I must be crazy!
I did my Craft Room, our Kitchen, our Dining Room and now it is time for the darkest and smallest room of our home:
The Laundry Room Makeover.
I love a good design challenge and I feel this room is just the perfect one!
Here is my inspiration board!
The fact that there are no windows in our laundry room and
the fact that therefore there is no source of natural light makes this the ultimate color challenge.
How to bring light using color?
Three Easy Ways!
1
Metallics, Glass and Mirrors
Use colors and materials that reflect light.
Metallic accents, glass and mirrors are perfect choices.
The picture above shows silver tones for a reason.
Golden and bronze tones will make a space warmer.
For a dark space, silver tones are perhaps a better choice.
I chose two bathrooms without windows to show you how silver metallics will make
a room lighter verses gold tones.
Do you see what I am talking about?
2
Cool Colors
Darker the room more I would advice to stay also in the cooler side of the color wheel,
especially when it comes down to the wall and furniture colors.
White, blue, gray, cool greens { with more blue than yellow in the formula } are perfect choices.
From design-seeds.com
Warm colors such as orange, red, tan and yellow as the main color choice
will make the room look darker.
They are fun colors but they work better in a natural lighted room.
Check this out!
If you are like me and you love warm colors as much as cooler ones
I have good news for you!
Use the cool tones on your walls and main big pieces such as doors and furniture.
To balance the cool tones you may want to use warm tones with your accessories.
Light yellows, pistachios, salmons and red tones are delicious!
Deep brown tones in baskets and hardwood floors will look great also.
This image below has pretty much the color palette of my Laundry room.
Notice how the big background is a light gray, the main and larger feather is blue { aqua }…
{ picture source }
Here is another combination using cool tones as the main color or background
and a warm tone { yellow } as the accent.
So fun!
From design-seeds.com
I want to point out something here…
What makes this image above so bright is not the yellow umbrella but the background.
If instead of the ocean the picture had a warm sunset the yellow would have not just disappeared
but actually it would have toned down the entire picture.
No way?
Let me show you..!
When warm tones are in the background and cool tones are the accents this is what happens:
Gorgeous and darker!
One more… warm as the main color {background} and cool as an accent.
Told ya!
Pretty cool… Ha!
Watch for those background main colors!
Think of your walls as the sky of a landscaping…
as the gorgeous background at the end of the horizon.
Choose wisely the color of your walls!
Light-bulbs
What?
Well… the opposite of darkness is light.
White is your friend!
Make sure in a dark room you use white or ultra white soft light bulbs.
Pleeeease stay away from yellowish warm lighting.
Not good!
Bad!
Really bad!
Let me show you the same bedroom with three different types of light-bulbs:
warm, neutral and daylight.
Ready?
Warm Light Bulbs
Neutral Light-bulbs
Daylight Light-bulbs
That is the power of a light-bulb for you!
You can see more room and light combinations here.
So there you have it three simple tips for dark spaces.
1. Silver, Glass and Mirror Accents.
2. Cool backgrounds with a little bit of warm light accents if you like.
3. White Light-bulbs.
Pretty Easy!
Now I better go and finish my laundry room.
…By the way the walls are done!
{ to see more about these items click here }
Happy Friday My Friends!
Desirée
If you are new to my blog I want to welcome you!
I hope you stay in touch with me and Subscribe to The 36th Avenue via Readers.
i just loved that post. i’m the worst at picking out colors. i painted my laundry room about 4-5 months ago and i just hate it so i’m going to wait for your reveal… and then i’ll get started (again) on mine. 🙂
ps. i’m just loving reading your blog even more now that i’ve met you. i can hear your voice as i read it! i love it!!
Jen,
It was so fun to meet you girls… I can’t wait for EVO.
Yay! I can’t wait to see your laundry room. I love everything you have chosen for it. My little laundry roon is also small and dark!! So I can’t wait to see what you will do. You putting wood on the floors? Just curious. Waiting patiently for the reveal!! Well more like impatiently 🙂
Christiana
I have wood floors already and I love them!
My laundry room is all white. Afraid to take the color plunge, but at least I knew all those years ago that without a window I needed to not use brown! Maybe after I see yours I’ll be brave.
~Bliss~
Did you notice that your laundry room will match your blog!?! So cute.
I really appreciate the color tutorial. I painted all the walls in our house cool tones (even though the rooms are fairly big) and I like how colors “pop” off of them better than in our old warm toned walled house.
Jessica
stayathomeista.com
I love the color combo you chose. Can’t wait to see the finished room.
Great tips! I can’t wait to see the finished laundry room!!!
Anna
http://www.askannamoseley.com
Wow! This is some great info on colors and warmth. It’s very handy for me, because I don’t naturally notice when two colors work well together. I’m quite whimsical in my choices and sometimes that backfires when what-seemed-to-be-bohemian-chic turns out the next day to look just tacky.
LOVE your inspi board for your laundry room! That is going to look so good! We just recently painted our laundry room one of the colors on your board & I’m digging it. Can’t wait your finished room!
Hmmm…now I feel the need to go check all my lightbulbs :). You laundry room is going to be gorgeous!!
Love the colour combination you have chosen for your laundry room make-over Desiree and I look forward to seeing your progress.