Paint colors for a log home


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Old 11-06-06, 07:01 AM
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Paint colors for a log home

Manufactured log home (15 years old). The interior of the log is a nice honey - looks like pine with Tung oil finish. All exterior (meaning walls that make up the exterior most box of the house, not the outside of the house) walls look like this.

On the main floor, there are essentially two walls that 1. divide the house in half (to create two 15' x 20' squares), then 2. divides one of those halves into a bedroom and bathroom. The stairs are along the first division. These walls and the stairwell are drywalled.

In our remodel, the great room/kitchen will lead into a modern "keeping room" (the old bedroom) - a convertable family and dining room. All drywalled surfaces will be given a skip trowel/adobe style finish.

The kitchen cabinetry will be replaced with either metallic blue or stainless steel island/base cabinets and maple and glass upper cabinets, with (at this moment) blue-flecked manufactured granite countertops. The cabinets sit along log walls, although the built-in pantry is part of the drywalled section. Applicances are white (because, ironically, they show less dirt than black and we can't afford stainless). All flooring will be cork, but the color/design is up in the air (we just decided on cork two days ago!)

Question: what color to paint the drywalled walls so they work with the log without looking weird or making us feel like we live inside a tree? I'd like to create a bit of unification between the great room/keeping room. I love warm colors like mustards and oranges and reds, but I am concerned that the warmer colors will bring out too much red in the log and will give the house an "angry" feeling. Yellows might make the house look jaundiced. I loathe white and it won't be practical (hey we live in the woods... the house ain't clean enough!), but we are trying to give the place as airy a feeling as possible. Our sense of style is definitely ecclectic, though I lean more towards ethnic (for example our master bedroom, all drywall there!, will have a middle eastern/moroccan/romantic style). Trim work I would prefer to be painted to help contrast the log....

Thoughts? Ideas? HELP!!! I am usually pretty good at this kind of stuff, but when 3/4 of your house is essentially permanently painted......

Thanks!
Jen
 
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Old 11-06-06, 10:02 AM
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i don't think yellow will make it look jaundiced. i think if you find the right pale creamy yellow, it'll compliment the wood tones, and would work well with the blues in the kitchen.

another option might be to use a dark chocolate brown, which would play nicely off the woods tones & the blue.

do you not have any upholstered furniture or rugs that you're needing to work with/around?
 
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Old 11-06-06, 10:12 AM
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The drywall in the log homes that I have painted were always painted an off white or light pastel. Painting [especially diy] is one of the least expensive things you can do to your home so don't be afraid to experiment - the worst that can happen is you have to repaint a different color.
 
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Old 11-06-06, 10:39 AM
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Thanks for the suggestions. Marksr you have a good point, although the painting will come at the end of a very extensive remodel (all DIY) so I wonder about my paint patience ;-). But I guess I could start now by painting blobs on our existing walls before we retexture and repaint...

Annette, we are getting rid of any and all furniture for both rooms except for a contemporary print futon with lots and lots of colors in them (reds, bues, and yellows primarily). Everything else will be bought for the newly remodeled space. Right now we have our eyes firmly in the Ikea catalog - contemporary leather chairs for the great room and contemporary wall/storage unit and dining set for the keeping room. No colors selected yet.
 
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Old 11-06-06, 11:35 AM
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A little research on Moroccan decor will help set the pace for you and help you with color continuity. While a log cabin home will not allow for arched doorways and windows, this can be echoed in mirrors and furniture. The intricate designs found in Moroccan decor can easily be echoed in fabrics and accessories. Wrought iron, brass, and silver accessories can be selected to evoke detail.

If carrying the Moroccan theme throughout the house, you have an awesome color palette from which to choose. Wow! The colors you choose will set the mood in each room and can carry your theme through the house for continuity. Your bright blue will be perfect. You will need another vibrant color with which to work. Deep red, bright saffron, emerald green, and rich purple are among the Moroccan palette and may accomplish what you want to achieve with mood on walls and in accessories. Remember, Moroccan colors tend to be bold. Both desert colors and the rich spice trade history also evoke the spicey colors of paprika, curry, cinnamon, and saffron if working your blue with another crisp, bold color does not appeal to you.

Moroccan color scheme neutrals are more sandy like the desert, using creams, sands and taupes. These may be more calming in a bed room than, say, red. A more sandy color would resolve your concerns about the use of white. Concerns about red pulling the reds out of the logs, could be solved by using a rich green. A fear of a jaundiced look from the use of yellow, could be resolved by keeping your yellow confined to accents, accessories, and fabrics.
 
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Old 09-25-07, 07:16 AM
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Update on our project -

After months of looking at different ideas, I plan on painting the walls a creamy or beige toned color and doing the trim in a chocolate or dark reddish brown. The pantry door is an antique french-style door stained reddish walnut, and the pantry shelving (viewable through the door) is a lighter reddish walnut.

The Ikea cabinets never happened due to the cost of shipping and difficulty with returns if there was a problem, so we ordered contemporary cabinets from a local shop for (gasp!) less. They are hickory with a linen finish. We still love the blue flecked composite granite counters, and I inherited boxes of blue and cream tile with a Mediterranean style print on them for the backsplash. The kitchen island counter is rock maple (recycled bowling alley) - I'll plan to just oil it and then install a large piece of plexiglass on top so it can be abused without concern and all we have to do is replace the plexiglass when it gets yucky. For the flooring we decided to go with a neutral Italian "slate" ceramic tile since we found evidence of water damage under the dishwasher (nightmares of the cork flooring being ruined - cork will go everywhere else).

So far the highlight of the entire great room is a beautiful brick red ceramic wood stove surround with a Klimt-style tree design done by an artist friend.

Kitchen demo starts next week - wish us luck!
 
 

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