I took this picture of a barn I discovered just south of Annapolis. Isn’t it just perfect for Valentine’s Day?

Happy Pink Saturday!

A holiday for romance and roses.  Heartfelt sentiments and vows of everlasting love. Flirty hot pink and sensuous deep red.

In my Valentine’s Day fantasy I’m…

…wearing a dress that is so perfect in pink that it could have come straight out of Barbie’s closet…

…embellished with a vintage pin of pink and red colored rhinestones.

I’ve receive a bouquet of pink peonies that I enjoy while…

…propping myself against a sexy red and pink damask pillow…

…on my pink striped chaise.

That’s the fabulous fantasy I’m enjoying on this Pink Saturday while outside a blizzard of ‘historic proportions’ blankets DC in almost two feet of snow.

What are you dreaming about today?

Fantasy photo sources:

• Perfect Pink Dress
• Pink and Red Rhinestone Pin
• Pink Peonies
• Pink and Red Room Interior

Is it just me or are you at a point in life where you enjoy snow more from the inside looking out than being out in it?

I think the many years I spent in Upstate New York and New England digging out my driveway and being caught ‘under dressed’ in the interest of fashion over practicality have tainted my enjoyment of snow.

With that being said and this being the view outside at the moment you can bet I’m dreaming of warmer weather, sunny skies and a colorful garden rather than snow in the backyard.

So here I sit bundled up inside scanning sites like Proven Winners looking for the colors of my dreamy summer garden.  The color red-violet has been on my mind this week after being interviewed for an article titled, “Did Purple Send a Message at the State of the Union Address?” (hint–it was really red-violet not purple as I wrote about in my post on Live in Full Color) so I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that flowers in this color seemed to call out to me?

Here a few of my favorites along with how I might use them in my garden or patio planters this year:

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Supertunia Pretty Much Picasso Petunia
I bet you’ve never seen a petunia like this before.  This is a new addition from the Proven Winner line.  I love the bright shade of lime green that rings the pretty red-violet flowers.  This is at the top of my list for plant purchases and best of all it produces flowers all summer long.

To bring out the green in the flowers even more I think I’ll find a pretty plant with bright yellow-green foliage and put these in all the hanging baskets that surround my deck.

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Zinnia elegans ‘Benary’s Giants Wine’
This zinnia stood out and caught my attention.  Benary’s Giants Wine zinnia has huge, fully double deep red-violet flowers atop strong stems, which will make them perfect for cutting.

Paired with flowers in deep gold and dark green foliage this flower will really stand out along the border of my garden and cut flower arrangements.

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Pelargonium ‘Tex Mex Hot Pink’
While the masses of blossoms are more of a shockingly hot pink I think they will marry nicely with the flowers that are a bit more red-violet.  Besides they bloom all summer long even it the hottest weather and I can bring a pot or two into my office to enjoy long after the summer ends.

The bold hot pink color will be a nice contrast against a rich, deep foliage such as Blackie or Illusion Midnight Lace sweet potato vine that has undertones of violet.

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Bandito Rose Lantana

If you’ve been reading my Pink Saturday post you know that lantana graces my garden just about every year.  What I like about the Bandito series of lantana is the compact size of its blossoms and that is produce an extra large number of blooms.  There is also a richness to the blossoms of this variety that make is especially appealing to me.

To soften this bold lantana I might incorporate some white flowers such as white calibrachoa or Diamond Frost euphorbia.

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Grandiosa Cherry Picotee Pelargonium
Not only does this plant produce gorgeous flowers but it also has lemon-scented foliage and is easy to grow.  That’s the kind of three-in-one benefit package I like.  The deep red-violet set off with white edges will be a nice counterpoint to the brighter flowers above.

This is another blossom that would pair nicely with an airy variety like white guara or Breathless Blush euphorbia.  Both will soften the texture of the geranium.

Now this is just the beginning of my summer dream and the snow is falling fast and furious so I’m going to go make a cup of tea and get back to browsing flower sites and  Pink Saturday posts.

I hope I’ve left you feeling a bit more ‘in the pink’ on this very white Saturday.  My spirits have sure been lifted just looking at all these beautiful blossoms!

Have you ever finally decided on the color family for the color you want to paint your room but then been stymied when it comes to choosing the exact hue?  If that happens it may be time to step away from the paint chip racks and take time to simply think about the color.

If you close your eyes and think about what you love about the color, what comes to mind?  What images appear?  What wonderful experiences do you recall?   These can all be clues to type of color that you will most enjoy surrounding yourself with.

For me, when I think about the color pink many of the pictures that appear in my head are of very happy yet delicate and soft.

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Of all the treats found at a fair, pink cotton candy was my favorite

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I find the delicate pink of a newborn’s cheeks and lips irresistible

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Pink clouds floating in the sky above lift my spirits.

