Five reasons I think the color scheme and attention to details make this adorable Victorian stand out.

1.  The homeowners had the confidence to use a bold color for the home’s exterior.

While a color this strong might be disastrous on some homes it is exactly what this home needed to keep it from getting weighted down or lost under the roof.

The bright gold was the right color choice for the main home exterior paint color.  A dull or muted gold would have ‘aged’ this home in the same way using the wrong foundation color ages a woman.

2.  They chose the right white for the trim color

With a gold that is clear and clean rather than grayed or toned down painting the trim white rather than off white was the best choice.  It looks crisp against the gold.

3.  They created a welcoming entrance.

The purple doors are perfect in both style and color.  Purple and gold are complementary colors, which is one of the reasons that the purple stands out against the gold and creates a focal point on the home’s front and side facades.

The purple is repeated in the flowers in the hanging arrangements that flank the front door.  Thriving plants at the entrance of the home not only add color and texture but tells the world that the home is alive and being cared for.

4.  They clearly defined the entrances

Since this property is on the corner you not only see the front door but also the side door.  You can see how the homeowner has chosen a planter and trellis to the left of the door rather than repeating the hanging arrangements used at the front door.  This helps to define the two entrances and keeps people from being confused about where the main entrance to the home is.

5.  They respected historic color schemes but weren’t dictated by them

Although many Victorian home in New England today are painted all white during the era that these homes were being build bold color schemes that were inspired by nature were the norm for a home’s exterior.  While many homeowners enjoy researching their home’s history and duplicating the original colors I prefer to look at the past as inspiration and choose colors befitting the home today.  I believe that is the same approach these homeowners took when choosing their color palette.

This scheme is build from the complementary color combination of gold and purple along with neutral gray.  The red-orange may seem like an unlikely color choice for the accent color but I think if you were to try other hues with the gold and purple you would find that this is one of the most appealing choices.

The right green could have also worked but because of the amount of green surrounding the home it would not have stood out as nicely.

Are the colors on your home exterior this sensational?  If not, I’d love to help.  Simply click here to contact me for more information and pricing for a personal color consultation for your home’s exterior.

Check out this link for more info on Pantone’s Mimosa:

http://www.flypmedia.com/issues/19/#5/7

So, why yellow? Well, for one it’s a color that shines with optimism, enlightenment, and happiness. Warm sunny yellows carry the promise of a positive future, something we are all looking towards. It also advances from its surroundings, instills energy, and sparks creativity. It’s great in kitchens, living rooms, and is another way to bring the feeling of the outdoors in.

As a color trend forecaster I’m giddy when our predictions for color directions come to fruition. So much so that two years ago I bought a yellow skirt at Anne Taylor Loft on the clearance rack. Unfortunately they were too early in their yellow apparel launch and the skirts were not selling. But ha, I knew what was in our future, so I snapped one up and excitedly waited while I impatiently watched it hang in my closet until the perfect time when I knew I could wear it. If this skirt was on the rack today, I bet it wouldn’t last a day. Timing in color trends is everything! Of course that meant that now I was going to have to add yellow to my whole wardrobe including accessories too!

Then just days ago as I was reading Kate’s “What the Colors Say,” in House Beautiful’s September Color issue (check out her blog post on www.liveinfullcolor.com) I came upon p.44 “Wallpaper Sunshine.” Timed just right, there it was: Bold yellow combined with bold prints. I realized all yellow needed was a product like wallpaper (which by the way is also on its way back, yippee) to give it a boost. Now that’s how you bring a little sunshine into the fast approaching fall season!

Shown here top left to bottom right:

www.pierrefrey.com, www.farrow-ball.com, www.cowtan.com

www.quadrillefabrics.com, www.alphaworkshops.org, www.leejofa.com

So that got me thinking, if yellow is so hot in wallpaper we should be seeing it in fabric too, especially since many of the wallpaper samples from above are also available in fabric. Here are some of my favorite yellow fabric finds.

Calico Corners, Della – Lemon Cotton Fabric: www.calicocorners.com

Calico Corners, Stockholm – Sungold Cotton Fabric: www.calicocorners.com

Vervain, Sunan – Sunshine Silk Fabric: www.vervain.com

Quadrille, China Seas, Fiorentina – Dark Yellow on White Linen/Cotton Fabric: www.quadrillefabrics.com

Duralee Fabric, Thomas Paul Prints – Maize: www.duralee.com

One observation you may be making is that these yellow combinations are all monochromatic schemes. The yellow color family stands alone and is simply paired with neutrals to allow it to create drama and surprise.

