Color Scheme

Color Scheme, Lighting, Paint Color, Renovation

How one attic became usable

One of the projects I have been working on lately is an attic home office. My clients decided to renovate a decent size half-finished attic to use it as a shared office for her and him as well as a music lounge area. The photo below shows the attic before the renovation with a low ceiling and poor lighting. There was no insulation which made it impossible to use the area all year long.

The attic has been completely gutted and insulated. Ceiling was elevated and covered with new drywall. Old carpeting was removed and existing hardwood floors refinished using a sophisticated dark stain. New energy efficient recessed lighting was installed along the ceiling together with a ceiling fan over the staircase. The staircase itself received a facelift to match the railings in the house and to meet safety requirements. Below are some photos of work in progress:

Free space behind the knee walls was used to build spacious storage units with stylish cabinet doors. All doors, trims and window casements were painted white. Walls and ceiling painted in light gray while both gable walls were treated as accent walls and painted in a darker shade of blue/gray.

Construction phase of the project is finished. Now on to the furnishing and accessorizing. We will be using mostly office furniture from IKEA, which is a great deal for the quality you get. I will keep you posted.

Art, Color Scheme, Furniture, Inspiration, Lighting, Paint Color, Rugs

A conference room dedicated to women

Finally, I have some photos of my latest commercial project to share with you! I had the pleasure to work with the American Pharmacists Association in Washington DC on the Women in Pharmacy Conference Room. It is a special place at the APhA’s beautiful headquarters in downtown DC dedicated to the women who significantly contributed to the profession of pharmacy in the USA.

Floral motive on the glass partition and the family tree is inspired by the cherry blossoms native to the Washington mall located just outside of the APhA headquarters by the Lincoln Memorial.

I tried to be sensitive to the contemporary design of the building and its green principles – I selected materials that are environmentally friendly and mostly made in America.

Art, Color Scheme, Inspiration, Paint Color, Rugs

The colors of fall introduced at home

Falling leaves made me think of one of my projects. Earthy saturated colors used here helped define individual spaces in an open floor plan apartment. Chartreuse in the foyer, atmospheric blue in the living space, and terracotta red in the hallway to a bedroom. Accents in warm yellow.

Color Scheme, Inspiration

Nando’s flavorful decor

How often do we realize that a restaurant we go to for lunch actually has a nice decor?
Do we even see what surrounds our lunch table any more? I think that in today’s fast paced world we tend to just take an hour long break and rush to a lunch place to grab some quick food. We mostly end up having an ok lunch for almost exactly the same price – around $10 per person in the Washington DC area. If the price for a lunch is artificially maintained at the same level no matter the cuisine, why would anybody care to put some extra attention into decor to make a restaurant any different or nicer than the others? So, all the lunch places in the area look more or less the same, lacking personality.

I think it takes away so much from our dining experience. Pushing out local business and growing domination of chain restaurants is part of the reason. That’s why it is important to point out chain restaurants that actually stand out against the crowd and put some extra effort to create a nice ambiance for dining. Nando’s Peri Peri is one of those places.

I have been to the Washington, DC and Silver Spring locations of this international chain. They carry a common African theme presented in contemporary manner yet the decor details are slightly different. The furniture layout is always unique to each place with booths and nice oversize tables that can accommodate larger groups. There are different clay pots with exotic wood limbs. Sculptural pendants create accents and set the mood. Colorful paintings on the walls are original!

I love how the unique flavors of this South African cuisine were translated into the color schemes. Warm shades of reds and oranges used in paint, chairs color or artwork represent a signature spice – Peri Peri (red pepper in Swahili). Bold wall finishes with reach texture (photo below) make me think of an African desert. The food is very tasty, but an interesting and unique decor makes it easy to pass on many other restaurant options in the area and return to Nando’s.

Color Scheme, Inspiration, Paint Color

Farmer’s Market Inspiration

My best design ideas are usually inspired by nature. Today I came back from my local farmer’s market in Silver Spring with delicious fruits and veggies… and also with some fresh paint color ideas.

The paint colors below come from the Infinite Beauty Collection by Mythic – a low VOC, non toxic paint.

Kitchen in Italian Sun. Accent wall in Raspberry Ice.

Living Room in Taupe Temptation. Accent wall/accents in Buttered Toast and Spanish Rose.

Bedroom walls in Prairie Path. Accessories and art with red.

Color Scheme, Inspiration, Wallpaper

Wallpaper, here it comes!

