Sunday, October 25, 2009

tips to choosing a paint color

This can be a difficult task. Light in the room changes the color on your walls so there is no way to tell definitively from a swatch, until you put the color on your walls. The color will even change from time of the day and night, so live with it overnight to make sure it's the one you want.
I like to narrow down the color by swatch and then use the new small size "testers" that are available for ~$3. A small cost to insure the correct color buy. I like a fan deck of color swatches the best because you can see from one strip to the next what subtle color has been added to change it and choose the correct tint for your color scheme.
After choosing a color or 2 or 3, I put 2 coats of the sample color on a few walls in the room, and then look at it with the furniture and fabrics that will decorate the room.
We recently painted my daughter's bedroom... we knew the "look" we wanted, a calming "spa" blue. We had the bedding chosen and wanted to coordinate the shade of blue to blend with the bedding and the furniture and the other items to be placed in the room.

We tried three colors and were still not totally satisfied so tried two more
I like a muted palette and tend to like a toned down or subtle color. We chose "Rushing River" a Duron color. Duron has recently been bought by Sherwin Williams, but you can still color match to the old fan deck (which I happen to have).
I found this useful and fun color tool on the Sherwin Williams website, The Color Visualizer. It lets you choose a room to simulate yours and then you can add the color to the walls and even the trim. Try it! It's a great way to see how the color will change the look in your room. Of course you should still try the "testers" because a computer can't match your room and lighting exactly, but it's a good start.
Remember, there are bazillions of paint colors. They can even custom color match any color you want by machine, so choose all your furniture and fabrics first, look at it all together in the room, and then choose the paint color.

happy decorating!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

fall foliage

National Geographic

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Friday, October 16, 2009

favorite fabric Friday


play around with fabric at Fabric.com

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

a passion for purple

From grape to plum, eggplant to aubergine, if you've been shopping you know that all shades of purple are the "it" color for this season. I love it, so deep, vibrant and rich!
Sweater weather is here... but coat season is rapidly arriving!
Here are a few new coats I found to highlight the most popular color for fall...
Elie Tahari

Calvin Klein

Steve Madden

Miss Sixty

Michael Kors

Portrait

Tahari

Michael Kors

Burberry

the Northface

"purple"
it's this season's new black!

Monday, October 5, 2009

mums the word

cupcake delights by happiness in a bite

order these and bake your own festive autumn treats for the family

"orange" you glad you stopped by!