Gaga Over Blue

It's not even 2010 yet and already we know that blues are going to be big for the new year. We've read a lot about our color trends from Color Marketing Group and in the blogs, Facebook posts and Twitter tweets if you follow design. Which blue will be #1? Some say turquoise but I think that blue in general will be the color trend to follow.

If we take a close look at wants going on in music we can be lead to the color trends to follow. Lady Gaga is hot and heavy now and her fashion is hot, or should I say cool since she's shown here in blue. Here are a few suggestions for some blue's to consider for your home decor. Try paint samples to see which shade looks good in your home.

Shark Loop / Valspar 

 Open Seas / Sherwin Williams 

 Hazel /  Sherwin Williams

Thank you to my followers and friends

I would just like to take a blog post minute and thank all my followers and Tweeters. Your comments and interest in my little world of color is greatly appreciated! 

Hope you have a happy, healthy 
and colorful new year!

~ Donna ~

Frozen in time

photo by Vince Frasca

I'm just amazed by nature. I went out this morning to look at the frost on the ground before the sun melted it and found this. The frost looks like blue fuzz on the leaves, so delicate - one touch and it's gone! Vince took a high def picture and “froze” it in time!

Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly

photo by Vince Frasca

What's so great about Holly?

• It's an evergreen
• The red berries provide a food source for many wild birds
• You can use holly to decorate your home
• Plant it in front of a window as a  deterrence for burglars

Shell out some color

I don't know what made me think of Abalone shell in the dead of winter but here it is - a thought turned into a blog . .  a color blog of course - ah, the mind of a Color Specialist - you never know where it will go. Anyway, look what nature has provided for us - these gorgeous colors! Purple, pink, grey - just too many colors and shades to mention.

If you like this look you can get 1" x 1" mosaic shell tiles just about anywhere. I would probably use this type of tile in the bathroom but depending on your decor, you might be able to use it in other rooms of the house.

   

The Colors of Kwanzaa

Credit

There are many holidays that are celebrated during this season. The celebration of Kwanzaa stands out in such a colorful way. Here's a little bit of information I found on how the home is decorated durning this time.

DECORATING THE HOME The Kinara along with the other symbols of Kwanzaa, should dominate the room, which should be given an African motif. This is easily achieved and shouldn't result in too much expense. The colors of Kwanzaa are black, red and green. This should be kept in mind when decorating the home. Black, red and green streamers, balloons, cloth, flowers, and African prints can be hung tastefully around the room. Original art and sculpture may be displayed as well.

Red - stands for the struggles both past and present

Green - stands for a good fortune and the hills of Africa. 

Black represents the color of the people of African decent. 

So Happy Kwanza from December 26 thorough January 1st!

photo by Vince Frasca

Last night while having a cocktail and a quick game of Scrabble on my iTouch, I looked down into my glass and saw the Scrabble game through the bottom on my glass. Look at all the colors! I love finding color in unexpected places.

A Lesson Learned in Color

I'm starting this post with the finished, painted door because the start of this undertaking was a bit scary. I had the urge to paint something in the house and this seemed like the easiest project to start and finish on my own. As you'll see from the next picture, it had an alarming start.

My door was originally a faded, drab, charcoal grey - much too boring for the home of a Color Specialist - what would my neighbors think (giggle)? So ignoring the HOA board and going ahead and choosing this color, I started my project.

Well within the first few strokes of paint, my husband was having a pickle. Purple?????? Are you kidding? I shot him the typical look of “just trust me dear, I know what I'm doing.” I knew that when you apply some colors, they look completely different until they are thoroughly dry. It was pretty cool though to see how the color metamorphosised in just 30 minutes. 

So if you're thinking about painting your front door - or anything - don't judge the color until it's completely dry. Look at the paint chip, not what it looks like while it's drying. Also, the color of this door does look different in sunlight verses shade. Consider lighting when choosing colors for your home.

Color: Antique Burgundy

Valspar / Satin sheen

Interior/Exterior quart

Color List: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

It's getting to that time of year when we review what we've accomplished for the year. Here is a list of the good, the bad and the ugly of my year in color. Here is just a few of the colors that stood out this year. I wish I was able to include color chips for these but I ran short on time. Enjoy!

THE GOOD 
from Valspar

Jalapeno Jelly • Wild Artichoke • 
Pine Needle • Dakota Trail • Epic • Shark Loop
Posh Red • Tomato Red • La Fonda Geranium Red 

Chestnut • Paprika • Burnt Brick • Butternut • Gourd 

Cowslips • Caramel • Pecan 

Behr

Outback • Rejuvenate
   

Sherwin Williams
Harmonic Tan • Mannered Gold 
Whole Wheat • Believable Buff 

Benjamin Moore

Soleil 

MOST USED KIDS COLOR

Cosmic Berry 

Valspar

THE UNEXPECTED

Wenge • Benjamin Moore  

Antique Burgundy • Valspar

MOST TRENDY

Sleepy Hollow • After the Rain 

Benjamin Moore

THE BAD

Prestige • Behr

THE PINKEST COLOR SCHEME

Heirloom Orchid

Dusty Violet

Prestige

Vintage Taupe

Road Runner

Chalk
Behr

Patio Doors - A design dilemma

Ah, the dreaded patio door. It's not that the door itself is a problem, it's how to dress it that's the dilemma. If I had patio doors, the way I would dress it is this. I would get 2" fluted drapery rods, with ornate finials and lined, custom drapery panels with large tassel  hold backs when the door was in use. I would treat it like any other window in the house but on a much larger scale. The fabric of course would match the rest of my decor.

