painting a doorway between two rooms w/different colors

[kzinNOSPAM99]

Hello,

Can't be the first one to run into this.

Remodeling kitchen etc. and am about to paint walls, doorway trim.

Kitchen wall color doesn't quite match that of the rooms that the doorways enter into. Kitchen wall color isn't domineering like a canary yellow or anything, it's sort of a creamy off white, but it still doesn't quite match that of the adjoining rooms.

So how to paint the jambs and stop? Just choose one or the other and be happy with it? Try and somehow find a blend that works well with colors on both sides?

I suppose one could ask why I didn't use the same color as the adjoining rooms for the kitchen but a kitchen is a pretty different place than a family or dining room and it seems to me that it's not insane to have a different color for it. I seem to recall that bright yellow kitchens used to be in vogue and you certainly wouldn't want that color in the rest of your house.

anyway thanks for comments ml

[Curly Sue]

It depends on how different the colors are and their intensities. If they are close, it doesn't matter, pick one or the other. For example my kitchen is a soft yellow and the dining room is a warm off-white that has a yellow-ish hue in daylight. So I left the doorway (no door or molding, but a wide/deep opening) the dining room color which is a neutral. But it's not different enough to make a difference.

The other side of the dining room opens to the living room which is, ahem, soft salmony pink (The furniture is brown as is the molding, so it's not really girly :>). Although different, the colors are of the same low intensity. Again, I left the doorway jamb the dining room color because it's more neutral.

If the doorways have molding, the answer is simple. Use a color that goes with (or contrasts nicely with) both. Eg. I have upstairs one bedroom is green, another is gold, the bathroom is pink/gray with floral accents. The moldings in the room and outside of the rooms are all white, which sets off the colors and gives unity in the hall. And, all of the rooms are of the same color intensity (value?) so it's not like there is a primary next to a pastel next to a jewel tone. All different colors, yet it works together, and pleasantly.

Sue(tm) Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

[Gideon]

ml,

I've encountered this at many locations in our home. We've always tried to paint the transition area with the lighter or more neutral of the 2 colors. This is one of those details of home decor that the homeowner notices a lot more than his guests do.

Besides painted walls, this also becomes a factor with crown molding, floor molding and chair rails if different colored stain or paint is being used from one room to the next. Somewhat obviously, the trim in the transition area seems to look best if it matches the trim of the room whose color is being used in the transition area.

Gideon

[CAStinneford]

If you're willing to be a little creative, you can do what I did in my mother's house. The kitchen is lavender and the living room is a butter yellow. The doorway is arched and I painted it the yellow of the living room. Then I created a harlequin stencil and stenciled lavender harlequins on the yellow in the doorway. She loves it and everyone who comes into the house thinks it's great.

[Phisherman]

There are color coordinator applications you can use that will compliment both colors. As a general recommendation, halls are good when they are neutral colors, a place where "cleansing of color" occurs between rooms. The bottom line is that there are no "rules" to color, especially when there are no plans to sell the house soon.

[Hopkins]

In this case I'd say the face of the jamb goes the non-kitchen color. Usually the doorway jambs go the color of the main part of the house. Someone mentioned a good rule of thumb -- go with the more neutral [or lighter] color on the jambs.

It's personal choice, of course.... for a dining or some other room that's set off by doorways, some people like to have the color of the set-off room "leak" out into the main part of the house. This is the opposite of what I would call the normal way.

You could try to visualize -- stand in each room, away from the door way, and imagine seeing the other room's color "leaking" out.

[Goedjn]

Right, you can either try to hide the transition, or decorate it. The simplest solution is to add trim, in a color contrasting to both rooms. Failing that, paint a border, or interleave the two in a complex line of division.

[Justin Otherguy]

Had this problem, my wife came up with the solution..... we painted the doorway surface (perpendicular to the walls in question) ..... white! It basically becomes invisible. Not fancy, but simple, worked great.

J.

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