Color Consultations

Going Granny Chic

Posted by Lindsay on Feb 2, 2010 in Color Consultations, Color Therapy Thursdays, Featured Articles | 0 comments

Hello out there, lovelies!  I seem to be all-about-blogging for a week or two, then I drop off the face of the Earth for another week or two!  But I’m not sitting around eating Bon-Bons…I’m trying to wrap my brain around all of the projects I’ve got going – AND spend time with my two favorite people in the world!  I’m glad they love me so much and understand my lack-of-boundaries at the moment.    I thought I’d share a small project I’m working on, and I’m loving the challenge.  Picking paint colors for a (in my words) ‘Granny Chic’ loft.  Imagine this – an amazing loft space for visiting family with lots of light and a spiral staircase leading up to it.  But it includes some super cozy and soft rose-colored carpet (that is 12 years old but in brand new condition as the room is never used) – and yes, I said rose as in PINK! – with a few brand new coats of barely-there chamomile paint on the ceiling.  So neither will be changed.  Hmm.  The room also has a ton of oak furniture and a brand new bedding set that will also be the basis for choosing paint.  Double hmm.  Check it out.

The lightest paint color on the strip is the ceiling color: Chamomile by Sherwin Williams (SW 6399).  And that is the pillowcase that matches the duvet from the bedding set.  So ‘Granny Chic,’ right?  I really think it could be pretty, and I’m hoping my choices will help make the loft everything she wants it to be!  And I know my ‘Photobooth’ webcam shot doesn’t do the colors justice, but it will do for now I suppose!

Here are the paint color choices I’m mulling over…plus one more sample coming in the mail…

It’s not often that I get to work with such a girly palette.  And it’s a nice change of pace because most designing that I’m doing is for both sexes and has to be a compromise.  And I know it is in my house anyway!  So I’m enjoying it.

Unfortunately I’m not going to share the paint colors themselves, as my client is paying for those color names*, but left to right is a golden yellow that still feels like a neutral, a muddy olive, a tan with a little green undertone, and a light smoky blue.  What do you like best? I’m actually loving the blue, or the yellow, but I’m hoping it wouldn’t feel like a big easter basket with the rose carpet, ha!  That’s why they’re on the neutral side and not too bright.  But I’m guessing it will be the green or the tan that gets chosen.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see!

*I’m sure you understand. 

He Says/She Says Poll Results

Posted by Lindsay on Nov 9, 2009 in Bathroom, Bedroom, Color Consultations, DIY, Featured Articles, Freebies, Giveaways, Guest Bloggers | 2 comments

Good morning, everyone! How was your weekend? Mine was great! Just too short…I cleaned my office (aahhh – that is a big sigh of relief), made a few Christmas cards and helped Glenn build the frame around a box that is protecting our septic tank in the backyard.  Gross.  Well, the box isn’t gross, just the thought of a big tank of poo that is right underneath our feet in our backyard.    It’s just weird.  The tank isn’t buried very deep – the top of it is actually level with the ground, so we have these big plastic lids that stick up on the lawn, so we’re building a box to protect it from the sun.  You really don’t want those plastic lids getting sunbaked and brittle!!  A few weeks ago, Glenn dug some holes, poured some concrete in and set some posts.  And yesterday he started on the frame…and I helped.  Anyway, more on that later!

Next up is the results of the “He Says/She Says” bedroom paint dilemma poll I posted last Friday.  So far it’s 53% for painting the trim, chair rail and ceiling brown…41% say leave it how it is…and 6% (1 vote) says Other, but I don’t know what Other means!  Anyway, to let you in on who is who…I am the one who wants to paint. Surprise, surprise, right?  I feel like at the very least the orange and white needs to be broken up (by painting the chair rail).  And I saw a photo online SOMEWHERE of a bedroom with a chocolate brown ceiling and I LOVED it.  But I can’t find it anywhere now…let me know if you have seen it or know where I can find it…please!  Glenn wants to paint the trim around the windows the same color as the lower wall and be done with it.  And he is seriously fighting me on it…straight up says ‘no! Do not paint it!’  It must be nice to have such amazing psychic powers and knowing how ugly my idea must turn out.  ::Grrrr…::

I’d even consider doing a tan ceiling instead if chocolate brown is that scary for a ceiling.  I still think the chair rail would be best in chocolate, though.  But I could always paint that tan as well and if I don’t like it I can paint it darker.  Whatever, Glenn, ha! 

