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Color of the Year Season

Once again, it’s time for paint companies to declare their annual colors of the year. My buds at Sherwin-Williams have declared it to be navy blue for 2020.

That’s blue all right.

And it goes with the newly trendy brass and gold accessories (ha! I’m not falling for THAT again). And…that’s about all it goes with. They did suggest a kale green. And I guess white would work. In any case, I’m not going to be putting a lot of Naval in anything I decorate in the near future, but that’s just me. I’ve tried to embrace navy blue before, and find it so annoyingly difficult to match with fabrics and decorative items that I’ve given up. There are SO many shades of navy blue that don’t go together well.

In any case, the marketing team from Sherwin-Williams has this advice for us:

2020 places an importance on biophilia – our intrinsic need as humans to interact with nature. The inclusion of live greenery and mineral based materials like marble, allow us to create a natural sanctuary that encourages rejuvenation in your everyday life. It’s about slowing down to appreciate the beauty in nature and how you can bring it indoors.

Hooray. Plants are in. I have them in all the rooms I decorate, at least the ones with actual windows (so the Hermit Haus basement has mostly icky old fake plants).

Our Austin house is good for plants!

We like plants!

I’m glad rocks are in, too, since I love natural materials in home decorating. I honestly don’t think rocks go out of style, even though some decorating television show doofus declared the travertine floors we have at our ranch house horribly outdated. Well, they sure clean easily and don’t show dirt! And they are nature!

Speaking of nature, we plan to enjoy some this weekend on our annual Board retreat.

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Pink, Yellow, Black, and White

My inspiration room.

Since we are about to embark on a renovation of a 50s-style house, I’ve been thinking a lot about the color schemes for the bathroom and kitchen. Now that our contractor is back in town, we need to set up the Scope of Work for the Nash house, and I’ll need to decide whether the pink and yellow tiles stay or go.

The Pink Bathroom

I looked around on Pinterest and elsewhere for ideas. This blog article from 2011 declared the pink bathroom is “back,” and has some cute pictures. The author actually tore out their tile (boo) but did share the image at right of what I’m kind of leaning toward, pink and black with lots of white. Luckily, the Nash house pink isn’t quite so pink, and I’ll be able to do a neutral floor. I am thinking of black fixtures, though.

Lots of white balancing lots of pink. The black floor I’m not sure about.

Somehow, I think black really neutralizes the pink and makes it less overtly feminine. Besides, I hear pink flatters everyone, so no matter who you are, the bathroom pink would help you look your best first thing in the morning (I wonder if it would have worked for me today, when I had curly purple hair sticking straight up?). The photo at left is of the bathroom of someone named Robert, and it’s manly enough, I think. I’m glad we will be replacing our pink toilet, and I’m sure he wishes his pink sink coordinated better with his tile.

I’ll put a few more inspiration photos at the end, but let’s move on to the yellow.

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Decorating Wins and Losses at Parkwood

It’s not bad, but not quite what we wanted, either. And yes, that light fixture goes!

Getting closer and closer to the finish line with Parkwood doesn’t mean there aren’t a couple of mis-steps here and there. But overall, it’s still going well.

No matter how good you are at making color choices, sometimes they don’t look as good on a wall as on a paint chip. Carol found that out with the front entryway. The dark gray paint, combined with the dark rocks, makes the long walkway to the door look rather cave-like, and the lovely shade of turquoise does not pop when it’s way in the shadows like that.

So, the plan is to paint the entry the lighter gray of the trim and find another door color (I vote for coral, to go with the limestone, but actually, I don’t have a vote on this one!). We’re looking forward to seeing the new choices and to seeing the home completely painted.

What a shiny, bright kitchen!

The kitchen, though, has worked out really well. The backsplash is in, and Ray chose a classic white subway tile. It makes the kitchen bright and neutral, ready for whatever accents a new homeowner would like to add. The floors add the touch of warmth the room needs. All that’s left are the knobs on the cabinets, and those went in yesterday after Carol visited.

We are all excited that the skylights are going in today. Woo! And wood stain has been chosen.

This is what makes rehabbing sad houses so satisfying. When we see where this house has gotten to, knowing how it looked before, it seems like magic. However, it’s just a lot of good planning and hard work. In this case, also many dumpsters.

