Oh this was a delightful read! It covers so much of what I’ve had on my mind and have been learning about of late! When I see an image of a Verner Panton room, not heart beats faster from happiness and appreciation! And then my next thought is inevitably...why are rooms like this still so rare? Such a shame! And that kind of impulse fuels my exploration for AI for interiors!
The relative aspect of colour and how it changes to our eyes based on the colours around it - it’s fascinating!
Josef Albers reading has been on my To Do list - thank you for those links!
Thank you for your lovely comment. To be completely honest, I really thought that I had written a bad post till @Michael Edwards gently set me straight. So I will crawl into a hole now because I am my own worst enemy.
I agree color makes people nervous and yes, yes to Verner Panton. It's hard to pull off. You have good color sense. I had excellent art and design teachers in college which I feel very fortunate about but it is still not easy.
I remember when I used to colour in some of my artwork and I started to notice how certain colours made other colours really pop. That was the first time I realised that a colours effect/power is contextual.
You explained this well.
I really enjoyed this piece. It was very interesting and insightful.
Thank you for sharing that memory and I really appreciate your comments. The experience you described is small but profound. It makes your brain say why did I not notice that before or wow this is great and confusing all at the same time. A short but good explanation in this video > https://vimeo.com/420347790
And thank you also saying the piece was helpful. I'm always wondering if it was too obvious or too complex. So the more feedback the better!
I have the same worries sometimes — i.e., to obvious/complex — but I think such distinctions are going to be different for everyone, and so, whoever likes the piece is who it was for.
I don't know about the technical parts of this but it is SO TRUE that colors change according to light, furnishings, and other factors. I've painted MANY times and yet, in my Idaho home, I've been completely flummoxed by how much the paint changes in each room and almost by the hour and isn't what I expected. In the end, my home will be much more yellow than I expected or wanted. But at least I like yellow.
Which is a good time to mention how colors play into our moods. That blue in the office I could never do. Never. Yet yellow in a bedroom is considered a no-no and I love it, have done it now in 3 homes. I loved having chocolate brown in my office for 10 years and always thought it would be an amazing color for a dining room. My husband, however, has nixed the idea of "anything dark" and his definition of dark is far lighter than mine. Alas.
I'm a strong believer that "design" needs to fit our personality, sensibilities, and moods. What may look absolutely amazing in another person's home can be completely the wrong thing in your own. And vice-versa ;)
Jan thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. I wish more people would leave comments as it's so helpful. Your experience with yellow is fascinating and It's frustrating to end up with something other than what you intended. It seems to always happen with renovations. When I first moved to NY a friend had a yellow bedroom and I always loved it as it reminded me of the Mediterranean. Brown is such an interesting color too as it reminds me of the 70's kitchens in orange and brown.
I agree with you on fit. I've found that true with interiors and with clothing too. If it doesn't feel right it will keep gnawing at you till you change it and it feels like you.
I was beginning to think I wrote a really stupid post! It wasn't my intention to imply that people don't know that paint colors change with varying lighting conditions. It's the idea that once you know how the sun changes, you can start to have a bit more control over how to compensate for the color casts.
I don't want to include the technical information because it can be hard to understand. But I decided to include it because there is confusing info online. One site will say northern light is blue and another site will say northern light is warm and that can really confuse people. It confused me! With science it's easier to understand how it all works. Then you can use the information and apply it to interiors, art etc.
Ah yes, well some folks do NOT know that light changes in a room and therefore changes the color. Such as my husband. 😆 he couldn’t believe that I used three different paints in order to achieve the same color look through the house.
The one thing I did not realize until this most recent renovation, however, is how different flat paint can look. So much so that when we painted the kitchen, I went back and redid the ceiling in flat, because the satin was just looking too dark. normally flat paint is a complete no no in the kitchen but I wanted the ceiling to be brighter and I didn’t want to change colors in that room. We haven’t finished the living room, but the same thing applies. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve ever worked completely with flat paint before. But the lack of shine really does allow the color to come through in a much bolder way. And the higher the shine, the more that light is going to bounce on it.
Haha The first part really made me laugh. Some people don't know so I was trying to balance the post for people that know and those who don't. If he didn't notice you had three different paints, that means you nailed it!
That's interesting about the kitchen. I liked reading that because that's an excellent way to approach it. Observe how it's working in your space and then figuring out how it needs to change. I have flat but I knew nothing back then!
I hope you are going to write a post on this as it would be fantastic.
Thanks so much for reading. I enjoy comments like yours because they help me think about what is useful. How old is the house? Now this is just my opinion > I don't veer too much with my house because it is old and was intended to be a certain way and that's the reference I use. I was planning to write an article on historic paint colors as I keep being asked this question by people I meet. Would that be useful?
If I can think of a helpful book will share with you next week. I am sure you looked at the neighboring houses for clues. I like whites, neutrals, orangey-reds, muted yellows and gray but color is so personal. Some people match the roof to the walls so then it all flows or use tonal ranges (light and dark shades of a color) but I don't even know if that's possible in your situation but something to think about.
TY
Thank you!
