Color Buzz

Red, White and Blue

Fourth of July is a swell of activity in our town. The day starts off with Paul Revere riding through the streets warning us of the oncoming Brits. The children dress in patriotic costumes and the rest of us wave red, white and blue as classic cars and fire engines line up and parade down the main street. We have a ceremony with the naming of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and a releasing of pigeons – one for each colony (Although I’m not sure how the Founding Fathers fit this into their own celebration). We have an afternoon of tournaments and pool games, and after all this we head up to the top of a hill where everyone gathers for a town-size picnic complete with games and fireworks. It’s a great event. Generations come back for it - my immediate family, my grandmother, mother, sisters and their families, cousins, etc., are all together. Everyone is in some version of our country’s colors. I always panic because I usually can’t wear them, but for the love of the 4^th and all that it stands for, who am I to not get out a red dress?

 

 

Tangerine Dreaming...

Time Magazine has a great design issue out right now – the Style and Design Summer 2008 issue. They have an entire page on tangerine. When I was little, I wanted a yellow and orange room more than anything. The idea of warm sunny walls was all I had in mind. My parents humored me and painted the walls white and allowed me to have orange trim with a yellow shag carpet – very groovy. But the white walls always looked so stark against the vibrant orange. Now that I get to pick my own colors, I still love orange. It’s vibrant, sophisticated and – most of all – a flattering color. Most people look aglow when surrounded by orange. It can be sumptuous. Try it as accents: pillows, ceramics, window treatments, flowers, etc. If you’re a little more adventurous like me, try a wall of orange. Take a color like Valspar Coffee Whip and surround it with a warm off white like Woodlawn Whitewash. Total YUM!!!

                                                  
                 This image was created by using Valspar.com’s Painter tool.
             The wall color is Coffee Whip and the trim is Woodlawn Whitewash.
            Try your own color combinations and tell us what you think of the tool!


                                                  
                 Coffee Whip 2008-3A                    Woodlawn Whitewash 6008-1A

Winter White

I love the winter, especially when everything is blanketed in white. As someone who thinks about color all the time, the white landscape is a welcome break. The palette of winter is subtle and easy on the eye. It’s very calming. As you acclimate to the varying degrees of white on white, you start to see real differences; the cool blue grays of morning, the warm glowing whites of afternoon, and if you’re very lucky, the vibrant pinks in the early evening. How do you work this into your home? A white on white room can be elegant and soothing. You just have to keep it from becoming too cool. A nice pairing is Whitewashed Oak on the walls in a flat or eggshell finish with Anthem White in a semi gloss finish on the trim.

                                               
              Whitewashed Oak 7006-23                 Anthem White 7006-24

Chase Away the Winter Blues

Chase away the winter blues with a fresh new coat of paint! Pantone’s color of the year is Blue Iris so this could be a great time to take the winter color for a spin.

One great place to start is your bedroom, whose walls you’ve probably been staring at for weeks now. Embrace the winter blues with a soothing color like Valspar Prairie Sky, an elegant blue with a purplish tone. It has calming and expansive qualities. This is a nice, refined color for the living room, too. Try a creamy white like Barcelona White as a trim color.

If you want to take blue in a bright, friendly direction, try a color like Escape. There is no better way to cheer up a kitchen on a dreary day than by coloring it the shade of a beautiful sky. Add some white furniture and you’ve practically imported a summer afternoon. This color would also work well in a bedroom or bathroom. Use Paramount White 7006-22, a creamy white, as a trim color.

Of course, if blues really deepen your winter doldrums, take it in a wild direction. Colors like Fresh Persimmon or Coffee Gelato 2004-7C can really spark up the grays of February.

                                                     

               Prairie Sky 4003-5B                       Barcelona White 7003-14      

                                              

                  Escape 4007-7B                         Fresh Persimmon 2009-1