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Color 101 Here’s what’s happening in your color consultation: When I apply sample colors in a home, I often paint a significant area with that color, and I take the color right up to the ceiling. If the ceiling color is undecided, I might paint a sample of a preferred ceiling color to abut the paint as well. In this way a client can ascertain what that particular color will look like in that particular space. Color work in houses is defined by particulars. You can't look at a swatch and say "I love that color, I want it in my bedroom!" Chances are that you'll buy your three gallons, paint the bedroom and be disappointed or horrified, because it's not the color you thought it was! A color on a tiny swatch and a surround of color on four walls with 360 degrees of light are two different things entirely. When you have two or more colors of similar value working close together, you begin to see Glow. Glow is what I most enjoy creating with color in a home. Glow can be created with any color, any shade, as long as you get the relativity right. It's a matter of putting together two or more colors which "talk well" with each other. The How of this is intangible, and particular to each place and person. Your colors are not her colors or my colors. A good color designer has to be able to translate from small to large-and-light-filled (even a dark room is light-filled compared to a paint swatch). For example, if a client shows me a yellow, I work on the walls with something closer on the swatches to a tan. See “Queen Anne Aerie” for an example of this. Believe it or not, perceptually that softer, grayer, tanner color will read on that wall like exactly the soft yellow the person was looking for. A little yellow goes a very long way. The same is true of all the colors. I rarely use the bright color section of swatch books. While there are wonderful exceptions, I find that most people want their home to be a restful and refreshing place, not a loud one. I believe that successful color is created with tones that the perception can meet halfway, as opposed to the kind of color that crowds, that screams "I am yellow!! I am red!!" Unfortunately, we in America are surrounded by that kind of color, on signs, on cars, on buildings, on TV. I'm trying to change that, house by house. I believe that successful color is created with tones that the perception can meet halfway, as opposed to the kind of color that crowds, that screams "I am yellow!! I am red!!" Unfortunately, we in America are surrounded by that kind of color, on signs, on cars, on buildings, on TV. I'm trying to change that, house by house. Another point to remember is that walls are there to be the background to your life. They are there to hold your artwork, your mementos, your tapestries, your curtains, your furniture. They are not the primary focus of a room; they should be created to bring out the life in the home's decor. Again, relativity. For this reason I generally prefer good color to decorative finishes like faux, glazing, suede, etc. These techniques have their place and can be appropriate in the right application (generally smaller spaces), but there's nothing more timeless than the right colors for YOU. A color consultation can be quick and immediate, or it can take several passes. The first colors I put up are a starting point. It's at that point that the client can say No! Lighter. Darker. Greener. Too bright. Too dull. Or, often, Yes! Then I hone in if necessary and repaint closer to the right tone and value. Simply, it just has to happen in place, in reality. Another aspect to this is the importance of allowing time to reflect on the colors, to let them surprise you. Sometimes clients will say No! Only to find, as the color settles for them, as the shock of "other-than-off-white" wears off, that it feels right. Sometimes they literally jump up and down, so happy does the right color make them! |
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