I mean, why not? I can’t work with every single person who contacts bossy color, tragically. But if I had some imaginary friends with fairly universal paint color challenges and I helped them…
(You know there’s a big caveat here, right? I can spare you the blah blah blah of “there’s really no such thing as a foolproof color palette when you don’t know what the space looks like, how much light it gets and from what direction, what the client’s tastes are…?” You’ll grant me a little leeway here, right? Thanks, man.) So…
THE IMAGINARY FRIEND: a youngish bachelor.
THE IMAGINARY HOME: a one-bedroom apartment in the city.
Living room (because there’s no foyer): Benjamin Moore’s HC-172 Revere Pewter. Grays are still huge – finally gaining traction in all parts of the country, as we know from the last Color Outlook podcast :) .
Bossy color’s imaginary bachelor is so cutting-edge.
Kitchen walls: Ellen Kennon’s Silk Road Plum. That’s right, Gentle Readers. PLUM. I don’t know whether our guy is gay or straight (he’s private that way), but he’s going to get all kinds of points for this one.
First, because he knows about full-spectrum paint, and second, because he isn’t afraid to use it. In purple. In his kitchen. Even if there’s only one wall, painting it a warm, rich aubergine is a bold move. And deep purple isn’t limiting, color-wise; it’s liberating. Pair it with gray, orange, red, green…
Then paint those sticky oak cabinets from the 80s Benjamin Moore’s HC-173 Edgecomb Gray or a glossy black.
Bedroom: Benjamin Moore’s HC-67 Clinton Brown. You thought I was going to suggest a green, didn’t you? But no! Our bachelor is more sophisticated than that. He’s going for the drama. (You CAN use a crisp white trim color with Clinton Brown, but I prefer something creamier. For what it’s worth.)
Bathroom: If our bachelor were lucky enough to have decent white ceramic tile in his bathroom, then Benjamin Moore’s HC-6 Windham Cream would have been a nice surprise. But, alas, his apartment came with natural stone – very masculine, if somewhat uninspired. In this context, a deep blue-gray, such as Benjamin Moore’s HC-146 Wedgewood Gray, TRULY is foolproof. Heck, I even have it in my own bathroom.
There you go, imaginary friend! The best part about being imaginary, of course, is that painting your apartment is going to be SUPER easy.
Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She’s considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. She’s also a proud member of the Color Outlook team: 6 experts from across the country who podcast quarterly about color trends and forecasts.