Why don’t you paper your kitchen in black damask? OK, I’m officially using non-paint color submissions. This is an excellent way to show off your Kris Kringle cookie jar collection. Not a second too early for the post-holiday hangover.
Why don’t you paint your nursery Aruba Blue? Saturated colors are in this season--Aruba is the new baby blue. And this room belongs to a girl. Benjamin Moore Aruba Blue 2048-30.
Why don’t you paint your woodwork orange? Instead of an orange room with off-white trim, paint your room in grège and put the color in the details. My, what a beautiful harpy that is hanging over the toilette. Benjamin Moore Florida Orange 152.
Why don’t you paint your bathroom hot pink? I’ve written it before: everyone looks good reflected in the mirror of a warm-toned bathroom. It somehow puts a blush in the cheeks. Benjamin Moore Hot Lips 2077-30.
Why don’t you use a faux finish behind your credenza? Decorative painter Chuck Hettinger painted a wood grain pattern of knotty pine to complement his collection of Blenko glass. Very modern—you’d never know this from real paneling. chettinger (at) aol (dot) com, 212 614 9848.
Send me your colors! In 1936, Diana Vreeland began a column in Harper’s Bazaar titled “Why Don’t You…” which dispensed inspirational tidbits in her typically broad style. Such items were often based on color: “Why don’t you—as does Schiaparelli—wear violet velvet mittens with everything? Pin an enormous beige topaz on your beige suit?” Email pictures, a brief description and the paint name if you have it to colortherapy (@) earthlink (dot) net, and put WHY DON’T YOU in the subject line.
- Mark Chamberlain, interior and decorative painter
Veronica & Keith's Handmade Chic 
Before & After: A Bathroom Goes From Pinky Peach to Sleek and Chic
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Hunslet Dinner Plate
A Beginner's Guide to Superb Stir-Fry: Quick, Healthy Meals from a Wok
Easy Pitcher Cocktail Recipe: Strawberry Basil Margaritas
Comments (19)
That first pic looks like a scene from a horror movie. I think I am going to have nightmares now :(
But I *love* the pink bathroom with the Marimekko shower curtain!
Oooh, I love that hot pink bathroom with the Marimekko shower curtain too! I feel like rushing out to buy that paint. The fact that the color is called Hot Lips doesn't hurt either!
The black damask and santa jars are actually pretty witty.
Why don't I paper my kitchen in black damask? Well that's a very good question. I guess because it's revolting and makes me want to throw up? Is that a good answer?
The black damask is lovely! Where can one find it?
Hmmmm... in the words of Mister Wilfred Peterson:
“Champion the right to be yourself; dare to be different and to set your own pattern; live your own life and follow your own star.”
Why the heck not?
How about let's *not* paper our kitchens in black damask.
I kept looking for the punch line. That black damask as well as that santa clutter is truly awful.
... but that pink bathroom is to die for. I'm stopping at Home Depot tonight to pick up that color.
'Cause Aruba Blue looks like teal, and I had my fill of teal in the 80's! Yuck!
The black damask, with the primary colored clutter, is comptletely terrifying. I bet it would be really dramatic in a living room, maybe a half-wall with a chair rail, with a lot of creamy whites and warm grey.
But really, wallpaper, especially in a small kitchen? The smell, the grease, I can't see how it would be practical in any color, especially black.
No one has comment on the orange woodwork! It is gorgeous.
That black damask kitchen reminds me of one of the kitchens on "America's Ugliest Kitchen." It would get my vote. Santa? Time to go home.
i was actually planning on painting an accent wall in my room with the aruba blue color. hm. now that i've read these comments i feel i could be making a big mistake.
i was born in the 80's and missed the whole teal deal - would painting a room "teal" now be a-ok?
i say bring on the saturation.
Aruba blue isn't teal at all, actually (at least not in that pic). Teal is a different saturation, imo.(And you have to trust me, because I grew up in Miami during the 80s, so I know teal.)
I'd like to see more pictures of the black kitchen. I think the orange woodwork is incredibly beautiful... that pink is painful and tired though, however nice for the complexion.
brittany, why don't you post a question in the open thread for some suggestions on the shade of teal (or aqua?) you are looking for?
The black damask kitchen looks like a Victorian funeral parlor for dead Santa impersonators. But perhaps it would be helpful when trying to diet? I can't imagine being hungry in that room.
I say "Why don't you"-get a clue!!! That kitchen is U-G-L-Y!