For a sensational home–add color![color for your home]
Meet the Color Mavens
Kate Smith
"As a professional color expert, trend forecaster, engaging speaker and founder of the Sensational Color network, I work with both corporations and individual clients on using color to create interest "
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Bonnie Krims
"Bonnie Krims, a nationally recognized architectural paint color consultant, is adept at developing paint color schemes that not only reflect the needs of the client, but also highlight the important design features of their home. "
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Ellen Kennon
"With colors from her signature collection of Full Spectrum Paints and over 25 years of experience as an interior design Ellen creates environments that are often described as magical or healing while "
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Jaima Brown
"“Surround yourself with beauty” is Jaima Browns mantra and her eye for color and design is beautifully reflected in her signature line Jaima Brown Home
Her design expertise combined wit"
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Denise Turner
"As an American Society of Interior Design national spokesperson, Denise regularly appears in the media and you may even recognize her as a winning designer on HGTV Designer’s Challenge. However "
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Barbara Jacobs
"Barbara is a gifted designer with a keen understanding of using color in a functional as well as aesthetic way, which is essential for creating supportive spaces. A designer, consultant and specialist"
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This Thursday I’ll be speaking at Apartment Therapy Offline and the theme is Color @ Home: Problems and Solutions. I’ll be joined by two other designers and AT founder Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan.
So if you’ll be in NYC this 
Thursday, October 2, 2008 6:30 PM I’d enjoy having you come to the event. It will be fun and best of all it’s FREE!
The event is listed on NY Design Meetup.
DWR SoHo (new location)
110 Greene St. New York, NY 10014
I hope to see you there!
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I really like the way the colors work in this room. I recommended this palette from Sherwin Willaims today to Rebecca in response to the picture she posted on RoomVues. She said she wanted to find a way to make her studio apartment seem more “grown up” and I think that this color palette would be a great place to start.
The color scheme includes:
SW 6400 Lucent Yellow for the walls
SW 6399 Chamomile for the trim
SW 6163 Grassland for the ceiling
Besides just having a color scheme that works this room shows several things that can be used to make a space appear larger:
- The neutral scheme with hues that blend beautifully in a low contrast palette.
- Careful placement of the black to move the eye around the room.
- Smooth rather than rough textured fabrics and surfaces.
- The mirrored coffee table “disappears” rather than stopping your eye.
- They also used a fine black pinstripe on the molding that draws the eye up and around the space.
Picture from House Beautiful
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Today seems to be my day for green. I just took a few minutes to post a couple of recommendations in the Makeover Gallery at Roomvues and in two cases was replacing green and in one case recommending it.
I recommend Ellen Kennon Full Spectrum paint Edgewood Green for this great room that I thought would look even greater in green. Below is an spectacular stairway painted in this color.
I also thought that this dining room in icy green would be so much lovelier in a palette of sophisticated neutrals and suggested a few flattering new colors for a currently green powder room.
Check it out and add your own suggestions…
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15th Sep. '08 ·
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Authored by Kate Smith
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I love Jaima’s latest collection of striped wallpaper. Some are bold and colorful others are soft and subtle but they all radiate style and elegance.
Whether your lifestyle is casual or formal you can stripe it rich with the latest collection from Jaima Brown Home.
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Quality and good for the enviroment aside isn’t there something appealing about a paint can with a label that communicates fresh and clean?
This is the label of ELEMENTS Zero VOC paints being released today by California Paints and touted as a “superior product (that)…solves nagging quality problems facing most “Green” paints.
The ELEMENTS interior paint line includes a primer, a ceiling white and three interior finishes. All ELEMENTS finishes are GREEN WISE certified to meet stringent environmentally responsible standards.
Children’s Hospital Boston will be one of ELEMENTS’ first users in the market. California Paints is donating paint for the hospital’s House at 241 Kent Street project, a Victorian mansion renovation in Brookline, Mass. that will provide a peaceful home-away-from-home for families whose children need long-term medical care.
Learn more at the California Paints website…
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Reader’s color dilemma:
I want to do my daughters room with a beach tropical theme. i would like ideas for the paint color for the walls. Thanks Kathy
Kate suggests:
When thinking of tropical colors luscious and relaxing colors come to mind. I am always drawn to the blues and greens of the sea surrounding islands or the shores of exotic destinations. But colors of tropical blossoms or the lush green of foilage can also be used to create the look.
Palm tree, beach or nautical prints could be incorporated but I recommend keeping these obvious elements to a minimum and using furniture, fabric, textures and accessories that are instead simply suggestive of the theme will keep the room from looking cliché. (more…)
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Sometimes color calls out to me and that was certainly the case yesterday.
I had a short time to spare in an area of Maryland that I don’t get to very often and certainly don’t know well so was driving along on the main road that runs parallel to the bay when without even giving it but a split second thought I decided to turn in to a small, older waterfront community.
Before I had even driven the couple of blocks to the waterfront I could see this amazing roof on the home at the end of the street.
This multi color tile work may be common in some places but I don’t recalll seeing anytihng like it before.
Here’s a view from the other side where you can see the roof peak and the round attic vents.
(more…)
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I just updated my paint company guide page for California Paints to include information on their recently released online Color Center.
This is a fun way of looking at combination of colors for your decorating projects and the system includes a paint calculator that quickly provides estimates on how much paint to purchase for your project.
See my thoughts about California Paints here or go directly to the Color Center.
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Reader’s color dilemma:
I’m going to turn this into a bistro. Would love some suggestions. The theme is Mediterranean ( mostly Italian). Inside decor will be darker (mostly reds and browns) Any suggestions would be appreciated.– janemuir
Kate suggests:
I think this home will make a cute bistro. While the darker colors you mention could work on the interior I would start with something a bit lighter on the exterior. It will not only make the place look a bit bigger but will give you a canvas to add some details that can carry your theme to the exterior.
I’d start by painting the main part of the house with a color like Valspar 3004-8A Oatlands Gold Bluff or the slightly lighter 3004-6B Oatlands Yellow. Use a creamy white for the trim that has the same undertone.
I would go with a toned gray for the shutters. Something with a bit of color in the gray but not too much. 5001-4C Slate Court could work nicely but before putting it on slap on a coat of reddish brown first and let it dry. You don’t have to do this to carefully because it is an undercoat. Just avoid sloppy paint spills or drips. Once dry give the shutters a nice coat of Slate Court. When completely dry…and I mean completely…hit some of the high points with sandpaper to allow some of the undercoat color to come through and give you an aged look.
You can do the same thing with the door. You could use the same undercoat color as long as it looks different enough from the door color or you could go with a shade of blue or even use the leftover paint from the shutters. Again give the door a nice coat of a color like Valspar 1008-5A Belle Grove Flamestitch Red and then give it an aged look with a bit of sandpaper.
You can try out the look on a piece of scrap wood to make sure you like the way the undercoat looks when it comes through. You should also test out the main exterior, trim, door and shutter color on test boards so that you can confirm that the colors work perfectly before you begin painting.
You don’t mention if you are going to keep the awnings but if you could match them to the main house color, the trim color or do something a bit creative.
Giving the aged finish to the door and shutters will begin connecting your guest with the theme before they even get inside. A bit of landscaping to anchor the house and a few planters that look like they came directly from the Italian countryside and I think your place will say “Italian Bistro– Come on in!”
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