Exterior Design: Color/Colour

Showing posts with label Color/Colour. Show all posts

Brilliant Colors Of The Toucans

Last night, I was on my computer scanning for ideas to write, and my husband called me - "Come and watch these brilliant colors". I immediately wrapped up and rushed towards my television. I paused and re-wound a few times to get a close-up view of these beautiful Toucans! What brilliant color combinations. Mother nature is again at it's very best. Here are some of the Toucans where I am getting my next design inspiration from... Oh, I just need a blank room now :)

Let's hope and pray these Toucans continue to thrive for generations to come.

I recently published a similar page welcoming Fall Season - a page filled with colorful fall leaves. Nature has a lot to offer interior designers, all we have to do is look for these cues.

Color/Colour

Pure Classic White Ethnic Rooms

In my previous page, I posted about white walls and mostly Scandinavian designs, here it is the same concept... but ethnic rooms. What do you think of these rooms? lovely aren't they..

via: apartment46blog

via: lolalina

via: carmengillisdesign

via: minmit

via: housebeautiful

via: dobel-id

Color/Colour

Pure Classic White Color

I have been writing about bright colors lately.. exterior paint colors, colorful interiors.. and its about time I wrote about the Pure Classic White Color!

White color walls can brighten up the space and create a spic-n-span feel to any room. At the same time, white walls can appear dull, greyish and not so crisp in a room that lacks natural or artificial lighting. You can test this by dimming the lights in a room with white walls. The paint finish - matte or glossy and the kind of surface - smooth or porous will also make a difference.

Being a neutral color, white will pretty much go with any color palette. Therefore, you can easily create a warm or a cool feel by accessorizing the room. Orange, red and yellow colors are warm colors and blue, green and purple are cool colors. A pop of a bright color here and there can be very inviting. Remember, when you don't bring in the warm or cool color accessories into a white room the space can become void and uninviting! Just imagine the rooms below without that dazzle of color..

Hallways, narrow entrance and tiny rooms look the best in white color because white creates an illusion of space, opens up the area and reflects light. White being neutral also makes it easy to hang art on the wall. Almost any frame will work well.

Here are some examples that I just fell in love with - a few living rooms, dining rooms, a bedroom and a home office.... most of them are Scandinavian designs. What do you think? do you miss the colorful walls or will this work for you?!

via: designattractor

via: houseandhome

via: housepict

via: designrulz

via: housepict

via: thedesignfiles

scandinavian modern living white home office

via: digsdigs

Other reads - check my page on Color Harmony for links leading to walls all painted with lovely colors a complete contrast to this page!

Color/Colour

Exterior Paint Colors

Here's another favorite topic that I really enjoy writing about - About Colors! Exterior Paint Colors! Unlike painting and re-painting the interior of your house, painting the exterior is not done so often, therefore, you have to be more conscientious. Some pointers to make it easy for you..

Your house is made up of walls, roof, chimney, trims, doorways, windows, shutters, driveway, and other intricate details such as stone, brick, pillars etc., Exterior paint scheme should complement all these individual details. Not only that, it should enhance the style of your home and blend with the neighborhood... am I making this sound too hard!? it is actually not!

Before you start this process, check if your neighborhood association has any color restrictions. This way, you can eliminate the colors that you cannot use.

Take pictures of your home from various angles, so that you can avail the online paint selection sites to try different color palettes. Almost all hardware stores and paint companies have this feature online. Some examples are Sherwin-Williams, Valspar, or Benjamin Moore

Pick the main wall color - a neutral or warm or cool shade. Then to highlight the other architectural details around the house, choose a darker shade or a color that contrasts with the wall color. See my examples below, I have tired to group the browns, greys and greens together. Notice the trims, and other color details in these examples.. aren't they just beautiful!

Prepare your home before you start painting - power wash thoroughly to remove dust. Fix all the rusted/rotted/ripped parts of your exterior house.

Decide if you want to use Brushing or Spraying technique - There are several advantages and disadvantages to both. Depending on the surface like porous/rough surface will benefit from painting but spraying gets into all the nook and corners. Best to thoroughly analyze this with your contractor.

Paint all the unwanted details such as rain gutters, pipes, air-conditioners etc., the same paint color as the wall or the trim so that they seamlessly blend.

Here are some examples that I think you will like via Houzz.com

Love to hear from you!

Color/Colour

Understanding Color

Color in design is very subjective, it can set the mood, it can enhance the function of a room, it can make the room larger or smaller, or can make the room warmer or cooler. Different light sources - natural light, florescent bulb and incandescent bulb will make the same color look different. Color from a ceiling light will look different from a table lamp. Surrounding colors can have an impact on the wall color. Natural light can be either sunlight - light coming directly from sun, or, skylight - the impact blue skylight has on the color, or, daylight - the combined light of sun and the sky.

