Browsing Archives

Following the last post here about price of paint and Titanium White (a major ingredient in house paint products) I want to share this article with you.

From the magazine Period Homes, it’s titled “A Primer on Paint,” and offers a detailed view of trends in paint products. It’s not about ‘color trends’ but rather about the actual development of paint products.

It's the pigments that make color visible. Aren't they beautiful? Kremer Pigments manufactures pigments from natural materials to create a wide range of historically authentic paints and finishes. Photo: courtesy of Kremer Pigments.

Major paint and pigment manufacturers are featured, with comments from Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams, Behr, Fine Paints of Europe, and Kremer Pigments.

If you have been wondering about Waterborne – vs. – Oil based paints, differences in paint qualities, “VOC’s,” and pigments, be sure to read the article. You will also glean a few tips from color consultants James Martin and Barbara Jacobs (Yes, I am honored to be included in this article).

I hope you enjoy reading it, and perusing the magazine, in general.

Do you have a “Period Home?’ What are the joys and challenges?  What do you love the most about it? Let us know about your experience.

Share/Save

Last year was a big year for my mom. Making the decision to move to Los Angeles from her lifelong home in Minneapolis was not easy, but once she did, she did it with her typical commitment to a project.

Granted, this is not my usual kind of subject but I wanted to touch on it anyway.  After all…it’s this type of life change that make you reflect on future development and how it’s a quite a mystery that we can only “plan” for to a relatively limited extent.

The reason I wanted to bring this up is that she had a lot of help from a friend and “moving-on-professional.”  I don’t know what we would have done without Laure Green, a Minneapolis real estate professional who also has a compatible business in helping elders with exactly this type of transition. From identifying attachments and being able to “let go” of them–right down to the last minute managing the movers. My mom—and we, her family— were so lucky to have Laure’s help.

Moving in, or moving out? This room needs color!

Emotion Rules…for better or worse!
More recently, and locally to us here in Massachusetts, Lisbeth Wiley Chapman has started a new “move management” company on Cape Cod. She’s named it “Extra Daughters,” and the name really fits the service.

Beth’s description of what is involved includes emotion as playing a major role in the moving process:
“It’s all about emotion. Downsizing and de-cluttering means making decisions. Rather than making them, we have spent years stashing stuff higher and deeper. We save too much and get emotionally bogged down in life’s leftovers that we will never use and have tenuous reasons for keeping.”

Beth’s Top Ten Tips
Check out Beth’s Top Ten Tips for Moving.

Between the two of them, Laure and Beth have a world of experience. Laure, from the Real Estate side—and Beth, having moved her own full household eighteen times before coming to Cape Cod nearly 12 years ago—has an unusual depth of  experiences to combine with her organized, focused approach to everything she does. Beth has settled five estates and worked for an antique/collectibles dealer.  Recently, she was the program director for Seashore Point, the only outer Cape continuing care retirement community.

Make the transition one that is joyous, radiant and full of positive energy!
Since this is, after all, IntegralColorViews, I can easily make the color connection:
Change a gray, depressing and overwhelmed feeling and experience to one that is brightly glowing with yellows, oranges, and luminous blues! As we age, our color needs change.

As always, environmental color is, in itself, an absorbing  and expansive subject.  It’s not unusual for designers of elder housing to create spaces with only the family members in mind. But it’s the people who live there who count the most!

A few the reasons to give color the serious consideration that people deserve

• Emotional comfort
• Physical comfort
• Wayfinding
• Safety in the home

Even if there is not a move planned at this time, you can always revive a current home to make it more appropriate for elder residents.
For now, I offer a few considerations, and tips for selecting colors as we age:

1. Hue: Many hues can work, but consider that we see more yellow as we age.
2. Pattern: larger patterns are sometimes easier to “read” but don’t overwhelm the viewer with visual information
3. Contrast: regardless of our age, higher contrast makes important items more identifiable
4. Sheen: high sheen creates reflection and can add confusion
5. Intensity: use colors that are moderate but not boring. Consider contrast, intensity, sheen.
6. Lighting: a critical piece! Consider lighting closer to daylight, rather than yellow-based lighting color. Consult an experienced lighting designer for this all-important part of the environment you want to create
7. In all cases, the balance between these elements is key.  Too subtly neutral is “boring” and can create anxiety, and too much color and pattern can create confusion when not used judiciously.

