$1,000,000 Home but NOT $1,000,000 Color

Do you believe that this is a room from a home priced OVER $1,000,000? It looks like it came for the movie set of BeetleJuice with crazy colors, oddly shaped furniture and mixed matched styles. I'll be surprised if it sells any time soon. Which is a shame because there is such an easy fix to this debacle of a room and it's called COLOR.

Where to start? “A” of course. Let's talk about mirrors.

A - MIRRORS

If you're selling your home, a good place to start is with a fairly plain mirror, not one that looks like it's been melted in a fire or sold at auction from a Louis XIV collector. You may love the mirror but keep in mind, the potential home buyer may not.

Keep color in mind, size and the style of the mirror to accentuate the decor of your room. Perhaps this Travertine mirror would look a bit better. The color of the travertine matches the trim in the room, the shape is a bit better and the style suits the room. 

Personally, I wouldn't put a mirror on this wall unless it reflects something fantastic. I would much rather see a beautiful painting here to pick up on the color scheme - a new color scheme, not the one seen in this room.

Manet's Last Flowers

New color scheme

B - SOFA

This is actually a bit funny to me. There's just something about velvet furniture that makes me laugh. Why do I keep thinking about that BeetleJuice movie? If you saw the movie, you'd understand.

Ok, again, it you're trying to sell your home - get rid of the velvet sofa. No one likes it and it's just not a selling feature in the home. You can always purchase a classic, beige leather sofa and it'll match just about ANY decor in your new home. Green velvet? Not so much.

You can choose any style sofa you'd like but keeping it a cream, beige or just about any neutral color is a really good idea.

C - COLOR

This is where the room went horribly wrong. Orange faux painted walls? Really? Let's get rid of the scary orange walls and make them soft, semi neutral and colors that will match that gorgeous area rug. That poor rug looks like it's screaming to get out of the room! It just doesn't belong with ANY of those colors.

A really fast and easy way to come up with a color scheme for your room is to pull a few colors straight out of an area rug or even drapery. Doing this will make a HUGE difference.

Temperate Taupe • Breathless • Rice Grain

Soft, classy colors from 

Sherwin Williams

Another good point is that you don't have to use beige through your entire home when selling. It's boring, and unless it's the right beige, your home could look like a bandaid with a pinky beige. You can choose color but make it soft, classy and light.

www.DecoratingbyDonna.com

Rating HGTV's Color Collections

Here I've shown you three very different looks you can have for your home. Trust me when I tell you that I've seen all these looks in a home, which is fine. If we all chose beige for our homes, how dull would that be?

These color combinations were taken from the new HGTV Color Collections by Sherwin Williams. It's a similar color concept to my Color Recipes© but the difference is my Recipes use a single food subject and HGTV uses various inspirations to achieve their color palette. Using too many inspiration pieces provide a color scheme that may be related but are too far away from each other on the color wheel to be united for a transitional color scheme for the home. Hmmm, I wonder if they'll be tweaking their collection anytime soon?

Using a single inspiration piece insures that the colors are more closely related. The HGTV Color Collections seem to be jumping all over the place, having said that - not a fan of the these collections to choose color for your home but it is at least a starting place to use as just a  “guide”. 

This is the “Pizazz” color collection. If you choose these colors for your home, you'd have one Quilty looking home. 

How do I rate the HGTV Color Collections? Not so well. I give it a 2.5 out of 5 brushes.

You have to be really careful how you choose color for homes that have open  floor plans. This is my speciality so if you are in the South Charlotte area, contact me and together, we can choose the RIGHT colors for you - and you WILL have a 5/5 paint brush rating for your home!

wwww.DecoratingbyDonna.com

Reds, Whites & Blues of Sherwin Williams

TRUE REDS

For the Memorial Day spirit I wanted to do a little red, white and blue post for you, featuring Sherwin Williams colors. Here are some of the prettiest reds, common whites and some popular blues that I've worked with in the Charlotte area. Have you used any of these colors?

Some of these “true” reds I've used mostly for boys rooms - oddly enough - as accent colors.

COMMON WHITES

I RARELY use whites but here are a few that are some 

of the common ones that I've used either for 

ceiling color or for trim.

POPULAR BLUES

Blues were and still are HUGE in Charlotte. 

Both the softer coastal blues and brighter nautical blues 

were used all over the house

 from bathrooms to living room ceilings.

Now go show your colors and enjoy your Memorial Day. 

