Name: Rebecca Szeto
Location: San Francisco
Type: Studio, rented

Why I use color:

I live for color! It really brings a space to life for me. I would describe my style as being flamboyant, french poodle flea market. When I first moved into my apartment, I loved all the mouldings and hardwood floors, but not the lack of light in the hallway or uneven wall texture. I also didn't have much furniture, so I decided colored walls as a backdrop would provide the biggest visual impact and unify all my eclectic collections of furniture, art and travel trinkets...

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To give my hallway a bit of oomph and airiness, I went over the existing off-white walls with a strie drag in a custom melon tone (flat finish), then added a tart, green stripe (satin finish) to balance out the sweetness. The different paint lustres add another subtle visual layer, which you see at an angle as you pass.

Color and texture go hand in hand for me. The living room has a little of everything. Seen in detail here, I painted a mossy linen-like crosshatch finish to create a sense of laid back formality and contrasted it with an artwork's organic markings and the "color pop" display of red dictionaries and objects.

2 good color tips:

1. Don't be afraid to experiment or repaint if necessary. I painted the hallway that melon color and found it really saccharin, so I devised a way to balance out the tone, and now it really works.

2. When choosing wall colors, consider what type of light (both natural and artificial) will fill a room. i.e. Trees outside can cast/reflect green inside the house, northern or southern exposure, using incandescent light (yellow) vs. halogen (brighter white) bulbs, torchere lamps (never!) or ambient light, task lighting or wall washers.

2 good color resources:

1. "The World of Interiors." Love the mag's sense of vibrancy and history.

2. My Trick Pony, a newish t-shirt store on 14th Street/Duboce, SF. Fun, vintage, graphic, kitschy.

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