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ColorTherapy: Riviera Pastels

(Please note that during the month of August, Mark will be taking a break and running favorite old posts for your pleasure.)

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Possible Names: Cypress VM27, Cinnamon VM35, Pink Chiffon VM39, Capri Pink VM71...more below
Brand: Ralph Lauren

I experienced my first color explosion on the Riviera a few years ago and have scarcely painted a white wall since. I marveled at the use of color on buildings both inside and out, in a palette I call Sorbet and Baby Poo.

Salmon, apricot, saffron and dirty ochre are undiluted and shimmer against copper green window shutters and the sea beyond. These images were taken in Nice and nearby Villefranche-sur-Mer, and a cabdriver mentioned that buildings lining the port of Nice are required by law to remain pastel.

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I think colors like these would be smashing in a foyer or dining room. Homeowners: how do you feel? A pink house with green shutters might not fly in the suburbs I grew up in, but could be just the thing for a lakefront property upstate.

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Possible matches: Ralph Lauren Cypress VM27, Cinnamon VM35, Pink Chiffon VM39, Capri Pink VM71; Benjamin Moore Coral Gables 2010-40, Hydrangea Flowers 2008-40. (And just for fun, lets pretend the shutters were painted Seagrove, Ben Moore 653.)

- Mark Chamberlain, interior and decorative painter

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Comments (7)

There's a great stucco two family that's sort of dutch looking near my house. The neighborhood (in South St. Louis) is a sea of deep red and oxblood brick craftsmen and gingerbreads. What I would give to own that stucco house and paint it just the right pastel. Currently it's goldish. I think pastels can work in more areas than one might think, providing one uses the right palette. I say this because nothing looks better than salmon geraniums and "chartreuse" sweet potato vine on a red brick porch. So maybe salmon walls with darker green shutters. I should photograph the place and see what others have to say.

posted by Kurt on 2007-08-07 12:53:06
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I've been to Villefranche! Oh it is just so luxuriously beautiful.

posted by Sisero on 2007-08-07 12:59:25
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Salmon pink and green are such a beautiful color combo! I really like that chiffon pink.

posted by shani-o on 2007-08-07 13:11:19
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I cannot imagine “Sorbet and Baby Poo” being a good idea in a less sun-drenched land (like Canada for example).

But take the Greek isles on the other hand...
http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/images/photos/photo_lg_greece.jpg

posted by annalyssa on 2007-08-07 13:15:13
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Kurt, exactly where is this stucco house?

What pastel colors to you have in mind? We have a stucco house, but I wouldn't want to go all Miami Vice.

posted by Jon_B on 2007-08-07 14:12:59
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i stayed in villefranche for three months last summer, and the photos do not even begin to do the town justice...there are some absolutely gorgeous buildings, and in the sun they just radiate.

jean cocteau's saint pierre chapel is spectacular.

posted by sgnt13 on 2007-08-07 14:53:45
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Annalyssa --

Calgary is pretty sun-drenched... you actually have to load up on pigment because it gets bleached out so quickly... Calgary requires a whole different colour pallette because of the nature and quality of the light...

posted by monika1 on 2007-08-07 17:07:16
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