Thank you all for your votes – I win, I win!!  But we’ll see if it ever gets done…I’m still waiting for Glenn to fill all the nail holes in the new trim so that we can get those painted.  We’ll also paint the bathroom ceiling (back to white) when we paint the trim.  It’s VERY dark in there…you can still do your makeup, but I think we just need a little more white to balance out all of the brown. It keeps it looking crisp.  And I need to get new towels and finish sewing my new shower curtain…

And speaking of paint colors, I recently finished an e-decorating Paint Consultation project for a client. I chose colors for the ENTIRE house and I hear through the grapevine (aka Facebook) that their painters are done and they LOVE their colors. Can’t wait to share those photos with you all!! After I see them, of course…

Edit: My brain and my fingers aren’t working together…I thought I left the contest open until TODAY (Monday, 11/9) but I originally was holding the giveaway open until Monday 11/16.  So I’m going to keep it open for another week, so if you want to enter you still have time!  Sorry, Trisha…maybe you’ll still win!   Head back to the post to enter.   And last, but not least – the winner of last week’s Rosebud Cards giveaway!! The winner is Trisha!! Congrats, Trisha!! Enjoy your free cards!!  Here are her favorites:

And a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE ‘Thank You’ to Rosemary of Rosebud Cards for offering this very generous giveaway to Likely Design readers!  Your card idea is absolutely adorable, and Trisha is a very lucky winner. I am so appreciative that someone would contact me because of my blog and offer to give something away for free that you worked so hard on.  Thank you so much to everyone who entered – you guys rock! 

It’s still open: enter the giveaway here!

And another exciting thing coming up – I submitted a guest post to Michelle over at the blog “When I Grow Up” about my path to becoming a creative professional.  How exciting, right?!?!  I’ll let you know when my guest post is up!!  See you all tomorrow and have a great Monday…. xo, L.

He Says/She Says

Posted by Lindsay on Nov 6, 2009 in Bedroom, Color Consultations, Color Therapy Thursdays, Featured Articles | 4 comments

I need your help here, people!  We have a little “Designing for the Sexes” debate at my house…on a few rooms, but we’ll start here. As you might know, we need to do a little painting in the master bedroom. One of us wants to continue doing some painting, and one of us wants to simply leave the room how it is (after the NEW window trim is painted, of course). I won’t say who is who because I want your honest opinion and I’m going to show Glenn the results of this poll! {See the poll below.}  Here are some pictures of the bedroom as it is today.

We do have a wish list for this room…starting with light bulbs with lower lumen output. See the bandannas on the bedside lamps? The light bulbs are ridiculously bright for a bedside lamp. We also want a new bed frame (notice how we took the canopy part down??), curtains over the windows, new rugs, and some serious art and accessories. I think the bed could also use a throw or something for some fun texture.

One of us wants to leave the paint as is. The other wants to paint the trim, chair rail and ceiling a chocolate brown, leaving the white and orange as is.  What do you think?  We both like the orange (Pilgrimage Foliage by Benjamin Moore) so I’m trying not too show my bias here, hehe…

Alright, here is the poll.  Feel free to add your own design suggestion if you can think of another idea!

Thanks for your help! I’ll be sure to keep you updated!!

{Paint Color Consult} Ann & Gene's Northern California Den

Posted by Lindsay on Mar 25, 2009 in Color Consultations | 0 comments

I recently had the pleasure of doing a “Paint Color Consultation” for a couple I’ve known almost my whole life, and I am thrilled that they LOVE the new colors in their den!

Ann and Gene decided to remodel one wall (it had a brick retaining wall inside the house) so they re-sheetrocked that wall and re-textured the entire room, updated the flooring and built a new hearth around their woodstove!  Here is what I had to work with for the “before” shot, but they were nice enough to loan me a sample of their new laminate flooring (a nice honey color!) and the arm-cover from their medium brown suede furniture for choosing some paint.

The room is used as a den, playroom (Ann runs daycare in her home), and an office.  They wanted a color that wasn’t too bright, very calm and neutral, and blended with the rest of the house.  They recently purchased some green-fabric blinds for the room, so they wanted those to stay, and the color also had to coordinate with the yellow color in the adjacent kitchen.  Here are the options that I gave them:

Option 1: Branchport Brown and Sulfur Yellow (all paint colors by Benjamin Moore)
Option 2: Branchport Brown and Danville Tan
Option 3: Branchport Brown and Great Plains Gold

In my Paint Color Consultation packages, I give the client 3 options, and in this case I tried to give them a neutral option, a warm option, and a cool option.  I really loved the idea of a dark brown wall behind their new light ceramic tile hearth, with the other 3 walls in the main wall color – and that is why I kept the Branchport Brown in all of the options (which fortunately they loved!).  The Sulfur Yellow (warm option) is a really neutral yellow, and it looked great with their flooring and furniture.  The Danville Tan (cool option) is a great color – it looks tan on it’s own, but if you put it against another tan, it looks green, and Ann and Gene really loved that!  It also looked great with the adjacent kitchen, and the window treatments.  The Great Plains Gold (neutral option) is a perfectly neutral medium brown, and I thought it would coordinate really well with their furniture, and would look great with some bright accents.

What did they choose?

They chose the cool option which was Danville Tan by Benjamin Moore along with the dark wall.  They finished it off with an Ivory colored ceiling with bright white trim and crown moulding for a little more contrast.  How great are those colors??  What do you think??

If you would like your own Paint Color Consultation, follow that link or e-mail me at lindsay@lindsaychristensendesign.com!