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Pink rose buds have a sweetness and innocence that captures my heart.

The images that came into my head leaned towards a more muted and lighter pink.   With that in mind, I would look for a pink tint that isn’t too clean or too clear so that has the same qualities I found appealing in my those pictures in my mind.

I found a few examples of rooms on housebeautiful.com that could have been inspired by my ‘visions in pink”:

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Sherwin-Williams White Dogwood SW6315 was used in this pretty pink bedroom.

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This living room’s walls are covered in Valspar’s Paris Pink MS037.

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This luxurious bedroom’s walls are covered in  Benjamin Moore’s Pale Pink Satin 008.

The rooms above are all very grown up.  I gave some suggestions for how pink can be a lovely choice for a young woman from the time she is a toddler, to a teen and then on into being a young adult in my post Madison’s Pink Bedroom.

And if you want more pink inspiration visit the participants of Pink Saturday.

What do you see when you close our eyes and think of color?

]]> http://www.sensationalcolor.com/colorforyourhome/how-thinking-not-just-looking-can-help-you-find-the-right-color/feed/ 16 http://www.sensationalcolor.com/colorforyourhome/the-iconic-red-room/ http://www.sensationalcolor.com/colorforyourhome/the-iconic-red-room/#comments Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:00:00 +0000 Kate Smith http://www.sensationalcolor.com/colorforyourhome/?p=2446

Color schemes are often described as ‘classic’ because we associate them with history and historic settings.  When it comes to the color red one of the most iconic rooms in America is the Red Room in the White House.

The vivid color scheme and cozy size made it a favorite place for presidents and first ladies.  It has also been a favorite of many Americans who have painted their own homes in this striking hue.  Below are images through history of this inspiring room.

Nancy Reagan in the Red Room in 1981 (NARA – Reagan Library)

Would you be surprised to learn at this room well known for its color wasn’t always red?

In 1809, Former First Lady Dolley Madison decorated the White House parlor in “sunflower yellow.” Beautiful drapes adorned the walls and yellow silk covered the furniture.  It wasn’t until the 1840s that it became the Red Room.

White House State Floor showing location of the Red Room (source)

A stereograph view of the Red Room looking northwest, during the administration of Ulysses S. Grant (source)

The Red Room during the administration of Theodore Roosevelt (source)

The Red Room designed by Stéphane Boudin was Jacqueline Kennedy’s favorite State Floor room, circa 1962 (Kennedy Library)

A watercolor of the room, recently redecorated, adorned the Kennedy’s 1962 Christmas card (source)

The painting of Red Room by Thomas McKnight was the official 1994 William Clinton White House Christmas Card (source)

How  HGTV’s Frank Fontana suggested that the Obama’s redecorate The Red Room. (source) According to Frank every President needs a little zebra print in his life.  As you can see below the final design was a much ‘tamer.’

President Barack Obama reading notes in the Red Room (source)

Valspar Oatlands Upholstery Red 1008-3A (source)

Painting your living room or family room red is a perfect way to bring this classic color into your own home.  Would this iconic color scheme be at home in your place?

PS.  See more wonderful post that are part of  Rednesday

‘Blue Monday’ usually falls on the Monday of the last full week of January and is often said to be “to be the most depressing day of the year’.

This seems like a bad rap for such a nice hue so for the next few Monday’s I’m going to show just how blue is anything but depressing.

(Blue Monday hosted by Smiling Sally)

I thought a great place to start was to show some rooms with the classic blue and white color scheme.  For fabulous examples of how top interior designers have used this color combination I popped over to my favorite magazine, House Beautiful and pulled a few of the many, many wonderful images from housebeautiful.com

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Stephen Drucker, Editor in Chief of House Beautiful magazine take on a tour of Nancy Corzine’s Cool Blue Living Room.  You won’t want to miss the two great decorating tips he shares.

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The fresh take on the classic blue and white scheme invited me into this room by David Lawrence.  His design for a Hamptons house is just the balance between traditional and ‘today’ that appeals to me.

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The soft camel colored sectional looks so comfy and adds warmth.  I could just imagine curling up on this sofa after an afternoon painting at the beach.

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The color on the walls, Parker Paint’s Waterside adds a beautiful backdrop for the navy blue and white in this dining room by Markham Roberts.

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I usually prefer a deeper shade of blue for my own home but Meg Braff’s Blue design in East Hampton near the beach feels so uplifting that she has convinced me to “lighten up”.

Looking at these interiors has left me feeling anything except blue.  How about you?

Early last summer I discovered the most gorgeous roses while driving through Georgetown.  I was so taken by the beautiful color scheme that it inspired me to write my post ‘Raving About These Roses’ for Live in Full Color.  While I was writing my Pink Saturday post last week the beautiful blossoms came back to mind.

