Hi barbara and robin,
Nice sunny 27 degrees today in Melbourne, but I will find time later to reply to you Barbara with a great ides for a tile alternative for your indoor pool! You will love it.
And once I tell you what it is you can jump online and order several colour samples to see it for yourself. Actually, there is a palette of neutral metallics and chocolates in there. I will need more time to write it all for you, but I'm out of that time it now.
Talk later. ahhh life on a farm,know I'd love that. I'm looking into a short farm stay for my 22 month old, she was out this morning with a mini wheelbarrow her dad had her littering in the veggie patch. Very sweet.

Hi Megan,
Well I'm not so far away from you as I'm about 160km west of Melbourne.
Before you go to too much trouble with thoughts of tiles, you do realise I'm talking walls???
We already have the flooring organized with possibly bullnose sandstone tiles around the edge and pebblemix between these tiles and the walls.
Regulations has it that the area around an indoor pool needs to be sloping towards the water and because the area of concrete is so small the slope was going to prove very difficult to lay tiles, so that's why we decided on pebblemix but I think it will still look good.
If your ideas were about the walls then I can't wait for what you have planned, as this area of the house is funnily enough, the most important to me to have looking positively amazing, given not too many farmers have indoor pools, I guess I want to make sure everyone thinks the finished result is stunning.
As for your daughter in the vegie patch, very cute, when my home is finished consider it a personal invitation to come and stay here for a weekend and I can take you and your family on a tour of the farm and our cattle and your daughter can scratch around in my vegie patch, perhaps even have a swim if she likes!!!

Barbara that is an extremely generous offer. Country hospitality now includes indoor pools? That sounds more like s resort. I would love to visit your beautiful farm, but sadly I feel my chit chat about colour possibilities does not deserve your hospitality, as much as that sounds lovely.
Luckily it was wall surfaces I was considering for your indoor pool, as I can imagine the options are either expensive, hideous, or labour intensive, and don't necessarily come with wow factor unless you have money to burn.
My suggestion is a product called METALINE by laminex. It is a sheet splash back material suitable for kitchens, and wet areas including shower recesses. It can be used as wall linings commercially like lifts etc. It is fire retardant, and DIY friendly. As it can be cut and installed on site, and can have power points or service holes cutout once even installed. Unlike glass which one toughened cannot be cut at all. It basically is a glass splash back alternative, lightweight so it can be fixed with a construction silicon based adhesive, and sheet sizes are 3500 x 1500, which means they will cover a wall area quickly without many cuts or joins. Currently there are a dozen or so colours, some with M,etallic properties so they reflect light and create ambience under different light so different looks by day to night. I designed the images you see on the webpage, for laminex brochures you can see it on the metaline brochure or the alfresco outdoor kitchen in black which I also designed. You can contact laminex online to find out where to buy, but cabinet makers can order on their accounts s you could visit a local kitchen manufacturer or joiner.
I hope this is a feasible option for you, it would certainly look high end, clean lines and impressive block colour, no one would outside commercial spaces would have seen this before, so your friends and family would surely be impressed.
I will write later on your paint colour once I have time to consider your floor plan.
Thanks again for your offer. Who knows, you may get a knock on your door someday.
Megan. :)

just a thought, Barbara. Seeing your pool comes in directly to your kitchen family area, I would consider using the msetsline as a splash back in your kitchen, firstly as it will tie in the two interiors making the pool feel more luxurious as an internal extension of your living space, and secondly because it keeps neutral colour to a minimum. My issue with all. Neutral schemes is that adding too many will only highlight the subtle tone differences making things start to look miss matched. Also asyour verandah is a wrap around,it will cast a different light over your standard height windows, so a vibrant white would be my pick, something like dulux lexicon. You ,entioned travertine look tiles, these are more permanent than paint, so I would put my colour sample on these to determine if one brings out any yellow in each other, infect pai t directly onto a tile, and youl see quickly if the colours fight each others tone. Pick paint based on these, and I love timber floors, if you have two different surfaces ie tile or floorboard, the transition can interior a rooms flow, so I would lean toward one option, being the travertine tile. Second to that coming out from the pool onto tile is more durable on the finish than say polished board. Thinking water even though there's a change room it may happen at a party say, over years could be an issue.
I also personally love Jasper. It's a warm colour, both brown and green, so sludge is close, but it's a great natural colour, you'll find the verandah posts will disappear into your horizon which I think is perfect with 360 degree bushland views, I'd die for those, you have them, and Jasper posts will literally be UN noticeable. This is great.
Having mentioned tile, bring in lots of honey toned timbers in tour interior, it will warm the space visually and psychologically, it will create a mood that is welcoming and warm, and is unpretentious in ' beige' spaces, which can feel formal and lack personality if there is no colour input.
I would like to see a photo of the tile, as I need to consider the stone beige frames before agreeing with a wall colour, and tile, all these might be close but with one looking yellow, another grey etc. I'd rather see them all and give my opinion based on that.
Thanks, Megan :)

Ok, Barbara. Jasper looks a lot to me on screen like earth, so for fear of upsetting you, I'd go with Jasper as your feature colour indoors. It would go nicely in a lounge tv wall, because it's rich tone would conceal the tc screen, and feel more ambient and moody. Also, with stone beige windows which are a noticeable colour, your wall needs to be stronger than these for them to minimize their impact. With light trims, the windows mit look dirty, so if the walls are darker, they will pop. I don't know harbourstone, do the same sample these colours earth, harbourstone and Jasper all against a window frame you'll see what I mean right away.
If you do go earth or Jasper as a feature say in your lounge and a metaline splash back in your kitchen and pool area, there's a colour called sophisticat which is so close it's incredible. Also argente perle is a nice light tone too.
Tis time I'm really signing out for the night.

WoW Megan, thanks for all the effort to assist me, most appreciated.
I am most interested in the laminex product in fact I looked at such a product many years ago, as an alternative to tiles in the bathroom but I simply couldnt agree to the plastic joiners that are usually associated with this type of product but perhaps the company has made some great changes.
All they really needed to do is make a pattern that when joined, became unnoticible to the eye as a tile line for instance.
Jasper indoors, YIKES!!!!! I had really only planned to possibly use the colour "earth" on the frame of the viewing window instead of black to draws ones eye to the view and apart from that, I wasn't going to use it anywhere else for now, I'm a bit plain aren't I !!!
That said, I'm not sure what colour I was going to paint all the window frames but I certainly understand what you're saying about making sure at least the colours I choose match against the tile and more importantly the windows too.
I was a little worried though, as I already have the tiles and the window colour is set and this window colour will be right up against the tiles, so I took the tile and placed it against both the window and then the veranda post and to my eye, there was no visible clash, in fact I felt like I could see jasper of all things in the dark flecks in the tile, oh I can't believe I even sublimly chose jasper in my beautiful tiles ha-ha
Well it might have to be jasper and not earth inside but I'll find out what the tints are in jasper, perhaps it wil still be, red yellow ochre and black!!!
I'm most interested in the idea of using the laminex on the splashback as there isn't much area but I had though glass initially.
As for jasper on the tv wall, the tv is in the corner and the main wall has an 8' fish tank set flush with the wall, so unfortunately the tv in relegated into a corner as there is the large window beside the tv opposite the tank, so no room for a dramatic colour ha-ha
I will thoroughly investigate the other colours you're suggesting when I'm next in town and I'll arm myself with a barage of swatches and sample pots!!!
I must be off for work but will talk again when I have time if I'm not in too late and I will go onto the laminex website and see what they have.
PS I have attached a pic of my tile
Cheers,
Barbara

Hi Barbara...thinking of....FLYZZZZ.... of course you would have considered all sorts of things but its getting bad nere so I mindlessly grabbed a Mortein automatic dispenser...had you ever considered the Mortein Nature Project ODOURLESS just by the back door? Just a thought.

Hi Megan,
I've looked at the metaline products and they look great, not sure of colours you have suggested, especially Sophisticat might be too dark in my pool room, especially if I choose to leave the pool black, it needs re-furbishing and we could in fact change the colour but if you think it wouldn't look too dark then I would be willing to give it a go.
This colour would definitely look great in the kitchen as it is so entirely neutral, I could even try it on the sides of the island bench too and the splashback if it wasn't too much.
I think I'll do a trip down to Cheltenham one day and actually look at the colours and take my tile too.
Interestingly, I did like the copper colour, probably wouldn't suit but I've always loved copper or brass.
Hubby is quite interested in this system as it's easy too.
I always envisaged using something like this but as I mentioned earlier, it's the old fashioned joiners that were used that turned me off.
Looking at the picture of my tile doesn't show the true colours very well, sufficed to say, I did think it blended perfectly with both stone beige and jasper, phheeewww!!!
Look forward to your return post.

Robin, I din't want you to feel I had forgotten you, as you have been a great inspiration to me as well as Megan.
I have again been super busy in the tractor being in our income earning time of the year.
Please accept my personal invitation to you too, to come and see my finished home, so that you can in fact dangle your feet in my pool as you envisaged when you thought of my bullnose tiles.
I will of course keep you informed about the next phase of the house project that Megan is helping me with, as you will have read in the earlier posts.
Off to bed as there is another day to be had in the tractor and this will go on at an alarming rate until about Christmas day!!!
Desperately need rain and there is talk of thunderstorms late tomorrow, one can only hope!!!
PS: So happy your brass plug hole is shiny!!!

Robin, you wouldn't believe I just pressed submit on my post to you, when I found your comment.
Yes I have such a device situated above the door as the midges and all other manner of bugs assemple in plague proportions around the outside light.
I also have the trusty tin of mortein if there's too many bugs arming themselves for the battle of Armageddon ha-ha
I really have tried it all and I do win but with my beloved cattle not far from the front door in a paddock, the flies gather over the you know what pads littered everywhere.

@midesign0401,
Hi Megan,
Have been awake almost half the night thinking about the Metaline, don't worry, it's a quirk I live with, can't switch the brain off allot of the time. ha-ha
Lucky it's raining here this morning as it means no tractor work and we can get some repairs done.
Anyway, just to throw my ideas into the mix.
I was visualizing my pool room and didn't like what I was seeing with the metaline right to the top of the walls as there won't be any cornice and it would look unfinished I feel.
I thought that I could live with a dark or bright colour, like your Sophisticat, if it were say, half way up the wall, much like dado with some sort of decorative finish along the top edge with plaster the rest of the way, which would continue up to the cathedral ceiling thus keeping the room open, light and bright still but more importantly, the metaline would have a distinct finish.
What do you think??

Hi Barbara,
The laminex you're thinking of is NOT THIS,! That was just wet area laminate for caravans etc, this is a glass splash back surface, but is acrylic, the other stuff is still around, with joiners but now a lot more commercial, aluminiums and PVC for feature, but this needs no joint strips, its a seamless product, and an aluminum backed sheet. I hope you order a sample or two you really need to touch it to know.
If you do go Jasper on that picture pane window, what it will do is introduce the colour outdoors, bringing the outdoors in, and framing the view. Sounds good to me. I didn't think the Jasper or earth would jar against your tiles either, darks on light wont highlight the subtle tones in a neutral, they will accent the dark if any, perhaps that's why you see the Jasper in them, thats actually good, means there's opportunity to tie in nicely.
I was more focused on the main walls against them, that's all don't go to weak there or the windows will scream out at you.
As for meat line splash back, it looks exactly like glass, only it's marketed for diyers and builders or joiners to do while installing the kitchen rather than wait the 10 day minimum lead time after kitchen installation. Be UAE it can be cut onsite, the cabinetmaker can now finish it all off in their install. Brilliant!
I wouldn't do it on the island sides, however the bareback panel is what we call the panel on the back,particularly nice as it usually ties the oven wall splash actin well, especially if it's enclosed by side panels on the island. Frame it in your cabinet white and it will be a smart sophisticated surface that will become a feature wall below bench height. the autumn perle is a nice light tone, if your worried about the darkness, in a large open plan room, these small areas of bold colour won't destroy your light feeling, rather Add interest to it is all. Don't be afraid of it, your palette being neutral can be the lightest all the way to the darkest or anything in between in the same tones, and work perfectly.
I'll hav emote later, nice tiles!!!