The “before” kitchen.

We hope you are enjoying your own projects, not stressing over holidays, and enjoying magical transformations wherever you find them.

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It’s Already Color of the Year Time!

Time flies, doesn’t it? It became abundantly clear to me earlier this week when my inbox informed me that Sherwin-Williams was announcing the 2019 Color of the Year. 2019? Wasn’t is just 1987 last week? And didn’t I just write about the color of the year a month or two ago? No, it was actually February, when I talked about Ultra Violet (Now, THAT’S a color).

Anyway, this year it’s not a flashy one, it’s a blendy one, Cavern Clay. Rather than try to describe it, you can enjoy it on YouTube. I hope they appreciate their free ad:


That’s probably the color I should have painted the walls in the great room at the ranch, rather than the incredibly Caucasian Skin Tone shade I did use. It’s not brown; it’s not orange; it’s desert rock color. They are right that it can be used in a lot of settings and with a lot of styles. I like the idea of using it with natural leather and an unbleached linen kind of color. So, everyone run out and paint your rooms so you’ll be au courant!

Image from PPG website.

What Else Is Out There?

Sherwin-Williams is not the only company out there promoting a color for 2019. PPG also has one, and it’s more “exciting” (or in other words, mainly an accent color). Night Watch is a very dark green, and PPG says it’s the Power of Nature. It’s sort of spooky, but on the other hand, I’m fond of green, so I would not mind it one big lining the backs of shelves, or in a cozy library or office area.

It’s a bluish green, so perhaps that makes it more trendy than an avocado shade that’s more yellowish. It sure looks pretty against white.

from the Ace Hardware website.

Ace Hardware’s Clark + Kensington line had a contest to where customers designed colors, and the winner came out to be a fairly perky creamy light tan called Pineapple Cream Granita. Nothing wrong with this color at all. At least it’s not so pale you can’t tell it’s a color, but still it’s pretty neutral.

From the Behr website

Not to be forgotten is Behr. I read an article last week calling their Blueprint color a true blue. It seems to me to be a little muted for that, but it’s not an awful cloying blue like so many are (to me, not the biggest fan of blue). It will make a nice accent that’s not screaming at you, like the doors in the picture at right.

Inspired? I am. I pretty much want to pair that Pineapple Cream Granita color with everything!

The best thing about all these colors is that they don’t look like they’ll age quickly. For example, I think I’d still enjoy a room in the clay color in a decade, since it’s drawn so closely from nature.

Tell me, what’s your favorite?

 

 

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Why Go Neutral to Sell Your House

Today we’re sharing what Carol originally wrote in a comment on my post about Ultra Violet, the Pantone Color of the Year. I’d mentioned that she would not recommend you put it on your walls, and here’s her response:

Here is a neutral bathroom in the Chapparal house.

Absolutely true, Sue Ann! One of the trends I’ve noticed a LOT in my ~20-years in this business, is that people who are in financial trouble who try to sell homes with heavily colored walls tend to have problems. They may have said when they painted the room, “Oh, it’s okay, we’ll just change it back when we go to sell it.” And it always seems they just don’t have the money or time to “change it back.”

And maybe they think it’s a really pretty color and feel others will, too. But people who don’t spend much time with buyers don’t hear the feedback. I do. Trust me, buyers think it costs thousands of dollars to repaint a room and often don’t even get that far in their thinking. Usually they just reject the house outright and go on to the next one!

And, dear home owner, let me tell you, it’s a LOT of work to stage, declutter, pack up personal photos and knickknacks, to get a house ready to sell (especially if you really want (or NEED) to get top dollar on your house). If your house has dark blue, violet, orange, or red walls, you seriously limit your market of buyers. That’s why I always recommend folks buy throw pillows, curtains, or accessories in the trendy colors instead of painting.

Sue Ann promises to repaint this room before selling Bobcat Lair.

Paint colors aren’t just a matter of opinion. Notice that hospitals paint emergency rooms and operating rooms in soft, soothing colors. Can you imagine a more stressful space that could use less stimulus? Loud, bold and heavy colors are proven to actually cause your mood to change.* If one already has a lot of stress (and it’s often stressful for buyers when deciding to FINALLY buy a home), why wouldn’t you want to make your home welcoming and soothing for them?

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