I suddenly realized how the colors of my newly renovated house & new additions remind me of what I wear! Also recall some interior designer saying to look into one's closet to help decide what colors to choose to paint one's home.
We signed the building contract on my birthday in early April then I spent the next 30 days packing and moving literally a ton of stuff into storage......a lot of the weight being boxes of books & paper. On the positive side, I lost 10 lbs packing all those boxes!
They started digging the foundation for the new additions in late May and this afternoon, they told me we're about 2-3 weeks from completion!!!
Today they completed installing all the new flooring in the downstairs painting studio, kitchen and dining room.....the floors were done with a hand hewn black oak floor......goes with the new granite countertops, a very deep charcoal with bluish tinted mica chips known as Blue Pearl.
I asked for the walls & trim to be painted in brilliant white......at some point, I plan to paint other colors but not sure what yet as I like too many colors to decide on right now.......so think the best thing to do is to live and use the rooms to see how the sunlight reflects in each room.......also, fall winter light is a lot brighter since we face south in front and north in back which is perfect for my new painting studio.......going back to the light conditions, the house gets less light in the spring summer, partially to do with leafy trees and the seasonal sun shift.
Some of the colors I'd like to play with are shades in the melon family, such as cantalope with a touch of chartreuse.......also love saffron,burnt oranges, pumpkin, yellows, from amber to sweet butter yellow!.....also love hot pink, periwinkle.......no matter the main colors, have to add small bits of greens & blues to blend all together
Going back to the house......the new kitchen cabinets have a bluish white glaze on "white" maple......wood "color" is overall ecru with a tint of almond thrown in......I actually wanted white cabinets but unable to get white wood as they only offered white in a laminate.
I chose off white ceramic tiles in the front entry, hallway & powder room.....the new mudroom has a pattern of deep charcoal & white tiles just like the floors seen in Old Master Dutch paintings.
This afternoon, they completed installing ceramic tile in the master bath.......white tiles with a random pattern of "Woolydream Blue" (ultramarine) of iridescent glass tile placed into the center of four white tiles here and there...this glass tile looks similar to Tiffany stained glass....this beautiful blue glass tile was also added as a border near the top of the tiled shower......the tile man said the small amount of glass tiles cost more than alll the other tiles in the masterbath! Which is the reason why we could only afford the blue glass as "accents" not as a major part of my bathroom decor! I was very happy to get this little bit as I love ultramarine blue, known as my signature color as it's featured in much of my artwork & designs.
Overall, the downstairs is mostly black & white similar to what I wear........I love to spike up basic black & white with colors..........my painting studio is all white with the new black flooring.
In all the work areas, studios, offices, kitchen, bathrooms, I have natural daylight flourescent lights......recessed lighting included. Lamps will add warm accent lighting using GE Reveal bulbs.......I can work in every room of the house without color distortions.
In the huge upstairs studio with cathedral ceilings, I'm keeping the walls brilliant white........the floors are warm honey wood planks........my Amish quilts, collection of fabrics and other fun collections will add a lot of colors in all rooms.
Later, we plan to re-do the three bedrooms with bamboo flooring......wonderful warm colors, very smooth.......amazing how much the price went down in just a few months after we contracted to build the house.......I'd have chosen bamboo flooring but the prices were too high at the time.
In back of the the big studio is a small "garden room" I had this "room" built, separated from the studio area by glass paned French doors........this little room will be my private / office space......plan to move in my tall secretary desk, shelves and so on......for once in my life I'm goin gto have my own space to read, write, to do whatever I please!
Eventually,I'd like to literally make this room into a garden room with the use of a pretty flowery wallpaper on top with white beadboard on the bottom separated by a chair rail. Will see....or else, I could do a Morroccan fantasy with a palette of spice colors.....
Best thing is I'm going to have room for just about everything and be able to work without having to search for things.......without books and papers falling all over, etc. Oh yes, Roger aka Mr Wooly gets to move into my "old" studio........