Hi Robyn, glad to see you still here, Isn't Barbara a cheeky bird talking about your shiny brass plughole hehhehe, sorry robin it made me laugh, I hardly polish mine lol sorry to take it their, especially with two ladies, I'm just a funny bugger, and had a chuckle to myself. Sorry, I'll head back up to the north standards next post, promise. :)

I like the idea of a metaline dado, why not, I've seen it finished off to ceiling without cornice,its very shaft, but with cathedral ceiling, perhaps your idea will actually come off better suited. I would consider using either a timber coping rail like a chair rail Above it, or even a tile coping like your bullnose, that way it seals off all the waterproof area with the same finishes, and then painted blue board (wet area plaster) above painted white of course!,,

@midesign0401,
Megan, great you agree, I'm flattered that my idea would appeal to you.
I like both ideas with the timber or tile coping but if I cannot talk hubby out of a timber floor directly outside the pool, then I'd go for the timber coping to tie it in a bit.
Hubby and I both love timber floors but I love my tiles so much and they are easier to lay than traditional timber flooring, as I hate floating floors, not real enough for me even though I know the top section is often real but I want completely real if I have wood.
Anyway, I would really much prefer the tiles, again it would look nice and modern, easy to clean and no change in flooring between the kitchen area and the rest of the room.
I wanted tiles in the kitchen as timber floors can require maintenence where regular work can remove the varnish and I really don't want to start sanding in my lifetime!!!!
Thanks again Megan for your super fast response and I will order some Metaline samples to look at.

Yes, be bold. If the natural light is there of course. Again, maybe only one wall and set it off with light wood furniture, a bit of colour, pictures, contrasting accessories. Already some good ideas mentioned here, we would love to see what you did in the end.

@midesign0401,
Further to my last correspondence, I noticed you suggested Autumn Perle in your last post but in a much earlier post, you said Argente perle, so I'll take it as a misprint as Autumn perle is gray and that colour will never make it into my home ha-ha.
I have samples of Argente Perle, Sophisticat and Bronze Metalic being posted, probably could never use the Bronze but do love it.
Am I correct you are suggesting the Argente perle for the kitchen cabinetry???
Didn't know what to do there also but if you think it will tie in nicely, then that's great, another problem colour sorted.
I have my paint shop mixing samples of Harbour Stone, Earth and Lexicon, although I understand that the last colour does have the slightest hint of gray but I'm assured more white than gray ha-ha.
I will paint up colour schemes on some plasterboard and place it in the relevant rooms to see what the light does with the colours but quite truthfully, I have never gone to such lengths to try colours matching but with all this professional help, I'm wanting to show due diligence to the task!!!
I may be able to get some sleep tonight with most of my problems solved!!!
Thank you Megan and Robin, your help will be forever appreciated.
People will come to my home and say what a beautiful colour scheme and I will be able to say, this colour is called Megan's theme and that one is Robin's choice ha-ha!!!!!
Wouldn't it be funny if I got a call from one of my visitors to say their paint shop doesn't have these colours in their lists!!!
I look forward to your reply, again!!!
Cheers,
Barbara

@midesign0401,
Hi Megan, just a note to say I have my metaline samples, really like the Argente Perle, the "pearl" shimmer is very classy and the Sophisticat is also a nice colour, much like Jasper actually, similar tone I think.
Also have my paint pots, Harbour Stone, Earth and Lexicon ready to paint up some samples.
Cheers,
Barbara

Interesting to see how they change your perception one they are seen in your light in a large area. To see the colour without influence, try not to judge them against a big white Area. I suggest paint into a corner and as big an area as you can manage.
I would buy a sheet of board and paintit wall white first, like plaster and then the colour, that wY this sheet can be painted over time again, for you to judge. Stand a tile on the bottom, and have a window frame within view if possible.
I'm glad you like the metaline. See how lightweight it is, but also a very stable product, no bend or ripple for you to worry about install. It's not at all that panelling you were thinking about is it? The sample yu have is the actual product thickness, just picture a sheet 3 1/2 mtrs long by 1 1/2 wide and this is that.
Good luck

Ohhh Barbara, a great trick is to get a arge cardboard box, maybe an appliance box, really as big as you can find. Paint the inside white so it resembles a room.
Then you can paint th excelling on the same plane as your roof, the walls on the same plane etc, t
Because you need to judge a ceiling colour on a ceiling plane, if you paint a wall swatch it won't look the same. This way you get to see both walls and ceiling as if they would appear together in miniature. Just a tip.