Let’s talk wallpaper, and I don’t mean old fashioned overwhelming dark wallpaper that covered entire interior walls of Victorian homes. I mean contemporary wallpaper with funky designs and interesting textures. We don’t want them to cover the whole room any more, we just want a small taste of it, simply to set the mood.

I love using wallpaper on small areas, on accent walls or on those architectural elements that stick out (walls that cover fireplace chimneys) or inside the nooks. Wallpaper draws attention to those bumps or hollows in the walls and give them new significance and character.

I like the wallpaper with repetitive patterns in particular. They cannot be produced by faux painting as the repetition requires absolute precision. The wallpaper shown below and hand made by an English based company (www.handmadewallpaper.co.uk) is inspired by graphic art and printmaking.

The black pattern on white background looks sharp covering an accent wall while the other walls remain white. It could work both with sleek contemporary furniture and in more traditional homes filled with antiques. The wallpaper by Dunford Wood below shows another version of an iconic chevron pattern. It works great in small areas like narrow hallways, staircases or powder rooms. Warm and faded color creates an interesting background both for antique and more contemporary furniture.

If your room is in a desperate need of color you may want to get a roll of two of this beautiful wallpaper hand made by the Paris based company Minakani (shown below). I would use it only as an accent on one wall or inside a nook. It can be used in residential and commercial settings adding warmth and interest to any area with no need for further accessorizing.

Commercial spaces are great to test some more funky wall coverings. This textured wallpaper by British company Beware-The-Moon features a repetitive golden Ostrich pattern on a navy blue background. It adds warmth and interest to a restaurant setting.

Another textured wallpaper by the same boutique company features a velvet skull pattern on the oil slick background.

Maya Romanoff also creates unique textures like this one shown bellow which is hand made of Nepalese lotka paper with flecks of mica. It works great on accent walls in hotels or apartment building lobbies.

Hand made wallpaper can also come in eco-friendly additions that are perfect for kids rooms. This non-toxic wallpaper by Paperboy is inspired by the ancient art of shadow puppetry and features screen printed animal shapes.

Color Scheme, Inspiration

Cherry blossoms are in town and on everyone’s mind

I could not resist taking this photo today in downtown DC. Look around and you will find some beautiful Spring blossom-inspired objects.

Cherry petal shaped paper boxes by artist Denise Sharp

Cherry Blossom Bedding Collection from Restoration Hardware

Chocolate cake sprinkled with blossoms by Martha Stewart.com – yummy!

Color Scheme, Inspiration

Tangerine Tango on the runway

Ever since Pantone™ announced Tangerine Tango to be their 2012 Color of the Year we can find this vibrant color used in many different areas of design. It has been a popular accent color in contemporary interiors for some time now. The latest New York Fashion Week also featured some beautiful shades of this universal color. Here are some of my favorite designs:

Asymmetric casual getup by Narcisco Rodriguez and long sleeve dress by Dennis Bosso.

More casual look by Dennis Bosso and another beautiful dress by Concept Korea.

The color of tangerine goes very well with shades of gray and light beige both in fashion design and the interiors. As an accent color can be also successfully combined with deeper shades of blue as shown below in the designs by BCBG Max Azria and by Concept Korea:

Color Scheme, Inspiration

Summer is officially over but let’s keep the mood going!

Here are some images from the highlight of my summer 2011

Venice. The ever elegant blue and black color scheme.

Sunset lighting brings up the warm and rich colors of the local stucco.

The fabulous Peggy Guggenheim Modern Art Collection by the Grand Canal.

Enormous hand-blown contemporary vases from Murano.

Traditional Murano-style chandelier with an abundance of ceiling frescos.

Art is everywhere during the Biennale time.

Going back home with unforgettable memories and tons of inspiration.

Art, Color Scheme, Exhibition, Inspiration

Colors of Washington DC

For those who love color and the city of Washington there is a rare treat – a show at the Corcoran Gallery of Art featuring artists associated with the Washington Color School. Among them Gene Davis and Thomas Downing who were both based in Washington, DC.

Washington Post art critic Paul Richard who spoke last week at the Corcoran said he could see some pastel yet vibrant colors of the cherry blossom festival in the paintings of Gene Davis and others from the Washington Colors School. He said their art was so unique to the DC area and so different from the paintings of their NY contemporaries from the abstract expressionist movement.

Well, I just loved to stare at those large scale paintings at the Corcoran. Some of them take up almost the entire wall of the exhibition hall. I could see that the individual colors were really defined by their interaction with the others.