Be safe, have fun and remember 

the real meaning of our Memorial Day celebrations.

Bright, Bold and Beautiful Neons

Love my neon colors! Who remembers the 80's when just about everything was neon? It was a time of some of the best color ever - if you like bright, bold beautiful color.

These shocking fluorescent colors are from the Pantone collection of nylon brights for fashion and home. Fashion and home? You're probably saying “Yes, I can see these bright colors for fashion but how would I use these neon colors in my home?” Great question. Here's some answers.

Where can I use neon colors in my home?

You  can use neon colors just about anywhere - in the right application. For example, these bright Corian colors can be used in your bathroom for a nice splash of color.

What about bright colors for my walls?

That's exactly where it would look best! Here's a great color for a girls room. It's Cosmic Berry and it's a Valspar Ultra Premium color. I've used this color at least a dozen times for the girls - requested by them. The age group for this color is 10-14 years old and, it was used as a total color not just an accent! 

Don't like purple?

Try green, red, orange or blue.

Keep it bright!

designed by Donna Frasca

PAINTING TIP:  When painting with very bright and bold colors, a primer is highly recommended. Have your primer tinted to the color that you'll be applying to the wall. For instance, if you're painting with Cosmic Berry, have your primer tinted to a light purple. This will reduce the amount of paint you need to apply to get full coverage. DON'T USE YOUR EXPENSIVE PAINT AS A PRIMER. Some people will not use a primer so the first coat of your paint will act as a priming coat. 

I highly recommend this tintable primer by VALSPAR

What if I don't need a countertop or I don't want to paint. How else can I use neon colors?

You're right! Not everyone is in the market for a countertop or feels like painting. Here's an easy solution. 

Accessories!  You can be a kid in a candy store with all the bright, bold colors that are in our retail stores now. This is where fashion and home colors come together.

Look as the amazing color you can add to a bathroom with just towels. Have a white bathroom? This will be just the right pop of color you'll need.

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Or the colors of Crate & Barrel

Let me know if you need help choosing 

these bright colors for your home … or a good pair of sunglasses.

www.DecoratingbyDonna.com

How to Choose Beige

Benjamin Moore

You have to be careful with beige. 

It's not as safe as you think.

This furniture showroom shows a nice assortment of beige.

How can you go wrong choosing a neutral color?

Very easy.

Sofa shown in a darker beige.

Maria Killam, a Designer and Color Expert in Canada, points out that you can accidentally choose a “pinky beige”. Not sure what that is? Click on the link and see, you'll definitely want to know.

Tile shown with “yellow” beiges.

Now that you know about the dreaded “pinky beige”

You should also be warned about

“the bandaid colors”

Bandaids are for cuts - not for walls.

Can you see a bit of green in this beige?

Color Tip: Now that you know a bit about beige, start with a great neutral color for your carpet. It's the most “beige” that you will see in your home. Make it the right one!

Still not sure what beige to choose? 

Here are two Sherwin Williams colors that are very universal.

If you're still hesitant about beige or are afraid that you'll choose a pinky beige or a bandaid beige, you can contact me. I specialize in choosing color for  the homes in Charlotte but you can also email me if you are not in South Charlotte.

www.DecoratingbyDonna.com

Catching Fireflies, and Glowing Greens

Remember when we were kids …

Catching fireflies in jars …

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In awe just looking at the bright green color that came from one fly …

Benjamin Moore

Now you can capture that memory with these Benjamin Moore, REALLY, glowing greens! You'll really have to LOVE glowing greens to pull this look off but have fun, be a kid again and enjoy your bright greens!

Does Your House Look Like A Quilt?

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Quilts. Beautiful colors, works of art and yes, very colorful!

But do we want this look on our walls?

NO!

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We can get great color inspiration from quilts. There are some pretty wild color combinations in the quilting world. Some are soft and muted, some are very bright and look like works of art and some contain just about every color under the sun - which is fine - for a quilt.

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This is where quilts belong - on a bed - not on our walls.

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Just ridiculous.

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I feel your pain though. I've been in hundreds of homes where I've seen at least a dozen colors splattered all over the walls. I know you want to see what the color looks like but PLEASE DON'T PUT SAMPLE PAINT ON YOUR WALLS!

