I was raised in THAT house, you know, the one that scares the pants off people and sends some little kids running from the door instead of towards it. Of course, all meant in frightfully good fun. One little girl in the neighborhood used to ask her dad every year if she could go to the “blinking house with the talking pumpkins.”  My dad has a habit of going overboard with ALL holiday decor; to my mom’s dismay (but I believe she secretly enjoys it too). He puts strobe lights in every window of the house, hence the blinking. And he wires mini speakers into the jack-o-lanterns then plays eerie music from a stereo inside the house. He has bodies coming out of graves in the ground and skeletons hanging from trees and lots and lots of spider webs. Now, that’s just a teeny tiny taste, but you get the idea. 

So all my life I’ve been surrounded by spooky scenes on Halloween. I guess it’s no surprise that one of my color forecasting specialities is in seasonal decor. I work closely with many of the top halloween product designers, manufacturers, and wholesalers. I travel to holiday market where we trade trend information and preview the year’s most spellbinding stuff and spooktacular colors. This Halloween’s color concoctions are about two things….True Neutrals (black, white, and gray) and Secondary Hues (orange, green, and violet). Probably not a huge surprise as those are all pretty classic colors of All-Hallows-Eve. What’s tricky about this year’s trend is that it’s not about the color but the freaky fun finishes adorned by the colors. Check out my palette below along with tricks and treats for making your Halloween Hauntingly  Hot.

Monochromatic & Analogous: Oranges with Black and/or White

Tricks:

Use a proportion or contrast ratio where one color obviously dominates the others. 70% black to 30% orange or vice versa creates a nice balance.  

Use multiple values of orange; light, medium, and dark, all mixed together for interest and surprise. Then add black or white as grounding neutrals in the scheme.

Treats:

True Neutrals: White, Black, and everything in between – HOTTEST HOLIDAY LOOK!

Tricks:

Let the neutrals share the eve by using each equally in the decor. This 50% to 50% ratio creates a relationship between the light and dark.

Add pizazz to your neutrals by incorporating ivory or dark gray and fancy finishes like glitter, gloss, sparkle, or shimmer.

Treats:

Triad: Secondary Combination with Green, Purple, and Orange.

Tricks:

This ones for the kiddies! Keep it whimsical with a lot of color and just little dabs of black or white.

Use bright pumpkin oranges with the witch inspired green and purple. Stay away from the dull or light variations of these colors as they can clash with each other and cause unrest. Let’s keep it spectacular not scary!

Treats:

The vines are well established and upon closer inspection I could see the original once painted green shutters beneath the ivy.

Each plant was placed with the end design in mind so the vines head straight upward to each shutter.  I’m not sure how you would make this work for a two story home but on this single story home I think it is just absolutely brilliant.

The homeowners wisely chose a soft olive green to paint the front door.  The color works perfectly with the natural green hues in the ivy without competing or drawing too much attention.  If you are a regular reader of this blog you know that comment flies in the face of what I ordinarily recommend because I like the front door to be the focal point of the facade.  In this case however I’m giving these homeowners a green thumbs up for their color choice.

Do you love the way this home looks as much as I do?

Good for the mind, body, and spirit blue is perfect for our interiors.  So imagine the impact of these two colors merged into the tertiary hue of blue-green aka turquoise, teal, or aqua.

Nature is an amazing inspiration in all types of design. So when I think of blue-green the first thing that comes to my mind is tropical waters from around the world….

the second is Peacock feathers…..

and the third is Tiffany’s, of course! Ok, so Tiffany’s isn’t a part of nature (it’s just natural for us ladies to often dream of getting a new piece of the iconic jewelry), but it’s famous packaging is definitely influenced by it.

