Name: Lisa from VA
Location: Richmond, VA
Type: 1-bedroom apartment rental
Why I use color:
I use color because bland does not reflect my personality or my tastes. I prefer lots of color around me to lift my spirits and provide light when nature and architecture fails.
After painting (and repainting) a few white rooms over the years, I changed my tack. Using accessories and furniture to bring in color is more practical and definitely more portable; I can now take my color with me when I move.
As my furniture is very affordable (read cheap); being IKEA, thrift store, and yard sale finds, there is no guilt in revamping pieces to see them in a new light. I now paint my furniture in luscious colors and use bold fabrics to add both color and pattern to my rooms.
Rental apartments have always frustrated me with their off-white walls. After two years here, I am going to broach the subject of painting with my landlord. I have put it off because of the amount of work it will entail since my walls are thirteen feet tall. I am thinking of a pale teal in the bedroom and a buttery yellow in the living room to reflect the sun's rays.
2 Good color tips:
1. Make note of great color combinations when you see them. Notice the main colors and the accents in these combos. You can then appropriate them in both your decor and in your wardrobe using the accents for your accessories.
2. Find patterned fabrics that appeal to you. You can then pull colors from the pattern because you already know that the combinations appeals to you. I have two separate color palettes that are based on two fabrics that I bought in bulk.
2 good color resources:
1. Magazine layouts for any product. Someone gets good money to discover that baby blue and brown; slate gray and cranberry red; brown and pink; and orange-red and hot pink all work as great color combinations. They already did the hard work.
2. The trusty color wheel used in art classes everywhere. Instead of taking a handful of paint chips shopping I can just take the color wheel with me to see if something will work with what I already have. The wheel helped me realize that I was using all tertiary colors yellow-greens, blue-greens, and red-oranges, in my design.
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nice work...i'd love to see closer pics of the cabinet fronts, because from the view posted here it looks like fluorescent printer paper stuck on. I'm sure you did something way different (painted back of glass cabinet fronts, for example). I've got similarly bland cabinets, except with ugly, rustic faux-forged iron hardware, and I'm considering a makeover.
I do like the color choices but the design as a whole seems to fall short. I'm confused as to what it was supposed to be. It is a really tricky thing though as it is a rental. I'll give you that. Nice entry.
It looks, to me, like square raised-front cabinets with the recesses painted a bright color. A nice way to add pops of color but it does reduce the 3-D effect since the insides are brighter than the outsides.
I do applaud the robin's egg with orange color scheme, though.
BORING, BORING, BORING
Considering it's a rental, and you have to work with what you've got (unless you're Maxwell himself, of course!)--the paint job on the cabinet is a fun way of integrating the blue of the counters and the cream color of the stove.
The gateway arch print is cool, too.
No need for a morning cup of coffee with that jolt of color in the kitchen. Nice job working within the strict confines of keeping new paint off the walls.
And it's great to see so many Richmonders on AT! (I'm guessing the apartment's either near VCU or near Tobacco Row?)
while not my style at all, I think it's nice that you worked with what you had. Looks like you had the countertops and incorporated it into your color choices for the kitchen cabinets. Nice way to work with what you are given! You can make anything look good is my motto with rentals!!
I think it's cute. It kinda does look to me like colored paper stuck on white cabinets, but if so, more power to you. I like that you've really prettied up and personalized your place with low-budget, low-tech solutions.
I like the bright, harmonous feeling in the bedroom, and the fact that it doesn't look overdecorated or oppressive. I like that you have a very mixed palette and mixed patterns and textures, but that everything coordinates well. And the colors you chose for the kitchen look great, too; I think the ratios you used them were just right.
Fun, but I'm not getting enough of a sense of the color throughout the space.
What do y'all mean by "looks like colored paper just stuck to the front of the cabinets"? EITHER THAT'S WHAT IT REALLY IS OR ALL THOSE SQUARES ARE PAINTED ON CROOKED!!! And if that is paper, doesn't seem practical for a kitchen where it can sometimes be steamy and greasy. Hate it.
I wish I had your nerve! I myself am a renter and although I'd love to use color as bold as this I always end up changing my mind. As far as I'm concerned if you love color and this reflects your personality go for it! Some of the comments on this site are so (alike) they seem to follow a certain style/trend. I myself have never been a follower - so I wouldn't know what that feels like. I do know what a boring world this would be if everyone dressed the same, looked the same, and acted as well as thought the same. Good luck to you in the contest!
actually, i think paper is a pretty cool idea, if that's what it is. that way, when they inevitably get dirty, greasy, spilled on, whatever, you can just change them out. paper costs, what, $0.10 per sheet at a stationery store? also much easier to execute than melamine paint. and much easier to reverse upon leaving the space.
sometimes simple and functional is good. this isn't the "most difficult to execute and maintain color contest".
I love the blue.
I agree with Ariane. That is a beautiful blue that you chose for your kitchen. Looks like a really cheery place to fix breakfast!
I love your Gateway Arch poster!!
Hey, everybody.
Thanks for being so positive AND inquisitive. The color blocks on my cabinets are actually frosted plastic placemats cut down to size. I bought them at Bed Bath & Beyond for $1 each. When cut with a sharp X-acto the somewhat see-through panels seem to receed or advance depending on the light. I just couldn't stand those melamine cabinets.
The pictures weren't taken for the contest so I do regret not staging the second one a little bit, but you do get to see the fabric that I'm using for my palette in there. If you look real close you can also see a bit of the red and pink mexican paper flower I have mounted on my curtain rod and the Indian silk bedskirt in an orange and hot pink stripe.
Thank you again for the positives. I never expected to win or place but just wanted to show that you can use color even with VERY little money.