@midesign0401,
Hi Megan, Great idea about the box, never thought of that.
The paint shop actually gave me some white A4 size cardboard pieces that they offer customers to sample colours.
The girl suggested plaster is not a good sample plane unless it's been undercoated at least, or the colour will soak and you won't see a true representation but you would know that.
I do love the Metaline, but hubby didn't like it first off, although he's warming to it now knowing that it's as thick as it is, hence very stable, however, the peanut gallery, namely hubby and our daughter think I have too many things happening in the pool and I tend to agree, as I had sort of decided that I was going to have to go back to a tile only.
I have the sandstone bullnose tile around the edge of the pool, then pebble mix between it and the wall and I think I should continue the sandstone tile up the wall to tie it all in, rather than introducing a new colour and texture, I think it will look too busy.
However, I do intend to use the Metaline in the kitchen still and even though I said I didn't like the Autumn Perle, when the Laminex book came with the colours, I instantly liked it more than the Sophisticat, the colours looked so different on the wesite.
Now the daughter tells me that the Agente Perle is blue based, the Diamond Ice is pink based, Icicle Metalic is yellow based and the Regal Creme is brown based but the latter is too icky for me but given that I will have my kitchen made by a cabinet maker, I may have to see what sort of colours they have that would compliment the Autumn Perle, perhaps a simple white although I don't really like just white???
Ahhh the beauty of having time on my hands and nutting through all the options and suggestions you have been helping me with, makes for a pleasurable experience!!!

@ladyrob1,
Hi Robin,
Had to search through all my old posts to find you, you've been quiet of late what with no talk of black in a home ha-ha.
I have just today painted some samples of Harbourstone, Lexicon, Earth, Stucco and Castlegate.
The Harbourstone looks too pinkish to me but is much like Stucco in tone except it's not pinkish, which I have seen in a finished bedroom and it looked good but both these colours are too coloured for me, does that make sense???
Megan suggested Lexicon, a nice white for the roof but I want a wall colour that is just visibly coloured and not really heavilly coloured, it's hard for me to explain but I feel I would be closed in by so much colour, staring at me everywhere ha-ha
I need a cooler cream or even offwhite, not sure, although I have oodles of time to keep searching.
Actually like the Castlegate over Earth for the window frame, quite dark but it's only for the frame and wouldn't be anywhere else.
Just thought I'd keep in touch with you as both you and Megan have tried to help me enormously with my choices.

Hi Barbara!
I am not surprised at what Harbour Stone will look like in any room and in different places and at differenmt times of day or even the same times of day in different seasons...(when the light is different)...if that makes sense.
Harbour Stone is so close to having a perfect mix of the three primaries...even with the black..(.that is most probably itself a mix of the three primaries) that it is prone to absorb and reflect any colour rays in whatever proportion - thus it is the most 'chameleon-like' of any so-called neutral colour (there's no such thing) that I have ever encountered.
I'd be willing to wager that if you tried the sample in another room,. or on a different wall in the same room at a different time of day or even in a different season...your eyes would perceive it differently and your brain would even tell you that it is...maybe...too bluey or too yellow. or too green or mayb even lilac!!!
The colour will also be be perceived differently against a stronger colour on furnishings...and, having painted a room with it...it will reflect differently in different parts of the room and in proximity to objects of different colours as the light in the room changes.

Being a colour fanatic I love it because it can be any colour it 'chooses' to be.
Of course for a colour to react with the light around it, it needs to have a certain identity or amounts of the primary colours in it to give it its identity...and therefore needs at leat the minimum of...well...guts if you like.
For this reason I truly understand why it may be too dark for you - someone who tends to very quiet shades.
You know, once I found this colour I based every other colour in my home on it..(not that i have many painted surfaces) and I mixed all my own colours. Thus even though I have different colours around they are all related through Harbour Stone as their base, they all harmonise...and some of them have a good measure of white.
The best thing about this, for me is that even white, with Harbour Stone in it, will be a different white in different places and under different light...I just love the magic...but understand that not everyone can play with colours like I do.
If you are game enough...try adding a bright, bright white to Harbour Stone just to see what happens when you place the sample in the room you wanted to paint....it might surprise you!

I 'get it' that its...too coloured for you.....if I wanted a really pale, pale "neutral beige" hue, I'd venture to use Harbour Stone or one of the beige colours that Megan suggested as a tint colour in a brilliant white!

Be game! You know what you want. As soon as you see it you will know...As there's nothing in already mixed colours that seems quite right for what your mind's eye can envision....why not just try making a sample of the colour in your head?
If I were doing this in your situation, I'd actually mix the colour IN the room where I intended to use it.
Be aware too that colours change when they dry.... and I can never remember if they become darker or lighter when dry...so you'd have to experiment.
I wonder will you dare to try this?
Should you succeed, you will be the only person to have walls of that colour and the room/s.will be a continual source of pleasure and satisfaction and rest for you.

I BET that the "colourmen" in the paint manufacturing business and the decorators will probably think...and maybe tell you not to listen to me...I do not make sense to any of them as what I know is outside the accepted knowledge on colour and how it works. You can make up your own mind about me and my colour.....madness!

I've been off on a site called ETSY looking for a poison locket ring.....to contain my emergency medication. It no loger comes in the gelatinous capsules I've used for 20 or so years but in glass ampoles that pose the difficulty of taking up too much time to ...'get to' and administer. I need to find a way to have whatever I invent as a container for the life-saving liquid "at hand" and not on a chain...hence in a locket ring.
In short...what happened to Joan Rivers the media personality, could happen to me. In the event of a throat spasm I have four minutes to get the medication down my throat or I pass out from oxygen deprivation....have a heart attack and.....bye bye.
Doctors do not know what to do with me or for me...so I've had to be creative with what they give me.
In shopping for a solution I found a wonderful creamer jug with a lid from the 1940s...Nippon made and absolutely delightful...to use for a milk jug. I get milk fresh from the cows so needed a nice jug.
As for painting things BLACK...which again is not a colour but CAN contain all three primaries in measured amount to become something amazing... I have been playing with Black Japan lacquer and I love it....the light reflects and refracts through the layers...again magic.
I've also been on the hunt for something to cover the VJ boards arpound my bath above an area of pressed metal...and have found a waterproof, 3D wallpaper ( vinol actually...washable and paintable) that is much the same pattern as the pressed metal already in place...all there remains to do is to extend thus up the wall. I'm CHUFFED!
I had such a hard time with the supplier..advertising on HOUZZ but not supplying details of where to order a sample...then wanting $40 for the sample!
Of course I mouthed off in my frustration...and maybe Houzz will delete something I wrote..haha...but I got what I wanted...SATiSFIED!
The following applies not only to pant colours and medecine containers but to all things - Being so definite about what you want...be creative and inventive and make what you need to do the job you want.
That;s how many of the farming tools and implements came about...the farmer needed a tool to do.....It didn't exist...so he invented the things he needed......like wire strainers and pliers and post hole diggers....etc.Nothing has changed. Human beings still have all the answers for themselves inside their own creativity.

