Ugly green house
This could happen to you. Elsa and Bob chose what they thought would be the perfect color for the exterior of their house. They wanted green.The sample was one of those one-inch sizes, but just to be sure they liked the color, they got a larger sample, four inches. Perfect.
They left the job in the hands of a pro painter, and went on vacation. Have you figured out the end of the story? Returning, the limo dropped them off in front of a house. “This isn’t ours, do you have the right address?” Turns out this green house, lime green, or something similar, couldn’t be, but yes, it was theirs alright. The house was bright, really bright, green, of some kind, screaming. They rushed into the house and immediately called their pro painter.
Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue for porch ceiling & shutters, white house.
Wythe Blue, this time they chose a soft color, almost neutral, for the porch ceiling and shutters, enhanced with a Forest Green front door, together with a brilliant white for the house. Imagine this gorgeous porch behind those unsightly bushes.The bushes have to go, and with new landscaping the house will be handsome. And yes, their painter charged them. You don’t think he would repaint for free, did you? His time is valuable. This happens often. That’s why the paint companies make small jar samples. So you could paint one whole big surface for color practice. That’s one solution, but what you need to know is that those small samples don’t give you the whole truth. You see, color gets stronger and brighter as the area you are painting gets bigger.
This color is a really important subject. You can’t cover it with a couple of paragraphs, but I will give you some ideas that will enlighten you.
Area subdivisions are:
Dominant Areas: Walls, floor and ceiling.
Medium Areas: Draperies and large pieces of upholstered furniture, bed-covers, etc.
Small Areas: Small upholstered furniture, chair-seats, pillows, etc.
Accent: Piping, welting or fringes on draperies and upholstery, lamp-bases or shades, books, plants, flowers, etc.
There are fancy names for color schemes, like monochromatic, analogous and complementary.
You’ll need the color wheel as reference.
Itten color wheel
A color wheel or color circle is an abstract illustrative organization of color hues around a circle that shows relationships between primary colors, secondary colors, complementary colors, etc.
Monochromatic color scheme
Monochromatic Schemes: One color in various shades and tonal values (light to dark). Using the subdivisions: The dominant areas (walls, floor and ceiling) of a room are different in tone, of the same color. This system has great unity, and great dignity, but has enough variety to maintain interest. Variety can be obtained by introducing changes both in tonal value and brightness (chromatic values). The brightest for throw pillows and accessories.
Complementary color scheme
Complementary Scheme: Opposite colors in the color wheel cover the dominant and medium areas. In this scheme a more agreeable harmony will be attained if each color is slightly tinged with another and the same color. Such as red with some yellow as in russet, in combination with a green also slightly tinged with yellow as in green citron. If the red is on the blue side, as in red-mulberry, the green should also be on the blue side as in green-slate. The same should be applied to the other complementary schemes and the proper colors may be easily selected by reviewing the color wheel. Of course, remember your distribution as mentioned in subdivisions.
Mark Rothko Analogous painting
Analogous Scheme: Any three adjoining hues in a twelve color wheel, or any three of six adjoining colors in a wheel of twenty-four. To have the greatest unity in this scheme, limit the color of the wall to one color and repeat in small areas elsewhere. Remember your subdivisions and the distribution of tone and brightness.
Does this information give you some insight? What have you gained from this post? Are you inspired to do some coloring, in your house?
Edward Hopper painting – can you figure out which color scheme he used for this famous work?
Yes. I live in an apricot and lavender house because I thought I’d bought paint of blush pink and stone grey. I didn’t change it, but kept it.
Thanks again, Gail, for a very helpful analysis. I think I’m drawn to the complementary scheme in general.
Hi Suze, your project sounds like fun. Enjoy. I think getting the small jars of paint to try is great. Do at least a three-foot square. I have used 1316 on many jobs, as well as my own.
Once again Gail, great blog. I always learn something.
Hi Julianne,
Thanks for the good words. I always enjoy hearing from you. I loved your words in the recent ASID newsletter, and the link to the NY Times article.
This was sooo helpful Gail! Thanks for all the great tips and info. I think I’m instictively drawn to each scheme for different reasons and in different areas of the house, depending on the lighting, size of a room, and furnishings. My den (pellet stove room) has a complementary color scheme with gold walls and cranberry trim. The walls in my living room are knotty pine (not our idea but what was left from previous owners), so I went with a deep forest gree leather couch set my husband had and an oriental rug that has deep greens and blues with a neutral back drop.
As I’ve mentioned before, our house is old (1843) and has lived to see many upgrades and decorating styles through the years, so as we slowly renovate and redecorate, we have to live with lots of eclectic styles melding throughout the house. Someone thought a nautical theme in the living room was a good idea. I finally convinced my husband to remove the ships wheel lighting from the center of the room. Gads!
Whoa Paula, you do have lots to contend with in your eclectic home,don’t you? Removing the wheel was a GREAT idea.I didn’t know you were a captain of a ship, or am I missing that part of you? If you think about your characters for your books, who would get a nautical theme? Why would you have a nautical theme anywhere in your home?The pine walls were probably why someone suggested that, but wouldn’t you design based on someones interests. Whenever you do something in the house, think of who owns it, what their lifestyle is, where they have traveled, etc. You are careful with your character development, right? Why not with your own character and your family?Do you own a boat, and is water something you spend time on? Another words, your home should be a reflection of who you and those you live with are.
I LOVE those old homes. How exciting for you to live in one. Is the flooring 8″ planks of oak? Hmmm, 1843 is when the Federal style became popular. That would be a two story with oak floors, maybe beams somewhere, maybe columns, all depending whether the owners had money or not. Families all lived on or near the same properties, so maybe this was built for the married children of the owners. At the time, there was no indoor plumbing, do you have an outhouse on the property? Can you tell me about this house. How many square feet? This was built before the Victorian style. Is the exterior front fascade flat, (how’s that for an illiteration?) with windows running across the first and second floor? How many fireplaces, and are they centered in the house? Do all the rooms have fireplaces?
Wow, Gail…we must talk! Okay, here goes. You are spot on with your analysis of the house. Federal colonial with addition added on in 1898 that runs along the side and back of the house which will eventually be our master bedroom/bath. Another addition which is now the kitchen, mudroom and two car garage was added in the sixties, making it about 2500 sq. feet of living space. Originally, was probably half that. Two stories, with windows running along the front upstairs and down, flat facade but with an added wrap around porch. 12 inch wide oak floor boards, all original. Post and beam construction with all solid walls (2×6 beems stacked one on top of the other).
The basement was dug out later on to add the furnace and utilities, but all of the electrical runs exterior to the walls. The house has electric heat, oil heat, and a pellet stove. One central fireplace that has been covered over. I’m not sure if there was one upstairs or not. Might have been where there are now closets. We’re always finding interesting doors or passages from one room to the next when we take down a wall. There’s no outhouse on the premises that we’ve found, but there is an old fireplace out in the back that looks like there might have been another building back there at some point. There is also a very cool cement walled structure surrounding a spring fed pool about 10×12 and a good four of five feet deep. it never freezes over in the winter and the overflow creates a nice little stream through the woods. We think it must have been an old cold storage shed at one time. I would love for you to come out to the house some time for the day. We could include a massage and lunch to make it really worth the trip:-)
ooouuuu, you know how to have a captive audience. Where do you live?
Color it gree…at!
You think so? Thanks pal.