Expert: Rebecca Bushner - 11/12/2006

Question
Hi Rebecca - I am giving myself a headache over what color to chose for our two story foyer.  We are having it professionally painted so I have to get it right!  I want it to be dramatic yet welcoming.  The foyer leads to a maroon dining room, carmel living room and custard yellow kitchen.  I am leaning towards a sage green or using the carmel from the living room.  The problem I have is that the runner on the stairs does not have sage green in it, more of a brown.  The runner is mainly navy blue and maroon.  There are also specs of carmel, mocha, and slate blue.  If you have any suggestions it would be great!  Thanks!

Answer
Hi Janet
Sounds like you are worrying too much about matching everything exactly!:) I like doing different colors in rooms but for entries and foyers, I like to go dramatic if possible. Sounds like you have the ideal space for that. Sage green sounds fine but I’d go for something rich and deep rather than pale especially if you have a lot of light in the foyer, but that’s up to you. Don’t worry that that carpet doesn’t have sage green in it.
A 2-story entry is a wonderful place to use a really interesting and rich color that sets the stage! The other suggestion would be to use something in the gold family, although you don’t mention whether the other room’s walls are visible from the foyer. If they ARE, a gold between your yellow kitchen and carmel-colored room might work with both colors and complement a blue-based maroon red dining area. Or if you can’t see the dining area, using the same maroon might work as well but that really depends on visibility and your taste. A mocha brown or espresso brown might also work, especially if you choose something that has some red in it and coordinates with the maroon dining walls; in fact, it’s probably better to pick a mocha brown that goes with the maroon rather than the carpet. But don’t get hung up on whether the carpet has all of the exact colors in it, they probably all meld together anyway so it’s probably difficult to tell exactly what colors are in it. I hope this helps.
Reb