Maria Killam Answers My Question

"Ask Maria" to the Rescue

Last week I wrote wondering what trim colour to use in my kitchen and therefore the rest of my open concept house.

I sent my question to Maria Killam of Colour Me Happy because I really didn't want to repaint all the trim in the house as my Benjamin Moore colour consultant advised. (I may consider it if not for the vinyl windows.)

Now she has answered me on her blog!

And I am very happy with her answer! Thank you, Maria!

But not only that; I am also hugely impressed with her skills. She told me my counter and floors had a yellow tone and I had always wondered if they were pink.  She also suggested a new wall colour: Standish White HC-32 which will have a similar feel to the colour on the walls now, but blend into the fixed features better.  I never knew that our current colour, Summer Harvest CC-190, was too "clean" a colour for our counter and floor. She is hugely insightful.

Related Posts:

Choosing Trim Colour

Kitchen Addiction

I'm Dreaming of a Green Kitchen

Poems in the Home

Charming High School Chapbooks

Today was the last day of classes and exams start Monday. I have a lot of marking to do in the next week, then report card marks, work habits and comments to input, then more marking of provincial exams. However, I don't feel too overwhelmed this weekend because the marking consists of these beautiful little chapbooks written by my grade 8 and 9 students. 

After weeks of writing and revising poems, I booked the computer cart and showed them how to align their pages landscape wise and choose two columns.  Then how to photocopy two sided to make book like pages. I gave them card stock paper for the covers and showed them how to bind them with embroidery thread I bought. Some ran out of time and used the long armed stapler, which is OK, too.

A lot of the poem assignments are from the old classic, Rose, Where Did You Get that Red? And others are from Georgia Heard's books about teaching poetry writing.  Maybe because we read so many poems as a class, maybe because they know I am a poet, maybe because they are young and full of imagination, they took to writing and constructing poetry books naturally.

These books are pretty to have in the house, and I know it won't feel like a chore to mark them. Each has a BC English Curriculum rubric tucked inside so I won't mar the books themselves with marks. They all need them back Monday for their portfolio exam.

Choosing Trim Colour

Is "Cloud White" CC-40 too white?

Last summer, we ripped out the broken microwave and cupboard above and had the tile continued up to the ceiling behind the new hood fan. Right away I noticed something weird with the colour. But was in the white trim that made the tile look dirty, or the yellow paint? The trim and ceiling are Cloud White CC-40.

Oh, and the hood fan installer is coming back to make it snug to the ceiling.

Here is the whole kitchen. I am wondering whether to rip down more cabinets and put up more tile, or just get glass fronts in the upper doors to lighten up the room and cut the brown. By the way, new cabinet crown is on the way and so is green paint for the walls: Peaceful Garden.

Something like this.

Here's a little something I found on Pinterest from Elle Decor. These cabinets are lighter than mine but have glass tops and green walls.

Can you see the tile looks creamier below and browner above? Is that the yellow paint or shadows from the cabinets?

The painted moulding scrap is "White Down" CC-50, which I am considering repainting all the trim in my house (the same trim I just painted "Cloud White" last year!)  The tiny paint chip beside it is "Cloud White."  Do you think White Down is a better match with the tile or a tinge too yellow? Worth repainting everything? That's what my Benjamin Moore colour consultant told me.  That is a lot of work or money!

Oh, and one other problem: I have vinyl windows all over the house and the "Cloud White" trim blends into them, making them look not so cheap, I think.  Match the trim to the windows or the tile? Have two whites in one open concept house?  All I know is the yellow has to go.

These questions are too hard for me, unsolved after a year of pondering, and a consultation with a paint colour expert. I have decided to take it to the top and have emailed my question to Ask Maria (Maria Killam) of the famous Colour Me Happy blog.  Watch for her answers there and the results here.