COLORS OF CHRISTMAS: SILVER BELLS

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COLORS OF CHRISTMAS: SHADES OF PALE

Christmas brings visions of color.

However, red, green and vibrant color are not for everyone.

If you like a calmer, more neutral home - even for the holidays -

Pinterest

say hello to the beautiful shades of a pale Christmas

CHRISTMAS: MAKE A STATEMENT!

Go BIG

(Decorating small just tends to look like clutter, anyway.)

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But BIG is Beautiful.

CRAVING A CHANGE OF COLOR

NEEDING CHANGE

For me it means going from an abundance of rich warm color to a more neutral palette, cooler tones, fresher colors, more light, more contrast, less stuff.  

CHRISTMAS - THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!

Pottery Barn

Christmas has its trends...

Pottery Barn

this year I'm seeing some I am particularly happy about...

A GOOD WARM NEUTRAL GRAY

HELP WITH A NON GROSS COLOR

When you buy a previously owned home, you buy that owner's taste in color and surface materials.

Sometimes you are lucky, and its a neutral you can live with for a while

but sometimes, you can't wait to make changes...

CURB APPEAL

LOOKING GOOD!

Our houses can't go to the gym to get a quick workout

Or hike

or run

and they can't trim their own shrubs

So when it comes to getting in shape

looking good

and creating a beautiful curbside look at your home

your house has to rely on you.

CELEBRITY HOMES....

LOOK-E-LOOS

Former home of Michael Jackson, Los Angeles, California

Yes, I'm as guilty as any of you...

I love to look at other people's homes, especially celebrity homes.

One of my favorite blogs is Hooked On Houses where you get to peek into beautiful celebrity 

and non-celebrity and even fabulous movie set homes on a regular basis.

So, I thought I'd take you on my own little tour and share my guilty pleasure, 

because I'm always amazed at how 'ordinary' celebrities turn out to be.  

Like this house - home to Harrison Ford.

COASTAL COLORS

• WHEN THE BEACH IS A STATE OF MIND
  
  
  
  Coastal decor is one of my all time favorites.  
  I live on the West Coast, but any coast would do.  
  Its a casual, easy living, non-fussy way of decorating.  
  A nod to the seashore in a 'not in your face' sort of way... 
  not contrived ... 
  a lifestyle not a trend.

IN LOVE WITH GRAY

Welcome home.

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A few simple rules to choosing exterior paint color - 

Consider the roof color when choosing your new color -  Roof color should be darker than the house color - Make the door stand out with a darker or bright color - Accent the trim and architecture of the house with a contrasting or complimenting color - take into consideration size as a dark color will make a small house look smaller.   

WHICH WHITE?

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  Sometimes subtlety is the order of the day.  When white is wanted, it doesn't have to be boring, or even very 'white'.  White, like gray or beige or blue, comes in many varieties.  

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL COLOR...

ARE YOU COLOR CLUELESS?

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Well then, let me introduce you to some of what I consider the most beautiful paint hues out there...

OBSESSING ABOUT: HERRINGBONE

I've been working on a client's formal living room and this pattern kept cropping up in the fabrics

and rugs we chose.  I remembered how much I enjoy a little menswear pattern in a room

I wrote about it here first, but today I'm focusing on just one pattern...

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Herringbone

NEW WALL COLOR...

 NOTHING DATES A HOME FASTER THAN COLOR......

If I were to say forest green and mauve

you'd think early 80's

dusty blue and pink?

90's

gold, tan, green and red....

early 2000? 

so what color trend will our current decade be remembered for?

THE COLOR YOU CRAVE: BEIGE

NEUTRAL OR NOT

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For some of my readers, beige is a nice safe color

it is neutral and it stands the test of time

but neutral doesn't have to also be boring...

GRAY AREA

A LIGHTER SHADE OF PALE

Sage Atelier

a lighter shade for a wall color will make a room feel more spacious

a darker shade - more cozy or dramatic

CURB APPEAL: What is it?

What constitutes curb appeal?  

TAKING THE PLUNGE

into smaller spaces

Little Friends

[I love the photo above, and the book by Seth Casteel featuring his amazing underwater photography.  This is a completely unsolicited blurb.  Just love the images.  Click on the link above to find your copy.]

So, I have a few friends and clients who have downsized lately.  Many from very large to not so large homes.  But some from large to very very small homes or apartments.  

Some are retired, some are divorced, some are empty nesters, some are temporary,

 all are trying to make small spaces cozy and efficient.

THE COLOR YOU CRAVE: GRAY

The world has been having a love affair...

with Gray/Grey

I get more questions, more search queries and more blog views on the subject of Gray / Grey

than any other subject.

ever.

CALL IT GREIGE

beige-y gray?   or gray-ish brown?  

source

whatever you prefer to call it, the effect is the same

calm

soothing

warm

and the perfect background for the beautiful trappings of a room

SPEAKING OF COLOR

and a fireplace

source

Contrasts are important in design.

New and old.

Hard and soft.

Dull and shiny.

Dark and light.

It is what makes a room unforgettable.

