The Counters Blog

Thanks for the great house tour posts – always look forward to them! I have looked at many online and they seem quite small or more like bar height dining tables. Ps if you want to see my super small kitchen it’s on insta @littlelovelyhouse. It always looks different depending on the time of day! I like to store all of my fancy utensils, plates, and napkins! I want to get them also but how did you get white legs? Like you said – it’s about as many friends/family as possible. I must have missed this but where are your hardwood floors from? Do you find things like oil/flour stain it more than it would be if it was ceramic? Color on your walls grey owl did you lighten it at all? Would you mind sharing where you got the kitchen bar stool fabric covers? Assuming your countertop extends on the exterior do the windows have a track recessed into the countertop? We don’t have a dining table so this has worked really well for us. How do you like them and how do you keep the white from getting marked?

9 Fabulous Benjamin Moore Cool Gray Paint Colors by laurelberninteriors.com

Sometimes what it looks like on the chip is nothing like what it looks like on the wall! Just to make it even more confusing, some of these grays do straddle between warmer gray and cooler gray. Therefore, it’s a good one for a gray for a north facing room. It is probably more of a warm gray, but it does have a bit of blue in it, without ever reading as blue. I did use it in a very dark entry and while it brightened up a surprising amount, it also appeared a tad icy because of the lack of natural light. It is not a cold gray and it does have a lot of blue-green in it. It’s exactly like a garden and a high maintenance one at that! Can you help wth with a paint colour that goes with my couch but doesn’t bring the purple out of the couch. I also want to love gray and “subtles” but that doesn’t seem to be going so well. It has hardwood floors that have a touch of grey in them as well. And one reason is that it usually reads as some other color. Don’t forget to think of your room and your home in a holistic way. But again, am not doing them because people don’t want to pay a hefty fee. Also, is it the lighting or did you use two different greys? This is the deal with gray and those of you who work with it a lot will understand this. It is usually either blue, violet, green or even a bit yellow or brown, but most commonly blue and violet. And it takes the tiniest dab of these undertones to make what looks like a pure gray on the chip to look like something else on the wall. However, maybe that’s one of the things that’s so fabulous about this ethereal color. It is actually neither warm nor cool, just a very pale dove-gray and a wonderful choice for anyone wanting to give a pale gray room a go. Sometimes it reads ever so slightly lavender and sometimes goes a bit blue, but a very, very nice grayed out blue. I honestly don’t think it’s fair that one person should possess that amount of beauty and talent! Do you happen to know the cabinet/trim color in that photo as well? I think that my couch has a slight mauve undertone and that is what is wrong. Gray with blue undertones came out “baby blue” on kitchen cabinets–and dark baby blue at that. But it also hi-lights why it’s so important to make a big test sample or even paint one door is a great idea and then move it around to the different areas. I also am going to change the wooden floor stain to a mocha or coffee bean finish and keep all the trims white. I wanted to paint the builtin cabinets and shelves a darker color, so the office looks more masculine. And even then, am often struggling if presented with “givens” that aren’t really working to begin with. My best advice is to find someone local who’s taste you like and advice you trust. It can be very beautiful if used in the right way and with the right furnishings and accents. Paint is only one element and very often not the most important one. Have you done this with success and been happy with the color? It appears that most people not in the business don’t understand what’s involved.

Two True Gray Paint Colors&Nbsp; by mysoulfulhome.com

The undertones of gray are blue, green, violet and taupe. If your furnishing are cool in tone stay away from a grey with taupe/brownish undertones. Or go with one of these true as true can get for a gray paint grays. Want to talk more about paint colors, the magic of paint, 3 perfect neutral wall colors and more? Lots of us all white girls are falling in love with the white/grey colour palette. It must be so exciting to have this big new project to work on. The undertones in this paint is taupe, however not a true grey it is a new love. I don’t have the time nor the desire to reprint right now and had a total of 3 gallons mixed up. You are on the right track to tone down the blue – stay away from blue accents. I have played with bluer grays and they just aren’t working? What white would you suggest for the ceiling and trim that would look crisp and clean? I also considered doing winter white with a darker gray accent wall. Lighting plays a major roll in what paint will look like in your home – natural light as well as your bulbs, incandescent vs. Sometimes when it is dark you just need to go with it & delve deeper into the depths. Also what is going on light & colorwise in the rest of the room? Especially in north side room, during the day where the sun hits, those areas turn out as bluish gray. I did put few sample on the walls and as more blue than after painting the whole wall. Kilim beige and latte behind the agreeable gray is making it look more blue? Every neutral color on the paint wheel has a recognizable undertone. These undertones will rise to the surface, so to speak, depending on the elements in your room. The undertone of your gray needs to work well with what you have going on in the room. If your furnishing are warm in tone stay away from a gray with cool blue/violet undertones. But this choice needs to be made in the context of your room. Knowing what is going on underneath with gray paint makes the decision on which one to use easier. You pour in your paint, seal it up air tight and never have to clean the brush. Thankfully the kids like it and it will become their rooms, but the living room is still stuck that way. I am sure it is beautiful, even if not what you had in mind. Looking for a true gray-grey color with not too much undertone. Thanks for coming by today & good luck with your hallway! Would painting it either of these greys help bring it out? Good luck – your headboard sounds beautiful & would be stunning with the right grey. Like a beautiful baby blue you would paint a nursery! I think this could be very sophisticated & lovely in your dark hallway. In bathrooms and kitchen with fluorescent light bulbs, the color looks like yellow. Does this tend of happen with agreeable gray paint color? What color would you recommend for an accent wall to go with one of these shades?

Hardwood Flooring Stain Color Trends 2019 by theflooringgirl.com

At the moment, dark seems to be the preference between the two, but this can vary based on the home owner’s tastes and style of the home. Also, wood color varies, so it’s much better to test it on several pieces – some lighter, some darker to get a true picture of how the stain will look (vs. Jacobean is very similar, so it’s good to test that stain, too. Jacobean and dark walnut show the dirt a bit less than ebony. They also work for modern looking homes (and ironically, ebony on the opposite extreme also works for modern). Lighter, especially natural tends to hold up better/last longer and show less dirt. The picture on the left is provincial, but it appearing much lighter than usual due to my flash. It’s been very popular in tile and carpet for years and it’s now been making its way into hardwood for the last 3 or 4 years. Yes, 7 or 8 years ago, this was so 80’s, but now it’s coming back! Regardless, stain colors come out different on different woods (and even different pieces). Again, you should test these stains on your own floors before committing to a color. How long does it take to sand and refinish hardwood floors? A lot of the house will have white paneling and the walls white. My gut tells me that either dark walnut or jacobean would be best, but you guys will need to be the judges of what you like best. Would it look strange to have those two stains in my home? Generally when people have different colors, they go darker on 1st floor and lighter on 2nd. I like the bare wood is it ok to just apply polyurethane to it? They need to be sanded 3 times, each time with finer and finer grits. This is prob your best solution if you think golden oak is too dark (golden oak is one of the lightest stains). He’s asking me to pick 3 colors to stain for samples, are golden peacan, pickled oak and weathered oak good choices? But, with pickled oak and weathered oak, you need to use a water based poly (which is more expensive). You can do either water or oil based on golden pecan. I want a “farmhouse white birch” color, would this be the whitewashing? My contractor suggested to improve durability of the floor, to apply an oil-based poly( absco) as the top coating, above 3 layers of water-based poly (bona traffic). Your advice on this will be highly appreciated! I think this would be a major mistake and you will want to redo you floors…in fact within a year and probably sooner. As you go darker, the contrast w/ the mahogany won’t be as great. All of the spots we stained look more like dark brown or black paint than stain! Generally, when we test the stains, it gives an excellent sense as to how the color will come out.< /p> Light stains gives the room a nice warm, airy and welcome look; dark stains hardwood gives the room a more formal and sophisticated look. In addition, over the last two years, a new trend has emerged and an old one has been reinvented. It’s important to do this as all wood varies and accepts the stain differently based on the type of wood, grade of wood and it’s age. Most often, if someone is going light, we will do natural as this is the lightest you can go, and it usually costs less than adding a stain. They also tend to hide some of the imperfections if the wood is older. It works well because, it is a brown stain (and does not have reds mixed in), so it’s very neutral and goes with almost everything. The picture below is more indicative of what provincial typically looks like. Provincial often works better in more traditional homes and special walnut often looks a bit more contemporary. Red tones are more challenging to decorate with as they are more challenging to match other wood furniture, as well as paint, window treatments and pillows. Popular red tones include red mahogany, sedona red, mesquite red and red oak. Gray is a bit challenging to achieve and more expensive than typical colors as you need to blend 2 colors and use a water based poly (otherwise it will yellow). Similar to gray floors, you need to use a water based poly, and this costs a bit more and you often need to add an extra coat for more durability. They do come out different on different species, grades and age of wood. We were thinking of dark but don’t want to go so dark we can’t see the beauty of the walnut. The darkest would be ebony…you may want to test, but that may be too dark and drown out the graining. Also, you could just test natural to see if you like that (since walnut is naturally dark…and it darkens over time). We tried dark walnut but it was really dark on the walnut floor and made the grain almost disappear. We prefer to mix white and ebony to get to desired color. This will be my flooring finishers first time mixing stains. The 2nd most likely reason is that you didn’t wipe off the stain or you let it sit too long. I would not let just one piece of furniture dictate the colors for the whole home. On how light/how dark, that depends on what you prefer…as it is your home. You mentioned that for white-washed look, water-based poly is the only way to go. Also, the water should not be applied over the water based unless you wait at least 6 months. I have an early 1930’s home with white trim/burberry beige walls. Our goal is to add some contemporary features that will still work with the overall age of the home. In my experience, mahogany seems to absorb dark walnut stain more than jacobean and dark walnut, so that that may work better (vs. We tried some of the stains on the floor (walnut, jacobean, ebony) pre-sanding so we have an idea of what direction we want our professional to take. We thought we could get a sense of which color we like beforehand but maybe that’s not possible.

Sources:

• Source – laurelberninteriors.com
• Two True Gray Paint Colors Http Mysoulfulhome Com – mysoulfulhome.com
• Hardwood Floor Colors For Refinishing Westchester NY Ebony Flooring – theflooringgirl.com