3 Yellow Paint Colors Later... Still Not Gold!

by Laura
(Grand Haven, MI)

Blank canvas walls 2 paints ago

Dining room walls before painting

My living room adjoins dining room

I painted my living room a brown color, "Peanut Butter" from the Home Depot, and I love it! In the photos, it kinda looks greenish, but in person it's not.

I put up draperies of browns and muted gold with gold sheers and scarf.

I love that room. But it adjoins the dining room, which I envisioned a beautiful golden "straw" color. Not yellow, and not green/gold. But 3 colors later... still not Gold.

I started with "Refreshing Mimosa", and finished with "Palomino Gold". It is okay during the day, but tonight it's somewhere between tangerine and peach, and it hurts me to look at it.

AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!! I don't want yellow that hurts my eyes. I don't want cream color that bores me to tears. I don't want lemons, and I don't want tangerines or peaches.

I want the color of straw or hay, a gold that's beautiful in the morning sun that shines into my dining room through the slider, but it still has to look good in artificial light (we have incandescent bulbs in the ceiling fan light fixture, and fluorescent light coming from the kitchen).

Help?

Reply from Paula Pavlik-Douglas (our contributing expert):

Hi Laura,

Golds/ yellows can be a little tricky. They can go from baby's room to school bus really fast.

I will add that the fluorescent lights give off a green light, so if a paint color looks good everywhere else and greenish where the fluorescent light is, that could be part of your problem.

Just the same, the incandescent bulbs bring out warm tones. And if there's a lot of greenery outside, it can also make a yellow look greenish when the outside light hits.

Also, what are you painting over? The current wall color can reflect an undertone and make it difficult to see the color of the sample.

So when you do a paint sample, do it on a poster board, so you won't have to fight the current wall color. This isn't as involved as I'm making it sound; it's just that yellow and gold are highly reflective, so it's natural to have to fuss a little to get the right color.

I'm not familiar with the paint color names you mentioned, so I'm not sure what manufacturer you tried, but here's a few suggestions - BM 297 Golden Honey:

...Squish-Squash 311 also from Benjamin Moore:

...and August Moon 7687 from Sherwin Williams:

Get the color chip from the respective paint stores and when you think you've found one you like, get the sample and fold the painted poster board into a corner to give you a better idea of the way the color reflects off itself.

My money's on August Moon; try that one first.