Guest post at Bossy Color

What do you think of color design reality shows?

Head over to Bossy Color's blog for a guest post I wrote for her on "Covering the Spectrum with 'Color Confidential' "

Thanks for the invitation to write for you, Annie!

Musings on Color

This is neat. Rachel Berger, a graphic designer in San Francisco, shares a project she completed during her MFA program at the Yale School of Art.
100 Colors, 100 Writings, 100 Days

Every day for one hundred days (from October 30, 2008 to February 6, 2009) she picked a paint chip out of a bag and responded to it with a short writing. The examples are her favorite forty, each writing titled with the number of the day it was written (out of 100) and the name of the color from that day’s paint chip.

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I bought my first yam this week. I wanted sweet potatoes, which sound a bit friendlier, but the store didn’t have any. The yam is quite rooty, forever looking freshly pulled from the earth — something that is born, grows, and dies in darkness. It’s bumping around my cupboard now, rolling into view when I take out the sugar canister, tin of anchovies. It’s clumsy and bulky. I rudely shove it back, out of my way, further into the darkness.

What stories would you tell about this color?

Will color win over design?

Apartment Therapy is hosting their annual color contest. As the rules state, "In October, we're looking for the most colorful, beautiful room on the planet".

Will readers do right by us this time? Last year was a complete and utter disappointment, as readers voted for the most highly-designed space, but one that really lacked much color. (certainly through no fault of AT editors, who selected some -amazing- spaces for us to vote on)

"Colorful rooms are the heart of great homes, and adding color is the most affordable way to change a room, but few feel comfortable using it. To inspire confidence and improve homes, we're inviting readers to share their colorful rooms, tips and sources. Brand new in 2009 is our Personal Color Palette, which will allow each entrants to display their own color choices."

So head over to AT and make sure that the most colorful room wins this time!

Back to Reality

Okay, okay, okay, I will resurface from my jet-lagged fog. Actually, it's really nice to be back. Sleeping in my comfy bed (no more rock-hard twin beds shoved together as a "full"), eating food other than Italian, kissing my lovely dogs, seeing friends and family again.... Anyone who says vacations are relaxing must have been very selective about how and where they traveled!

So, as soon as I download and edit my pictures from our trip, I've got some great stuff to share with you from Italy. Just need to get my act together now!

Traveling the world in search of color knowledge

My color organization, the IACC-NA, is an associate member of the AIC, or International Color Association. While their website may be a bit dated, (cringe!) their data is cutting edge. We get regular updates about what's going on in the bigger world of color, and get to drool over international conferences we could only dream of attending (who has the money these days?)

Here's a little taste for you color foodies of the conference theme this coming year in Mar Del Plata, Argentina:

"Color in food is a new theme for an AIC meeting. A variety of topics will be presented from technology to design, including architecture, biology, chemistry, engineering, physics, as well as social and economic aspects. related to the production and consumption of food, such as: colorimetry, color & appearance, advertisement, color technology, lighting, color communication, color instrumentation, commercial architecture, consumer expectations, color chemistry, color design, color preferences, color physics, packaging, color psychology, inasmuch as these aspects are related to food.

The conference will be held at Hotel Dos Reyes, downtown, 300 meters from the seashore. "

Ahh, doesn't that sound divine?

In praise of yellow- tips for how to use it in your home

Last but certainly not least, our final guest post during my vacation from reality. Annie Elliott is a fabulous color designer in the Washington, DC area whom I discovered shortly -after- moving away from the area. Luckily for us, she writes a fantastic blog to keep us all grounded and in touch.

A recovering art historian, Annie worked in museums before realizing that her great love was interior design. She started bossy color 5 years ago and hasn't looked back. She brings her clients in the greater Washington, D.C. area streamlined design solutions and, of course, innovative color palettes. Through bossy color blog, Annie offers design tips and responds to readers' design dilemmas.

In Praise of Yellow
by Annie Elliott

If it were up to me, I'd paint the whole world yellow.