Color wheel is a visual aid that is used to understand color and color relationships. A color wheel is actually made of 6 basic colors - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple and several in-between colors depending on how many hue wheels you want to have. A simple color wheel has 12 hue wheels is the most common one. Remember, the placement of colors in the wheel corresponds to the wavelengths of light which was originally developed by Sir Isaac Newton in 1666. He discovered that when pure white light passes through a prism, it separates into 7 visible colors - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. When he passed these individual color rays thru the prism it came back as White color. He also found that each color is made up of a single wavelength and cannot be separated any further into other colors. Newton thus concluded that White light was made up of 7 different color rays.

Check this article for in-depth information on the color wheel: http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2008/05/08/history-of-the-color-wheel/

Colors on the color wheel fall into various categories:
primary colors are red, blue and yellow a.k.a RBG - cannot be created by mixing other colors; these three colors are the base for every other color on the wheel; placed at equidistant on the wheel;
secondary colors are violet, green and orange - created by mixing two primaries;
tertiary colors red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet and red-violet which are created by mixing a primary and a secondary color;
cool colors include shades of purple, green and blue; calming and soothing colors;
warm colors include shades of red, yellow and orange; vivid and energetic colors;
neutral colors include shades of ivory, white, taupe, gray, black and beige; take properties of surrounding colors;

warm color

cool colors

warm color source: http://socialcafemag.com/how-to-brighten-a-room-with-yellow/

cool color source: http://best-home-decor.com/living-room-paint/

neutral color source: http://interiorsidea.com/stylish-and-modern-interior-design-flat-white.html

Remember, colors have values - you can make them lighter or darker. If the color is made lighter by adding white to it, then the result is a tint. If black is added to a color to make it darker, then the result is a shade. The color is diluted in both techniques and it loses its saturation. Here's an example where the Red color in the middle is tinted by adding white until it turns white on the left and by adding black gradually red becomes black at the right side:

Color/Colour

Color Harmony

Color Harmony - Harmony is something that pleases the eye. Color harmony is a common term used in interior designing that helps designers chooses colors that don't clash with each other. A successful color combination begins with understanding the color schemes and using them appropriately. I have explained various color schemes and have examples that illustrate them.

nature - look to nature and take inspiration from nature - look at butterflies, peacocks, fall colors, water falls, flower garden around you for colors that co-ordinate naturally. Upload your favorite nature photo and run thru the big huge labs color palette generator to see what palettes are in your photo - a wonderful tool http://bighugelabs.com/colors.php

butterfly: http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2007/06/01/colorful-beauty-in-nature-butterflies?page=2&qgxU#comment-16400
peacock: http://brides.prestonbailey.com/2011/09/12/wedding-color-palette-peacock/
fall colors: http://www.design-seeds.com/2011/09/autumn-breeze.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DesignSeeds+%28design+seeds%29
flower: http://yellowrosesgarden.com/category/color-palettes/page/2/
rock created by: http://bighugelabs.com/colors.php
sunset: http://www.noupe.com/inspiration/sunsets-and-color-palettes-inspiration.html/comment-page-1#comment-1580708

complementary colors a.k.a. contrasting colors they are on the opposite side of the color wheel, see my page on this topic in detail

adjacent or harmonious colors are colors that are next to each other on the coloring wheel, see my page on this topic in detail

monochromatic color scheme is when various shades of one single color is used, see my page on this topic for more details

60-30-10 rule - 60% of a dominant color; 30% of a secondary color; 10% of an accent color, see the page on this topic for more details
color zoning is when color is used to define areas in a room, see my page on this topic for more information
vertical and horizontal stripes on the wall can have a dramatic look in the room, see my page on this topic
ceilings your 5th wall - ceilings can make a big impact on the room, see my page on this topic for more information

When you are done painting, why don't you turn the paint cans into planters. Check this really cool DIY project @ http://www.centsationalgirl.com

Color/Colour

Ceilings - Your 5th Wall!

Ceilings are often ignored. White Ceilings gives an illusion of space, it can make the ceiling appear closer in a room with a low ceiling, yet will also make the ceiling seem farther away in rooms with high ceilings. White or light tints of white ceiling can brighten a dark room by bouncing light back into the room. White is the ultimate neutral color, which means you ceiling will go with any wall color. Color on the ceiling tends to add more character and can even be highlighted as a focal point in the room.

Here's a best example that illustrates a white ceiling that creates an illusion of space and where it reflects light in the room:

source: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/how-to/how-to-make-your-ceiling-seem-higher-5-tricks-071747

White is the best when you room is too caved in, anything darker would make this space tight:

source: http://materialgirlsblog.com/dallas/2008/11/25/winter-white/#comment-24995

Lighter ceilings can make the walls feel higher, and darker ceilings make the walls feel lower. Painting the ceiling same color as the work works the best when crown molding is missing. Here's an example of a dark ceiling and a light ceilings and a room without crown molding: