Jump In To Color!

A while back a friend of mine had moved into a new home and all the walls were white. She had inherited some vintage family furniture and wasn't sure how to arrange it or what to do with it. She was thinking of just storing it in the garage and buying inexpensive new furniture that would fit into her budget.

I asked her how she felt about perhaps painting the focal fireplace wall and just trying out the family furniture to see how it looked. She said she'd consider painting the wall...what color was I thinking?

"Red" was my answer.

"Red!" "I hate red," she responded and looked at me like I had lost my mind.

"Look, the worst thing that happens is that we try it, you hate it, and we paint it back white. What's the big deal? Give it a try."

After a lot of persuading, she finally gave in.

We painted the wall a deeper red first with a very lightly brushed top coat of a brick shade. That light top coat gave the red a very interesting depth. The mantle was white, so we painted it a glossy Kona coffee color that would work nicely with her vintage mahogany side tables and coffee table. It also would work nicely with the brown and red Persian area rug.

She had three old red velvet upholstered chairs, a lovely Oriental silk screen, an antique coral color kimino, lamps with round brown glass bases and bronze metallic shades and various accessory items.

Pictured is the result...she loved it. And all it cost was the price of the paint. (That's the kimono hanging on the right wall!)