Ebony wood library shelves, white upholstery, colors from books and accessories. Varying textures to reflect and absorb light.
Color must be an integral part of room design and never an after-thought. Colors that you choose are dependent on the adjacent colors. All colors have three parts, hue, intensity and tonal value.
Hue identifies the color, intensity is the brilliance of a hue, tonal value refers to the lightness or darkness of a color.
Light colors reflect light, dark color absorb light. Color is never experienced independently, but in combination with one of several textures, in different material types. For example, a glossy satin will have luster and light, while rough textures with its shadows will appear darker. Textured fabrics appear darker than smooth fabrics in similar colors (hues). Smooth surfaces that have a glaze or sheen reflect maximum light causing colors to appear lighter than fabrics with a dull finish.
Most rooms have natural and artificial light. Natural light is white, but in comparison to artificial light, it has a bluish appearance. Today artificial light comes in many choices, from encapsulated incandescent and fluorescent (white to warm tones if dimmed) and LEDs (white).
Mark Hampton sunny space with upholstery and draperies that reflect and absorb light.
The amount of natural light in a room depends upon window placement, the size of the windows, and the window coverings. Rooms with sunny exposure will be warmer than those with no sun, as in a northern exposure. In a room where natural light is not plentiful, the colors for walls and ceiling should be light in tonal value, on a scale from 1 (darkest) to 10 (lightest), use an 8 or 9 value. Upholstery and color accents may be slightly darker and brighter in intensity.
Mark Hampton dark walls, tall windows, natural light
Darker tones on the walls (value 4 or less), depending on the character of the room, can be painted in a semi-gloss or satin finish for light bounce. Paint in a semi-gloss gives light reflections that help to maintain the luminosity.
What do you think? Did this color talk arouse your curiosity, would you like more. How do you think artificial light affects color?
Hi Gail,
Excellent, informative post as always! It takes me a months sometimes to choose the right wall color. I like to test it out in different lighting conditions – what does it look like at night? During the day? Stormy weather? I stare at it and ask myself – will I get sick of it? Thankfully my hubby likes color so I have a yellow living room (it faces north so no direct sunlight). I love it! Nice and cheery. We recently painted the bathroom a wild spring green to offset the gray counter top (which I hate – hate, hate gray!).
Chuckle . . . so, how does the wild spring green look with the hated gray? Can you stand the wild spring green? You are right, color is tricky. It is hard to make a color decision. And, all those things you look for are correct. Night, day, natural light, artificial light, stormy, shadows, they all affect the color. And . . . what about the adjacent color. I could go on all day. I will do more on color. There are simple colors that I have used over my 40 year career. And always Benjamin Moore. Thanks for visiting Casey. If you like yellow, a beautiful combo is yellow, blue and white. yum.
Thanks for this post, Gail! I’m getting ready to redo my dining room, which has lots of natural light — windows on the south, north and west. My dining table and chairs are a light to medium wood (not sure exactly what they’re made of), so I think an intense, darker color would look good on the walls. I was thinking of a red or a reddish purple, although now I’m liking the way that Mark Hampton room looks. Do you know what color is on those walls? My other question is about window treatments. Are decorators using heavier, more formal window treatments these days, or is the trend toward lighter or sheer ones? Also, with if I did go with red or purple-red walls, would you recommend a light or dark colored window treatment? A solid color, a large print, or a smaller print? Floor to ceiling or something simpler up top? My dining room is about 12 x 15, with 8 foot ceilings, so it’s not a huge room.
Hi Suze, thanks for your inquiry. For the walls, the cocoa color in the Mark Hampton space would look wonderful. It is warm and earthy. You can pick up color chips at a paint store (not home depot) and bring them home to compare to Hampton’s color. Use a satin finish. and paint the ceilings a pure white flat finish. Do not use ceiling white. Paint all the trim semi-gloss white. Although Benjamin Moore is more costly than other paints, but it pays to use. A dark color though needs at least two coats. Once dry it is easy to wipe down, doesn’t chip easily, lasts ten years, looking good. The window treatment is always better lighter than the walls, solid, no print, is easier to live with long term. Sheers are always beautiful, you can do white or cream and floor to ceiling will enhance the height of the space. Find a thick rod you love with rings. Choose end finials that you enjoy looking at and you will have simplicity, privacy and light. Bed, Bath and Beyond has quite a great selection of all that I suggested. If you get curtains at 96″ and hang them with rings, they will puddle on the floor some. But the other length 84″ will be too short. If puddling bother you, you can sew up a couple of inches with a big hemming stitch. Best of luck. Anything else?
Thank you so much, Gail! I think I’ll go get some paint samples this weekend! I don’t really want to paint the woodwork, though. It is a pretty mahogany. I think with creamy, sheer window treatments it would be fine.
Suze, take a look at Benjamin Moore’s 1316. It is a great red color for a dining room, especially with all those wonderful windows. Dining rooms can handle a color with intensity b/c it is a stimulant rather than being restful.
Thanks again, Gail, for being so generous with your expertise! I’m off to the paint store this weekend and I will definitely look at that color.
Timely post, Gail. I’m redecorating a small office room upstairs and turning it into a sitting/reading room. I chose a light, neutral, cocao color for the walls in an eggshell finish. We are looking into creating a subtle textured design since the walls are the old horsehair plaster and less than perfect, although my friend is a taper and doing a fabulous job of repairing them. I have some antique/retro furnishings to add to the space. Some beautiful (burnt orange print) 1960’s arm chairs that came from my mother in-laws place, an old bookcase my dad made, and an old wooden desk and chair from the forties. Eclectic, but I think it will all work together to create a warm, cozy reading nook for me:-)
Hi Paula, thank for commenting. It all sound fun and comfortable. For the walls, what do you mean texture? There are a couple of ways to solve those old wall issues. One, of course, is to have your taper plaster and smooth and repair. Another is to put up new sheetrock, it comes thin, like 1/4″, but of course taping is involved. Or, you can do a little mexicana type of spackling and create that old world, what was very popular in the 90’s.
Paula, i’ll be back. Have to do a little art for a friend at the moment.
It was called the Santa Fe look. You can also upholster the walls, but that’s a bit of work. Faux the walls with design, but keep it smooth. Keep it simple, especially in a space where you want quiet. Sounds like you found a great secluded spot.
great blog Gail. I knew some of that suff but ir was great to put it all together. We all have prejudices too, perhaps because of the way light and color influence us. Or the color of the walls where we work- I spent years in a building with gray-green walls! – can’t stand the color now.
Hi Bob, thanks for coming by. We have come along way since those gray green walls. They used to think that it was neutral and non-imposing. They used similar in hospitals. Depressing, the non-color is depressing. You never see hospitals or health facilities in those colors anymore. We need light and color to be in a well state of mind. Major studies have been done in those areas. And pure white rooms are also depressing and disturbing. As we age, we lose the ability to see some colors. Decreased color vision. Cells in the retina that are responsible for normal color vision decline in sensitivity as we age, causing colors to become less bright and the contrast between different colors to be less noticeable. In particular, blue colors may appear faded or “washed out.” There is no treatment for this normal, age-related loss of color perception, but it is good to know. Especially if your profession (e.g. artist, seamstress or electrician) requires fine color discrimination.
Very nice! Thanks for en”light”ening me.
Thanks Tom for stopping by. I enjoy your comments. And now that you are en-“light”-ened, we can talk on a whole new level . . . of “light” that is.