Good Design Learns from History
February 4, 2010 § 2 Comments
This historic New England barn is original to the property, and its characteristic beauty helps to define the classic regional style. Owning an historic property can be a real joy for those whose passion is preserving the beauty of the past, but don’t think you have to own a historic treasure to enjoy the pleasures of a striking outbuilding.
If you need more space for a workroom or your vehicles, you can add a lot of character to your property by incorporating the unmatched elements, colors, and materials used in previous centuries to make your own history, whether it’s a barn, a large work shed, or simply your garage.
I get lots of questions about how to match exterior colors and blend materials between house and garage, but as you can see from this photo, there’s absolutely nothing matching between this barn and the accompanying house. From the unpainted board-and-batten style siding, brass lighting, and farm-style scale, this barn stands on its own. The colonial house has traditional, painted, horizontal lap siding and white windows. The bridge color between house and barn is black — the black windows on the barn carry over to the accent color on the house (note the black shutters and lighting as well as the black pergola and fence next to the driveway). By painting the wood accessories on the house black instead of leaving them natural, the unpainted barn takes center stage.
Even if you have no plans to build a major additional structure in your yard, keep this basic design principle in mind when you’re working on your exterior. Colors and materials do not have to match.
Contemporary Color Scheme
January 7, 2010 § 5 Comments
This contemporary home maintains its warm curb appeal even in the snowy winter months. It looks like the homeowner started with the fabulous stonework on the chimney and gable area and selected the siding and trim colors out of that. The dark rich chestnut shade is perfect for the body of this large contemporary home. When you are selecting a color for your home, don’t shy away from strong colors, especially if your home is large. Just make sure you choose a color that appears somewhere in nature so that the house fits into the neighborhood. With new construction, you can also work in the window color and the deck stain so that everything coordinates. Even the post light style picks up the pattern in the windows. Nice job! Let’s hope these homeowners have a sizeable snowblower! Yikes.
Pre-Teen Bedroom Makeover
November 6, 2009 § Leave a comment
This cork board from the Pottery Barn Kids catalogue was the inspiration for Hannah’s bedroom renovation. We decided to open up her rather small room by painting wide horizontal stripes all the way around the room in three different tones of blue-green with a white stripe between them. The treatment conjured up, at least in my mind, waves on the beach.
Then we punctuated the stripes with random placement of bright pink dot appliques, a perfect way to accessorize without adding anything permanent. White furniture, grass green/blue/white bedding with pink polka dotted pillows, and multi-colored awning stripes on the window completed the room. She was thrilled — so was I. What a fun project!
Traditional Colonial Explodes with Color
October 23, 2009 § Leave a comment
Picking a house color is a little tricky for some people. I realize that. And because I cannot bear to show you a photo of the real house I drove by the other day (to protect the innocent), I have pasted in a paint swatch from www.myperfectcolor.com just to illustrate my point. The color was used on the siding, trim, front door, AND garage doors.
When choosing a house color, paint a fairly large swath of the color on your house before purchasing a 10-gallon container of it. Also, make sure to pick some coordinating trim and door colors to avoid the “this color was on sale” monochromatic look. Ask your neighbors to throw in their two cents before you settle on a color. What you paint on your house can affect the entire neighborhood. And lastly, if the paint you selected does not seem to be what’s going on the house, stop the painter and make sure they have the right color. Don’t just let them keep going with something you didn’t order.
The name of this color is Sunflower Fields (174). Although it has a nice name and it sounds cheerful enough, sunflowers really belong on the front door (perhaps) or in the garden. What is the bright side for these homeowners (no pun intended)? Guests can find the house with no problem.
Paint Your Old Golden Oak Cabinets!
October 19, 2009 § 10 Comments
Saddled with old golden oak cabinets? Why not paint them. I did and it was very easy (though time consuming). I started by removing the doors from the cabinet base and unscrewing all the hardware. Then I lightly sanded all the surfaces. A good primer like Zinsser’s Bulls Eye 123 covered easily and provided a great base for the finish coat.
I used Valspar’s Kitchen and Bath Enamel in a Ben Moore color called Antique Parchment on the top cabinets and a Valspar color called Jekyll Club’s Cherokee Rust on the bottom cabinets (there, I plugged both companies). The cabinets looked great but I wasn’t done. In our house with kids, etc, etc, we tend to bang things up a bit so I mixed up a glaze that included some Cognac Snifter 1148 (a Ben Moore color used in an adjoining room) for the top cabinets and Branchport Brown HC-72 for the bottom. I painted the glaze into the seams and cracks in the doors and wiped it off with a rag. The look is rustic but cheerful and allows the new oil-rubbed bronze hardware to finish the room. And any future little scratches will not show. I love it!!
I tiled the backsplash (white primer in the before photo) with simple white subway tiles from Lowe’s. Not an expensive project, but I did purchase a wet saw for cutting the tile. (Looks like I have more tile projects in my future or maybe I can rent the saw out to my neighbors!) I am very happy with the end result, imperfections and all, and I do not miss my golden oak cabinets! I would highly recommend painting cabinets if a total kitchen re-do is not in the budget or if you’re planning to sell your house and you have ugly kitchen cabinets. The project will be worth it!
Color Your Front Door
October 2, 2009 § Leave a comment
The front door is your opportunity to give your house some personality and with very little money. Especially if you have a neutral color scheme everywhere else, like we see in this photo from Country Living Magazine (www.countryliving.com/…/budget-makeover-0206).
This beige and brown ranch style home comes alive at the front entryway with a glossy orange door, pumpkin accessories, and wrought iron as the metal for the lights and planters. That’s exactly what I’ve been encouraging homeowners to do on this blog for years.
