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Your Opinion Needed

I’m taking a break in my laundry room painting extravaganza to consult you, oh wise internets, about my paint color dilemma.  I’m sure you knew it was too easy for me to pick out a paint in 15 minutes and be done with it.  After seeing Darcy’s bright turqoise and lime and orange laundry room I began to wonder if I was going to regret playing it safe and going beige.

But you see, my issue is the floor.  We have this unfortunate forest green linoleum floor in the laundry room — one of the only remnants of the previous owner.  And while it’s not pretty to look at, it’s hard to argue with the practicality of industrial strength linoleum in one’s laundry room.  Although I’d love to lay down some classy ceramic tile and start with a blank slate, our time table and budget are holding us back.  So green flooring it is.  Which is why I went ahead and just ordered the plain old white appliances.  And we hope to hang some white cabinetry.  So we’re working with white and forest green.  And I could not think of a fun color that would compliment white and forest green.

Until Megan commented that she is dreaming of an orange laundry room, and that got me to thinking.  Which is ALWAYS dangerous.  Orange might not be so bad with green.  I wouldn’t paint the whole room orange; I’m thinking of borrowing Darcy’s method of just making one wall stand out.  Perhaps the beige I bought would still be nice on the other 3.

So my question to you is this.  Actually, it’s two-fold.

1) What color?  Orange?  I’m thinking about the orange in my new shoes or in my flip camera.  (I do like orange!)  Or is there another color I should consider?

2) Which wall?  I posted pictures of my laundry room yesterday.  The washer and dryer and cabinets will go on the right wall.  The left wall will be pretty bare, with some hooks to hang things.  And the wall at the end is the one you see when you walk in the room — small but maybe the right wall to make a statement???

THOUGHTS?

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31 Responses

  1. What about orange AND a lighter (possibly lime) green? Like do one wall in each color? And then a white wall with some decor to bring out those colors? Or is that too elaborate for a laundry room?

    Although…I think you’re supposed to go with colors opposite each other on the color wheel. So that would be red. Or maybe purple. But ugh, that’s not sounding good!

    Okay, if you like orange, what about a medium toned orange on one or two walls and white on the other(s)? With green (even forest) and orange, you could play up a citrus theme…

    Haha! I’m laughing at ME…I saw your Tweet asking for decorating divas and thought that watching lots of HGTV and TLC qualified me.

    Obviously not.

    Good luck! I look forward to hearing what you decide on!

  2. OF COURSE YOU SHOULD DO AN ORANGE ACCENT WALL! I would probably do the wall behind the washer/dryer unless you have so much stuff on the shelves that you won’t see the orange. Cathy at DSW painted her dining room an orange color that I am lusting over.

    When you are done, wanna come paint my laundry room?

  3. I like what others wrote, but one suggestion I would make is that any green you use should be the same kind of green as the floor…if it doesn’t match exact, it should be in the same “family” (you know how the paint chips usually have several shades with them?), and then it will look better/won’t clash. So, grab a bunch of paint chips next time you are at the store and try to match it as closely as possible, and then go with something in that group, lighter or darker.

    I agree that Orange would probably look good with it, or maybe even a dusty mauve (if you like pink).

    Good luck. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished look on your site.

  4. We are actually painting one wall in our living room orange and the other walls and hallways cream. The orange that we picked out is called “Pumpkin Patch” by Valspar (I think?) at Lowes. We love it. I am going to try to get pictures up soon, but cannot make promises!

  5. I love orange & even had an orange guestroom once. As long as it is fun but not obnoxious. And the floor shouldn’t matter too much. You can always lay down a throw rug with orange accents to distract from the floor.

  6. Great idea! I’m sure the beige/orange/green will be a winning combo. Plus you could always get a cute rug for the floor in front of the washer/dryer to add another pop of color. My fave part of her laundry room was the wall words. Can’t wait to see how yours turns out!