As a color trend forecaster I have the privilege of watching as the colors evolve from season to season and year to year. This evolution is key and is what separates a trend from a fad. The slow shift in color allows us to easily incorporate a trend into our décor without the fear of being “out-of-style” in just a few months. We’ve watched an interesting rotation around the color wheel over the past years.  Starting with lime green moving to grassy greens and into the pale blue-green aquas.  NOW were into the more vibrant, hip, and punchy Turquoise variations and the deep, subdued, sophisticated Teals.

Going forward blues will emerge as the dominant color family in home décor trends. Turquoise and Teal will continue to motivate design, as a full-range of blue-greens and blues offer numerous values from light to medium to dark. Here are some spaces successfully using blue-green creating schemes by pairing with other hues.

Monochromatic…simple and sophisticated using just one color family.

Analogous…combinations of these three to six colors. Cool, refreshing, and creative.

Complementary…a favorite combination of mine and one to be on the lookout for as we move into fall. This combo will help keep the freshness and warmth of summer alive into the cold months.

Split Complementary…adding another color. Let’s make it three!

Going all out with color…the full 6 color tertiary color scheme. Beware, attempt at your own risk. This one can get complicated, but the rewards are quite beautiful.

We have a combined kitchen and family room. The couches are medium blue with a floral print and the window coverings are yellow. The kitchen has cherry and white accents. The furniture in the family room is cherry.  Currently the wall color is a medium sage green.  Katherine

Kate suggests:

To update without many changes to your furniture and accessories a new wall color is always a great option.

I think your existing scheme sounds lovely and your color combination made me immediately think of the sun-drenched colors of Provence.  There are the colors often associated with French Country style.  Even if this isn’t the style in your home the colors still bring to mind that same warm and comfortable feeling.

Shown above is a print from Pierre Deux that shows color similar to the ones you describe in your own scheme.  Depending on where and how you use the colors the scheme can be sophisticated, traditional or lively.

Another picture from Pierre Deux shows a more sophisticated yet comfortable look with blue print sofa.  Depending on your style I like the idea of replacing the sage green walls with a combination of beautiful neutrals.  The three colors on the bottom would be a place to begin thinking about going with a neutral or combination of neutrals.  Keep in mind that every home’s style and lightening is different it will be important for you to sample and study the colors in the room to make sure they are pleasing to you.

The blue is to show a color close to that in your coach, along with colors from Sherwin-Williams Pennywise SW6681, Gleeful 6709, Brentwood SW8146, Shore SW8115, Antique White SW6119

Shown above is a green that I think is probably a bit brighter and clear than the current green.  Just updating the green to a fresher version of the color is another option that could work to give you a whole new feeling.  As could going with yellow on the walls and not just the window treatments.

This is a Sherwin-Williams ad showing a brighter green with blue and yellow. In this case the blue and yellow they have chosen make it perfect for a nursery but with deeper blue, yellow and red a green that is a bit more vibrant and less grayed than sage green could work in your Family Room and adjoining kitchen.

Here’s a picture of the room now followed by my advice.

Red is a wonderful color but I agree it could be a bit overwhelming if you don’t chose just the right color.  If you really want to go with red I would choose a color that is more of an earthy red such as EB 38-1 Cabin Red.  This color is part of the Eddie Bauer collection from Valspar and is available at Lowes.

Here is a picture I grabbed off the Valspar website to show you how this color looks.  As you can see it is not a bright, stop sign red but rather a red that looks like it has aged or weathered.

Still red covering the large wall space you have could seem a bit too much even it you like the color.  As an alternate I would suggest a natural soft green for the walls and then you could bring the red in as accents and accessories.

Here’s an example from the Martha Stewart collection. This collection is also made by Valspar and is available at Lowes.  I like MS266 Anjou Pear and as you can see in this picture it works very nicely with the red cushions, black trim and dark brown table.

This close up shows the colors in the fabrics a bit better.  The print may not be as contemporary as you might like but you could bring other accent colors in accessories that suit your style.  I just wanted to get you thinking about color options.

Another wall color that would work beautifully with the brown and red is MS285 Fountain.  This works well with dark brown and would make a nice background for red.