I look forward to addressing these details more specifically in a future article. Meanwhile, I’d love to hear your experiences in this area.

Share/Save

We’re always so busy in our daily lives — both personally and professionally–that we don’t often pause to really think about what was happening in the very, very early times of human development and how it might relate to us today.

I remember when, as a child, one of my favorite subjects was “cave men” and how they lived. Those early cultures held a mysterious fascination for me. OK, so I’m actually a frustrated archaeologist!

The paintings of Charles R. Knight, (1874-1953), influenced our impressions of the prehistoric world.

When the recent New York Times article on the amazing discovery of a  “100,000-year old paint workshop” came to my attention, I not only enjoyed reading it but was compelled to emerge from a sort of “Blog-out” of being absent from posting for quite a while.

This is what it made me think about, to start with:

• Symbolic use of color in many cultures
• Who made the color decisions “way back then?”
• What was the “psychology” of those early people and how did the arrive at their discoveries and uses of color?
• How did they continue, over time, to make new pigment discoveries and record them?
• How were the colors communicated from one group to another, and
• Did they have what we call “personal preferences?”

I’m sure the answers to these questions are elementary to the people who make this study their life’s work.

But this discovery feels like a jolt to the modern world of design, fashion, color trends, and modern paint techniques. If we are open to it, we’ll appreciate new dimensions in our current way of thinking about color, pigment, and paint mixing. Organic color sources of many types are at the foundation of  modern paint colors that we use most often in our own home decorating.

Another way of looking at it is as another example of the connection between art and science and, in this case, history—literally!

Image from the New York Times article.

Image source: New York Times
Grethe Moell Pedersen

But what do you think?
And, what do you know, for a “fact”?

If you do read the article, be sure to go to the readers’ comments there, which are fascinating and informative as well!

I”ll certainly be interested your thoughts, too.

Share/Save

What do you Not want to do today?

For me, today it’s painting shutters instead of writing a blog post; or instead of working on one of the many new rug designs in progress; or even selecting new paint colors for my own little interior project—reviving a former bedroom occupied by one or another of our children over the years.

OK, so I took a break from the shutter work. After all, client projects are much more enjoyable!

The particular pair of exterior shutters I’m talking about (yes, just 2 of them!) has been in my studio since last Fall, over the entire winter. Even with a great place to work on projects like this in any season, I didn’t have to try too had to walk by them and look the other way every time I was doing something more “immediate” and enjoyable, even painting up color samples.

Now, finally, it’s almost Fall again and the prep is done.  I’m on to the surface color, so the end is in sight and, once done, I might even get to organizing the office and studio –again.

The point is, that every time I actually accomplish a long-procrastinated task, the reward is so much sweeter—as in, “I Finally did it!”
Here’s my color celebration, in advance!

The trick is to find the creative in the mundane.

What are Your tips for doing this?

Share/Save

Maybe it’s every summer, but in Ohio it’s a great assortment of beautiful colors on beautiful vintage cars that represent some of the colors of summer, and of adventure.

That’s a classic color, for sure (O.K., so I’m from Minnesota!)
Check out the upholstery!  What a beautiful job.

Step inside, take a ride!

Maybe you’d prefer red?

Hot, and Hotter!

Or, is it Cool, and Cooler?  We didn’t see any Yellow cars that day, though…

Going back in time a bit…

Red was probably not the original color.

But isn't it gorgeous?

What’s a car show without an essential, basic, and beautiful green?

