Painting my upstairs, need help with colors going together but each room unique?

Question

The woodwork is original mahogany in an 80-year old house. I want the hallway to look like old wallpaper. Thought about trying light gray and doing a pearl sponge over the top. I want to bring the character of the house out, without being obnoxious. I am familiar with faux and glazes, and don't mind if it takes awhile to get great results. I have patience to do it right.
I would like each of the 4 bedrooms to have a personality, but when I stand in the hallway, I don't want them to clash.
The bathroom has the original sink and clawfoot tub. Any ideas to bring out there beauty would be great.
Thanks everybody!

Answer 1

I would definately play up the vintage abilities of the house.

I would use pastels, which are relaxing and nostalgic.

Use colors that you LIKE, not just colors that look good. Visit a paint store for local color themes that you like.

Single glaze applications are beautiful with vintage designs if they are really softened (pull most of the glaze off). You could distress your woodwork a tad.

I have an antique iron clawfoot tub as well and painted the exterior in a metallic paint. It's BEAUTIFUL.

Answer 2

Wow, lucky you! I love mahogany and it sounds gorgeous. IMHO, I think grey (even with a faux glaze) is just a color that to me screams "contemporary." One almost always expects black and silver and red to go with it. Personally, I would try a tea-stained color. I think transitioning it from darker in the biggest room to lightest in the smallest room would be a great way to offer a soothing, antique color that compliments the floors perfectly. I'm a fan of Behr paint, and recommend colors like: Quiet Veranda... Oklahoma Wheat... Song of Summer, etc. Even if it's not the brand of paint you want, check out those colors to get an idea of what I mean. If you did some sort of latex-glazing/color wash, it will look charming and authentic. Accent your home with varying shades of olive green and burgandy (or eggplant), and it will be stunning! The bathroom could possibly have white accents instead of the olive green and burgandy, but perhaps with a plant or two of the same shades to tie it all in. Good luck to you!!

Answer 3

I think grey and mahogany would look great together. Rather than using wallpaper( which will be difficult to remove later and could look very dated in a few years) you should paint a simple but really elegant stripe of either dark grey and pearl grey, or mid grey and burgundy. this would look understated but still give the effect of old wallpaper. painting stripes is time-consuming but the results are worth it. with the grey stripes you could paint the rooms coordinating colors of slate blue, sage green, burgundy, lavender, mauve, eggplant.
To really bring out the classic lines and beauty of the bathroom, I think you should do it entirely in black, white, and chrome. maybe a black and white checkerboard tile floor, white ceramic tile on the wall with some black accent tiles, you could possibly put the tile halfway up the wall and paint the top half a light grey/blue color. A chrome chandelier would finish it off nicely.

Answer 4

Benjamin Moore has palates of colors that are designed to work together. There is an entire "Historical Collection" that might work nicely for an older home.

They have a great website that you can use to see what the colors look like when used in separate rooms, you can see how they would work together.

Good luck

Answer 5

i would imagine using colors analogous to one another on the color wheel would work, or different shade of the same color, then using a faux finish over them, or maybe a border at the top..i am visualizing the gray hallway, with different shade of blues, maybe greens..
good luck