I’ll look forward to seeing a picture of your completed project.

I was taken with this snippet from the banner on the blog Half2Know and used it to develop my inspired color palette for today.  You can see the palette here.

And earlier in the day I had saved the following photo from Flickr that I was going to write about as an interesting color scheme for a kids room.

As I was looking at the picture this morning I noticed that it is a variation of that same color scheme.

How funny to have saved both of these images on the same day.  The effects of color on our mind will never cease to amaze me.  Can you see the similarities?

This is a fun way to illustrate how if you like a particular color scheme that simply by using different values of the hues it can change the mood and work in different types of rooms.

Photo reference:

The banner snippet is from Half2Know

The photo from Charles St. was found on Flickr by urbanbicyclist

Holiday decor expert Kiki Titterud gave us the latest color trends for Thanksgiving and Harvest.

I posted the streaming video of this live trends talk and you can access it simply by clicking here– Happy Harvest Holiday Decor Trends.

Here’s sneak peak as the color trends she highlighted.

I’d love it if you’d snap a few pics of your own tabletop decor and share them with us.

Today I added a bit of gourmet color to my online color inspiration journal.  See the entry at Sensational Color Pro…

Complementary color schemes — red/green, blue/orange, violet/yellow — when in balance can really please our eye and can add real punch when used in accents in a room decorated in neutrals.

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…

• It is on the water with a spectacular water view!  Thanks to some smart folks with the foresight to buy the land across the river and turn it into a park it will always remain that way.

• The grounds are gorgeous and expansive.  Keep in mind that in my dream life I can well afford to have someone else maintain the many acres of grass, flowers and trees.

• The home has incredible architectural details both inside.

Yesterday my son and I went on the ‘National Treasure’ tour.   We got the inside scoop on when, where and how the scenes from the movie were set up and shot at Mount Vernon.

It was great fun and on this particular tour you get access to parts of the estate that you wouldn’t ordinarily get to see.  I especially liked being able to walk along the water directly below the house since this is usually off limits to visitors.

At the end of the tour our guide dropped us off at the mansion and since I haven’t gone through the home in a long time we decided to tag along on the tour.

Okay well I try to keep Sunday as a non-work day but I couldn’t help but get absorbed by the room colors.  As was the fashion of the day some of the rooms are painted in deep, bright colors, which were considered a status symbol during that period.

Two rooms that especially drew me in were the dining areas.  The large dining room is painted in a hue that on the Mount Vernon website is described as– “the stunning green color was a favorite of Washington’s”.

I had actually forgotten that George Washington’s loved the color green and that he had used it in both the large and small dining rooms in the home.

The color in the smaller dining room is much more vibrant –”In 1785, the striking verdigris green paint was added.”

The guide shared that President Washington was not only fond of this color but believed it was easy on the eye and the best color to aid in digestion.  I’ll let you be the judge of that but how interesting to learn that our founding father thought about the psychological and physiological effects of color.

Here’s how they describe the color on the website –”Washington believed the color to be ‘grateful to the eye’ and less likely than other colors to fade. He added an overcoat of glaze, which further intensified the color.”

If you want to recreate these historic colors in your own home you are in luck.

In 2003, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association granted the exclusive rights to manufacture paint in the historic colors of Mount Vernon to Duron Paints a division of Shewin-Williams.

The palette named Estate of Colours™ includes nearly 30 colors exactly as they appear in the mansion and 90 more inspired by the 500-acre plantation and period artifacts.

Are you a fan of historic homes?  Do you have any favorites that have inspired the color schemes in your own home?

Resources:

• Take a virtual tour of the mansion at Mount Vernon…
• Article  about the restoration that gives some interesting details about the process to uncovering the original colors is in Architecture Week… 
• ‘New look for historic houses: Accuracy replaces idealism’ in the New York Times…
• See the color of Mount Vernon at Duron…