It’s also important to remember when working with yellow that color temperature control will define the mood for the space. Yellow is the divider between warm and cool on the color wheel. If your yellow is leaning too green your space will feel cooler, if your yellow stays more true or leans slightly more golden your space will be warmer, more cozy, and more like the yellow trend we see here.

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.

In their announcement they describe this color as “Perfect for the kitchen or family room, painting a wall in Mimosa will add warmth and cheerfulness to any room, especially during the winter months. Mimosa also creates the illusion of being connected to the outside, making small rooms feel open and inviting.”

Yellow is a very happy color and can lift our spirits but you may think this color is too strong for the walls of your home but you can see how wonderful these walls look with a similar color.  This picture illustrates Sunny Lunch Inspired by Nature by Whitney Robinson from House Beautiful.

Here’s another image from House Beautiful.  The article and photo gallery for Furniture Now – The Modern Mix by Heather Macisaac showcase a New York apartment that has several rooms with bold yellow walls.

If you would like to use yellow but don’t want to go with such a bold color you could consider a color like Benjamin Moore’s Straw, which is a softer yellow tone.

Or bring the color in with accessories and accent pieces. Here are a few lovely ideas for accents from my favorite source for French County Pierre Deux.

When you take down the holiday decorations you can start the New Year with positive energy and cheer by adding a bit of yellow to your home.

My color inspiration today came straight from the Thanksgiving table. I brought the many hues of red found in fresh cranberries into this palette of reds.  You can see my entire post about this palette in my color journal.

When I lived in Westwood outside of Boston, MA my dining room was a soft cranberry color like the one shown in the dining above that I created using 6601 Tanager with the Sherwin-Williams color visualizer.

I added another Thanksgiving inspired color 0044 Hubbard Squash in the living room.  I like the way these two colors work together and also look great with the wood floors and wide white trim.  What a yummy combination!

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.

Here is a view of the current East Room from the White House website.  Mark suggested a refreshing aqua blue and stately gold scheme.

Aqua and gold is the scheme in my bedroom and I love this combination but don’t see it used too often.  I’m sure if the White House has an aqua and gold room I’ll be seeing more of it elsewhere.

I think it would be a wonderful scheme for the East Room especially if they take the aqua onto the ceiling as Mark recommends.  This would really open up the room and give it a much more up-to-date look.

Charles suggested yellow for the walls and yellow with peach trim for the drapes.   Here’s a picture from the White House website of the State Dining Room

A very elegant look that would work beautifully in the White House and has an upbeat feeling that reflects the Obamas optimism about the future of the country.

Nicely done Mark and Charles!

To see what several other designers suggested see these articles:

Will the Obamas turn the White House green? in the Miami Hearld

White House: Change coming to the Executive Mansion decor from AP

What colors do you think the Obama White House will be decorated with?

We live in a two story open floor design.  We have a light beige carpet throughout most of the house, except for the foyer and kitchen area that divide the middle of the house which has wood flooring. Depending on the time of day the carpet has a slight pink hue.

We are having trouble finding the right wall color everything we see seems to clash, perhaps we are choosing the wrong hue?  I am looking for a nice neutral color that can be used in several rooms (ie, two story great room, living room and adjoining dining rooms etc.) that won’t clash with the carpet.  Any suggestions?  Warm Regards, Cindy

Kate suggests:

Cindy, you are not alone when it comes to feeling frustrated when trying to find a wall color that matches beige carpet.  The main reason people have difficulty is that they cannot determine the undertone of the carpet or the paint or both.

If you have a carpet with yellow undertones and a wall color with red undertones they are not going to go as well together as two colors with the same undertones.  It sounds like your carpet has red undertones (since you mention it can look slightly pinkish at times) so my suggestion is to look for beiges with red undertones.

So I’m imagining your next questions is how to know if a beige has red undertones and that would be a very good question.  Of course your paint dealer should be able to answer that questions for you but to get an immediate idea I suggest you look at the Behr paint website.

I noticed when I was in Home Depot that Behr has tried to take the guess work out of the undertone issue for their customers by arranging the paint swatches not only by color family but also by undertone.  When you view the display looking up and down you see the color family and going across the bands are by undertone.  For example if you look at the section of green swatches in the upper section the swatches are the ones with blue undertones, the ones in the middle have yellow undertones and towards the bottom red undertones [Not sure if that is the exact order but you get my point].

