Re: Evangeline, MLI style

You are using terminology incorrectly. Dark does not imply warmer colors. The color wheel is made up of cool and warm colors. The depth of color has nothing to do with whether or not they fall within cool or warm colors. I am just so bored with this already. You know everything about everyone so it's just useless. I thought this was a very lovely discussion till you showed up with accusations and the rest. I see everyone has now left the discussion, so will I.

There is a difference to the way professional people call colors and the way some colors affect a ceratin space , or outer structure, The colors have their WEIGHTS, but they can `feel` or affect the looker feeling differently during the day or at night . Natural light has different effects than artificial lights. Natural light changes the way it falls with the turning of Earth, Thus in reality Colors are changing their `looks` during the day , and with it their impact on the looker. Some colors might look warm in morning light and Cold in evening lights. People who weave, and mix colors know how one thread of an other color can change the `atmoshere or mood` of a whole cloth , or part of it. When you xst, you know very well , what a difference one tiny tent stich mistakenly or deliberately done in a different angle can do to a whole work ? because the light falls differently on it. And that is the way colors are used, and how our eyes can see and feel colors, And how we feel their warmth and coldness. This and our associating them with images we have. Yes this is a lovely discusion , why are you so afraid of different ideas? You stated something about walls and i just told you, in an informative matter that in many warm climates white or light inside walls were preffered. I happen to live in a country that is mostly warm. and since i travel a lot through the country, i can vouch for the almost overall whiteness of inner walls. You are the one that immidiately reacted in questioning what scientic froof i have , and i realisticly answered you that it was the freffered color use of most people here. Thus before you write

think who is the who thinks she knows it all ,,,,

I spoke about my surounding country. Did you speak about places you visit frequently ?

i spoke to the matter , you started to accuse ,,,,

what a pity , you left. mirjam

It's this complex nature of color that has kept hubby and I from repainting- well that and laziness. I struggle a lot with trying to envision colors that I just love to look at (purple, pumpkin orange, autumnal leaves) and how I would use them in the house. Interior designers talk about having colors "flow" from one room to the next. I have trouble understanding how to do that, especially considering I love strong colors that don't necessarily belong to the same color family.

Chris Howard wrote:

If you find it challenging to figure out colors like that, try finding some kind of inspiration piece (art, fabric, whatever) and pull the colors from there. If you like those sorts of autumnal colors, you could maybe start with an idea of purple, pumpkin, and a mossy green, and then start spreading those around, keeping in mind that you can use a lighter or darker shade. What you use on the walls in one room can be used as a secondary color in another room. Use two of your colors in each room, and you can also introduce another color if you like, plus neutrals. So, if you found deeper colors intimidating on the walls, you could work with a lighter mossy green, a warm peach, a lavender, a warm brown sugar color, honey, and things like that while bringing in the deeper colors in rugs, draperies, furniture, accessories, etc. Pumpkin is surprisingly nice on the walls, though, and very livable. Keep your big ticket items to more neutral colors, but some surprising colors (including some deep purples) can function very nicely as neutrals in some environments. I didn't have any heartburn dropping a pile on a deep purple sofa knowing that it would work in whatever room might exist in my home ;-) But even if you want to play it conservatively and go with something very neutral for the big ticket items, you can always have fun with the colors on your walls. Paint is cheap, by comparison. If you don't like it, it's not a huge investment to change it. Most paint companies sell samples so that you can paint some big swatches on your walls in various parts of the room and see how the color looks in different lights, at different times of the day, and so forth. If you have a palette you love, and you spread it around your home liberally, it really will all hang together. Benjamin Moore has a fun color tool on their website where you can take photos and play around with changing the paint colors. They also have a color tutorial.

Best wishes, Ericka

Try to find a print fabric that has all of them. For the sake of discussion, an autumn leaf print with some of the burgundy leaves. Use that fabric for curtains in adjoining rooms. First room, pick up the pumpkin colors. Next room, pick up the burgundy and accent it with purple (or do the room in purple and add some burgundy accents to tie in with the fabric). Using the same fabric in different ways will tie it all together.

Thanks for the suggestions Ericka! I do love autumnal colors and have played with them a bit on the behr program online, but they always look a bit too garish. Maybe I should take the plunge and buy some paint samples

That's a great idea! THanks Karen!