  7. OR…stick with your beige walls, and bring color in with shelves, bins, wall art and/or rugs. That way, it’s so easy to change out the color if you don’t LOVE it. The colors would pop with your beige walls and white appliances. I love color too, but sometimes I just love the “clean” look of white or beige, ya know?

    Love you blog, btw..been reading for some time.

  8. umm. Orange is a Gator color here in Florida. Might I respectfully submit a complimentary shade of either garnet or gold? Both of which could go quite nicely with green.

    As far as which wall – If the white washer, dryer and cabinets are to go on the right, I might consider painting both the right and back wall the complimentary color, leaving the left wall beige. Kind of “opening up” the room.

  9. I love accent walls, but they scare me a little. I am not one that would have an answer, but I would think a wall without the cabinets would be best. Not sure…good luck!

  10. Oh no, now I’m going to be OBSESSED with doing something to my laundry room.

    I think an orange accent wall would be fabulous. I also am loving the rugs that Megan linked too. I might need them.

  11. Oooooh I love this sort of thing! I say DEF do the feature wall – I adore feature walls and they make such an impact without overdoing it.

    I would say orange would be great but make sure its a very orange, orange rather than a pumpkin orange. And I agree that putting it on the wall your washer and dryer will be against – sort of like this: https://vol25.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552088d2b883400e5537f22518833-320wi

    Go for it and make sure you post pics!

  12. mrs. housewife,

    you probably didn’t know that i’ve been reading your blog occasionally, but i have been for a few months (stumbled upon it whilst whiling away the hours at a quite boring analyst job and thought it was super cute) and have chosen to remain a silent reader until this moment, in the hopes of helping you avoid a design disaster…

    for what my two cents are worth, i would not go the forest green/orange route. frankly, other than some very chic hunters, i haven’t seen anyone really rock the green/orange combo since it pranced down runways in the late ’90s. clearly i haven’t seen the rest of your house, but from reading your blog i would imagine that it’s fairly classic (you seem to have clean, classic taste), and a green/orange room might seem a little brady bunch.

    why not paint the linoleum floors? then you can do whatever you want with the walls! painting linoleum (if it is true linoleum) is not difficult at all, and i’m sure you can find an easy DIY guide online. one suggestion might be to paint the floors to look like classic black and white tiles, and then you can do a crazy fun color (hot pink?! turquoise?! lime green?!) color on the walls without straying too far from a classic look.

    just thought i’d weigh in with my opinion! good luck with whatever you decide to do…isn’t redecorating FUN?!

  13. I’m not a decorating diva, and would have never thought of an orange wall. But, now that you mention it… I think it sounds perfect. Especially for a laundry room that is not a “public” space, so you can have fun! I would do the far wall and the rugs. Leave the rest the beige. If the far wall was the washer/dryer wall, I would agree make it orange, but I think if you do that one the way yours is arranged, you won’t even notice it. You might also be able to find some fun orange knobs for the cabinets…

  14. Okay, I always go for the easiest thing possible, so I’d paint the wall to the left, simply because when you get ready to change it, you won’t have to pull out the washer and dryer and won’t have to paint around the cupboard/shelf (taping off cupboards is not fun – and I’m the perfect painting police!). I do like the idea of the back wall and right wall, however – totally up to you.

    You can use practically any color. Green goes with a lot of stuff – blue, yellow, etc. Just make sure you pick accents (rug, baskets, pics or stencils for walls, hooks, etc.) that pull in both the floor and wall colors. Then it will look like you put that floor in on purpose! And FYI – I LOVE bright colors for the laundry room. There are no windows, so it always seems dark in there. And quite frankly, if you’ve gotta suffer through the laundry, you might as well be in a room that makes you happy!

  15. I like the idea of keeping the walls beige and painting the ceiling orange. But, I’m not ver brave. The good news is, it’s just paint!

