`Everyone can play color in any price range,” textile designer Jack Lenor Larsen says.
But color can be tricky. Too many colors may make a room appear disorganized. A colorless room can look austere.
Intense color is overwhelming in a room in which you spend a great deal of time, but it energizes in smaller doses.
Monochromatic schemes unify a small space, giving it an illusion of greater dimension, a rationale for painting wood trims the same as the walls. The more activity a room has, the better it probably is to keep it neutral. Infrequently used rooms-the foyer, a powder room, dining room, guest room-are places for drama and blasts of color. A ceiling will look taller if painted a shade lighter than the walls; paint it a tone deeper to lower it. Pale colors reflect light best.
Matte or flat surfaces absorb light and read somewhat darker than glossy, light-reflecting surfaces. Different lighting will change the appearance of colors. An 18th Century Williamsburg blue may seem gaudy today by electric light; in candlelight it was not so glaring. Under gaslight, brown and burnished tones thrived. Incandescent lights warm colors. Fluorescents cool them with their bluish cast. Low-voltage lighting is whiter; colors need to be peppier because halogens will wash them out.
– Yellow works effectively with pale blue and celadon and ”absolutely splendidly with gray greens.”
– Spicy cinnamon and cognac will take an important leap forward. ”They mix so well with gray and black and look as great in Santa Fe as they do in Chicago.”
– For a sunny look, mix bright yellow with pale oranges.
– If you like purple, use it as an accent. ”I personally find it difficult. But it`s wonderful in limited dosage. A room full of purple irises is terribly romantic.”
– To cool off a spicy orange, use a bright blue, one that almost borders on purple.
– Combine jade green, pale gold, white, a touch of black and pale gray-” a drop-dead color scheme.”
– Mix hyacinth blue, pale pink, blue-red-and, to give it depth, a touch of black.
– Mix gray-beige, jade, pale orange and pale hyacinth blue.
– Use mustard sparingly.
– Put exotic colors together. Mix corals and pinks, reds and oranges,
”nature`s colors, like those of a beautiful hibiscus. Use them as you would paprika on food, just for a little spice.”
”Remember, color has to be comfortable,” Larsen says. ”If it`s too shocking, too overwhelming, it might first seem sensational. But very soon, you`ll say, `I cannot look at it another minute!` ”
If your carpeting and furnishings are fairly neutral, you can add sparkle with accessories. Play with pillows and art, things that can be moved from room to room. Then you won`t have to worry if you hate the colors in five years.
Jay Spectre, an interior designer for Manhattan`s elite who also designs products (for Century Furniture, Karastan Rugs, Brown Jordan and Sasaki, among others), feels that we will be much less intimidated by color as we embrace the `90s.
He shares some of his ideas:
– Ceilings will become important as decorative focal points. ”They`re not going to get any higher; so I think they`ll become more colorful. To create the feeling of light or nature, paint a ceiling sunset, pink or coral in a white room. At different times of day or in the evening with lights, the walls will turn pale pink.”
– Color can visually enhance a room`s features. ”Different colors can push out walls. One pale green wall in an all-beige room, or a blue fireplace in a cream-colored room, makes it more interesting. If the fireplace happens to face a window, make it the same shade as the drapery.” –