There’s something about the quality of the paint job.
All these colors are so deep, you can look into them for miles. Some have embedded metallic within the layers of the finish.Shiny, Bright, and Brilliant.

And last but certainly not least..the original.

Original version, complete with real, very historic, embellishment.

How will you use these colors?  Please share your inspirations!

Share/Save

See larger image Carlo Scarpa (Big Series Art) (Hardcover) By (author) Sergio Los List Price: $29.99 USD Used from: $114.85 In Stock

Check out the ColorViews Blog post for more about this subject.

Share/Save

If so, check out this book about Carlo Scarpa.

I was first introduced to the work of Carlo Scarpa by the renowned Boston-area architect Paul Lukez. In a conversation with Paul about color in architecture, he immediately went to his bookshelf and brought forth his copy of this book.

Even now, looking through my own paperback copy, I get the same thrill seeing the forms, textures, and colors that Scarpa used in the variety of his work. It’s really an extraordinary example of color + form working together to create a higher-level space.

A Taschen publication, even the paperback is high quality. The interesting essay by Sergio Los, illustrated by the beautiful photographs of Klays Frahm, will bring you back time and time again to enjoy the spaces. For me: “wish I could see this in person!”

Do you have a favorite book (more than 1 is ok!) on design, architecture, color, and related topics, that you would like to recommend? Let me know!

Share/Save

A long winter..”neutrals” got you down? Fret no longer, Get energized with Gaudi.

No, it's not a dragon—it's a building. From: Complete works: Gaudi / by Aurora Cuito, Cristina Montes. This image from the book is by Pere Planells

Exquisite photography and detailed descriptions of sites provide a compelling entree into the Gaudi world. As an architectural color consultant I particularly enjoy Gaudi’s bold, personal style of color in architecture. I’m happy to have the English edition so I can actually read the text!

Next stop…Barcelona!

See larger image Antonio Gaudi: Complete Works (Paperback) By (author) Aurora Cuito List Price: $38.95 USD Used from: $34.90 In Stock

Share/Save

In my recent blog post in which I showed a few some images of  the “Decor and Fashion” connection, I presented a brief description of the intricate dye-and-weave process knows as “Ikat.”

Shown: my own well-worn copy of this wonderful reference book.

Now, for those of you who have an interest in what’s behind the fashion aspect, I’m happy to introduce two wonderful books on the subject of Ikat, and other traditional dye techniques.

The Dyer’s Art is an exciting compendium of many resist-dye techniques.  The author, Jack Lenor Larsen, is a renowned designer, artist, and authority on weaving.

“Resist” dyeing is most recognizable in it’s most simplistic form as the good-old “tie dye’ of the 60′s and even more recently in it’s rebirth in the funky-trendy mode.
My own definition: What it refers to technically is any process by which yarns, woven textiles, or other materials are bound, coated, or otherwise treated to “resist” application of, or immersion in, a dye or other colorant.

Whether your familiarity with Resist dyeing is from that mode, or in batik (wax), or other, less familiar methods like  “Plangi” and “Arashi Sibori” and others,  Resist techniques are fascinating. For me, it’s been a long time interest, since I first started experimenting with textile design and art-to-wear, in the late 70′s. I’ve been an admirer of Mr. Larsen since I first heard of him!

Pages 224 and 225 illustrate making a traditional “Double Ikat” textile in Bali: creating an intricate tied-and-dyed design on the warped threads, right on the loom, before the weaving is even begun.

Less technical,  Ikat Textiles of India, Chelna Desai presents an entire book of beautiful examples of more contemporary fashion applications in addition to traditional Ikat method. While Larsen explores Ikat with a global view, Desai focuses on Indian Ikat work. This beautiful book is illustrated with images of Ikat textiles from many private collections in India.

Hundreds of traditional and contemporary examples of Indian Ikat

You can check out both of these volumes through our own Design Library.

Share/Save