Name: Stephen
Location: Seattle
Type: 2-bdrm condo, 850 sq ft, I own
Why I use color:
More than anything else I can do to my home, using color brings me joy. I have an emotional response to color and living with it in my home actually makes me feel more contented. Working with color is also an exciting and fulfilling creative endeavor. Painting is such a simple and affordable thing to do and there is no better way to make a place home. . .
. . .Color came alive for me on my first trip to Paris about 10 yrs ago. It wasn't at the Louvre, but in the housewares dept at B.H.V. (Parisians’ answer to Target) that color became a passion of mine. Toasters, grills, espresso machines, plates, tablecloths - all in a wider variety of colors than I'd ever seen before. After that, I was hungry for more color in my life. Another big lesson has been not being intimidated or fearful of using color. I'm sure some people question my choices, but in the words of Tim Gunn, "It's a matter of taste."
2 good color tips:
1. Find an object you love and build your palette around it. It doesn’t have to be the color that you love, it could be texture or just your emotional response. You don’t have to decorate with it, use it as your starting point. Shop for colors (paint or objects) that make you feel the same way.
2. Shop different paint brands/stores. Each brand has a base that affects the colors they can create. If you don't like one brand of reds, look elsewhere. Don't hesitate to pull your palette together from multiple sources to get the combination just right.
2 good color resources:
1. VisiBone.com. This is a site primarily used for developing color schemes for websites. Use it to put together combinations to get your imagination going.
2. Goodwill – Go for the sole purpose of looking at the colors. The no-frills setting let’s all the color stand out. Old clothing, discarded housewares, and used books come in colors the paint stores never put on chips. And if you find the perfect color, it’s usually cheap to buy and have matched at your paint store of choice.
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Comments (12)
I hate to be the one to say it, but this looks like it belongs in a cool apartment contest and not a color contest. Maybe it's my monitor, but I see a sliver of a pink wall, a sliver of an awesome shower curtain (where is it from?!) and one interesting painting. The rest of it looks like a celebration of neutrals, and that doesn't really excite me. Neutrals are very nice but I want to see a pic of that pink wall or something! I think there needs to be a separate contest for fabulous use of neutrals. Sure this is lovely but where is the color? Is it really my monitor? I'm abstaining on this one because I just don't get it.
The carpet tiles are a good tool but the randomized layout in such a narrow hall makes the walls seem to pull in. Try creating a repeating pattern with the same tiles to give the sense of more flow and structure.
Love your shower curtain. Wish we could see what you have done with that room. Great place overall
I disagree with the nay sayers... while I'm a huge fan of saturated colors and rich, deep tones, I don't think color always has to be so bold and immediate. There's something to be said for subtly with a splash of something thrown in that really pops. Granted, I'd like to see more of that pink in a picture (and I normally hate pink) to get an idea of how it's being used but overall, I think it should be about balance and where an apartment needs to be restful in one area and energizing in another.
And I love the carpet tiles and their randomized placements as I think a pattern in such a small hallway would make it close in just that much more actually.
I personally love the hall tiles and think that this is a nice place. But where is the color? Wrong contest...
I know the contestant personally, and I have to say, I think these two pictures don't capture the colour usage as well as some others might. The entire living room is missing! As for the kitchen, that painting and the green do appear less vibrant on this image than in person, by about 200%.
The bathroom is an excellent, simple, unbelievable colour story (not shown well) and the office where we see that bit of pink wall is just not ready for display, but it will look great.
I think this was a case of the contest being too soon! The man just moved in!
As for the use of colour, I agree with another commenter - good color isn't always big color. Subtle color can tell a complete story and capture the imagination in ways that do not make you stop and say WOW! LOOK AT THAT PINK! ICE BLUE! ORANGE!
I love the whites with the bursts of color. It's all at once vibrant AND soothing. I think it's masterful how the snips of green play with the field of pink as you hop scotch down the hallway.
A narrow hallway is always going to be a narrow hallway no matter what you do to it. I'd rather see honesty in design than smoke and mirrors. 8ft of giddy is always more fun than 6ft of drudge.
Nice. Playful. Sophisticated. Most of all fun.
Color? More like UN-color. I can't beleive this could be in a color contest.
I dont really like this room it is to dark for my liking. of course it shows color but as soon as i saw this room it brought me in a bad mood. Try to lighten the mood of the room up.
Very nice. Would like to see more!
Black and white used this way ARE colors. It is hard to pull off looking good with the main colors as black and white. The small bursts of other colors really bring it all together. I like it a lot!
The hallway is so interesting. The use of black and white in a color contest is just as valid as the use of fushia, purple and the green that everyone keeps complaining about. It's all a matter of how it's used. It's definitely used to great effect in the hallway. The other room, however, doesn't do anything for me.