Remember that childhood
Sesame Street song, "Which one of these things is not like the other?" Classic case in point right here.
While visiting my friends in San Diego, they expressed frustration over the look of their fireplace in the family room. Immediately noticing how out of place the fireplace mantel felt, we set off to 'make it work', as Tim Gunn from Project Runway likes to say.
Do you see what is wrong with the fireplace color? Some of you might see it right off the bat. For others, it might not be as evident. So much of that has to do with training your eyes to see see the nuances of a color's undertone.
In taking a closer look, we have the following:
• Mustardy- yellow undertones in the plaster fireplace mantel
• Warm pinky undertones in the stone fireplace surround
• Orangy undertones in the built-in cabinetry
• Peachy undertones in the wall color (subtle, but still there)
• Red undertones in the cherry hardwood floors
Phew! That's a whole lotta variety going on for such a "brown" space. And that's not even taking into consideration the purply brown leather sofa. But we won't complicate matters here.
Did you reach the same conclusion I did? The odd man out was the mustardy color.
The solution was to locate a warm, mid-tone brown with the same undertone as the built-ins that also complimented the stone surround. My friends didn't want to go too dark, and the lighter tones were too pale and insipid. BM's Fort Sumner Tan 1119 did the trick.
By including this color along the front panel of the low stone "bench", the mantel was not as out of place and felt more integrated into the design of the space. It also helped ground the seating area and tie in the cabinets to the left and right. Before, everything seemed to be floating.
Hours after painting, we were reclining on the sofa while watching the Olympics, analyzing our paint job. The tan worked much more successfully than the original mustard, but the mantel felt top-heavy and a wee bit overbearing. 8:30 at night, we dragged out the ladder, paint brushes and cans for a small color "tweak". (
don't tell my obgyn I was perched on a ladder!)
I took a little bit of the existing wall color and mixed it into our tan paint for a subtle tint. By applying this lighter value to the arch above the mantel, the heaviness was lifted, and balance was restored. Ahh, much better.
Directly across from the fireplace wall hangs a huge, beautiful blue quilt of my girlfriend's very own creation, and various quilted blue and green throw pillows.
(I am personally the proud owner of an original baby quilt)Because there is very little color other than a variety of brown and beige on this side of the room, at a later time, they might take things one step further by incorporating a pop of blue in the inside of the arch. The quilt would then be tied into the palette of the room, and the addition of blue would help add some balance to the otherwise very warm color scheme. (Blue seating cushions would be nice, too)
What do you think? How would you have solved this design dilemma?
