apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I recommend finding the bedding you like first to make sure you have a wall color that goes with that. But I do love the first two colors a lot. I could see one as wall color and one as ceiling color. The green with the raffia is intriguing, but I don't love the green. Maybe with other coordinating items and used as an accent wall....

I wouldn't pick a wall color until you've picked an overall color scheme for all of the furnishings.

Find a piece of artwork you like, or patterned fabric for bedding or curtains, then work off of the colors in the painting or fabric.

I'm not a fan of colored trim I don't care what Martha Stewart says. White trim is clean and fresh and you'll never have to change it when your sick of looking at your khaki trim, or Martha decides to tell you colored trim is out and white trim is back in. If you want to use both khaki and blue why not divide the wall horizontally, like your own painted chair rail, and paint the top one color and the bottom one color. That said, personally I'd go with the aged mint with white trim. I'd even like to see aged mint a little lighter.

MamaChilanga is right. Choose your paint colour last!

And don't forget when you purchase your paint to buy NO VOC paint - something I don't know is an option or not with the brand you're considering, but most paint stores can match any color these days. You do not want to expose your precious baby (or yourselves) to any unnecessary fumes. We painted our nursery with the NO VOC paint from Sherwin Williams and have been very, very happy. We will never return to using stinky paint again, and these days, you don't have to. Good luck with your choices, and I echo the sentiment about not starting with the walls but other selections and let those dictate your direction.

What is your jumping off point for the nursery? It doesn't have to be as developed as a specific fabric or artwork necessarily, but a vision for the sort of feeling and space you want to create. Do you want a very soothing place, or fun and vibrant? Are you attracted to an ecclectic scheme, or something more matched?

My one caution about colours would is to be very careful about choosing colours that may look great in a dining room... I had a friend who painted her son's room a yellow/gold, and it always felt uncomfortable, and never felt like a nursery. (I'm sorry, but none of these colours feel "right" for a nursery to me either, although it is hard to say just seeing them over a monitor, and out of context)

Check out the pictures on www.kidsfactory.nl for inspiration; they have some great schemes! This is one of my faves with respect to how they use colour -- it is all in the fabrics and furniture, with pale walls

http://www.kidsfactory.nl/level/bk_mix_foto.htm

And the Dutch do orange like no one else! (actually, there was an awesome orange nursery a while ago on AT http://nursery.apartmenttherapy.com/nursery/nursery-tours/mini-nursery-tour-lucindas-california-dream-022847 )

A colour that we used and LOVE is a Donald Kaufman colour - DKC-45. Like all his colours, it is a full-spectrum paint, and changes according to light conditions and thus is hard to describe, but it is sort of a pale yellowish green. It is amazingly beautiful when painted on walls, and is simultaneously soothing and stimulating. We used DKC-58 (or was it 36?) for our daughter's nursery, which was quite soothing, and would also work for a boy's room.

I have seen a colour scheme where pale blue lavender (thistle) is on 2 walls, and pale orchid, a pink lavender, is on the 2 others...I have also seen pale blue/medium pink... both are lovely an unexpected.

We used black for one wall in my son's room, and white for the others. We have black shelves on the black wall, and his toys and books really *pop* against the black...this is the rug we have on the floor http://rompstore.com/html/items/potholder_rug.html#

Good Luck!

Check out the "Go to Your Room" group pool on Flickr for more ideas:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/kids_rooms/pool/

MamaChilanga -

Is this one yours??
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15376711@N00/976574135/in/pool-kids_rooms/

It's really stunning! On my monitor, the wall colour reads like a pale green...lovely combo! (and we have the same IKEA piece in my son's room... :-) )

Yep, that's our bedroom all right, which we share with our three-year old daughter.

We are thinking of going a little deeper/brighter with the walls. Current favorite is Benjamin Moore's Potpourri Green (if we can get a low-VOC blend).

BTW: That particular piece of furniture is from West Elm. Wish I had known about an IKEA version. (Is it the Lack shelf?) Certainly would have been cheaper ;-)

We painted one wall of my son's room that grass green color similar to the one you're considering. I'm glad we only went with one wall - I think the color would make the room seem smaller if it were on all four walls. It makes for a great accent!

Here's a picture of the wall, it's pretty true-to-life in the area right around the hanging picture frame. Look through the "Mason's room" set to see other views of the green wall.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/erins/520624387

I vote for green!

I like the idea of the aged mint on the ceiling and raffia on the walls, maybe even a deeper value of aged mint as an accent wall. But more than anything else, and I love to get all wrapped up in the paint aspect, DO choose your bedding first. You may find another color in the bedding that you really want to use, or decide you both love the more graphic designs, and see more of a reason to use a bright shade like the green. Bedding is a bigger commitment and costs more than the paint, so pick it first. Have fun!