10/4/12

IN PURSUIT OF BEIGE



AVOIDING THE 'FLESHY' LOOK
Atmosphere ID
We've all experienced it.  That shade of beige we are sure is perfect for the house.  Bring the paint swatch home - or in some cases, slap it on the wall - and suddenly it's not beige at all.  It's some odd
shade of pinky, orangey - yes 'fleshy' color that is COMPLETELY wrong.


Andrea sent me this message:

You have an artistic eye! I am hoping you can help me with choosing an interior paint color. We have a Dutch Colonial with dark red brick floors in the entry, kitchen, and living room. The dining room has medium wood parquet. Both the lr and dr have 'traditional' oriental rugs. They share in common some blue and some red but are otherwise different in tones. We currently have benjamin moore bar harbor beige (1032) in the dr. We love the color but the room is very dark. our dr furniture is espresso. We'd like to lighten up but are struggling with paint color. Going lighter than bar harbor beige, we're looking 'fleshy'. Any thoughts on neutral wall colors given these parameters? Thank you for any ideas!   Andrea.
Bar Harbor Beige/Benjamin Moore

Dear Andrea:
Beige has undertones that run the range from red and orange to yellow, blue, green and gray.  Hard to believe that beige could be so versatile, but generally the ones to avoid the fleshy look are the red/orange undertones.  Beige with a cooler tone won't turn fleshy.
Dunmore Cream, Shelburne Buff, Monroe Bisque - Benjamin Moore
 In the above example, the first 3 beiges are cool tones.  The fourth has a warm orange undertone. 

  Here are some lighter beige tones that don't look fleshy.
Bleeker Beige/Benjamin Moore
Shaker Beige/Benjamin Moore

Edgecomb Gray/Benjamin Moore
Latte/Restoration Hardware




3 comments:

  1. I love your blog, I am going to follow you on pinterest...it seems I already have been following your pics! :) I wanted your help determining a color that many have pinned on pinterest but it is just a link to an uploaded JPG file of the picture. Here is the link to the picture on pinterest http://pinterest.com/pin/66428163224348537/
    I love the colors in this room can you please tell me how I can mimic them?

    Thank you so much.

    Randi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Randi - yes, I recognize your name from Pinterest - welcome to the blog! I think this color is really close to Restoration Hardware Graphite. They have little tester pots you can purchase to try it out in your home. The paint is a little expensive, but can be color matched at your local hardware store. I love how the white paint keeps this room fresh looking. Good luck!

      Delete
  2. these are beautiful! i love a simple clean space.
    Indonesia furniture manufacturers

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