They have a color scheme similar to the Veuve Cliquot Rose Ice Dress but with very clear yellows and oranges along with pink rather than just yellow-orange.  Mother Nature put together a spectacular color combination that is a perfect example for learning how to create your own color palette by copying from the nature.

These roses are called Joseph’s Coat and I find the variety of colors on a single rose bush so appealing.  They are a climbing rose but since the ones I photographed were in pots they didn’t show the full effect of how gorgeous these are when flowing over a trellis or fence.

I did find this ’story book’  shot of fully blooming Joseph’s Coat flowing around the window of Our Little English Cottage Amongst the Oaks. Doesn’t that look just perfect?

Mother Nature chose to put this same tri-color scheme in another of my favorite plants, Lantana.  I have often enjoyed a mid-summer explosion of color when my wrought iron hanging baskets were overflowing with Lantana.

When if come to cut flowers tulips are one of my favorites.  I especially like the French tulips and find that I select a mix of blossoms that create this same pink, yellow, orange scheme.  This collage from Rainflower Company shows the colors I might mix in a single arrangement.

Keep in mind that even if a color scheme doesn’t show up all together on the same plant when you mix different colors of the same type of flower you can create a naturally harmonious scheme.

And don’t feel that you have to match the colors exactly.  Choosing a variety of tints, tones and shades of each hue will be much more interesting than matching everything to just three colors.  The colors shown above will give you an idea of the variety of colors you can use in this ‘three color’ scheme.

Just look at this awesome analogous scheme and think how much more interesting these lovely ladies look than if they had all been wearing identical dresses in just one, two or even three colors.  I think that it was said best on Style Me Pretty where I found the image–

The bridesmaids dresses…how can you not love them? They were all designed by Kay Unger who is one of the more talented designers I’ve ever seen. Her dresses are effortlessly beautiful, each one making that particular girl look and feel ridiculously gorgeous.

When developing your own color plan pick out a few elements that deserve this same treatment.  Think not only about your color scheme but also how you are going to apply it within the room or design.  There should be at least a few elements that you want to have standout and look ‘ridiculously gorgeous’.

I just love this image and the caption “Mon Amour.”  Have you ever seen a wine bottle look this sexy?  I don’t think I ever have.

While clearly what lies beneath the soft pink wrap is a bottle it is so provocative that the ad might as well be a photograph of a sexy, sultry model or movie star.

The simple and elegant buttoned up version has a classic, never go out of style look that reminds me of the wide-eyed and always alluring Audrey Hepburn.

While the low cut, half unzipped pose is as tasteful and tantalizing as the Italian beauty Sophia Loren.

Veuve Clicquot sure knows how to give their products Super Star appeal!

I especially love how the color palette speaks to both sides of ’sexy’; the soft pink (a hue perfect to represent rose champagne) is so feminine, delicate and demure and the yellow-orange (the signature color of Veuve Clicquot) is warm, open and catches attention without being too brazen.

My first thought was, “Wow, how perfect this color combination is on so many levels”  My next thought was that this is a combo sure to capture any man’s attention.  As I gave it more thought however I believe it actually goes much deeper than that.

This combination invites woman to be comfortable with the sensuality of the images and I suspect sparks something in our subconscious that makes us feel like buying Veuve Clicquot Rose will make us as desirable as the bottle in the elegant Ice Dress.

I don’t know about you but I’m ready to run out and buy a bottle.  I’m also ready to completely surround myself with this combination so I started hunting for other examples of this alluring color combination.

Martha Stewart seems to be as taken with this combination as I am.  Here she shows it in a mix of candy she recommends for wedding favors.

In her suggestions for flowers

And for serving pieces.  Being partial to tabletop china, pottery and glassware I love the shape and colors of these pieces.  I want them all!

This inviting room showing the softer side of this color combination is from Domino magazine.  I could easily spend a few hours on that sofa with a good book and cup of tea.

I found these framed vintage textiles on CountryLiving.com.  I think my aunt might have owned that geometric scarf or one very much like it back in the day.

A brighter take of the yellow-orange and pink scheme is a natural for anything that includes gerber daisys including these favor boxes from Daisy Days.

Another bright combination looks young and playful in this bedding from Neiman Marcus.  It brings in a bit of red with the pink, and yellow-orange plus has a very trending “never seen in nature’ pink and white zebra stripes fabric for the bed skirt.

While we’re on the subject of Veuve Clicquot inspired colors you might enjoy reading my post from yesterday on Live In Full Color —

My Color Coded New Years Resolutions: The Yellow (or Is It Orange) of Veuve Clicquot

You might also like to see all of the Pink Saturday posts.  This is my first week participating but there are 123 post in all this week and the links to all can be found on How Sweet the Sound

My latest ‘Ask Kate’ article on HomeFurnishings.com answers a readers question about learning how to select colors that have the perfect “temperature.”

See the latest ‘Ask Kate’ article…