Ceiling Drama
January 17, 2012 § 2 Comments
If your room has a high ceiling or an interesting shape or slope, paint it for maximum drama! This restaurant has creamy woodwork (molding, columns, and wainscoting) everywhere except the ceiling and the stairwell walls. There, the paint color is a soft gray-blue. The effect is summery, warm, cottagey, and welcoming especially with the dark hardwood floors and accents.
Lighting is bronze, industrial on the ceiling and sconces for warmth along the wood walls. Mirrors double the width of the long and narrow space.
The food? (oh yah, that was excellent too!)
Choosing House Colors: Taupe?
January 10, 2012 § 3 Comments
When selecting the palette of colors for your exterior, use natural materials in the environment as your inspiration. This stonework has all the colors you need for your entire house, from the dark charcoal of the roof to the taupey gray siding and even the orangey brick walkway. 
Tying your house color in with its surroundings “grounds” the house — it looks like it belongs there. A house that strays too far from the natural palette looks more like a spaceship that has landed on a foreign planet. Don’t do that to your neighborhood. Save your taste-specific color applications for inside the house.
Choosing House Colors: Lavender?
January 6, 2012 § Leave a comment
Looking for a versatile neutral? Ever considered lavender? There’s something really appealing about this color as long as it has gray undertones. In different lights, the color can go from blues to grays and paired with cream trim and dark brown wood accents, it has a richness that is refreshingly unexpected.
In Old San Juan, we see this color in, of all places, the blue tile bricks on the streets. But of course lavenders are found in nature in most climates so I would feel free to add lavender to your crayon box of house color possibilities. Just keep the shade subdued (nothing too purple) and like many other complex hues, lavender will be a head-turner in your neighborhood.
Choosing House Colors: Lime Green?
January 3, 2012 § 2 Comments
In many neighborhoods, the homeowners who chose this house color might be run out of town but not in this neighborhood where the color is prevalent in nature. The lime green (bordering on neon) fits right in! We see it here in the rainforest of El Yunque in Puerto Rico. What a happy, stimulating hue! And how appropriate to borrow it for a house color on that island paradise. It helps to pair this strong acidic color with a coffee brown or even black just to balance out the palette. 
But it works.
Use your home’s environment as inspiration when choosing a house color. But if you do not see the color in nature’s palette, then reserve the color for inside. Otherwise, your home might become a lighthouse beacon in the neighborhood. Great for identifying your house in the dark, but that’s about it!
Christmas in NYC
December 10, 2011 § Leave a comment
New York takes on a special character during the holidays: strolling down Madison Avenue, walking by Macy’s window, and being part of the busy crowds of shoppers. All of that says Christmas like nothing else. The big, the bright, and the beautiful!
One challenge to decorating NYC for the holidays is how to make what is already glitzy even more noticeable and memorable. The answer? Big oversized displays and lights — lots of them — as we see in these photos.
Another challenge to decorating NYC is the scale. One example of a large venue that usually needs little embellishment is Radio City Music Hall. With its gilded walls, it’s already dressed for the holidays. But designer Thom Filicia and his team found a way to add drama to an already-dramatic lobby. They hung a white crystal Christmas tree from the ceiling — an imposing focal element as you enter the building. He documented the project on Christmas at Radio City Music Hall (an HGTV special: http://www.hgtv.com/radio-city-holiday/show/index.html) and after seeing the program, I checked it out. Even with all the crowds milling around the lobby, the decorations make a huge statement.
The take-away from this study in light and scale is something you can use at home. Go big with your wreath and other Christmas ornamentation or if it’s small (like lights), have a lot of them. If it seems too big from the house, it’s probably perfect from the street. Here’s a tip for decorating deciduous trees: wrap the lights around each of the branches and then the trunk. You will get a much more dramatic effect than simply winding the string of lights around the outside as if it’s a typical Christmas tree.
Enjoy your holidays!