The same is true on their website although not as clearly spelled out for all color families for the neutrals they give you the choice of yellow based, red based or blue based.  A look at the color swatches listed for each can start to give you an idea of the differences and set you in the right direction for finding a color that matches your carpet.

Here are screen shots of their red based and yellow based neutrals to give you an idea.

RED-BASED NEUTRALS

YELLOW-BASED NEUTRALS

Are your current paint swatches more yellow or blue based than red? If so this could be the reason that they are “clashing” with your carpet.

In honor of TJ I’ve created some autumn-inspired color schemes that remind me of him.
While fall colors are often very brilliant the more muted hues are the ones TJ likes best.  The earthy browns, and oranges are colors he often chooses to wear and for his bedroom he picked a luscious latte brown.  This photo of fallen leaves captures his colors.

The photo with the acorn is a combination of hues that I would also call TJ Colors.  This scheme is similar to the one above but includes a blue tone that remind me of his favorite sailing shirt, our well-worn leather sofa (his favorite place to relax) and a pair of comfy blue jeans.  The blue tone complements the warm orange and brown hues.

On the Valspar site there is a section of nature inspired paint color schemes so I looked there to see what color schemes they had come up with.  The one above is from Shimmering Pond Colors and the one below from Autumn Leaves Colors.

The color palette directly below the photograph was generated using the online tool Pic2Color.  The color combination below that shows Valspar’s recommendation for a paint color scheme a la the golden shimmering pond.  These two color schemes are similar but not exactly the same.

So let’s look at how this works and how you might use a picture you love to inspire an interior color scheme If you want to use a photograph of nature as your inspiration.  You can use Pic2Color or a similar tool to help you to pull out the color palette but keep in mind that it will include a range of colors and values.

This is a good place to begin but don’t simply use the hues the tool gives you and try to match them to paint chips.  What you are going to want to do is look to these for inspiration and then chose values of the color that will work as interior paint.

As you can see from the photograph of the golden leaves reflected on the water that the folks at Valspar used the picture as a reference but the colors they recommend are more likely to work in a home environment.  This is the same approach you will want to take if you use a photo of your own.

Also there may be colors you want to eliminate completely.  Look at another photo from Valspar, the palette generated by Pic2Color and the color scheme that they recommend.  In this case they have eliminated the blue altogether and gone with more muted shades of each hue.

Can you begin to see how this translates from photograph to color scheme and finally to colors for your room?

Have you ever used a nature photograph as a starting point for a color project?  Did you adjust the colors or just feel limited to ones that matched those in the photo?  Did I explain this in a way that gave you a new idea or way of approaching this?

Reference:

Valspar Paint Colors shown:
Vivid Orange 2011-3
Golden Butter 3002-1C
Red Ochre 2001-4
Creme Brulee 2008-6C

Pineapple Mousse 3008-3C
Crafted White 3007-6C
Summer Moon  3008-2C
Burnt Carmel 2010-6

Valspar paint is available at Lowe’s and through independent dealers.  To find a store near you visit visit the Valspar site and enter your zip code…

First two photos found on Flickr from baldwinm16’s

I am really struggling with this – trapped by brick around the lower half of my house (yellow-beige with almost no variation in the brick) and dark brown vinyl window frames. Currently the siding, doors and trim around the windows is painted dark brown as well. We would like to go lighter on the siding but are really stuck about what might fit with the two “set” colors. Most of the neighborhood is 1960’s muted – whites, taupes, grays. Both of our neighbors have mostly white houses. Any ideas?

Barbara suggests:

Try something earthy but not of the same color family as what you currently have that can’t be changed.  Perhaps a gray-green-something mossy or sage type. Maybe it could be just a little deeper in color than the brick.  It’s hard to say exactly, but this could be a color direction you might try.

Another idea in a different direction: Rust type. But as I often say, it’s hard to make a recommendation without seeing even a picture, so you will have to test,test,test, on large areas, and view the colors at different times of day on different areas of the house – to see what looks good.

Suggestion: Use Tru-Hue test boards or poster boards, at least two of each color and at least 24 inches square for your testing.

If you use poster board prepare them just as if they were the actual siding by starting with a coat of prime.  If you use the Tru-Hue test boards they are already prepped so you can skip the Prime.  Then roll two or three coats of your color.

You will be able to move them around, tape them to the siding, etc.  Do NOT do little brush strokes of colors on the side of your house, it won’t give you a true idea of the color and just leads to being more confused.