Does my tile limit my paint options?

September 4, 2008 1:27 PM

Can I use this tile with a variety of colors, or am I limited to neutral tans?

I'm tiling my entire house in this tile. The guy at the paint store said that I'm really limited is what colors I can use (basically tans), but I see the tile as a neutral. That said - I held the tile up to a bright yellow and it was awful! I don't know what it was -- but it was bad. I'm hoping he's wrong. What am I missing here? Here are some colors I'm interested in using: Daffodil, Celestial Blue, and a light rain color.

posted by kristymcj to home & garden (8 comments total)

It will probably be a matter of you going into the paint store with your tile and holding it up to a ton of different swatches to see what looks good. (Colors look different on different monitors, so you really shouldn't go on what people say here.)

That said, yes, stay away from the yellow family if your tiles are tan. Your room has a good chance of looking like baby poop.
posted by phunniemee at 1:35 PM on September 4, 2008

That tile is utterly neutral. It's the very definition of neutral. The paint guy store is on crack.

Yellows will be gross, as you've discovered, but any of the other colours you've linked to would be 100% fine.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:02 PM on September 4, 2008

He's wrong. How is that different than having hardwood floors? Or beige carpet? Having tans/beiges on the floors gives you a nice, neutral base.

I'm not giving individual color advice because there are too many other factors involved in what will look good in your house. But yeah, don't feel limited to tans. :) Have fun!
posted by iguanapolitico at 2:14 PM on September 4, 2008

In my experience as an (amateur) designer, the precise hue—pinkish, brownish, yellowish, what have you—is very important when dealing with beiges and tans, and cameras (and monitors) don't give a reliable gauge of that. A few points in one direction or the other can make the difference between harmony and blech.

Whatever the exact shade, though, yellow is too close on the color wheel (and too weak a color to work with another weak color such as beige).

Personally, I'd be looking at medium-to-dark, desaturated earth tones to go with that—dusty greens, slate blues, muted chocolate, even eggplant.
posted by greenie2600 at 2:24 PM on September 4, 2008

I have basically that exact tile with a soft-yet-bright green paint- (first row - forest walk 5) and bright white tiles on the lower half of the walls . It looks really nice.
posted by Wroksie at 3:27 PM on September 4, 2008

I see that tile color paired with a deep maroon color a lot in public spaces.
posted by ikkyu2 at 1:03 AM on September 5, 2008

He's a damn fool. Simply because any colour - has colours that look nice with it. So I'd disregard anything he had to say.

Did he help you pick the paint? Because those colours are terrible. Or maybe he was just trying to politely steer you away... In which case he was doing you a favor - those colours are terrible together!

Because yes, on the surface you have two blues a yellow and some beige tiles. But looking into those colours you have purple exacerbated by grey accentuating all the cackiness of a pale orange. (Yes, on your screen the exact shade of purple, grey and orange will vary, blah blah blah.) Oh and I did a colour table of your tile. It looked like a foundation range swatch, with some blush pink tones and some colder green/grey/stone tones. All of those things are nice (except the yellow) but together... Blargh!!

Will you ever want to sell this house?? The tiles were pretty neutral but you could definitely find something way more versatile and then just paint it however you damn well please? That way if it ever needs to be changed there will be no cursing, whatsoever! :)
- Is this going to be in the kitchen? What colour are your counter tops!! (Sorry, it just bothers me greatly when things don't 'match'.)

(Always, always, always get and keep extra tiles, they are impossible to match and replace down the track should you crack or break any!!)
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 3:39 AM on September 5, 2008

You can either go with an "earth tone" theme, with other browns, dark reds, and dark greens, or you can match it with some blues for a more "Ralph Lauren" kind of look. :)

Ultimately, you need to pick something that you're comfortable looking at every day.
posted by Citrus at 6:54 AM on September 5, 2008