I guess it's good that it's NOT up to me, because I'm sure I'd miss the other colors soon enough. But I find that as an interior designer, yellow is often my first thought when asked...

"My foyer connects to my stairwell, which leads to the upstairs hall...what color would work throughout the house that isn't beige?" (The answer: Benjamin Moore's HC-6 Windham Cream)

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"How can I keep my family room lighthearted and fun?" (Farrow & Ball's 233 Dayroom Yellow)

"My son and daughter share a room. What color should I paint it?" (Martha Stewart's MS107 Orchard Ladder or Benjamin Moore's HC-5 Weston Flax)

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"How can I make my dining room warm and inviting without painting it red?" (Benjamin Moore's HC-12 Concord Ivory)

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Yellow is both historic and modern. It can be friendly or edgy.

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It looks great with black and white...

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...or in a rainbow.

I'm not even in love with a specific yellow. Obviously, the shade we ultimately select depends on the room, the light coming in, and the mood we're going for. All that good stuff.

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If you're not a fan of yellow, I'm not out to convince you. All I'm saying is, you have to admit that yellow is pretty versatile.

You might want to give it a chance.

Stuck in Neutrals- Getting Over Your Fear of Commitment

Today, I am thrilled to introduce to you Kelly Berg, interior designer, color consultant, writer, and all around lovely lady based in my neck of the woods, the San Francisco Bay Area. Many of you may already be familiar with Kelly from her insightful comments on Hue, and her own fantastic blog, Arte Styling. Vibrant and vivacious, I am delighted to know her.

Kelly began her design career in Los Angeles as a set decorator and stylist working in the mediums of TV, print, and film. She has worked with celebrities including Reba McEntire, Emeril Legasse, and Tia Carerre and has developed and produced projects for HGTV, The View, and Soap Talk. Arte Styling, established by Kelly in 2003, focuses on interior design and color psychology with the mission to inspire individuals and organizations to express their authenticity and truest vision. Kelly holds a B.A. in Interior Design from the Design Institute of San Diego and is a member of the IACC-NA.

Stuck in Neutrals
Getting Over Your Fear of Commitment
By Kelly Berg

There is a lot of confusion regarding “neutral” colors lately. Especially when it comes to our living spaces. Everywhere you look, designers and home experts are coveting these non- committal hues. But the definition of neutral seems to constantly be in flux. And when it comes time for selecting the perfect paint colors for the home, many homeowners are left feeling perplexed and overwhelmed. Before we all reach for the latest and greatest shade of beige, perhaps we should delve a little deeper and ask ourselves what exactly are neutrals and why do we want them in our homes anyway?

Let’s start with the definition of “neutral” colors.

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We’ve come to know “neutrals” in interiors as beiges, ivories and taupes. Some people describe neutrals as colors that aren’t on the color wheel. There is a perception that these “new neutrals”, as they are sometimes referred to, are calming and soothing - the perfect backdrop for any room because they “go” with everything.

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But true neutrals are actually grays - the hues that are created when two complementary colors are mixed together.

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And every season an even newer “neutral” seems to pop up on the color radar. One year it’s orange, the next it’s lavender. This year it’s gray, or “greige”, that is getting a lot of attention as the latest go-to neutral. (Ironic, since gray is really the original neutral!)

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We’ve been trained to think that being neutral is a good thing. The word “neutral” has a mostly positive connotation in our society. If we’re neutral, we’re not hostile. We are not out to offend anyone. We are calm and under control. We go along with everything and are considerate of others. We don’t take risks, we don’t make statements, and we don’t express our true feelings. We do and think as we’re supposed to and in doing so we live in a safe and uncomplicated world.

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But there are downsides to being neutral, especially when it comes to using color in our homes. Contrary to what many color, home and design “experts” are feeding us, neutral colors do not equate to neutral emotions. Too much “neutral” can actually create under-stimulating environments which can contribute to elevated stress levels. Humans are designed to require a certain amount of stimulation from our surroundings. And although our individual thresholds for color stimulation vary slightly from person to person, overall we do not respond well to overly-muted environments.

