Colors are so radically changed by differences in texture and pattern that a monochromatic or one-color room can be as lively and memorable through its subtlety as a more vividly contrasting space. Therefore, textures and pattern need to be considered as seriously and, at least in the case of textures, as evocatively, as the process of color-building.

Take textures first. The name of a known texture immediately conjures up an almost tangible surface. Just as thinking about one color in depth can evoke many images and variations, so too, different textures engender their own imagery. Consider for example the following:

Brick, Burlap, Basketwork, Cane, Cashmere, Ceramic, Coir,

Denim, Felt, Glass, Lace, Lacquer, Leather, Limestone,

Linen, Louvers, Matchboard, Plaster, Plexiglass, Quilting, Rope,

Satin, Silk, Steel, Stone, Tapestry, Tweed, Velvet

Pick out some of them and imagine how they would look distributed among floors, walls ceiling, soft furnishings, and furniture. Obviously some textures are more in keeping with each other than others. Rough contrasts with smooth and matte with gloss. But brick or stone or rough plaster walls look generally better contrasted with natural linen or burlap or cotton than with silk or satin. But there are no real rules, only sensibilities.

As for patterns, it used to be a convention never to mix them, as much to create harmony as to make things easier. One good way to become more confident about mixing pattern and texture with ease is to realize the pattern in a room is formed as much by possessions as by fabrics and floor coverings. Books with their various jacket designs; the way art is arranged on walls; the placement of objects; the slats of shutters; the play of light and shade; the shapes of different pieces of furniture; the leaves and flowers of plants… All these disparate things from patterns in their own right. When this fact is considered, one fabric, carpet or rug pattern more or less can hardly make much difference as the scale, tone and proportion are right. These last are obviously important. Large patterns that look interesting and diverting in fabric stores or furnishing departments are often more sensible for public rather than private settings, or at least large spaces unless one possesses a sure sense of scale, although it is a fact that large scale patterns and furniture used with confidence can generally make a small space seem much bigger. Similarly, one should remember that many small patterns often meld into one color when actually used for window treatments as opposed to hanging up show lengths.

A play of pattern however, can be very effective, varying as it does the whole balance of color.

The same design in two different colors can look interesting. So can the same design reversed – say blue on white predominating with white on blue predominating.

Very similar patterns in the same colors can be used together with effect, as in window treatments and carpet, with plain painted or plain textured walls.

Patterns with the same feeling if not design can also be used together effectively. Vivid striped North African or other ethnic fabrics with heavily patterned oriental rugs. Florals of all sorts with stripes or checks.

Use a large pattern with a smaller pattern in the same color way.

Do not forget the subtle effect of sheers printed with the same pattern as the curtains, or used with an allied or more simplified design, or in toned-down versions of the same main colors.

Lastly to mix patterns and textures together successfully, assemble as many samples of each as you can. Juggle them around. Think of them, as I said, in the context of existing surfaces, furniture, window treatments, upholstery, accents. Look at them in different lights. Then pick out two or three schemes for a final choice. This is the most effective way to learn.

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Serendipity is such a good word to roll around the tongue. It’s an even better word to describe the fortuitous luck, the un-thought of touch, which can creep into decorating to make effects that we had not anticipated but for which we are nevertheless grateful.

I shall never forget the change made unthinkingly by a friend who had left a Purple cardigan behind in a living room that I had designed. It was undoubtedly a pretty room. The walls were glazed a pale honeysuckle, the geometric carpet was Indian red and green and honeysuckle on a white ground. The curtain fabric was a Colefax & Fowler design of honeysuckle with Indian red stamens and fresh green leaves on white. The sofa and classic modern Italian chairs were nicely neutral.   Books and paintings added more color and  texture and there was the elegant bonus of a pair of stripped pine columns and old double doors in stripped pine as well.

I was pleased with the tranquil effect. Yet that one left-over cardigan nonchalantly resting on the back of an armchair gave the room a shot of vivacity that I had not realized was missing. The little slash of purple made the space look glowing without in any way losing its former tranquility.  And from then on I made sure to always have a vase of irises, or a small jug of violets, or  bowl of  anemones’, or whatever appropriately colored flowers were in season, and if they were not,  just a purple throw,  to introduce a subtle amount of that felicitous color purple against the prevailing honeysuckle.

So always be on the look out for some fresh and accidental introduction of color into a space. And its not just color.  It could be a quite different texture; a painting, or a piece of sculpture, or a new  large plant, or antique or sculptural occasional chair or side table or even a screen or an accidental  re-positioning of things come to that.