Who Says You Can’t Paint Your House Pink?
November 10, 2011 § Leave a comment
Pink can be a tasteful house color for old Victorian homes and even new-construction homes with made-to-look-old character. Ranging from bubblegum to rose to petal pink and even lavendar, you name it — we’ve seen it.
Although some homeowners may go a little over the top with the pink, here’s a house that I find to be really well done. The soft ballet-pink hue is paired with creamy white trim and topped with a medium gray roof. What works so beautifully for this property is that the gray is carried over to the garage outbuilding that stands alone completely in both style and color. By limiting the pink to the house only, the homeowners have balanced what might be considered a soft feminine palette with a dose of solid, neutral dark gray — a touch of masculinity, if you will. The design principle of balance, the yin and yang, is evident here. And it works!
Sporting a Patriotic Color Scheme
November 7, 2011 § Leave a comment
With all due respect to my international bloggers, this house sings America the Beautiful to me every time I drive by. This time, I stopped to capture its beauty and share it with you.
What makes this red, white, and blue color scheme work so perfectly is the balance of color between the candy-apple-red siding and the creamy white trim. Notice on the flag hanging on the door that, for the most part, neither the red nor the white stripes dominate. Both colors balance each other. That same effect is evident on this house — the exceptionally wide trim painted a soft cream keeps the red from overpowering the house. Just like the flag, the house is balanced.
Navy blue accents the doors — just like the small block of navy blue in the upper lefthand corner of the flag provides a contrasting backdrop to the white stars.
If you have an old farmhouse or an outbuilding on your property that you would love to feature, consider painting it red with creamy white trim and navy blue doors. Hang the flag out front. You’ll attract attention but go ahead. Be proud!
Color Your Windows
November 4, 2011 § Leave a comment
Although it’s a commitment, there’s a growing trend in windows to replace white with color — like these beautiful blue mullioned picture windows shown as a backdrop to outdoor furniture from the Ballard Designs catalogue (www.ballarddesigns.com). Red is another great window accent color as is the ever-present forest green.
When choosing a window color, decide whether you want your windows to stand out (white windows already do) or blend into the siding color. Choosing a color that is not in your house palette already except for maybe the front door will pop your windows right off the front of the house. Picking a window color that is already in the palette of your house (taupe, for example, to match stonework) will blend the windows. Particularly nice if you have a lot of little tiny windows and prefer a less busy look for the house.
As with all color selection, contrast or the lack of it will determine the end result. But don’t pick white just to be safe. Think color!
Freshen Your House Color: Paint Your Trim
October 21, 2011 § Leave a comment
Amazing what just a little paint can do to freshen up a house. Just changing the trim color from siding color (beige) to white brought this house from drab to defined. Suddenly the architectural details emerged: the substantial window trim, the fascia and soffit, and the detail around the front door. A simple fix really but effective.
Houses need contrast. When choosing a trim color, select either a 
different color from your siding or a different shade of the siding color. Not only will the house be more updated and interesting to look at, but also the house will look as if the entire house was repainted, not just the trim.
Bold, Beautiful and Blue Roof
October 1, 2011 § Leave a comment
Some houses whisper. Some houses shout. This house sings opera! What makes this house so melodic is perfectly obvious to everybody who drives by. It has the most incredible roof and door color: a rich sapphire blue like you’ve never seen before except maybe in the Mediterranean. We’re certainly not accustomed to seeing that color on a traditional burgundy brick colonial, usually relegated to browns and charcoals (not that there’s anything wrong with browns and charcoals — I love them too).
This house tosses conventional color schemes out the window yet manages to look both whimsical and classy at the same time. It peeks out from behind big shade trees making it even more alluring to passersby. Like a secret garden around the corner, the act of discovery is part of the thrill.
The door color alone would be quite a find, but the fact that the roof is the same rich blue makes this house an opera star I want to discover again and again. Big applause!!
Your Home & Color Coach 