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So, if this is true, why has beige infiltrated our built environments to begin with? One theory, according to this Sherwin Williams Stir article , is that beige, and all of its incarnations, was popularized by builders during the post World War II housing boom. Because aluminum and vinyl siding materials were quick to fade they “began painting the siding in softer shades, blanketing the cities and suburbs in whites, beiges and grays” leading to a sort of “numbing effect on our society.”

So when we use “neutrals” in our homes are we, in a sense, stuck in the 1950s? Not necessarily. When most of us talk about using “neutrals”, we are usually referring to the desire to have colors in our homes that are both flexible and relaxing. We are not trying to recreate the 1950s. But somewhere along the way - with a little help from those mid-century suburban builders - we have developed a very inaccurate belief that to have flexibility and relaxation in our homes we are strictly relegated to beige. Nothing could be further from the truth.

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Do you ever say to yourself when gazing over a beautiful green meadow sprinkled with wildflowers, “I love this landscape, but it’s just not neutral enough for me. I really would have gone with Tawny Taupe for the grass color. It would be much more relaxing”?
No? That sounds rather ridiculous, doesn’t it? And isn’t nature the ultimate representation of flexibility and relaxation? Nature doesn’t care about being “neutral”, and neither should we.

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So, perhaps it’s time to clear up all this confusion and simply banish the word “neutral” entirely from our color vocabulary. What do we need “neutrals” for anyway? “Neutrals” were created out of fear. Fear of offending. Fear of committing. Fear of making the wrong choice. Fear of standing out and being different. But who wants to live in an environment built on fear? It’s time for us to
all say no to “neutrals” and happily embrace the hues that nature intended.

What's in a Name?

Today's post comes from another favorite colleague of mine, Elizabeth Brown. Always astute and inquisitive, Elizabeth has a unique take on color. Let's see what she has to share with us!

Elizabeth, IACC-NA, is a Seattle based color consultant, oil painter and occasional blogger and goofball. She enjoys engaging in reverie at water’s edge at her wee cottage in Bremerton, Washington and is especially fond of birds. Although she would prefer to be dwelling in 18th century France, Liz is guided and most grateful for the support from her family, friends and colleague, Rachel Perls, for leading her down a path to all things technological.

What’s in a Name?
by Elizabeth Brown

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The word… it makes our thoughts come alive, turns them into reality. So do words create color or does color demand description?

“Post card Perfect”, “Sheer Exposure”, “Zanzibar”. Could you tell me which colors these names represent? Did Cro Magnon Man have such color choices as he painted in his cave? Hardly. And who gets to name these colors anyway? Let’s see, if I were to add up the all the names of the different hues from all of my fan decks, there would be thousands of color titles. Believe it or not, some existing cultures have only four words to describe color. Linguistics professor, Paul Kay who has spent his life debunking linguistic relativity through the study of color states that the number of words that a culture uses to describe colors corresponds with its degree of industrialization.

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There was no word for mauve until the hue was accidentally created in the lab in 1856 by English chemist Williams Perkin as he attempted to synthesize quinine as a cure for malaria. The word orange did not exist in Europe until the fruit appeared as an import from the South China Seas. Is there a color we don’t know yet? Or should I say, read yet? Something not from our visible electromagnetic spectrum, something that might come from another galaxy, a chemist’s test tube or from our own earth’s uncharted deep seas? Or perhaps from even from our literary imagination.

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Oh, how to decipher all this colorful nomenclature! Maybe there’s a deeper meaning, a code to be cracked. Could Don Brown, the Free Masons or even Al Qaida be sending us cryptic messages through our fan decks? And maybe, just maybe, if you say all the names backwards, really, really fast, it makes the colorful sound of “Paul is dead?”

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The other day I saw a car named Chevy Cobalt that was red and another named Toyota Sienna that was blue. Now that is just not right!