Oh this was a delightful read! It covers so much of what I’ve had on my mind and have been learning about of late! When I see an image of a Verner Panton room, not heart beats faster from happiness and appreciation! And then my next thought is inevitably...why are rooms like this still so rare? Such a shame! And that kind of impulse fuels my exploration for AI for interiors!
The relative aspect of colour and how it changes to our eyes based on the colours around it - it’s fascinating!
Josef Albers reading has been on my To Do list - thank you for those links!
Thank you for your lovely comment. To be completely honest, I really thought that I had written a bad post till @Michael Edwards gently set me straight. So I will crawl into a hole now because I am my own worst enemy.
I agree color makes people nervous and yes, yes to Verner Panton. It's hard to pull off. You have good color sense. I had excellent art and design teachers in college which I feel very fortunate about but it is still not easy.
I write all kinds of stuff that may or may not appeal but this post may be interesting to you: https://renoqueen.substack.com/p/become-enlightened
I remember when I used to colour in some of my artwork and I started to notice how certain colours made other colours really pop. That was the first time I realised that a colours effect/power is contextual.
You explained this well.
I really enjoyed this piece. It was very interesting and insightful.
Thank you for sharing that memory and I really appreciate your comments. The experience you described is small but profound. It makes your brain say why did I not notice that before or wow this is great and confusing all at the same time. A short but good explanation in this video > https://vimeo.com/420347790
And thank you also saying the piece was helpful. I'm always wondering if it was too obvious or too complex. So the more feedback the better!
I have the same worries sometimes — i.e., to obvious/complex — but I think such distinctions are going to be different for everyone, and so, whoever likes the piece is who it was for.
And I liked this piece :)
So wise and true Michael. Thank you. I didn't think it would apply to personal writing but I can completely see it could.
I don't know about the technical parts of this but it is SO TRUE that colors change according to light, furnishings, and other factors. I've painted MANY times and yet, in my Idaho home, I've been completely flummoxed by how much the paint changes in each room and almost by the hour and isn't what I expected. In the end, my home will be much more yellow than I expected or wanted. But at least I like yellow.
Which is a good time to mention how colors play into our moods. That blue in the office I could never do. Never. Yet yellow in a bedroom is considered a no-no and I love it, have done it now in 3 homes. I loved having chocolate brown in my office for 10 years and always thought it would be an amazing color for a dining room. My husband, however, has nixed the idea of "anything dark" and his definition of dark is far lighter than mine. Alas.
I'm a strong believer that "design" needs to fit our personality, sensibilities, and moods. What may look absolutely amazing in another person's home can be completely the wrong thing in your own. And vice-versa ;)
Jan thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. I wish more people would leave comments as it's so helpful. Your experience with yellow is fascinating and It's frustrating to end up with something other than what you intended. It seems to always happen with renovations. When I first moved to NY a friend had a yellow bedroom and I always loved it as it reminded me of the Mediterranean. Brown is such an interesting color too as it reminds me of the 70's kitchens in orange and brown.
I agree with you on fit. I've found that true with interiors and with clothing too. If it doesn't feel right it will keep gnawing at you till you change it and it feels like you.
I was beginning to think I wrote a really stupid post! It wasn't my intention to imply that people don't know that paint colors change with varying lighting conditions. It's the idea that once you know how the sun changes, you can start to have a bit more control over how to compensate for the color casts.
I don't want to include the technical information because it can be hard to understand. But I decided to include it because there is confusing info online. One site will say northern light is blue and another site will say northern light is warm and that can really confuse people. It confused me! With science it's easier to understand how it all works. Then you can use the information and apply it to interiors, art etc.
Ah yes, well some folks do NOT know that light changes in a room and therefore changes the color. Such as my husband. 😆 he couldn’t believe that I used three different paints in order to achieve the same color look through the house.
The one thing I did not realize until this most recent renovation, however, is how different flat paint can look. So much so that when we painted the kitchen, I went back and redid the ceiling in flat, because the satin was just looking too dark. normally flat paint is a complete no no in the kitchen but I wanted the ceiling to be brighter and I didn’t want to change colors in that room. We haven’t finished the living room, but the same thing applies. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve ever worked completely with flat paint before. But the lack of shine really does allow the color to come through in a much bolder way. And the higher the shine, the more that light is going to bounce on it.
Haha The first part really made me laugh. Some people don't know so I was trying to balance the post for people that know and those who don't. If he didn't notice you had three different paints, that means you nailed it!
That's interesting about the kitchen. I liked reading that because that's an excellent way to approach it. Observe how it's working in your space and then figuring out how it needs to change. I have flat but I knew nothing back then!
I hope you are going to write a post on this as it would be fantastic.
Thanks so much for reading. I enjoy comments like yours because they help me think about what is useful. How old is the house? Now this is just my opinion > I don't veer too much with my house because it is old and was intended to be a certain way and that's the reference I use. I was planning to write an article on historic paint colors as I keep being asked this question by people I meet. Would that be useful?
If I can think of a helpful book will share with you next week. I am sure you looked at the neighboring houses for clues. I like whites, neutrals, orangey-reds, muted yellows and gray but color is so personal. Some people match the roof to the walls so then it all flows or use tonal ranges (light and dark shades of a color) but I don't even know if that's possible in your situation but something to think about.
Thanks Duane. The book I have fyi is Ranch house style by Katherine Samoan.