White walls make me crazy! From the time I rented to the time we bought our current home, I have come to look with scorn on the color white. Especially Navajo white. Every apartment complex and contractor in the state of Arizona and New Mexico must store 1,000 gallons of that ungodly color or similar offshoot.
Yes, I understand why: it goes with everything, and it looks clean, and it's safe... blah, blah, blah. Blah is what white walls mean to me.
But how do you introduce color into your home without losing your hair or having recurring nightmares about being attacked by a giant paintbrush with Peach Cobbler semi-gloss?
Let me introduce you to Christopher Lowell and his "Seven Layers of Design" book.
Christopher is a professional interior decorator who's had his own TV show for which he won an Emmy. His is a long list of accomplishments, including lines of paint and furniture, as well as his numerous published works relating to decorating. (Don't you love how we're on a first name basis and he doesn't even know I'm alive?)
"Seven Layers of Design" is fabulous in its clarity, its organization, and in Christopher's detailed, yet simplified, explanations of how easily things can be done. As he puts it, basically, if you can apply make-up to your face, then you can decorate your house because you understand the concept of foundation and accenting with color.
In the book, the first layer is Paint. Our house is a southwestern ranch style with lots of walnut-stained woodwork and dark brown tile flooring. Those white walls I mentioned were in such stark contrast with the dark wood that it actually washed out the wood's beauty. It was almost like looking at a black and white photo, especially in our dining room where there was a lot of natural light from upper windows in the cathedral ceiling. But which color to choose and how?
Seven Layers of Design is the only place I've ever learned how to properly use the paint swatches you get at any paint store. I'm talking about the 7-color strips showing variations of the same color family. Usually the lightest color is at the top and the darkest at the bottom. "Seven Layers of Design" demonstrates that you use the fourth color down as your wall color, then go up two shades for your ceiling color, leaving the lightest swatch for your trim color. That's not so hard, is it?
But how do you pick the color? Again, Christopher takes a very common sense, rational approach. Go to the paint store and find swatches you like. It doesn't matter what color family they're from. Using blue painter's tape so you don't damage the current paint, tape them on the wall in the room you're working on with enough space in between so they don't clash with each other. Leave them there for several days, even a week or more.
Look at the colors during various times of the day as the lighting changes. How will the room look in the morning? In the evening? Move the swatches to other walls to get a feel for the color in the whole room.
I'm confident this exercise alone will help you weed out some tones immediately. In fact, you may find yourself running back to the paint store for a whole different set of colors. Better to find this out now than later after you've invested in buying the paint, spending time painting the room, and finding out you hate it!
In making your choice of the colors that remain, please yourself if you live alone. If you have a family, have your members give their thoughts. After all, they'll have to live with what you choose and getting their input up front will mean less criticism later (hopefully).
What did we end up choosing? A bold semi-gloss called February Gold. It reduced the contrast between the white walls and the dark walnut, bringing out the richness of the wood's highlights and grain. For the accent color, I chose cobalt blue throughout the house-not in paint, but in accessories like drapes, pillows, dishes, etc. You can check it out for yourself on my blog. It may not be to your taste, but we really enjoy it and get lots of compliments from visitors.
So I urge you to buy "Seven Layers of Design" by Christopher Lowell. See how you can take his advice and marry it to your tastes to come up with a richly-painted and decorated home. Go ahead and get rid of those safe, bland white walls and bask in the warmth of color.
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