No-Fail Kitchen Color Combinations
Make your kitchen an expression of your personal style by drenching it in the colors you love. For a no-regrets approach, choose neutral tones for the expensive foundation elements (cabinets, floors, countertops, appliances) and introduce color on the walls, backsplash, window treatments, lighting, and other less-expensive accents. With this strategy, you can easily and affordably swap out the color scheme as your taste and popular trends change.
Chomping at the bit to pick the perfect palette for your kitchen? These delicious color combinations are sure to please.
Orange and Green: Bring your kitchen to life with this energetic duo. Juicy citrus hues are the latest trend in kitchen design, perhaps due in part to Pantone naming zippy "Tangerine Tango" its color of the year for 2012. These bold tones are perfectly suited to the aesthetics of Craftsman-style homes because they pair well with rich brown woodwork. They can also provide lively punctuations against the austere backdrop of minimal modern design.
Red and Yellow: This regal combination has been popular in Europe for generations. Pair a deep red with muted golden yellow to evoke the sense of a stately English manor, a relaxed French country cottage, or a beautiful Tuscan villa. To make your kitchen feel larger, use yellow as the room's anchor color (lighter colors visually expand space), and then use red accents to punctuate the design. Checked, striped, and floral patterns are popular in this style, as are fringe and other embellishments.
Blue and Brown: This color combo has universal appeal. For modern or transitional homes, pair chocolate brown with crisp sky blue, and throw in a few bright accent colors for pop. In a country kitchen, pick robin's egg blue and wheat brown, and then layer on cream-color accents for a warm and cozy look. To give the duo a traditional feeling, choose deep shades of both colors and break up the dark tones with crisp white and rich gold accents.
Gray and Anything: Gray is gaining ground on white as the new go-to neutral for a contemporary kitchen. Create a sense of calm by using gray for a background color for black, white, or brown cabinets (yes, even brown and gray make great partners). To keep with the relaxed feeling, pepper the space with accents in a cool blue or soft green. To make the room more vibrant, introduce a bright accent color -- the sky is the limit, as gray pairs well with almost every bold color, from pink to yellow.
Before you start your remodel, download our FREE Kitchen Remodeling Planning Guide.
How to Paint a Room
-Today, I'm going to show you how to paint a room like a pro. These five easy steps will make your next paint job a success. First, get the right tools for the job. Most paint jobs require damp cloth, painter's tape, 5-in-1 tool or putty knife, 2-inch angle sash brush, a 3-inch brush, a roller and roller pan. Use synthetic roller covers and brushes with dense nylon bristles when using latex paint. Use thicker rollers for more textured surfaces. Determine how many gallons of paint you'll need. Measure and add up the total width of the walls then multiply it by wall height. Next, divide by the number of square-feet the gallon of paint will cover which is typically 350. A good paint job starts with good prep work. Wipe the walls with the damp cloth then let them dry. Then, apply painter's tape in short sections to the ceiling, baseboards and trim. Seal the edges with the 5-in-1 tool or putty knife. Load a small amount of paint unto a 2-inch brush to outline the walls and ceiling. Start painting by cutting in corners and trim leaving a loosely brushed edge. Load the roller then row paint into the wall in an overlapping W. Fill in the W without lifting the roller to ensure even coverage. Paint the room one wall at a time working from top to bottom. Continue working in 3 foot to 4 foot sections until you are finish with your wall or room. Let the walls dry before removing the tape. Now, you know how to paint a room like a pro.
Related Links