Why? Because …

1. If you're painting on a surface that already has a color on it, the “true” sample color won't be represented.
2. You won't get the true color with just one coat.
3. White walls? White will bleed through your sample color again, resulting in a poor sample. 
4. Most samples come in a satin finish. You'll have “satin” blocks all over your wall. You will have to prime before you paint the final color. Most people don't choose satin as the main sheen for their home.
5. Light. So you paint a sample color on one wall. What about the other walls? Are you going to paint samples on ALL the walls? Not a good look. Color will look different on each wall depending on the lighting.
6. What if your home wall is red, and you want to paint it light blue? How many coats of sample paint will you need so the red doesn't show through?
7. Time. Something came up and now your painting project is on hold. Now you have a quilt on your walls for everyone to see. This is bad.

Solution. 

Small Wall® paint sample boards.

I highly recommend these boards instead of quilting your walls. I've tried just about every sample board available and there IS a difference. Most others are made of a paper, similar to oak tag or mat you'd use for artwork. This is NOT the best way to do it.

Go ahead and click on the Small Wall link and visit their website. Julie Boney, the inventor of Small Wall will tell you her story and how she came up with this brilliant idea.

What can I say about Small Wall? I provide them for my clients. Please trust in the professionals, we use products for a reason - because they're good!

www.DecoratingbyDonna.com

The Colors of Barbara Barry

Barbara Barry

As I was multitasking in my office this morning, I was looking at the gorgeous fabrics and colors of Kravet and also looking at all the Blogfest 2011 excitement on Twitter about Barbara Barry. Unbeknownst to me , they are connected - in color.

Wow - Barbara Barry is a new name to me and I'm glad I found her. She has a Youtube video of her Kravet Collection that is so soft and delicate. It reminds me of the coastal colors that you hear me speak of often.

So I thought it would be fun to use her designs as color inspirations for my clients here in South Charlotte. Just a reminder, I'm a Color Specialist who chooses colors schemes for large homes, particularly homes with open floor plans. Barabara's color schemes are exactly what I usually choose for this type of home.

These are soft, muted, almost watercolor like colors that flow beautifully from room to room. Each room gets it's own color with a subtle difference as you transition from a parlor to dining room. 

Here's some of Barbara's designs and color by Benjamin Moore that come close to the look of her rooms.

  

Like this look?

Raindance • Sweet Caroline

Benjamin Moore

Like this look?

Magic Potion • Seaspray

Benjamin Moore

Like this look?

Stolen Moments

Benjamin Moore

I LOVE these colors! You can get this soft look for your home and I suggested a few colors to get you there. If you need additional help with color and Barbara Barry isn't available, I'd love to help you out.

www.DecoratingbyDonna.com

If you need to sample color, don't paint it on your wall.

Small Wall® paint sample boards is what I recommend

Savage Color For Your Home

Who doesn't like the colors of a wild tiger? We see tiger print in shoes, bedding, clothes, wallcovering - just about anywhere and everywhere. Like it that much? Put it in your home. Here's how.

I like to keep the foyer and hallways a light neutral color. Let's go with the lightest color in this savage color scheme and use Mansfield Tan by Benjamin Moore.

This hearty green goes with many granite countertops and also complements most kitchen cabinetry.  Medieval Times looks like a good match. This kitchen opens up into the living room so don't be afraid of using a darker color. You an also add the foyer color to the wall space under the countertop for color contrast if you don't want too much Medieval Times in the kitchen.

Get warm and cozy with Amber for the living room. It'll be a nice contrast with the white trim and remember it has to match the kitchen - and it does! Keeping mind that there are three fairly large windows that will add light to this room. Don't be afraid to use darker colors. You can always lighten up the room by adding beige accents to add contrast.

So many people love red in the dining room but it has to be the right red. No candy apple red in this dining room, it's more like Southwest Pottery that will add just enough red hue for you. The contrast with the cream color, which is actually the foyer color, is one classy combination. 

I incorporated the foyer color in the dining room because usually, the dining room is right off the foyer and therefore, these colors really have to look good together.  

DESIGN TIP: When you choose color for your home with an inspiration piece such as this tiger ALL the colors will match. It's a win win way of choosing color. You can mix and match these colors ANY where in ANY room and it will match. Just keep in mind your lighting. You may want to avoid using a dark color in an already dark room or visa versa.

Keep in mind that the ceilings in this home are not that high so using these strong colors will close it in but so what? It's gorgeous color and the home is beautiful too! Enjoy you savage inspiration and of course add a splash of tiger print here and there just to remind you where you inspiration came from.

www.DecoratingbyDonna.com