with a poster my friend designed for a local festival, main three colors [there are lots more too] are a great deep deep midnight blue, variations of yellow/ gold, and that exact same orange-y red. Packs a lot more graphic punch now. I went on a valance-fabric hunt, still haven't found anything just right, will let you know if I progress past the poster stage. :-))
I'll bet you're pleased, Swimpy -- the wood looks beautiful and warm. The backsplash is going to be awesome and the colors all work. If it is snug, can't you just slide the table a bit to suit the eater?
Sozobe -- the poster sounds nice and I'll bet your friend was pleased that you've framed it.