What I would NOT use is the the most horrible window treatment ever invented - vertical blinds -it hurt even to type that.

There are other options available such as sliding panels but you would have to have a modern, more contemporary decor for this stye of treatment to fit in.

Ceiling fans; use them in the winter too!

Don't forget to reverse the direction of your ceiling fan in the winter months. This will circulate the warmer air then raises up toward the ceiling and send it back down.

Mailbox Wraps - Fashion or Faux Pas?

Something to ponder …

I prefer the natural approach to mailbox decoration. Do we really need to beautify the box that contains our bills? I think a wrap of pine garland and a red bow is just fine for the winter months and let Mother Nature assist in the summer with an abundance of flowers planted along the bottom of the mailbox.

  

From birds to fish to flags - there's a magnetic wrap for that. 

Is is considered fashion to have a mailbox wrap or is it a faux pas? 

I do like the chickadee's though. The fish needs to get thrown back in. 

What do you think? 

Blind Options for the door

Reliabilt

I've had a lot of clients asking what type of blind can they put on their door. If you don't want to have a custom choice like roman shades, 

Roman Shade

cellular shades  or plantation shutters, 

Cellular Shade

there are a few choices. One is a mini blind. They are a bit flimsy but very affordable. Choice 2 is a 2" faux wood blind which many clients choose. They are affordable and have a nice clean look to them. Both are available with hold down brackets so they don't go bouncing around when you open and close the door.The 3rd choice (shown at top of post) is a built in mini blind called Reliabilt and you can find them at Lowes. There is an attachment that you screw onto the door that has a mini blind inside of it. This is an excellent choice if you have pets or kids.

Soy candles - a healthy choice

You can even have  a green choice when it comes to candles. Soy is a natural base product and burns "cleaner" then the standard candle. Some regular candles contain lead! Why put all those harmful chemicals in the air? You can get this candle at any Lowe's for under $8 - cheap and smells great. My favorite is the Ground Cinnamon.

Bamboo - a “Green” choice for flooring

Did you know that Bamboo is actually a grass and can grow up to 4 feet a year? It's the fastest growing plant in the world which makes it a very green choice for flooring!

Pinks Worth A Mention

I just went shopping for a work out suit and was drawn to the brown and pink color combo. I know brown and pink have been around a while but I just love those to colors together and I'm not a big fan of pink so this was a good hit for me. Kinda cute . . .

Here are some names of pinks I think are worth mentioning.

Sherwin Williams

Gracious Rose -
Romance

Mellow Coral

Rosy Outlook

Oleander

Valspar
Pink Ice

Dress Pink

Pretty in Pink

Rosy Glow

Soft Pink

Benjamin Moore
Pink Harmony -

Fond Memory

Fruit Shake

Cool Lava

Heather Pink

April Pink

Fairest Pink

Pleasant Pink

Desert Rose

Playful Pink

I think that Benjamin Moore has the best selection of Pinks. On their Classic paint deck I would have to say it's a amazing array of “pinks / mauves” from 2105-70 - 2088-10

You can have your cake and paint with it too . . . sort of

photo by Vince Frasca

Just about everyone loves cake. It might not be this chocolate cherry with tons of whip cream cake but either way - you can get a color scheme from it. In this slice of cake there are rich browns, beautiful shades of red, rich cream colors (literally) and putting that all together,  you have one delicious color scheme. What do you think?

White Elephant beautiful and Sacred

A “white elephant” is a rare, pale elephant considered sacred to the people of India, Thailand, Burma, and Sri Lanka; in this country, it is either a possession that costs more than it is worth to keep or an item that the owner doesn't want but can't get rid of.

The Biltmore Estate at Christmas

Biltmore photos from www.Biltmore.com

When I lived in Pittsburgh, I was excited that I lived just a little over an hour from Frank Lllody Wright's Falling Waters. Now that I live in Charlotte, NC, I'm looking forward to seeing the largest home in American, The Biltmore Estate. Being an Interior Designer/Color Specialist - it doesn't get any better then this. 

Here are just a few fun Christmas facts of the Biltmore House.

•There are over 100 trees in the house

• over 30,000 lights inside

• 200,000 lights both inside and outside

• 10,00 fresh garlands

• 25,000 ornaments

and the beautiful Christmas tree is a 55 foot Norway Spruce.

  

These beautiful images are taken right from the Biltmore Library. The library has a  collection of over 23,000 books and some of the images can be seen at the Biltmore Collection for Artaissance that can be printed on paper or canvas to add to the decor of your home.

Imaging cooking in a kitchen without a Convection oven or microwave?

How about that blue? It's fun to see color trends go full circle. I guess we should say "recycled color" instead of "color trends". I believe Olympic paint has the Biltmore color collection and they also provide the forumula to mix each paint color they offer.