Not So Mellow Yellow

I moved into my apartment late last summer, and my landlord painted the bedroom, living room, and bathroom the colors I requested before I moved in. I wanted to wait on the kitchen to see what color it "wanted" to be. The cabinets are white, and my counter top and back splash are white ceramic tiles with a few blue denim tiles scattered randomly. My mother's kitchen was always yellow, so I decided my kitchen wanted to be yellow too.

I love yellow...whenever I answer one of those chain emails that tells you what color you are, I'm always yellow. Sunflowers, lemons, cute little baby chicks - how can yellow be wrong? So I'm thinking...


and this is how yellow can go wrong...


Yep, that's my mom's kitchen, circa 1970, minus the weird pattern on the soffitt and ceiling. I've reached age where retro doesn't necessarily appeal to me; it serves as a shocking reminder of how many fads I've lived through that are suddenly hip again.


This one isn't so bad, but factoring in the blazing Key West sunlight that bathes my kitchen every afternoon, it's safe to say I'd be ordering more takeout than my budget allows.

So, off to the Internet for inspiration of yellow palettes that evoke the sunny warmth of yellow that I love without making my eyeballs ache. Something between a baby chick and Big Bird.

Yellow was last year's Pantone Color of the Year, so how does it look paired with this year's darling, Turquoise?


Not very inspiring


Not very uplifting


On the right track


That's more like it. It's a bridal palette, but I can work with that.





These combinations are much quieter than I had envisioned, but very beautiful. Uplifting without making me feel like I'm walking into a pep rally every time I enter the kitchen.

Then I thought about sunflowers. There are so many beautiful and exotic flowers in Key West, yet I find myself missing the sunflower.


So I went in search of bolder palettes and found...





So somewhere between the sublime and the ridiculous, between quiet sophistication and retina-searing garishness my little kitchen will decide what it wants to be. Is there a room in your home that suffers from color schizophrenia?