The front door area is (or should be at least) the real focal point that draws your visitors in. A stunning coordinating color will let your friends and family know which doorbell to ring. Orange is a fabulous accent color — you cannot help but feel happy when you see orange. But other coordinating colors will work just as well.
Take inspiration from the colors in your yard, particularly by the front door. Rich blueberry, eggplant purple, sunshine yellow, and rosy raspberry all make terrific front door colors if you have any of those colors in your garden plantings already. Take time to focus some attention on that front door. It’s the easiest change to make on your house and it will give you a huge impact. If you need some help choosing a front door color, I’m at your service. Just email me at bmeglis@yahoo.com and we’ll set something up.
Basement “Man Cave”
July 11, 2009 § 28 Comments
This basement renovation project started with a request for a palette of brown and purple. Coming from a couple with impeccable taste in furnishings upstairs, I knew this would be a fun challenge. We inserted some green into the mix along with a touch of copper and brushed nickel and ended up with more of an upscale version of the typical “man cave” (obviously there had to be two large TVs in the space along with exercise equipment, a bar, a kitchen, and a pool table).
We started with two support beams in the middle of a large space so we built a granite-topped bar between them and divided the space into a media area, a pool table area, and exercise gym.
Instead of putting the large TV on the focal point wall, we decided to build bookshelves flanking a gas fireplace with a metallic tile surround. The Monet print above the fireplace is a nod to “The Thomas Crown Affair,” the homeowners’ favorite movie and the movie of choice on “Opening Night.” The purple and brown leopard print on the little bulbous rocking/swivel chair is my favorite piece in the room. And it’s so comfortable!
It’s All About the Windows
May 7, 2009 § 14 Comments
Whether we’re all craving light or fresh air, who knows, but the focus these days is on windows. And we’re not talking about the old standard white replacement models anymore, that’s f
or sure. Now we have choices from black to almond to green and even red. And whatever the shape of your space, we have a window to fit into it. Awhile back the trend was to update the interior lighting plan with recessed cans and spotlights, uplights, downspots, and all the specialized lamps you could imagine for your space. Now we’ve moved on to creating unique window plans to suit the house: clerestory, stained glass, enormous picture windows, and different styles of window mullions to fit the style of your house, from Colonial to Victorian to Mission. Even new homes can be made to look old — well sort of.
Word of caution: If you have an historic home or a home with a very definite style, you should try to repair the original windows before resorting to a replacement. There’s very good information at the following link to help you with windows in historic homes. Or any window decisions, for that matter.
http://www.oldhouseguy.com/windows.php
If you have old wooden windows, paint the window sash and mullions a coordinating color (black looks spectacular) to add life to your home. Those of us stuck with white vinyl are jealous…
In Times of Trouble, Paint!
November 25, 2008 § 24 Comments
If you’re hunkering down to wait until economic conditions improve before making changes to your home, just remember that a gallon of paint costs only about $23 (Valspar from Lowe’s). I’ve moved to Valspar from Benjamin Moore (they don’t pay me so I can do that) because the paint is a better value. I hav
e been very impressed so far with the quality of the paint, how it goes on the wall, and the ease with which Lowe’s will color-match. If you are trying to save money, and who isn’t, I highly recommend Valspar.
As we spend more time watching the news these days and less time at the shopping mall, a small painting project may be just what the doctor ordered. A gallon of paint can brighten your mood and make you feel like you have control over something in your life, even if it’s just an accent wall behind your sofa. Or try painting the wall behind your bed — you may feel more inclined to MAKE the bed in the morning and that activity alone will give your mood a boost.
A quart of paint will cover your kitchen backsplash. Choose a satin or semi-gloss finish for easy cleaning. With a roll of blue painter’s tape (another inexpensive purchase), you can make stripes or “tiles” on your backsplash and perk up a drab kitchen.
Kids love redecorating their rooms. Changing the paint color and moving the bed can inspire your child to take pride in keeping the room neat. And while you’re moving things around, why not go through the toy chest and decide which toys can move on to other kids.
If the economy has you down, do something fun. Paint!
How Current Events Affect Color and Decorating
September 18, 2008 § 20 Comments
For the past several years, post 9-11, we’ve cocooned in our homes painting them rich warm cozy colors like dark chocolate and rich rusty red, colors that evoke warmth and safety and home. Lately, we seem to be moving out of that intense color phase and into a new light phase with wall color being the first casualty. But I think we’re seeing more than just a design pendulum swing.
Those of us listening to clients and observing the trends are seeing a design fork in the road. One goes to neutral walls (there are millions of “whites” now) and pops of brightly colored hues, a la 1970s for those around then. One example of that is a spectacular room by HGTV’s color guru David Bromstad shown here.
The other is a move toward a palette of soft sophisticated hues all in very light values and all the same value from room to room. The hues may include grays (very hot this year) but also gray greens, warm beiges, light taupe and lavender, and very soft delicate colors that almost defy description. These breathless tints are paired with lots of white and often dark floors, like the photo below of one of designer Chris Barrett’s fabulous bedrooms.
My theory is that people are craving an uplifting light-filled, relaxed, decidedly happy-looking environment to come home to instead of the cozy dark cocoon look from years past. With everything awful in the news, from hurricanes to the stock market, people need visual relief if that’s all the relief they can get. And creating a light cheerful backdrop for the family may be one of the few things left under our control. And paint is relatively cheap when it comes to redecorating.
Note that in many traditional homes where antiques and fine furnishings are featured and where design trends come and go unnoticed, the wall color has always been creamy beige. Providing a very light neutral backdrop to show off all the wonderful items in the room is a traditional approach that will never go out of style. But for those of us who get inspired by color and who feel color and what it does for us and who change wall color almost as often as we refresh our wardrobes, I’ve had it with dark, at least for now. I need light and I’m off to buy primer. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Your Home & Color Coach 