You never know your luck – or when that serendipity will come your way.

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Color is generally the most exciting, the most immediately noticeable and the least expensive element in decoration.

It also arouses the strongest emotional responses, can affect the apparent proportions and light in a room and can make the same space seem cool or warm, restful or stimulating, depending upon color choice. Alighting on the right harmony and contrasts is therefore important. But getting to know how to alight on such choices is not necessarily so easy.

Some people are born with a good, sometimes inspired, sense of color. They can carry a color around in their head and match it absolutely, contrast it subtly and use it as fluidly as a good artist uses paint. Most of us, however, have to develop such a sense through trial and error. Though the good news is that this is quite possible.

The French Impressionist painters in the 19th century were much inspired by a writer called Chevreuil who wrote “The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Color”. Chevreuil noted proudly that, once certain rules had been absorbed, painters invariably used color to better effect. The same must be true in decoration. He pointed out that colors will change radically according to the circumstances under which they are viewed. For example, if red is put near blue, the red appears more yellow. Near yellow, the same red appears bluer. Next to green, it appears purer and brighter. Next to black, it seems duller. Next to white, it seems lighter and brighter. And next to grey, it seems brighter, if not much lighter. If a dark color is placed beside a different but lighter color, the dark color appears deeper and the light color appears lighter. This is the result of contrast of tone. A color is also intensified by gloss. Look at butterflies’ wings, the feathers of some birds, leaves after rain, the different textures of flower petals.

Of course, ‘rules’, when applied to such an ostensibly light-hearted a subject as color, immediately begin to sound weighty and boring, especially when what people are the most anxious to know is how to actually form a color scheme. I always say that when the mind seems blank about a scheme, try emotional response. Take a color, any favorite color – yellow, for example – and think of it in depth. Think of everything floral and yellow, from the palest creamy yellow of honeysuckle or freesias to velvety yellow roses, and all the various yellow shades of narcissi, daffodils and crocuses. Or try straw and hay and contrasting sand; lemons and melons and bananas, butter and honey and olive oil, bright yellow peppers and pumpkins…

It is all very evocative and should help to build up a good monochromatic scheme, especially when the colors are translated into the look of the various textures that go in a room: wool and cotton and silk; paint and paper and plaster, all of which have differing depths and surfaces. If one color or colors in depth do not work for you, think of country landscapes or forest or sea colors. Study paintings and oriental rugs in detail and see how color is laid against color, tone against tone. Thinking up color combinations to suit a room is one thing. Finding the right balance is another. And preparing harmonizing schemes for a whole home is the most difficult thing of all.

There are several permutations for achieving an interesting balance. One way is to keep most of the room in shades and variations of one color – say white, or off-white – for walls, window coverings or shades, floor, the major seating and one or two chairs if the room is big. Use one accent color for another occasional chair, or a pair of chairs, and a third color for pillows or throws or flowers or other accessories. Another permutation would be to keep walls, window coverings and most upholstered furniture in one color, to use another color for the floor and to add a third color in accessories which can be juxtaposed with variations of both the other colors. Or, use the major color for walls and smaller pieces of furniture and add the accent colors in larger furniture, pillows, flowers and art. Try to vary surfaces and textures in these colors as much as possible to make a play to light and shade and pattern. In a small apartment or house, the space will seem much larger if more or less of the same colors are used in different juxtapositions throughout, especially if they are rooted on the same general floor covering. Strong or warm colors, like red or deep apricot, will make walls appear too closed in and the space seem smaller. Cool colors will push the walls out. A long corridor will appear less long if the end wall is painted or covered in a warm color and a high ceiling can be brought down by painting it darker. Rooms facing north in the Northern hemisphere will look more cheerful if warm, luminous colors are used. Rooms that are mainly filled with sunlight will do better with cool colors or a non-color, like white or ivory.

Do you have questions concerning the use of color for your upcoming  interior decorating project? We’ll be glad to schedule an appointment at your home or office. Also, you can meet with us at our Regional Design Studio located at 1039 Sterling Road, Suite 104, Herndon, VA 20170. We serve the Northern Virgina, Baltimore and DC Metro area. Contact Sandra Hambley at Decor & You DC:
Phone: 888-969-3326 or feel free to contact us via email here.

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This year, and over the next two to three years, color is evolving according to predictable influences: the Economy, given our recent recession woes, Fashion, as usual, and Nature, in alignment with a continuing concern for living “green.”