Ladyrob1,
Hi Robin,
Thanks for your response, you are so informed about colours but it's something that's quite foreign to me.
I simply want neutral coloured walls and Harbour Stone isn't neutral enough for me but it is in fact very much like Stucco, which I saw in a bedroom and quite liked it but now all these colours look very strong to me and they just aren't working.
Actually Megan's white, Lexicon, has a blue hue and that bothers me a bit too, as I want a white that isn't blue, yellow, green or red but perhaps even white will still have some sort of hue to one of these colours.
I think I mentioned sometime ago that my daughter used Hog Bristle in her home and it looks yellow to me and yet it's in the brown tones and brown is what I like, I'm quite confused really.
I'm a bit boring wanting a nice white ceiling and walls that don't say much at all and I'm sure I'll achieve that eventually.
I do love colours but just not looking at me in my home, even though I have plenty of natural light and could afford a stronger colour, I know in my mind I can see the colour I want but not in a colour swatch.
I must keep looking.
Thanks again, Robin,
Cheers, Barbara

hi Barbara, I will look into something a little warmer for your ceiling and a true tint for your walls. I suggested lexicon for your ceiling not walls, but that was before I saw you plan with a wrap around verandah, because you will only get indirect sunlight it might look slightly shadowed and not warm for you. I will have a good think, and get back to you.

Hi Barbara, You have a very definite colour in your mind's eye and I understand that absolutely. Its not often that I find a colour swatch that is exactly what I see in my head....nearly always think .."if there were a colour between that one and that one it would be just perfect".
I wasn't trying to dazzle you with colour knowledge but rather give you an "out" so you could have exactly what you want...but completely understand your reluctance, you are not the only person in the world who is hesitant with colour use especially in your home. Do you think that you would consider a textured surface on one or two walls? That could dissipate the colour and give the illusion of lighter and darker and not ..."stare" at you so much.
I honestly do not know what to suggest as I am not "up" with what hues are available on the market these days.
I am sure that Megan will have more ideas up her sleeve.
I think, personally, that the paint industry, in trying to satisfy everyone's taste has gone overboard with variety and this has lead to confusion...at least that is how I feel when confronted with all the millions of swatches.
My way out of the dilemma...mixing my own, is not for everybody and I absolutely hate it when what I think should be the most exciting part of making a home becomes an ordeal.. Megan, just to unconfuse you...as you've found out...there are different shades of white..all have some hue in them. Maybe an idea...maybe not...but if you cannot resolve your problem with light neutrals on your walls...why not select an overall pale colour or two (one for the ceiling that you think you can cope with_) and paint an entire room with it, then leave it for a while and don't go there looking at it...then return, say after a week (when your mind's eye has forgotten the colour), and then see what it looks like.

Painting oneself blind
There's a method used by Artists when they've laboured too long on a painting....and, as we say...have " painted themselves blind". They put it in a room face to the wall and son't look at it for a month. At the end of that time the painting they felt they could not resolve either jumped out at them as a really good job or all the bits to fix became glaringly obvious.
I sincerely wish you all the best in your colour dilemma.

Ladyrob1,
Thank you once again for your advice and insight.
How easy it would be for me if you and Megan lived not far from me ha-ha
Well actually Megan doesn't live that far away!!!
Anyway, I will live with whatever white that ends up going with my wall colour and my daughter's eye is plenty good enough for that.
I really do understand that every colour must have a hue but I naively thought, white would be simply white.
As for the wall colours, I have started looking at the Dulux range again and only because I like their matchup system, for example, if I choose a colour, 3 or 4 other colours come up as a contrast which helps me determine the tint, when a matchup up colour is red or yellow or brown for instance.
As soon as I see a brown matchup, my eyes light up but there aren't allot of these matchups.
I am starting to understand myself a bit more in this whole process, now realizing that I want a colour that isn't a colour, a colour so light that it's almost benign of colour.
I didn't realise that I felt quite so strongly about it till I noticed even the colour Stucco that I did like looked way to dark for me now.
There is a colour in the Dulux range called Abbey White that I'll look at for the ceilings although not ruling out Megans Lexicon and for the walls a colour called Breadcrumb at 1/4 strength.
I'll then compare these two colours to other brand paints to see if I can find that in-between that you are quite right I seem to be looking for, almost to the point of thinking there is no such colour that will satisfy me!!!
Ahhh yes, perhaps I've "painted myself blind" with colour swatches!!!

My home has many large windows in every room, hence not allot of big open walls spaces and I've always been concerned that a darker or more prominent colour will look like a road map travelling around all these shapes, that's why I feel I need a muted colour.
I fully intended to have a feature wall behind our bed but with a window either side, again I would have this roadmap, so I have decided against it for this reason.
I can though, paint a feature wall in the other two bedrooms so I will endeavour to surprise myself and my good friends, with that idea and have some fun, maybe???

