So we finally decided on a house and our offer was accepted! I'm so excited and I can't stop decorating it in my head. It's our first house, so I have no idea how to tie together rooms. The biggest problem is the kitchen / family room because the kitchen has dark cabinets and grey granite, and the family room has a red brick fireplace. I have no idea what color to paint. The stuff we have is very earthy, with green, browns, and reds. I appreciate any suggestions people have!
Here is the outside...

Here is the kitchen..

And it looks into the family room...

Re: Anyone good at interior design? (NBR)
I wouldn't be opposed to it. Like paint it a grey? And I I'm definitely painting the mantle and getting a new fan. I don't want to spend a lot of money replacing things, but that fan has got to go.
I'd paint the kitchen cabinets first. White cabinets are very popular right now and will brighten the kitchen up instantly. It would also match your countertops and backsplash.
It is also popular to paint brick fireplaces white... I might just update the mantel first and go from there. Once you paint brick, you really can't go back. I think a new mantel, more in proportion to your fireplace, painted the same colors as your wall or in an accent color will go a long way.
Keep your fan motor, just change the blades and replace the light under it with a more modern light fixture.
I have really dark kitchen cabinets as well -mocha color and I painted a light beige color in my kitchen and overflow a darker hot chocolate mocha type of color into the living room. It kept the contrast really well. I loved my living room color, but the kitchen walls are starting to show it's dirtiness (oil splatter, scratches, etc). If I had time to change the color, I would go with a dirt hiding color in my kitchen!
Ditto to all of the above. Exp about the kitchen cabinets. you can paint them yourself
check out this blog for tips....
https://starterhometodreamhome.blogspot.com/2010/05/kitchen-final-reveal-picture-perfect.html
Once you have redone the cabinets, and if you decide to paint the brick white, ANY color would look great on those walls! (Also, you CAN remove paint from brick.. its just a longer process....)
Pretty house! Good luck!
Wow! Gorgeous kitchen!
Because you have an open floor plan between your kitchen and family room, IMO, your best bet is to paint the rooms the same color. My suggestion would be to pull a warm color from the tones in the fire place, but keep it light, because, if you go too dark, your kitchen will feel too 'heavy..'
For example, a pastel yellow would look nice in each room. This will create an interesting contrast in your kitchen, and it will go great with the brick.
I think a light blue or green would also look nice. I could even see a pastel melon/salmon in there.
If you are not purchasing new furniture, you'll have to incorporate the color of your furniture into the decision for paint color. If your furniture is a neutral tone, like beige or brown, it will work with virtually any color.
If your furniture is a different color of the ones you listed, it's a completely new ball game!
If your couch is green, like you said, and you paint the walls orange, for example, and your coffee table has a purple centerpiece, and something else is pink, etc... it's going to look like Sherwin Williams farted all over your room...
And then there is the decision of drapes which, by the way should either be floor length or just long enough to brush the bottom of the window sill. Drapes should be hung as close to the ceiling as possible, to create the effect of a larger space. If you have a long wall you're not sure what to do with, you can even hang them wider than to the window to take up some of the space. Heck, you could even do a fake window to create some symmetry, if you wanted to do that.
You could follow all the design rules and come out with an amazing looking room, but when all is said and done, if you don't like it, the mark has been missed.
Because your fireplace has red brick, red could essentially be your accent color. Red "drapes" on your kitchen window, red pillows, vases, rug, picture frames... I mean not all thee things red-- then it would defeat the purpose of being an accent color...
If I were you, I would not paint the cabinets. That color of wood is very "today." It all matches, and I think you would be spending unnecessary money that will do nothing for the value of your house.
That blog is amazing! I love the way the cabinets turned out. I'm going to show it to H as soon as he gets home. And I would never have thought of spray painting my knife block, but it looks gorgeous!
That is such a good idea. I didn't even know you could do that. And I'm definitely going to paint the kitchen a dirt hiding color. Between my messy cooking and kids in the kitchen, I might as well paint it spaghetti sauce colored.
LOL! Seriously! Who would have ever thought of a knife block that ISNT Natural wood color? LOL.. The accent color in new kitchen (Once we finally close on the house).. is going to be a light turquoise... so I dare paint it that color!? So excited to paint my knife block! LOL
Thanks guys for the suggestions! I'm definitely thinking that painting the cabinets and brick would brighten everything up. I'm also going to get a new mantle that fits the fire place. The plan is to sew all the curtains and make new wall art, so we'll see how that goes. I can't wait to move in!
I love the color of your cabinets, so I was going to suggest painting the brick a darkish brown to coordinate. That would easily blend well with your earth tones. Your place seems pretty bright so I don't think you need to slap white everywhere, but that's just my opinion. Obviously you're the one living there!
Because DD is napping, I had a little spare time
Here is the product of my boredom....
Thanks mrebecca! That's great! If you went to a website for that, can you give me the link?
It's tedious, but I like doing stuff like that.
I don't know of any websites where something similar can be done, but I'm sure they're out there.
Lurker butting in...
If you go to www.behr.com and launch their Colorsmart program, it lets you upload your own pictures and see the different paint colors on your picture. Or you can just use one of the stock photos they have provided.