Paint colour help - something to go with gardenia

[ardamo]

Hi, I'm new but read lots of your threads on here and hope you can help!!

Our new house has all the woodwork in Gardenia and now we need something neutral to go through some of the rooms with (main bedroom, spare room, hallway etc) until we decide on actual colours/styles etc. A lot of the rooms are fresh plaster or old very gaudy bright colours so something neutral that looks good will get us moved in and mean we don't have to rush to choose a look for each room.

If I was had white woodwork I would have been boring and done gardenia or magnolia walls. However I'm at a loss as to what to put with the gardenia woodwork?

Decorator starts on Tuesday so feeling the pressure a bit.....

Thanks in advance :)

Why colour is gardenia?

It is a cream/off white colour not dissimilar to magnolia I guess - here dulux.trade-decorating.co.uk/servlet/ColourAvailabilityHandler?name=gardenia

To be honest, I think you're a bit unlucky to have inherited this. These "neutrals" just aren't what I would consider neutral, because they only go with certain colours. As far as I'm concerned, neutral for woodwork is either white, or possibly white. I know, I know... There are whites and there are whites, but most things people describe as "off-white" are definitely not white, and neither magnolia or gardenia are anywhere close.

If I were in your situation, and I was getting someone in to paint a load of rooms, I'd prioritise repointing the woodwork, even if it meant leaving some of the less offensive walls as they were to save money.

Sorry if that's totally unhelpful

I think you should either paint the woodwork white, or as it's only temporary, pick a neutral you like and ignore the woodwork. Nothing currently in vogue will work well with it.

I think greens and certain blues can go well will gardenia. Other colours - reds, yellows and greys will clash.