  16. I’ve had terrible luck with oranges and greens. Only tried it once, and in my mind, it looked great. But in my bedroom it was a travesty. It may have been the hues I chose, though. I could see a yellow going well with the green. Very spring/summery. And it would be extra cheery feeling in the drab winter months. Just my two cents.

  17. I love color. Go for it! In my living room, two walls are yellow and the two opposing walls are a lovely blue, and I love it. Unique. Cheerful.

    If orange makes you happy, orange it is. If it’s in the same hue family as the forest green floor, you’ve got it made in the shade (pun intended, hardy har har).

  18. Just a thought…. what’s under the linoleum in the laundry room? If it’s cement, you could always pull it up and paint the floor… then the green dilemma would be solved. We have stained concrete in our kitchen, it’s quite durable and pretty to look at. Also, spills/stains/etc are no problem.

  19. 1. Orange is great-that color orange you’re thinking about is a good blend of bright, yet not overwhelming. If you love orange, I think it’s a fantastic choice. Green, orange, and violet are all complimentary colors on the color wheel, so I definitely think you could put them together. Honestly, though, that hunter is really going to act as a backdrop color. No one is going to walk into that room and think that green is competing with that ______. Because it’s dark and the floor color, it’s going to kind of recede. So I think really you just have to decide what color(s) you love and want to see in the room, and by all means orange will work. (And if you put a rug on the floor, it will really be a moot point).

    2. Wall is trickier. I’m with those who commented about ease, and on the off chance you do get sick of whichever color you put on the wall, I think you’re best off keeping the W/D wall white or beige. I love the pic that was shown, but that example is much more of a feature wall than in your laundry room. Plus you’re putting in cabinets, not baskets.

    Orange on the small wall (middle wall). I do think this would often be the choice (especially in a LR or bedroom). And I still think you could do it, but I actually would go with…

    The left wall. And main reason is weight. The W/D create a great deal of visual weight on the right side. Color is your best chance of bringing weight to the left side. And then the way you can bring attention or focus to the middle wall at the back is by hanging something on it. How great would it be to showcase your kids artwork? Their art will often have orange in it, which will connect that wall with your orange left wall. And there’s no better place to bring some whimsy than in a laundry room.

    Okay, there’s your 100th opinion of the day! Have a great time! Can’t wait to see the final product!

  20. When you mentioned the laundry room the other day, I have to admit I thought of Darci’s new project too.
    Also I could not imagine picking out paint in 15 minutes, I have the largest collection of paint swatches outside of any paint department!
    My DH does pick it out in a flash…and we have a unused gallon of orange (& a gallon of green) sitting in the basement that was an impulse buy for DSS room.

    Matching up to something already in place is so limiting.
    So here is a cool tool I found just this week for combining colors:
    https://colorschemedesigner.com/
    Give it a try, maybe you will find something perfect!
    Good luck.

  21. Do you have any irish roots – ‘cos it sounds like green, white and gold – the irish tricolour! LOL!

    We painted just one wall a different colour in our kitchen/family room yesterday and I am really delighted with it.

    If you went for the just one wall option, it would be easier to change without marital discourse IF you change your mind!!!

    Not sure if it is available but I used an online room decorator thing on Dulux UK and was able to upload a pic of the room, and was able to see it with various paint options. This morning the result of the newly painted room is remarkably similar to how they said it would look.

    As long as the colour makes you think happy thoughts about laundry, then go for it 🙂

  22. I’m clearly a little late to weigh in…dang. I hate it when I’m late to a party. Especially a decorating party. At least my pics were of some inspiration. And I’m SO glad you went with color. It really livens up the laundry experience don’t ya know?!

  23. Darcie’s laundry room IS incredible, isn’t it? Actually, her whole house is incredible (yes, I have the good pleasure of living in the same town as her and I keep trying to convince her to be my interior decorator). 🙂

    I say go with something bright and fun. Especially for the laundry room. Orange seems like a good color. Or maybe blue…?

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