Choosing Orange Behr Paint Color

Way back in October of 2010 I was looking for advice on which blue Behr color to paint in our downstairs living room. My color palette down here is chocolate browns (couch, chair, ottoman & rug), turquoise-y blue (rug, pillows & artwork) and orange accents (lamp, pillow & artwork).

In fact, the entire painting idea came from the purchase of a HUGE piece of artwork I got for a super deal...and, once it was hung I realized I didn't like the white-on-white look of it.

I thought I wanted to paint the north wall – the long, unbroken canvas of the room that holds the big painting – a nice blue. The problem is that two other adjacent rooms down here are also blue (the guest bedroom and the bathroom). Those blues are not only different from each other; they're different hues than what I'd want to put in the living room to match the color scheme.

Such decisions.

Well, lo and behold, my sister hadn't been to our house in a while so last month she came over for lunch and I brought her down here to show her what I wanted to do...she had a good point when she said the north wall is the wall that reflects the only source of incoming light to the room: the patio doors.

If I painted THAT wall (especially a "darker" color like blue), she opined, I'd be darkening the entire room. She then pointed out that even with the current white wall, the back of the room (where my desk is) was already painted in shadow, even though it was only noon.



Hmf. That totally shot all my plans to heck...so I asked where would SHE paint? She motioned to the east wall and the fireplace and said, "there." Hmm – interesting.

She then shocked me by saying something I'd never thought she'd ever say: "And, to be honest, you might want to paint this area orange instead of blue. That way you're not competing with the blues in the other rooms AND it'll be a lighter color, so you won't darken the room too much."

Holy crap. My sister – who's oh-so-fond of beige and neutral tones – had told me to paint my walls ORANGE. I about leapt for joy (I've looked up to my sister since I was old enough to hold up my own head). She was then quick to state, "it's not what I would personally paint in MY house, but orange is so "you" so I think it'd work well here." Squeeee!

So now the whole color-search has kicked into another gear entirely. She agreed with me that it might look cool to even two-tone the fireplace wall, since there's an alcove for the TV.

To that end, The Hubby took me to Home Depot yesterday to gather up some paint chips. Now all I have to do is pick the right hue of orange. No pressure. I was told – again, by my sister – to focus on the "brown-ish" colors of orange, and I think those are the chips I got.

They've been up on the mantel less than 24 hours (and Erika from Behr said to let them "sit" for a couple days so you can see them in all the different types of light :) and I've yet to see one or two that pop out at me (yet). If you want to weigh in, here are the cards I've got to choose from:

• 260C & 260D
• 270A, 270C & 270D
• 280A, 280B, 280C & 280D (this card is more brown; figured it wouldn't hurt to see it)
• 290C & 290D

Of course, I want to lean towards the darker hues (like Adventure Orange, Copper River, Amber Glow & Apple Crisp), but I know those will be WAY too dark once they're up on the wall. I've been told again and again (and it's SO hard to follow this advice): "whichever color you like on the paint chip, pick two shades lighter and paint that one on the wall."

What I might do is pick 3 or 4 and head back to Home Depot for the "test" cans...but I've done that before and it hasn't worked out, since those 8-oz cans are flat paint and I like satin on the walls. You wouldn't think that would make a big difference, but it did in our bedroom. 

Hopefully I don't hem and haw on this project for much longer...by the time I get this room done the way I like it, we'll be putting the house on the market!


*Note: after posting this I was told some of the colors look like baby excrement. While I certainly think that about a few of the chips on the far right, I have to admit, very few of those paint chips look like they do in the picture! Sigh.