I understand your dillema , the solution might be painting the Big things [ walls door and window frames] in neutral light colors and play with the changeable things like Curtains rugs , bedcovers etc,,, I don`t know how long you are married , problem is that with life one Accumulates , THINGS part of which one wants or needs to display ,,, And every one just can play around with those THINGS ...till they feel OK ,,,, mirjam

Colors don't have to be in the same color family, rather the same hue is what you look for. If you pick a bunch of paint chips from the display and lay them out, you can get a feel for the hues within each of the colors and their gradient shade on the chip.

Remember that your computer monitor may not accurately duplicate colors. I have PatternMaker, and looking at the color palette, I would never guess the DMC numbers of some of those colors as shown on-screen!

Maybe you're being a bit aggressive with your combinations? Or is it a single color that you're finding too garish? Sometimes there's a world of difference in the feel if you just move a couple shades one way or the other, or if you take it a bit lighter or darker. But definitely, samples are a good idea. Slap 'em up on the wall and live with them for a week or two and you'll really start to get a good idea about what might or might not work for you.

Best wishes, Ericka

So, if I wanted to go autumnal colors, I should try autumnal brown leaves (beige, molasses, chocolate brown), purple (lavendar, royal purple, eggplant, pumpkin (peach, orange, burnished pumpkin)? That would look fabulous if I could get the hues right :)

I *think* what she's saying is that you probably don't want to mix (on the walls, anyway) a dark purple with a pale peach and a mid-range taupe. Sometimes you can pull that sort of thing off, but more often it's really jarring. But, you could go with a pale peach, a light taupe, and a lavender... or a dusky purple, a mid-range pumpkin, and a mid-range taupe. Having the colors all be about the same value range makes the transitions easier. You might bring in lighter or darker values in the things you put in the room, but having some consistency with the walls helps things be less jarring. That's not to say you never play with the values, because sometimes that works really well, but it's easier when they're similar in value. So, go get the paint chips and try sticking with colors in about the same position on the different chips. Go here

These are all darker hues and while they're strong colors that not everyone might want to live with, they're not particularly jarring. But, change Purple Rain to Peace and Happiness and it gets out of whack. Worse yet, change Fiery Opal to something that's a brighter orange like Tangerine Melt and it looks quite garish. Something light *and* bright is even worse, like Melon Popsicle. Plus, you look for colors that are sort of similar in character. If you wanted to add in a green for Accent 1, you could perhaps do Jade Romanesque, but not Sullivan Green. Or, you could do things in lighter colors, like:

Body - Saint Martin Sand Accent 1 - Easter Ribbon Accent 2 - Nob Hill Sage

But the minute you take even one of those to the darker shade on the paint chip (say, Nob Hill Sage to Sweet Basil) it looks weird.

Also, I think most people find that they're either "pure color" people or "complex color" people. Pure color people seem to gravitate towards light, pure pastels and more pure white trims--sort of luminous garden colors. Complex color people tend to go toward the colors that have lots of different pigments mixed together. With the sorts of colors you're talking about, you'd probably be better off with the more complex colors, because if you went with the pure purples and oranges and greens and such, it'd start to look like a Crayola box threw up in your house. By choosing the more muted, complex colors, you get a more soothing effect even though you're bringing in darker/stronger colors. I don't know if any of that helps, but if you really love those sorts of colors, you *can* get there! Other folks might think you're crazy, but I think that when you surround yourself with the colors you love, it improves your life.

Best wishes, Ericka

You are not talking about using them together, but in different rooms. The lead into a room with another color isn't shocking if you have the right hue value of the color. I see nothing wrong with brown with lavendar, pumpkin, etc.

In other words these would work:

beige-lavender-peach molasses-royal purple-orange chocolate brown-pumpkin-bunished pumpkin eggplant-burnished pumpkin-chocolate brown

The hue value, not the color.

Maybe you're pulling my leg. :)

Well, I keep picking a pumpkin as the main wall color, but they always look too oranged, less browney-orange. Also, it automatically spits out a few trim colors to go with your main, and I'm never quite happy with those.

Congratulations , 1o years is quite an achievement and a long part of one`s life. interesting you mention that you dispalyed them till you got `kinda ` tired of them ,, maybe you out grew them ,,, you might now decide to either seprate them into singular objects and display 1-2 in each room , or maybe recollect them into one big display , play with them till you are content ,,, it might happen that you just don`t like them anymore ,,,,,,,, best of luck ,,, mirjam ,,,

Sometimes what sems a tottaly unsuited different colors might work together, and one has no `rational` explanation for it ,, it just seems ok ,,,, mirjam

This is your cue to go with a custom mix, ask them to put a little brown in your pumpkin.