Help me pick a color for my room!

[inky]

So I think I want to paint my room a new color. The current color is a flat medium grey chosen by the previous occupant. I don't hate it, but flat paint gets grubby, and I think I'd prefer something more colorful. The room gets ok light and is about 11'x10' with high ceilings and white baseboards and picture rail. I don't really want to paint the moulding, so I'm looking for a color that will look good with white accents. I'm leaning toward something in the teal/turquoise family but am open to other ideas.

I'm also wondering if anyone has thoughts on bright/saturated vs. lighter, more neutral shades. I've generally gone for lighter colors, but I think I want to go with something stronger this time. Will that make my room feel like a tiny dark cave? Will it look bad with white moulding?

Thanks!

[Snow Ghost Seven]

on the benjamin moore website, they have new colors listed from House Beautiful picks of the year. there is a soft tiffany blue and a deeper ocean blue. i also like to go on flickr to see other peoples' choices. i do a search like "benjamin moore" and see what comes up.
let us know your final decision!
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"I believe in safe spaces and everything, but eventually you got to let everybody who is cool into the party." John Cameron Mitchell

[Chiquita]

oooo - I painted my kitchen and office in a color similar to the soft blue SGS mentioned. I hadn't realized the connection to that store until someone else pointed it out. I love it. It works very well with my big white woodwork.

The office used to be painted a deep eggplant, which was lovely, but the blue is much more lively. The eggplant didn't make it look like a cave but the blue has a lot more energy. That room gets lots of light though. I think the best room color also depends on what happens or needs to happen in that room.

[themaverick]

I have to echo what Chiquita said about rooms getting light. If it's a bit dark in there to begin with, you can go a little less saturated with the paint colour (since paint looks darker on walls than on the chips anyway). I like eggshell/satin paint, because it has a bit of sheen, without reflecting the light (like semi-gloss/gloss) or swallowing it (like matte).

That being said, if what you want is saturation, go for it! I think turquoises/aquas look great with white.

Here's a room in a turquoise with a bunch of white detail:
http://tinyurl.com/2uusw7x

Here's a room where the paint itself is quite pale, but there are lots of bright turquoise colour pops:
http://tinyurl.com/33qdbgp

And here's a site where turquoise reigns! LOTS of great inspiration! So many turquoise rooms!!!:
http://www.houseofturquoise.com/
Beware: I have gotten lost in the pretty, pretty pages of this site.

Have fun painting!!!
-Aimée

[highlow kitty]

i've done the tiffany blue but it was 'opps' paint i lucked out on :)

it was SO pretty. so, so, so! the one thing i regretted was not having molding or something to paint a glossy white. the paint itself was a satin finish and made me so happy to wake up in, spend time in, see when i opened the door.... i think it's very energizing in a non-overwhelming way. the paint was very saturated but the satin sheen made it more reflect-y and seem lighter

so i vote the turquoise :)
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And once you've seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. -Arundhati Roy

[casiep]

I'm generally not a fan of turquoise in clothing, textiles, etc. but I think the color looks awesome on walls. Tiffany blue is also gorgeous...so light and fresh.
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[inky]

Thanks! There's a Kelly Moore near my house so I popped in yesterday to look at samples. I didn't like any of the colors I had shortlisted from the website when I saw them in person (or, well, I liked them, but I do not want them on my walls), and it became apparent that all of the stronger/darker colors I liked were too strong/dark.

Anyway, I narrowed it down to five colors on one strip. Ha. It's strip B9 (that's the second 'block' of colors, ninth column) on this page, the top five (glorianna to meadow green). The colors are brighter and greener on the sample than they are on my computer screen. Further input is welcome. Here's a picture of the room now for reference:

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I'm planning to keep it all white above the picture rail.

[scarymonster]

Five minutes in photoshop has helped me determine that you should definitely go with meadow green.


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I like the contrast more.
Ignore the blurby bits that crawled off the edges ;)

[inky]

[christinaheart]

[inky]

It looks great! It's lighter, brighter, and blue-er/less green than I was going for, and I love it anyway.

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[mohawk]

Love it! Reminds me of a Caribbean vacation resort!

[christinaheart]

It looks so refreshing! I like it!
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<3