Color Your World
The French, as you might imagine, have a phrase for it. "Ce n'est pas mon gout," they sniff. It's not my taste.
Sounds polite enough, doesn't it? Just a cordial acknowledgement that people are different. That one size doesn't fit all. That the speaker, given the option, just might have made a different choice.
But to accept such a genteel reading of the phrase is to completely miss the cultural ballast associated with the word taste. To commit a sin of taste, to the French, is to show near-criminal indifference to all that is sacred.
The only subject in the American vernacular that comes close to eliciting the same judgmental response-at least in terms of home decor-is color. Specifically, paint color.
On these shores, there are three kinds of people: Those who can actually see and seriously discuss the difference between oyster, taupe, fawn and Devonshire cream; those who think bright coral and fern green make perfect accents for Persian blue; and, most commonly, those of us who admire the coral-green-blue folks for their daring and creativity, but who stick with oyster, taupe and cream for fear of having our taste called into question.
This article is for us-the folks in the middle who need to embrace our risk-taking side and grab a bucket of dark, bright or wildly unusual paint. Doing so will surely be liberating-although it may elicit a few raised eyebrows from our confirmed shades-of-gray friends. More to the point, it will identify us as tres au courant. Daring paint schemes, you see, are one of the hottest trends in home design. Devotees say home paint-lifts are fast, fabulous and-compared to other home makeover options-downright frugal.
"People are going brighter and bolder and more dramatic, partly because they've seen it done," says Roy Batterman, a consultant at Mandarin Paint & Decorating. "They watch HGTV and see famous decorators trying unusual color schemes. They turn on Discovery or PBS and see the colors used in other parts of the world. Exposure has peaked peoples' interest in color."
Batterman, who's fondly known among clients as "The Paint Guru," acknowledges that most people stick to neutral tones-perhaps with a splash of pale yellow or gold thrown in-because it's safe. He assists those who want impact, yet can't quite bring themselves to take a deep plunge into the pigment pool to try a dark or bright color on an accent wall, or above or below a chair rail.
"I've been in places where people have painted an entire room scarlet or some other very intense, dominant color," he says. "The effect can be just breathtaking. But not everyone can live in a 'wow' room. It takes a certain kind of personality."
Some decorators advise clients to get their color fix with small accent objects, such as throw pillows or ceramic bowls or vases. Still others note that significant contrast-for example, medium blue walls in a bathroom frosted with bright white tile, fixtures, towels and curtains-can create drama without straying from a modest palette.
Heidi Hall-Jones, an interior designer with Punch Jones in St. Augustine, encourages clients to be open-minded.
"Color is simple and complicated at the same time," she says. "Everybody sees color differently. Some people think if they choose the wrong color for a room, something terrible will happen. For goodness sake, just paint a 4-by-4 square of poster board with the color and live with it for awhile. If you love it, do it. If not, choose something else. If you don't like it after you paint the room, start over. It's just a can of paint."
Hall-Jones eschews the notion that there are hard and fast rules that dictate which colors can or should be used in particular location. Instead, she considers such factors as the size of the room, the kind of light it gets and the culture or geography of the surroundings.
"The color scheme you loved at the house in Jamaica may not play in Jacksonville," she says. "You also have to consider how a room is going to be used. Will the kids be playing in there? If so, then you're probably going to need overhead lighting. That will affect the appearance of whatever color you choose. If your room has glass doors and a view of the ocean, maybe you want that to be the dramatic focus of the room rather than the walls."
Even folks who can envision a turquoise foyer or an eggplant dining room have trouble deciding what color to put on adjacent walls. This is a particular problem in Florida, where most modern homes feature open floorplans that make it possible for a person standing in one room to easily look into one or more other rooms.
Batterman believes colors that contrast but have the same tone-that is, contain the same amount of gray in the mix-work well together. Hall-Jones suggests putting together a palette of three colors.
"The eye is naturally drawn from one place to the next through the use of color," she explains. "The colors might be of differing intensity, but there should be a relationship from one to the next. Maybe you walk into a room that's brown, then go to a space that's taupe and then one that's robin's egg blue. Those colors have a nice relationship to each other and no matter where you are-standing in the brown space or the blue space-your eye is progressively drawn through the house."
Both Batterman and Hall-Jones agree that while paint chips can provide a reference point to begin thinking about room color, final decisions should never be made looking at a one-inch square in a store.
Many factors-the amount of natural light, the type of light bulbs used, the shadows given off by light fixtures and color reflections from carpets, drapes and large pieces of furniture-can affect the appearance of a particular color. Therefore, it's important to study a decent-sized swatch of a color in the room you're thinking of painting.
"People are afraid of strong color," says Hall-Jones. "I love to see clients take a risk and really go for a ride with color. Color brings up strong feelings and emotions. It's transforming."