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All of this talk about color naming has left me dazed and confused …hey…why do you think they call it taupe?

Sources:
“Draining the Language Out of Color” by Philip E. Ross, Scientific American, April 2002
Color – Messages and Meanings by Leatrice Eiseman
Bright Earth by Philip Ball
Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World by Simon Garfield

I'm "Boho Folk Retro Chic" What are you?

Today's post comes from Cherie Detwiler. We used to meet up monthly in the DC/Baltimore area for inspirational color field-trips. Sometimes it was a museum, special exhibit, or green resource store; other times, a cool restaurant. She moved to Los Angeles the very same time I moved to the Bay Area, and I miss our get-togethers. Okay, the mike is all yours, Cherie!

Since I’m a guest writer on Rachel’s color design blog, I figure the topic I choose will also tell you about myself and my style, yet open the door for all of you to look into the archives for color and design inspiration. My love for music and color is equal. So, why not merge the two and get inspired? The select three album covers are from singers/songwriters that hit my note and their album covers hit my style!

I'm "Boho Folk Retro Chic" What are you?
or Finding Color Design Inspiration in Classic Vinyl Album Covers
by Cherie Detwiler

Carole King/Tapestry
“Live in the colour of your dreams” - Carole King

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Carole King can jam on the piano while feeling at home in her bohemian setting from her Tapestry album. I love the translucent flowing curtains, rustic wood elements and the soft patterns on this album cover.

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This comfy bedroom has sunlight coming in that catches the saturated reddish hot pink tones that rest on a deep earthy backdrop. It pulls me in and I want to jump on the bed and read a great book from my tall pile of options.

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The workspace is where the imagination comes alive. Fill the room with inspiring pieces.There is a lot going on in this room yet the colors are soft and the transition smooth.The soft greyed down greenish blue walls, the earthy golds and the punch of rustic red. Write music, hum tunes or just play them in this space.

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This shabby “bohemian” chic room invites me in to daydream, from where all great ideas are born. Several framed eclectic pictures hang over top the daybed, typical of bohemian design. What I like is the shabby chic whites and pale wood tones moving into these soft yet bright pops of pink and yellow variations.

Bob Dylan / Bringing It All Back Home
“Whatever colors you have in your mind I'll show them to you
and you'll see them shine,” - Bob Dylan

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Good ole Bob, he “just keeps on keep’n on” and is a simple guy in a big scene. How about rock-n-roll Victorian style? Oh yea, I love the elements of a cool chaise by an ornate fireplace. This is where the guitar should be practiced with a glass of wine in this cozy ‘fallout shelter’.

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I'm not a huge fan of velvet YET, couldn't be happier to relax in this Victorian library room and feel like a rock star. This would definitely be the location of my album cover photo shoot! Sexy Victorian dressed in purple, blue, hot pink and limey yellows, I'm home.

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I really like this room holding an industrial Victorian look with its wallpaper, settee pieces and a huge steel designed wall divider. The colors in here are lively as red, deep pink and mauve tones sit in front of a rich blue wall. The green adjacent wall pops through the industrial divider adding an edgy coolness. This says to me, I’m fun and innovative. This office is truly inspirational for the creative energy field.

Elvis Costello/ The First 10 Years
“There’s a blue note in each song” – Elvis Costello

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What can I say? I love jumping around to Elvis Costello and his retro style. Give me a groovy chair and a retro-print accent wall and I’ll hang out there every morning with my coffee and newspaper. Bold colors separated by some white space – oh yea, I’m awake. Let’s go Costello!

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There it is, my groovy chair in lime green. A sophisticated retro look for the hard-working professional exposing clean lines, contrasting colors from black to lime green and some added warmth in the amber tones. I guess it's time to grow up yet it doesn't stop us from rocking out now and again.

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Le Retro? Awaiting my rocker friends to pick me up for a concert while primping in this way cool room. Sharp colors of purple, yellow and blue that say, “It’s time to live a little.”

