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#16 - Jane Catherine's Colorful World

Name: Jane Catherine
Location: San Francisco
Type: 750 sq. ft. studio + alcove (Tenancy in Common (TIC))

Why I use color:

Once upon a time I had the luxury of having a garden, and lived surrounded by natural beauty. Since moving back into the city, I need a certain color quotient filled each day to keep some kind of mental health (kind of like needing to eat colorful food to keep physical health). My place is what it is: studio basement apartment with low ceilings – and I believe in "less is more" only when it comes to things, but not colors or textures.

 
 

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My choice of colors is simple: what colors make me feel the best – of course getting there is an adventure AND is never finished – started experimenting with a blue gouache of the bathroom ceiling .

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2 Good color tips:

1. Get outside: walk in a garden, go to a nursery, shop at your local farmer's market – let the colors sink into you. Inside – go to library, go to museums & galleries, go to bookstores & look at art books.
2. Go to paint store & get colors & keep close by – put by your bed, desk, put in your pocket & look at them while you are waiting for the bus – and then experiment on the walls.

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Favorite type and brand of paint:

As I go for texture in my small place: Ralph Lauren's River Rock collection; Tobias Stucco with a gouache of Benjamin Moore's Latex Paint.

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Tags

Fall Colors 2007 - Northwest

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Comments (30)

What a great find: a basement apartment with floors like that, exposed brick and wood beams, those kitchen appliances and that bathtub! Unfortunately, the styling doesn't work for me.

posted by st@cy on October 22nd 2007 at 11:23am
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Sweet. Is it really only 50 square feet plus alcove?

posted by Downeast Suzy on October 22nd 2007 at 11:26am
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i love it!!!!

posted by christie on October 22nd 2007 at 11:32am
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I think that may be a typo...looks more like 500 feet. Either way, what an amazing find that space is!

posted by cranberrybobbie on October 22nd 2007 at 11:33am
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Looks bigger than 50 sq feet...
Anyways, it's really brilliant, love it, especially the rugs and the stable-like wooden door!

posted by giorgia on October 22nd 2007 at 11:39am
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Sorry, lost the 7 while cutting & pasting. Corrected!

posted by leslie on October 22nd 2007 at 11:40am
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A basement studio? Props to you sister, the place looks great!

posted by ChrisToronto on October 22nd 2007 at 11:51am
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I love your purple kitchen, red floors and orange door....considering this is a basement apartment, you have really captured the light.

posted by polkadot on October 22nd 2007 at 11:53am
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Lovely. What are the floors? Is that the tile color, or did you paint the tile?

posted by josie on October 22nd 2007 at 11:54am
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I love every bit of this place.

posted by Kuri on October 22nd 2007 at 12:16pm
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Thanks for the comments. This is not the contest for before & after, but believe me it was dismal. I have never regretted putting in the orange/red ceramic tile from Galleria Tile in SF. I designed the space - it's my "hobby." Jane

posted by jane's_world on October 22nd 2007 at 12:47pm
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I could definately live here. I like to think of myself being a guest in my house and I could be a guest here for sure!! Enjoy!!

posted by DAVIDTHOMSEN on October 22nd 2007 at 1:47pm
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Wow...love it.

posted by lililouise on October 22nd 2007 at 2:13pm
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Love the wooden door. Homey and interesting.

posted by Kate (NC) on October 22nd 2007 at 2:34pm
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I love the barn door! Does that move so that it can cover the kitchen or the bedroom at separate times?

posted by Lisa from VA/lsaspacey on October 22nd 2007 at 3:14pm
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the barn door and the purple paint color are awesome :)

posted by mmadden on October 22nd 2007 at 4:07pm
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love it! i love how complimentary the colors are on the walls next to each other.

posted by katishome on October 22nd 2007 at 9:45pm
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This is wonderful.

posted by Lifeinvector on October 23rd 2007 at 4:40am
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OOH look at the lil stove. CUUUTE!

posted by SoSpunky5 on October 23rd 2007 at 6:00am
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ok ok - i like the purple, i love the kitchen, love the barndoor and the exposed bricks... but the orange does a weird thing with the bricks, and the reddish orange floor looks bad with the purple (i know you installed it yourself so i'm sorry).
i could not live here, but you've done a great job especially with a basement apartment.

my suggestion would be to replace the orange with a cool color from your asian rugs & accessories.

posted by ange_lune on October 23rd 2007 at 6:28am
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Really love this -- especially the dining room. The mix of colors on adjacent walls is really striking and very well done.

posted by samsd on October 23rd 2007 at 3:14pm
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Really sophistocated in a Euro way...reminds me of the country homes of Italians...with very, very old elements (stone, timber) mixing with bright, burnished colors and modern furnishings...when all the other trends pass, this home will still look fresh!

posted by aweekinparis on October 23rd 2007 at 3:18pm
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hippie is the new modern.

posted by plasticransom on October 23rd 2007 at 9:05pm
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I'm not totally won over by the purple - I think maybe another hue of purple could work perhaps (or blue?) with the color of the floor tile, or with all the other warm colors used in the space. But I would have never guessed this was a basement apartment - there are many great features here.

posted by ace on October 24th 2007 at 4:51am
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The orange in the living room seems to clash with the brick.
Great home though! Love your boldness.

posted by Alana in Canada on October 24th 2007 at 6:19am
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I love all the textures here... that barn door, especially! Also, the brick/stainless/lilac, and the orange door/taupe/brick... nice use of color and texture.

posted by 2nd DC Christine on October 24th 2007 at 6:41am
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I want that claw foot tub!

posted by jigglyphurbs on October 24th 2007 at 7:24am
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I appreciate the "hippie is the new modern" - one of my nicknames for the place is hippie crash pad cave. My first decision on the place was the floor - I had to try the red/orange tiles. The walls were all the Tobias Stucco yellow, a green/grey & sandstone. And then time for a change (I imagine no further explanation needed regarding that urge). I wanted to live with the orange for awhile. I agree with Ange - not the best match with the floor - but, hey - I can always repaint - wanted to go all the way with the color. And the purple - who could resist a color with the name "bark plum" - and with the Ralph Lauren River Rock Collection, a lot of it is the texture (velvety & pepply) , which does not translate in a photo. Everybody: thanks for all the comments - more than likely a year from now all the colors will be different! Best, Jane

posted by jane's_world on October 24th 2007 at 7:35am
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It looks very warm and inviting, and I am so jealous of the stainless steel in the kitchen!

posted by kimskitchensink on October 24th 2007 at 12:21pm
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Wow.. that purple really works with the brick and the wood. How unusual it was to see so much wood in the first image. It's not something I've seen much outside of furniture in these entries. Glad to see it incorporated so well into your space!

posted by islek on October 25th 2007 at 8:22am
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