@midesign0401,
Hi Megan, thankyou for your help, you will see I have mentioned a few new colours in my post to Robin above, what do you think???
I have to say, for some reason, brown seems to be the colour that excites me and I don't mean dark brown but colours within that colour range, as I don't seem to like colours that talk green, yellow or red hues as these colours won't find it into my home.
Love them for clothing including tangerine, lime, and all the colours you could think of but just not in my home.
In my previous family home, built in the early 90's, we all chose a colour that we liked personally, so my room was entirely pink, my mums was mauve and my sons was army green with the lounge kitchen dining, blue with grey trim doors, architraves and skirts and we all loved it then but I think that's why I'm so coloured out now.
It dated the home and very much limited us to introducing any other colours but it worked back then.
Anyway, I look forward to your thoughts, I must be off, have to drive a tractor for the rest of the day.
Cheers, Barbara

@ barbara... " The only colour I like is brown" ! ?????
What colour is BROWN?
This is a colour that is only a few steps away from BLACK...and black is either.....
"The compounding of all colour"...or..according to traditional/acceptable colour texts.."the absence of all colour"....meaning that the colours that have been mixed together to make it are no longer visible or have been mixed into "mud" and annihilated or killed....or it could be the only true black that is ground from burnt timber and that is Lamp Black...and it is a dead hue and is transparent...so even void of 'soul"....that's philosophy and that is what BLACK is...so BROWN is something on its way to BLACK.

WHY did I write that?
There's method in my madness.

BROWN can be many shades.
If one follows the logical progression of colours and how they combine in Nature, there are three basic kinds of BROWN.
1. That deriving from an admixture of the complementary colours Blue and Orange.
2. That deriving from the admixture of Red and Green.
3. That deriving from the admixture of Yellow and Violet.
These are true natural browns and can be found and are visible in Natiure in all living plants and flowers and trees and bird plumages.
The insects are attracted by the different colours and by the different BROWNS coming from the coloiurs they prefer..
So it must follow that all other living creatures must also be instinctively attracted by a certain combination of colours.
I am finding your issues with neutrals and brown to be rather intriguing.

Barbara...try this little exercise for yourself...since you say you are understanding yourself...and that is never a useless pursuit even if your aim is to find a colour to paint your walls.
You say you are happy when the pale colour you have chosen has a complementary colour in BROWN.
Try this in reverse. Start with a BROWN swatch that you like.
Ask the paint mixer fellow what colours he puts in to make that BROWN and what is the base colour he begins with.
You will then have a clue as to the..."hue of pale" you want on your walls...

You might find a pale colour or "the neutral" containing one or two of the hues used to tint the BROWN you like....and thus you have a good chance of finding the pale colour...that is almost bereft of colour.....
I've not heard that before...but it MIGHT be a way of finding your perfect..."colour that is not a colour"...that only has the elements in it that relate to...the BROWN you like...as you only like BROWN.

This has proven to be extremely interesting to me.
If I were still teaching art and colour it would be an exercise in colour perception that I would set my students.
I would never have thought of it had I not been 'speaking' to you.
Interesting as an exercise, and moreso as a study in the psychology of colour!
It would be very intriguing to have you undertake the Leuscher Test on colour...but that's a really in depth study and not at all necessary....just an intriguing thought\ on my part. The BROWN exercise might interest you...and on the other hand...it may be too much of a bother at this stage...
Was trying to help you help yourself,,,its all down to you it seems and how you see colour. I don't think I could assist your choice even if I was there. I'd do the same as I am doing now...I don't think you need my eyes...or anyone else's to do this.
Believe in yourself and you'll not make a mistake.....and if you do?

Ladyrob1,
Hi Robin,
Yes I'm a bit of a concern aren't I ha-ha
If you ever watched Fast forward or something similar years ago and knew of the character, Col, who was asked if the company he was working for, was a large concern, you and I knowing the question meant, was the company big but Col's answer was "yes" it was a bit of a concern", no relevance here just having a joke!!!
Anyway, I'm 57 and building my second home, my last, but this one unlike the first, is mine and I decide everything but don't tell hubby ha-ha
If you could photograph what I see in my head for style and colour, that would be so simple, as I can see what I want as clear as day is light.
You are quite right that there are too many colours out there for people like me and too much choice ends up being unfathamable, too hard, can't be done and that's why I'm trying to stick to what I already know I like and not waiver from it.
When I walk into my home when it's finished, I don't want the walls to jump out at me each with their own story, saying "look at MY colour" like a child trying to get your attention over a sibling.....I want to have to look for the walls.....does that make sense???
I guess put simply, that still means that I want very little colour, nothing wrong with that but at least now, I know just how important it is to me, when the choice is upon me.
Still so much to consider, as to whether we have timber floors or tiles.
If I have timber floors, do I stain the skirts and doors or is that to much wood, so do I paint the skirts and doors???
Then if I have tiles instead, do I stain the skirts and doors to add contrast??
I will also go off my daughter's ideas but at the end of the day, I want to get it right, for me first and foremost but still right so that if an interior designer came to my home that they could say, "you made the right choice"
You may ask, "why is this important to me" and I'll tell you honestly, I don't really know, I just do know, I want it to be right but NOT just for me.
I think decorating this home, is like putting my soul out for all to see, my innermost thoughts and feeling on display in the nicest way that is.
Is that a strange deduction???
Anyway, thank you for trying to help me, it is most appreciated and I will keep you informed of my progress.

