Creative people - need help with colour!!

[Kyleigh]

I posted this too late last night ... no one saw it ... so I'm bumping it up for the day!

[carmspack]

I saw it -- not that my opinion matters , -- how to put it -- I don't like it . If you want to play up the back wall which is unique and definitely the feature of the room , then the shelf should not fight for attention , which it does because when you look at your last picture the eye goes immediately to the light colour non committal ecru pastelly wood , which looks like pickeled wood .
The red was better because your eye bypassed it and settled on the backwall.

you live in Ontario - we have Benjamin Moore paint outlets , most of them have an owner with good design sense - B M is used by high end pro decorators - great quality and palette. Take a sample of the colours of your back wall in and ask them what they would suggest.

I still like the purple , and then any writing on the wall in the faintest lavender , silver - grey , bit of metalic silver

The stencil on the shelf will compete with anything that you put on the shelf or be lost by being covered.

I thought you were going to stencil some wording on the wall , ribboned between the feathers ?

[Liesje]

For me it's too "busy", but I can't really judge because it's not my taste overall. I like fairly plain yet really well built furniture and dress it up by what is on it like framed photos, my curios from Africa, rather than the furniture itself being the focal point.

[carmspack]

the colour yellow brings in another hue -- too much competition , from the opposite side of the colour spectrum , that is what makes it busy .

[Bear GSD]

I like your concept, but I think that the light color on the bookcase gets lost against the darker color stripes on the wall.
If it were me I would go for a darker color and do small accent stensils on the bookcase. I also think it depends on what else is in the room. What color is the rest of the furniture in the room?

[Kyleigh]

LOL see I knew I was right too ... I'm not a fan of it either. The rest of the furniture is beige ... which was why I was thinking of doing it the cream colour ... to go with the furniture and have it "pop" out.

SIGH .. back to the drawing board!!

Thanks for the input!

carmspack - I can't use "regular" paint because of the fumes - I'm doing this in the basement, with my two parrots (and of course me, and the dog and the cat) ... I can only use chalk paint and acrylics ... B M paint has too many fumes - even at their lowest level

[jang]

I think I would have tried the green color right next to the vase in the original post...then stenciled with complimentary colors already in place on the wall

[Bear GSD]

Kyleigh have you tried the low VOC paints. I know that they are wall paints, but I think you could use them in painting the piece that you want. When I painted my daughter's room (or any room for that matter) I used a low VOC paint because of the fumes, my DH is very sensitive to any chemical smells.

Even if the rest of the furniture is beige in color you could still do a darker color on that piece and it would work. (I was in the furniture/design business in Chicago)

[Gretchen]

Originally Posted by Kyleigh

I settled on a cream colour (I liked the idea of white and yellow, so mixed them!)

Then I got some stencils and did this to it ... not sure I like it or not so I only did two ...

HONEST opinions ... if you think it sucks say so ... If you can recommend a stencil, please feel free!!! Shipping to Canada would be helpful if I can't find it in a store!

The blue that is on one of the borders is the blue I would go with for the "new" stencil if that's what's chosen ... as well as the blue for all the borders and the feet.

Thanks so much everyone, all the input is greatly appreciated!

To be honest - I don't really like the light colored bookcase. It should be a darker subdued color, like a deep brownish black. A solid black would be too much contrast and too harsh. What is that color between the green and blue panels? I also would not stencil, with all the background colors you need to give your eyes a rest.

Some one else mentioned Benjamin Moore Paints. If you go to their website they have some great color combination ideas. The Aura paint is the best I've used.

[carmspack]

we just did a bathroom , cold winter closed windows - birds in house , no problem -
Benjamin Moore even if you don't use their paint look into their colour palette and ask the owner of the shop (franchise) since most of them have experience in design .
At least they can find a colour that works for you.

we have a budgie (13 years old ) a canary , and a lineolated parrot