These three singer/songwriters and their vinyl album covers really sum up my musical and design preference: I call it, "Bohemian Folk Retro Chic". Yup, that’s me!

I suggest you go on an adventure. Go to the place where old vinyls lay there waiting to be found and explore your musical and design style. So, which classic vinyl album covers reflects -you-?

New England Fall Palette

Today, we are oh so very fortunate to have Barbara Jacobs guest blogging for Hue! Barbara's website was the very first one I discovered when I began my eager search for information on becoming a color consultant.

An IACC-accredited color consultant based in the Boston, Mass. area, Barbara has worked locally and nationally for over 20 years to help people create supportive environments for home and business. Since 2005 her fine arts background and long-time interest in traditional textiles and textile design have converged with her passion for color, bringing to life her line of hand woven rugs, Silk Road Weaves.

Musings on End of Summer…Suddenly it’s Fall in New England
A transition from the hot, hazy summer to a fresh entry into new creative work.
by Barbara Jacobs

Is it something in the air? To me, it’s a different feeling and smell of the air, a change in the quality of the light, a feeling of activity and energy. Translating this into color is exciting.

I want to share with you some of my favorite images that express the feeling of seasonal change here in New England. The palettes I've created reference Ellen Kennon Full Spectrum paints.

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For those who are unfamiliar with this brand, I really like her paint because Ellen mixes her colors using pigments that reflect all the hues of the spectrum. Perfect for “fall” lighting, even colors that look grayed or toned-down have a luminous quality. The number of colors that go into each can of paint make it easy for you to use paint colors that do not exactly “match’ your furniture. There will almost always be a way to create a harmonious and unique environment. And isn’t that what makes it so rewarding?

Fall palettes draw heavily from nature; just look around you, the possibilities are endless.

Top left: Rust, top right: Citrine, bottom: Tulip Leaves, center: Peridot, bottom center: Silk Road Plum

Deeper, richer and more saturated on one hand,

Clockwise from top left: Bronze, Morning Yellow, Ginger Ale, Spring Green, and Olive (center)

and earthy hues on another. In any case, a punctuation of vivid accent or very dark outlines can add an energetic dynamic.

Clockwise from top left: Wedgewood, Spring Green or Jaunty Jen, Buttercup, Cognac, Kennon Ivy (center)

In Maine, on an island…a time to contemplate, do Nothing, watch the ocean, the sky.

Clockwise from top left: Sky, Stone, Camel Hair, Mustard Seed, Olive (center), Verdigris (center outline)

Crisp colors and the trees change color and texture almost before our eyes—while we get ready for the next season.

Clockwise from top left: Peridot, Milk Chocolate, Jaunty Jen, Terracotta Sand, Bronze (center)

Farmer’s markets still make available local produce—peaches, nectarines,

Clockwise from top left: Rust, Berry Red, Chestnut, Luminaire, Chartreuse or Jaunty Jen (center)

and the new Fall apples combine to create a sense of transition.

Clockwise from top left:Emerald, Wheat, Chestnut, Pumpkin Spice, Dean's Dream (center)

We’re starting to see the winter squashes with their protective shells and colors that are simultaneously vibrant...

Clockwise from top left: Sandy Lagoon, Parchment, Chestnut, Clay, Morning Yellow (center)

Clockwise from top left: Stone, Edgewood Green, Bark, Chestnut, Terracotta Sand (center)

and earthy, reminding us to be ready to take shelter and get warm.

Clockwise from top left: Silk Road Plum, Peridot, Magnolia, Amber, Jaunty Jen (center)

Changing leaf color—even if it’s not dramatically brilliant foliage—can be a beautiful color inspiration. Even desert colors will also be influenced by seasonal changes.

Clockwise from top left: Magnolia, Terracotta Sand, Mocha, Tuscan Sun, Dean's Dream (center)

Using color in our homes to express a transition in mood can be a challenge. Talking about paint, maybe you are inspired to make a change. Change in seasons often has that effect! So, wherever you live, I’d encourage you to look at your natural surroundings and think about what the changes have been from the previous season. Live near water? Is the river, lake, ocean that’s near you a different color than it was when it reflected the summer sky?