ORGANIZE ME....

AND MAKE IT ATTRACTIVE, PLEASE...

Shelterness

I envy the linear thinking group, 

the left brainers, 

the organized.

It pains me that organization comes so naturally to some

and gives me a headache

COLOR SPECIFICS

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO FIND THAT COLOR YOU CAN SEE IN YOUR HEAD?

and when you think you have it.... and it looks good on the paint chip

why does it disappear when you paint it on your wall?

Centsational Girl

WALL COLOR AND WOOD TONES

MAKING THEM ALL HAPPY

Most of us have wood tones in our home.  If not on the floor, then as furniture or kitchen cabinets.

While wood isn't considered a 'color' in your color palette, their tones do need to be considered.  Wood can have red, brown, yellow or in some cases, gray tones.  

Red toned woods, like mahogany or cherry look great with cooler wall colors - cool greens, blues and grays, and gray toned beiges.  Yellow toned woods, like oak, also do well with greens, grays and purple tones.  Dark woods can handle both cool and warm tones.  If you have a mix, a grayed down neutral may work with all the wood tones.   When in doubt, choose the wood tone you have the largest amount of, or the most dominant and find a color that makes it look beautiful.

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

THE CLEAN UP

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We recently enjoyed our first outdoor dinner party of the season with perfect California weather!  Getting the garden and patio back into shape from Winter is always a daunting task, especially when it seems like every leaf from every tree from miles around has decided to land in your backyard.
 Along with all the dirt.

BEACH HOUSE NEUTRALS

Sometimes I feel that we are overdone here in the OC.  We have the ocean close by, the warm sand between our toes, ocean breezes to cool our summers, palm trees punctuating our neighborhoods and a surf board in every garage - but our homes look like carbon copy Spanish villas with red tile roofs and stucco walls and our interiors bear no resemblance to the coastal region we pay so dearly to be near.  

TRUE GRAY

NO UNDERTONES IN MY GRAY, PLEASE

Gray.
Bleak.
 Gray Day. Stormy Gray. Misty Gray. 
Cement Gray. Concrete Gray. 
Gray Hairs. Cold Gray. Plain Gray.
 You're looking a little Gray.  
Old and Gray.  
Gray Matter.  Gray Area. Gray Cloud.
Gray seldom has positive connotations.

Gray alone can be cold, hard, unemotional, sterile.

Kind of like concrete.

Or Rocks.
And yet, it is currently the most loved color in home decorating

BENJAMIN IN THE BEDROOM

GOING NUTS....

Wall color can drive you nuts.
The perfect tan can turn pink or orange.  That lovely pastel green suddenly looks minty.  The beige you picked is fleshy.  The yellow you loved takes on a sickly green tinge.  What looks perfect in the paint store often looks quite different in the light of your own home.   Samples are the answer, and you should never put paint on your walls without trying it out first.  I use poster board or foam core board, 2 coats with a good 2-3 inch border of white around the outside (so the color on your wall now won't influence the color you want it to be).   I use poster board so I can move it around the room and see it in different light.  No more minty, fleshy, orange-y, sickly colors.  No more nuts.

ACCENT WALLS

NEWLYWEDS

Every room needs a focal point. 

There are obvious architectural focal points in some rooms.

Other rooms need to have one created

Paint is an excellent way to create a focal accent.

Accent walls shouldn't be overdone, but sometimes they are the perfect solution

to make an otherwise architecturally uninteresting room

a lot more interesting

THE COLOR YOU CRAVE: BEIGE

WHAT IS YOUR SIGNATURE COLOR?

When I first moved to California - many years ago - I worked for the beige lady.

Benjamin Moore GRANT BEIGE
Houzz

She had beige blond hair, beige tanned skin, beige shoes, beige handbag, she wore her favorite beige always, she even drove a beige car.  She was very wealthy.  She was very elegant.  Her only accessory was jewelry - gold - lots of it.  Life for her was pretty simple.  She knew what she loved.  She loved beige.  She surrounded herself with it.  It was her signature.

WHAT COLOR DO YOU CRAVE?

THE COLOR THAT MAKES YOUR HEART SING.....

The color of dreams.  

The one that takes your breath away. 

 The shade that you want to wrap up in.

  The color that makes you smile.

Whatever that color is....

If you are passionate about it

If it makes you feel calm at the end of a crazy day

If your closet is full of it

If you can't get enough of it

WHITE WASH

I THINK I COULD LIVE IN THE SOUTH

Prior to this, when anyone said 'whitewash' I thought of Tom Sawyer whitewashing Aunt Polly's fence.

Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a low-cost type of paint made from slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) and chalk (whiting). (Wikipedia)

While researching painted brick homes, I came across this treatment for transforming nondescript red brick into something else entirely.     

CURB APPEAL

UPDATE FOR OUTSIDE

So you have probably heard a lot about curb appeal in terms of selling your home - making it inviting, welcoming, well maintained.... etc., etc.    But its also the first impression visitors have of YOU when they come to your home - when you are NOT selling - when you are living there.  What does your home say about you? 

