Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Color your World

Do so many people really love a home filled with burlap, sisal, and natural linen with white painted and bleached wood? Not me and I'm thrilled when I find a home filled with lots of color.

This is why I would like to introduce Susan Sargent. Susan is an artist, fabric and rug designer living in Vermont. Her book Colorscapes, explains how to create a personal color palette and presents an original approach to the process of picking colors for your home. Each chapter features a different location and is devoted to a unique color concept. Colorscapes, is what made me start to rethink how I could combine colors in my home.


"My color choices are guided by my strong belief that bringing the right Colors into our homes is a sure-fire way to improve our moods, creativity, and energy.  My colors are lively without being overwhelming, saturated and vivid without being electric. The yellows are warm, tending towards apricot and mango. The blues have an appealing nod towards periwinkle. My signature green tilts towards lime, which makes it work beautifully with the yellows, reds and blues in the range. I believe my colors are balanced in a way that promotes a warm, comforted feeling when used throughout the home.
And while I have colors I believe in, and which I feel are for thriving, there are also colors, which I personally abhor, and find repellent! I strongly believe living with these colors induces lethargy, boredom, lack of energy, and sadness. These include: Beige, beige, and beige!! Muddy browns! Mustard, all variations! Somber maroons, drab olives, uninteresting navy blues, and enervating dark greens. Other Environmental and Well-being misses: Kelly Green, acid lemon, flat brownish pinks, brownish institutional greens, sharp purples and oranges, screaming pinks, dispirited mauve's, fire engine reds, and brown, beige, and brown!" Susan Sargent


Although I don't agree on her color choices, I love how she has such a definitive palette. I've been working on my own color palette for a few years now, as I have mentioned many times before, aqua is my favorite color and starting point to my homes color scheme.

I love all blue-green colors, from teal to aqua and a close second is yellow/green, from chartreuse to apple. My warm side choices are apricot, yellow and red. I prefer colors that look aged and I don't care much for pastels. My latest color crush is brown not to be confused with beige, and I think black is needed to add a little sophistication. The colors I can live without are fuchsia, gray, beige, and anything neon.


I had fun making my color collages on Picnik

3 comments:

  1. omg.....LOVE the fact that you sorta 'called out' the neutral burlap lovin' peeps out there!!! I get so sick of the same ole same ole!! I am a COLOR FREAK! Sometimes, I feel like I just don't fit in our int he blogosphere!! Thanks for writing about this. I'm gonna look into this book. :)

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  2. I love the neutrals and burlap's and sisal... yep guilty as charged. That being said I appreciate good design, so I enjoy most styles and color schemes. I don't think there is any right or wrong only good design. What makes you happy is what you should go for.

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  3. Interesting post! I could also plead guilty to the white and sisal but I do love hits of colour to bring my home alive. I have these beautiful orange pillow in my livingroom that make me smile and collections of blue around my kitchen that lift my spirits as well. Of course I have red rugs all over our main floor so...I guess I like the neutrals with the colours! Hmmm...kind of talked myself around in that one!

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