Hi Barbara....I understood that and was trying to help you puy your focus into practise. In the end the decision is all yours. That is the same principle I apply to my art teaching. Nobody has to paint like me, everybody has to paint like themselves. many do not know how to do that or even how to find themselves...I am there to help them do and find that.
I do not agree with what you wrote - ".....but still right so that if an interior designer came to my home they could say "you made the right choice". To me that's a contradiction and it won't work, not for you and not for that fictitious interior designer who knows what is 'right'. There's no such thing! Interior designers are people who can co-ordinate colours, textures and shapes and position furnishings, and who understand form and balance etc, etc...and there are many choices....Interior designers come in all kinds and are of all persuasions and design leanings....The one to declare that "you made the right choice" I believe would be the one trying to please you, the one trying to get you to hire them to tell you what to do and what "is right". Our friend Megan is not that person and neither am I...besides I am an artist and a colour scientist not an interior designer.
From my experiences with Megan...she tries to understand what it is you like and to help you achieve that offering suggestions and colours etc...the choice is always yours.
I am hopeless in arranging a house, and being limited by what I have to spend does not make it easy, Megan has understood this and has been very helpful with ideas and options...and whether or not it is right or the right choice remains for me to decide. If I like the final result...then its the right choice.
In 2006 I decided to turn my house into a more conventional space to make it appealing to the general buyer...but I ended up needing to stay here.
I spent the rest of the years turning it back to "MY home"...how it felt right for me, how I wanted it to be so I could feel at home.
SO Dear Barbara...the only concern you need have is...do you like it?!
My suggestions have been all directed towards helplng you find what pleases you and helping you to find the colours YOU like...and offering strategies that may assist you to discern "YOUR" colours. That's the only "right choice" where your home is concerned...it has to be a reflection of you...as you said...."this one is mine." and having achieved that will be "the right choice". You have experienced what makes your soul sing when you see it. I believe that this is the only guide you can really trust to produce 'your place'.
Yes please let me know when you find the magic combination!

@Ladyrob1,
Hi Robin, yes you are quite right my home has to be my home.
Don't exactly know what I was thinking when I said I would like a designer to like my choices, it seem so shallow now that I think about it.
Again you're right that Megan has the ability it seems, to morf into whoever she needs to be to help each person with their individual needs, a very precious talent for sure.
Trying to help someone other than yourself with a vision that only you have yourself, I don't know how she does it but she seems to have the ability to do it well.
Don't underestimate yourself when speaking of such a person like Megan, as you too have gone out of your way morfing for a friend to try to help me choose, no colour, so funny isn't it, when you are so full of colour, again a very special talent showing selflessnes.
Interesting how you changed your home to suit others but it was nothing like you wanted for yourself.
Apart from the silly comment about others liking my home, I do believe in everthing else I said.
You are a very special friend helping me and I do so appreciate it and I will find my colours, or lack of ha-ha
I'm certain Megan will come to the rescue even though I'm not leaving it all to her as you said, it has to be what I like too, so I'll continue my search as will Megan and between us, we will succeed.
Again thank you and please keep in touch if you'd like, I could provide you with my personal email and we can talk off this forum.
Cheers, Barbara

Good Morning Barbara,
I have been dreaming colours and houses " all night" so they say! Home-making is an obsession for me too. I've realised that everything that surrounds me is...well...BROWN...as in natural timber. I could not resist looking up what Lusher in his psychological Colour Test has to say about the brown-colour of the swatch that he uses in his visual colour test....using certain specifically mixed colours to acertain a person's psyche.
The brown-coloiur used is described as "a darkened yellow-red" so it is a TAN and not a chocolate colour.
According to Lusher, this indicates "hearth" - home and a place where one can relax and feel secure and enjoy the creature comforts, it indicates "roots" and the desire toe establish oneself in familial security, it indicates the need for physical ease and contentment of the senses and to obtain a safe environment. That fits a sense of "home", the place where you can be yourself and express yourself and feel at ease.
Seems to me you are being very true to yourself if we are to give credence to Lusher's meaning of BROWN.

So BROWN it is for you...the hue that appeals to you...and every derivation of it that hits you in your middle!
I think all you need to do is please yourself....start with a brown colour you really love and then find all the pale colours that are suggested as partner colours for your brown.
It will be so right when you have finished...right for you, an expression of you and when that is ever achieved anyone looking on, even a professional designer, has to admit that it 'feels' right....because it does. Maybe with the soul of the house settled you might surprise yourself and find you want a splash of colour here and there,in either soft furnishings or ornamentation or in small details.
Just as something interesting. I have an artist friend who built her house herself. On the floor of the loo she painted a perspective of buildings as if she was sitting on the ground looking up at all the skyscrapers. It feels like stepping into a void and falling up! Very unnusual feeling.. eerie.like flying....but she loves it!
Good Luck Barbara and enjoy the journey to your "hearth".!

@ barbara
I have been looking at a site featuring textured wallpapers...beautiful ! I'm drooling !
I came across a picture of a beautiful hallway/lobby featuring one of the wallpaper designs...but immediately I thought of you and your...brown...and you colour that isn't a colour. I am going to post this photograph for you. Let me know what effect it has on you..OK? I'll be very interested. Darn!...I can't find where I filed it...but when I do.....

Oh ladyrob. You might be referring to anaglypta or lincrusta paper which is embossed to imitate metal press patterns. I did this on my ceiling in my Victorian and the real estate thought it was original. Ha!
It's Soooo beautiful. I had just sold ten rolls of it on gumtree for a bargain too.
I'm wondering if this is it? It can be used in bathrooms if it's painted with an enamel based low sheen or gloss paint too. Ie your bathroom walls?

Yes..this is it! Lincrusta! OH Rats! Had I known I could have bought it from you!
I'm so in love with this product! Trying to match the pressed matal around my bath tub that extends aboiut 3ft or 1m up the T&G wall behing the bath.
Now I have my flash vintage 8inch diamter shower rose, the wall gets just a little wet. I don't want to paint the wall or stain it...I want pressed metal...paper!

Found a pattern in one range that almost matched but could not get any sense out of the retailer...so another Houzzer suggested Lincrusta...there I found a picture of an Edwardian entrance featuring a wallpaper in a design that did not match the pressed metal on my bath but...it went perfectly with the leadlight design on the glass around the front door and that in the door.....in the photographed room...and that leadlight design was exactly the same as the pressed metal design around my bath!
So I found my pressed metal wallpaper and I am going to get it...even if I have to give up ice cream and chocolate!

