I just bought a small 1BR apartment. It's on the ground floor of a house so not too brightly lit. Currently, what i like are the kitchen which is painted a deep red and the bathroom which is light sky blue.

The kitchen connects to both the bedroom and the living room. The bedroom is painted salmon, and the living room painted two shades of brown (one wall has a darker shade). I really dislike these colors, and want to paint the two rooms over. Since these rooms are small, i'd like to paint all the walls per room the same color (i hear that different wall colors reduce the size visually).

All these rooms have white ceilings, white door/window trims and white blinds which i like. I'd like to keep these as they light up the rooms. All rooms have nice pine wood floors which i will definitely keep.

So now I'm looking for warm pastel colors (nothing too strong) that would brighten up both rooms (different color for each) and also transition well from the red kitchen. My bedroom furniture is mostly cherry. My living room furniture is a mix of greyish-brown and black (surprisingly they go well together in this case).

Anyway, i wanted to know if (1) i should prime the walls before repainting (since the colors will be lighter), and (2) what color themes would you recommend?

Thanks.

 

you don't have to prime, but you can plan on a couple coats.

as for colors: you like the red & the sky blue. now you're wanting 2 more different colors? i think you need to find a way to relate all these colors together first, before you start painting with colors that have no reason for being. for example, find an area rug for the living room that has several colors in it that you like, including the red & blue. then maybe you can pull out an even lighter blue or gray-blue for the LR and something else for your bedroom. with your kitchen being red, that's going to have to be the most dramatic & strong color in your place - don't try to top it in any of the other rooms - it'll just fight and/or be too much. go for a subtle look in the rest of the spaces and maybe just have several accents of the red everywhere else, to tie it all together.

not only does painting the walls of one room in different colors make THAT room look small, painting all the rooms of a house in different colors makes the whole space feel chopped up & small. try to create a sense of flow & cohesiveness between all the spaces. they should relate to one another. it's good that all the woodwork is the same color - that's a great start to creating flow. but you need to pre-plan the rest of your color scheme - and find a reason for the other color(s) you choose.

 

You're right in that I don't want to have any heavy colors in the BR or LR. The kitchen red is quite strong and it would also be too much to have even that same color in any other room.

The Bathroom is off the kitchen too but the sky blue is very light and pleasant. I think the BR or LR, both also being off the kitchen should be connected more to the red and not the blue of the bathroom, no?

I am thinking of a light rust color (seems like a good transition from red) in one of the rooms. Light rust may also go well with a black and greyish brown furniture and area rug that i have (maybe?) in the LR. That leaves a very light and soft red or off-white (of some sort) for the BR?

I want to stay away from brown, orange, salmon, just preference. Thoughts?

 

red, rust, light blue & off white? you lost me..........

and "light, soft reds" = PINK! do you want to throw in pink, too?

describe the area rug you have. what design is on it, and in what colors?

 

ok, i think the bathroom is so small and not connected directly to the BR or LR that we can discount the very light blue in there.

I think flowing more with the red kitchen which is centrally located is more important. The LR and BR both lead into the kitchen directly.

The area rug in the LR is a light brownish burber design with a black border. The furniture which i bought at the same time is also a combination of those colors.

you're right, pink is no good, but i still thought light rust would transition well from the red kitchen. whatever it is, i don't want dark colors since the rooms being on the ground floor are not that brightly lit.

any suggestions for color then?

 

your entire living space is only 4 rooms, and you want to discount one of them? i think that's a mistake. especially since it's a "public" room that visitors will see. maybe if it was your bedroom i could accept it being different, as that's a "private" space that visitors wouldn't see. i don't think the blue makes any sense with the red kitchen. i'd repaint the bathroom and keep the red as a dramatic shot of color, but go monochromatic with everything else, using neutrals & the black. that's a really contemporary "now" look, very fresh & natural & urban. but with the pop of red in the kitchen. that would work well. you could introduce more natural accessories, like your rug, which sounds sort of like a sisal. maybe get some woven pieces in wicker, rattan, sisal, water hyacinth, etc. add some glass pieces to keep it light. (go to Pottery Barn's website & see what i mean. maybe you won't like that style, but maybe you will.)

i just don't get the red & blue together at all, though.