COLORS GO COASTAL

BLUE UNDERTONES WITHOUT BEING OVERTLY BLUE....

Undertones are tricky beasts.  For example, grays are nothing but undertones - except for the pure concrete colors - it is what makes them beautiful and versatile.  Sometimes the undertone shows up more strongly than we like.  A blue undertone, for example, may be too blue on the walls.  Or is it?  Wall color, especially in an empty room, will look much stronger before furniture and furnishings are added.  Sometime it just pays to wait a little.  The wall color will fade to the background as you add your furniture and decor.

GRAY PALETTE

CREATING COLOR SCHEMES

Choosing a color palette for your home may seem daunting, but doesn't have to be all that difficult to achieve.  Just remember you are creating a backdrop - one that will compliment, but really fade to the background once you have furniture, rugs, draperies, pillows, lamps and accessories in place.  The best wall colors do.  They should sit softly in the background, supporting the overall design, but not trying to grab your attention or upstage your furniture.  Unless that is your design - but that's a whole other story...  Remember the word 'backdrop' and relax....  it's only paint....

COZY BUT NOT DARK

NEEDING OOMPH.....

Sometimes the wall colors we choose are just too saturated for the available light in a room.  If you crave light and wide open spaces - but are stuck with smaller rooms and lower ceilings - you may like to try some of the very light, barely there, grays and greige paint colors to lighten up your space.

TOO WARM

CRAVING COOL....

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Looking through Traditional Home and House Beautiful magazines this weekend, I was struck by the 'cool' palette nearly all the rooms were sporting on their walls.  From the barest hint of cool beige to light grays and deeper hues of blue gray, all were in the cooler palette.  That is not to say that the rooms were cold, or even

BEST GRAY FOR A SMALL DARK ROOM

 GIVE ME A GRAY.....

Gray.  It's a popular color in design, and not going away anytime soon.  In rooms filled with light, high ceilings, lots of white wood trim - it's beautiful and fresh.  But what about a small room, with low ceilings?  Can gray work here?

KEEP THE HOME FIRES BURNING

COLOR FOR NATURAL STONE FIREPLACE

House and Home

IN EVERY HOME there are elements we can't change - at least not right away.  There are things we need to live with - maybe its a previous owners stone or tile selections, or wood cabinet or floor colors,

LIGHTEN UP!

WELCOME SPRING

The Foo Dog Ate My Homework

Blue and White has always been a favorite combination.
Add a little greenery, and it feels like Spring
A seagrass rug brings it down a notch from being too formal
Livable, fresh, crisp, clean, light
A classic.

LOOKING FOR A WARM GRAY


STILL LOVING GRAY....

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WARM Gray?  It sounds like an oximoron.  There is the stereotype gray - that color we made by adding white to black in grade school.  Some people feel its a little boring... or depressing.... or dull...  I think it depends on how you use it, but for those of you who think gray is all the negative adjectives - meet WARM gray.  What?, you say.  Yes, add a little brown, or a little violet, or warm green as an undertone and you have an amazing gray that makes all those nasty old adjectives hide their heads in shame.... WARM.  GRAY.  Its a good thing.

EXPLORING COLOR: NEUTRALS RULE....

EXPLORING PAINT COLOR:  BLUES AND NEUTRALS

Nature is amazing.  It is a color magician, putting colors together with expert eye.  I love the collection of eggs above for that very reason.  Speckled gray, cream, beige, brown and that perfect color - robins egg blue.   Now, if I could only find paint in that color .... Oh, wait... I can!

REBIRTH

Keep Calm and Carry On .... turned out to be good advice.  Our first day in London I injured my knee.  The question became: stay there injured or go home...?  We applied ice packs, Advil, and anti-inflammatory medication - and prayer - and decided to stay.  We rented a wheelchair and changed a few plans.  My DH was amazing - pushing me all around London, which is not that wheelchair friendly and was definitely an adventure.  It could have been a disaster - but the group we were with was amazing, DH was amazing, and how can London NOT be amazing?  Even in the snow.  In a wheelchair.  

ORANGE CRUSH.....

NOT AFRAID OF COLOR???

Bring Mae Flowers

I have the perfect remedy to a gray day - it's raining here in So. Calif. - and to be honest, I'm not entirely sure this next question is real.... two came in from the same person but were signed with different names, but it is so entertaining - I just had to answer!  

CREATING MAGIC WITH TAN

BUCKSKIN... WARM TAN

I like it when I get questions about a specific color.  No second guessing - they already know the color they want to use, just need a little help with the rest of the palette.  I received just such a question from this reader:

A GRAY HORSE

Benjamin Moore's paint color, Gray Horse,  is a light gray with a slight green undertone.  It is on my 'lovely colors' list.  [I really must get around to blogging about them some day soon.]

STONE HOUSE COLOR PALETTE

BRIDGING THE GAP

Interior Decorating is primarily about color.  Color that defines a space, color that accents a space, color to create a mood, color to enhance architectural details, color to create interest, color for contrast.  Color to create flow from room to room and make sense of it all.... to bridge the gap so to speak...