Whilst browsing the wallpapers I came across a photo of a beautiful classical room all in whites and creams from ceiling to floor( featuring a wall of Lincrusta of course)...but the room reminded me so much of what Barbara has been expressing.
The dark wood chairs were all upholstered in pale, pale, palest cream. I was sure I was seeing Barbara all over it and wanted to send her the picture. I snavelled it...so I thought...have some software that does that...but I lost it.
I will come across it again though. It will be interesting to see what Barbara's reaction is to that photograph. Now I'm going to watch my soapie!

I would've given to you, no sense now, but it's a great product. I know that image you saw, I have it. Next I'm on my desktop I'll post it. Enjoy your soapie! Nighty night

Ladyrob1,
Hi Robin, not long in from tractor driving, started at 10 am and got home at 9.15pm.
Thank goodness finally, you know who I might be thanks to Lusher, I love the man??
Everything you said is everything I feel and know of myself, so I'm proudly BROWN ha-ha
I must be off to bed as we have a 4am start for a specialist appointment in Melbourne and then back home and on the tractors again, busy busy busy!!!
Will talk more soon.
Cheers, Barbara

There is some interesting use of black walls in this interview with a blogger - https://www.houzz.com.au/magazine/at-home-with-eva-burgess-from-build-house-home-blog-stsetivw-vs~33831113

Barbara- how about quarter strength antique white usa- dulux

@urj123,
I will get a sample and have a look, do you mean for the walls???
Do you know what the tint is??
I tried Lexicon some months back but it has a blue tint which is supposed to be cool and I want a warm colour.
Thankyou for your thoughts.
Cheers,
Barbara

H Barbara
antique white USA is warm
I was told that 1/4 strength antique white USA goes with all colours - a lot of designers use it
I looked through a lot of magazines to find this out
people have used 1/4 strength low sheen on walls. 1/4 flat on ceiling, 1/4 strength gloss on timber work
here is a link of the colour
http://thedesignfiles.net/2014/08/melbourne-home-mikayla-rose-and-family-2/

also Zinsser have an off the shelf white in eggshell finish which is quite nice I painted my kitchen walls & ceiling in it.
I am tossing up now whether to go for this or the 1/4 strength antique white usa in the rest of the house.
http://www.paintaccess.com.au/collections/zinsser-products/products/zinsser-perma-white-eggshell-mould-mildew-proof-interior-finish-paint-3-7l
you can get this in 10 litres

1st link paint was 1/4 strength Dulux antique white / this may be whiter that 1/4 strength Dulux antique white USA

Yes. Black wall looks nice as long as you also mix and match it with other colors like white. I also think that canvas photos would look great on the wall. Here are some of my personal favorites from http://www.bedworks.com.au/382-canvas-paintings

@urj123,
Gosh, so many colours have had a full inspection since commenting in this forum.
I managed to get some sample swatches today of both Antique White USA and Limed White.
The Antique White is quite creamy in the sample, perhaps not quite white enough, I think Natural White is a bit whiter but I will have another look in the daylight, anyway the Limed White seems very grey to me, so it's not working for me.
I can't believe after downing Hog Bristle in my earlier post, that it in fact does seems to be the right colour match (1/4 strength) to my tile, perhaps better so than Light Rice 1/4 strength, as it's a bit pinkish.
Thank you anyway for helping, I appreciate your thoughts!!

did you get 1/4 strength antique white usa?

@urj123,
Cricky!!! I knew you were going to ask that, after I looked at the sample I had that was full strength ha-ha.....AND I re-read you post and you wrote quite clearly 1/4 strength!!!
I will return to the store, AGAIN, ha-ha and ask for 1/4 strength.
All jokes aside, I think 1/4 will probably be real nice, as I didn't dislike the full strength but too creamy for the ceiling.
My daughter actually painted all her ceilings the same colour as her walls with Hog Bristle but all the experts seem to say that a ceiling should be white or at least traditionally its always been white and I like the look of that too.
I won't be back in town until next week but I'll keep in touch when I have the sample in my hand.
Hubby and I are hay contractors and are at our most busy time being in tractors for many long hours but we are nearing the end and then I can take a breath and turn my focus back onto the home.
Actually have 80mtrs of edging or capping tiles around the veranda to do and then the same amount of concreting to do on the 1.8m wide veranda and then we can get the colourbond roof on the house and during the cooler months, we can start to lay the limestone bricks, so there's plenty to do on the home!!!
I have photo's attached in an earlier post.
Best get to bed, more hay baling to do tomorrow.
Cheers,
Barbara

@urj123,
Went to the paint shop yesterday and to my dipleasure, no take home swatch for 1/4 strength Antique white USA.
Shop owner said Antique White is so light, there's not much difference to full strength versus 1/4 strength but I could hardly see that.
Been on the on the Dulux website and also no 1/4 strength but when I click on 1/4 Hog Bristle which I might use on the walls, related colour combinations bring up Antique White USA but not 1/2 or 1/4 strength, so the two colours do sort of go together, might get a sample pot.
Just keeping you in the loop.
Cheers,
Barbara

Mensa card holder here ....and I just can't deal,$:// is too deep

Hi Sharon,

Bet you'll think long and hard about asking another question. I spent the whole of last night trying to digest what was bantered about in this forum. I have come to the conclusion that some people have way to much time on their hands, on the other hand I was glad for (1) the information I gathered ( thank you ladies) and the english lesson all tied up in a neat little bow. I would just like to say that if we are to gleam anything from this wonderful forum I would prefer to have it condenced for us mere mortals, by the time I got to the end I had forgotten what the question was. Now for my two cents worth ??????? O yes the famous black walls I would have a feature wall as the lady said black absorbs light and heat, why do you think we wear light coloured clothes in the summer.Also include black in your furnishings & I feel you will have a very attractive space. When you sit down in your happy place you can rest in the knowledge that you surely have the most famous (black and white) room in the kingdom. While it has been a joy to follow these meanderings I must get myself to the shower and start my day.

kindest regards,

Miriam.