First, economic concerns have initiated a trend toward rising conservatism in decorating. Many homeowners are choosing to “stay in place,” and are looking for viable and affordable ways to refresh and invigorate their homes. Practical remodeling decisions are one way to do that—expanding living spaces or creating more storage, for instance—and color is another. The conservative trend is being felt in a resurgence of safe but updated neutrals, and a trend in pattern toward plaids. Gray is the new black—halfway between black and brown, gray can be warm or cool, but is always calming, solid and assuring. Plaids are reflected from menswear, seen as safe and traditional, easily updated with a color accent; a colorblocking trend in runway fashion also plays into plaids resurging in home design.

Despite economic concerns, a return to optimism is seen in bold, updated color as accent—just as a man’s tie creates that same color burst within his gray suit. This year’s showstopping color is yellow. The quintessential color for optimism, yellow is warming and energizing. Yellows with a citrus cast, in either green or orange undertones, dominate this year.

Fashion trends, however, are running counter to the conservative trend noted above; instead, Fashion is influencing Interior Design in a different way: focusing on fun, whimsy, and escape. Influenced by the runway, the bold accent colors noted above are adding the fun “twist” to otherwise neutral decorating schemes. Bold accents are easily—and economically—changed with the times or the trend. Colors reflecting this fashion forward trend are reflected in a significant return to purples, especially those that are red-based. Purple as accent will be seen in a variety of hues and saturations, and will even enter the neutrals category as a “grayed-out” plum.  Confident, luxurious purple runs a close second to yellow as accent for 2009. Bright pinks and oranges are also hot, along with a retro trend to paisley, spiral, and psychedelic patterns, as Fashion revisits the 60’s and 70’s.

Finally, the Environmental movement has us all going back to nature for inspiration. “Being green” is a fixture in society these days, and color trend is strongly influenced by it—though this year, the new green is blue! The spectrum of blues highlight the oceanic side of our Earthly concerns, as green takes a backseat to this soft, soothing color that is as changeable and versatile as the ocean itself. Blues translate to tranquility and calm, safety and security, and will be used in every shade from deep navy to watery aqua.  A return to nature also influences our bolder tones, bringing in citrus and other produce-inspired colors, as well as exotics, such as oranges, reds and teals.  As our world becomes more multicultural, and our access to formerly out-of-reach places extends, exotic colors and influences increase.  This will also be reflected in use of unexpected materials, such as exotic woods, reclaimed metals, shells, and grasses.

Color choice is a reaction to the world around us. When making yours, while trend and influence is important for inspiration, in the end, be sure to choose those that make you happy in your home.

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We regularly receive emails with various decorating questions and dilemmas. I’ve selected three interior decorating questions to answer this month, and hope my suggestions help you love the space you’re in!

1.  What do I do with my two story family room or foyer looks sterile? It looked so beautiful in the model home.

A beautiful way to turn any large space into a beautiful welcoming area for your guests and family is to use wallpaper.  Before you cringe at the thought of wallpaper from decades ago, please know that those who swore they would never use wallpaper have turned the corner and have become addicts.

First, the infinite possibilities of gorgeous wallpaper to fit your personal style will instantly add warmth, texture and interest in a way that straight paint and faux finishes do not.  Wallpaper instantly easily adds personality and “WOW” to a sterile foyer.  A qualified wallpaper installer who uses the correct adhesive and knows how to properly hang and pattern match the paper guarantees that it will look perfect when up, and be easily removed when you are ready for a change.

Once your wallpaper is in place, add accessories such as artwork or a tapestry on a rod with beautiful tassels, an area rug, and lighting!

2.  I have really small windows in my basement – What do I do with them?

Treat basement windows just like normal-sized windows.  First, start with 2-layer window treatments by hanging beautiful draperies on top while having a privacy layer underneath.  Put a light, transparent fabric as the first layer and have them drawn all the time. Now, add stationary side panels or a top treatment in the fabric of your choice.  This stunning treatment technique will fool everyone, who will be convinced you are fortunate to have regular-sized windows in your basement.

3. What are the “in” –but still neutral—colors? How should I use these colors to update my home for selling purposes?”

Use warm colors to invite potential buyers into your home: think of the color of buttered toast, toffee or caramel, and light, but bright browns with some gold undertones. Make sure that transition rooms are warmly painted in creamy beige with buttery undertones, for example. Never use bright white as it is cold and harsh, and will show every defect in your walls!

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