Enjoy bringing the seasonal change into your own home!

NOTE: as with all color representations on a monitor, please remember to see the actual paint colors for an accurate view.

all images copyright Barbara Jacobs

A colorful history of the wedding dress

Welcome back, Hollie! You might remember Hollie as a guest blogger for Hue. She always has something fun up her sleeve. Here's a little more about her:

Hollie Jackson is a LEED Accredited Professional and an associate member of the IACC-NA. She has been involved in color and material selection for interior and exterior commercial projects for the past 8 years. Hollie lives in Sacramento, California and hopes that all her research on wedding dresses becomes relevant in her personal life very soon.

A colorful history of the wedding dress
by Hollie Jackson

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Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Wedding Portrait has always been one of my favorite works of art. I love all the detail in the painting and how I discover something new every time I spend some time looking at it. I came across it while browsing the internet recently and had a thought: this is a wedding portrait, but she’s not wearing a white gown. It got me curious about the tradition of the white dress. I know that other cultures have different ideas about what colors brides wear, and I’ve read about the histories behind those, but I’ve never given the white dress thing a second thought. Just took it as something that is, was and always will be.

I did some digging and learned that Mrs. Arnolfini’s gown (painted in 1434) was green to symbolize the couple’s hope for fertility in their marriage (which is funny since she already looks totally pregnant. I guess that green gown did the trick!) Before white became the standard, most brides opted for color. Wedding gowns were meant to be incorporated into the bride’s wardrobe after the big day, so practical colors and fabrics were chosen.

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For the wealthy, the wedding ceremony was a time to show off the bride’s value and that of her dowry, so rich, opulent colors produced by expensive dyes were used. Blue, not white, was thought to represent purity, as well as fidelity and eternal love, making it a popular choice.

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The tradition of the white dress is said by many to have started with Queen Victoria. She chose white for her gown so that she could incorporate of piece of lace that she had into the design. Her wedding portrait was widely publicized and brides-to-be all over the world jumped on the white dress bandwagon. Who wouldn’t want to look like a queen on her wedding day? Since then, the queen’s color choice has come to represent purity and chastity, which seems appropriate since in Victoria’s day, even tables kept their legs covered to avoid appearing unseemly.

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Today, the white wedding gown (or its sisters in ecru and ivory) is still pretty much the norm here in the West. A few designers, however, are taking some chances with color. In some instances, the dress is still white with a pop of color found in a sash or other detail.

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And for the bride who wants something completely unique, there are options that forgo the white altogether. Check out this citrusy green number by Vera Wang. This dress apparently caused quite a stir at New York Fashion Week. Although Wang and other designers have had offerings outside of the white range for the past few years, most colored gowns tend to stay within the muted tones and still have a very traditional effect.

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Wedding attire in Eastern cultures is much more colorful. In this photo, showing traditional Chinese wedding clothes, or hanfu, the bride wears red, a symbol of good luck in her culture. Modern Chinese brides commonly have two or more wedding ensembles that they change into over the course of the day to mark different parts of the ceremony; one of these almost always includes a red gown.

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In India, the traditional wedding sari is also typically red, but modern Indian brides have many other colorful choices available to them like the one shown here in a beautiful gold and red combination. The most elaborate of these saris is made from the finest silk and richly-embroidered with thread made from real gold!

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The great thing about the modern wedding here in the West is that anything goes. Although the white wedding dress is still the only option for some, for brides with more colorful personalities, there are many, many great alternatives out there.

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And as our society becomes more and more globally-minded, I’m sure that the rich colors found in the East will regain popularity with Westerners and maybe eventually knock that tired white dress off of her pedestal.

Any engaged folks out there considering a non-traditional outfit for your special day? What about you all who have already tied the knot? Did you knock everyone's socks off in something unexpectedly colorful? Please share!