Every season is a great season for showing off your beautiful home. I think this is so very true in our desert, where I live. Now that we are getting past the high 100’s in temperature, we can take a step back, take a breath in, and marvel at the late summer sunrise and sunsets our city has to offer.
You might ask how interior design effects your health and well-being. I’m glad you asked.
The right Color can change your disposition from grouchy to sunny, angry to sweet, depressed to on top of the world.
Color has always been an essential stepping-stone in my evaluations for taking on a new client. I once refurbished a 600-room hotel in Northern California where the line-on-premise manager was a manic depressant. A real ball of joy to work with.
I was interviewing the owner of the property and this person, and he kept eyeing me like I was his worst enemy. I had begun the premise of the remodel by identifying a key factor in which they had very few professionals rent from them more than once. The customers I had spoken to repeated a main theme. The rooms were dark (chocolate brown, orange and black) as the main color scheme and the carpets although professionally cleaned on a monthly basis were brown shag.
You can already see where this is going, right? Anyway, when I spoke to the two men at the initial interview they both looked at me and said, “Color! We have color. Orange is on the color wheel as is brown. Harsh reality is that most men in the world think brown, beige, and orange are the only colors on the color wheel.
Having been a hands-on designer, since I was seven, I love color. So, what is a healthy color? Believe it or not, it depends on your personality. Remember when I spoke about color choices in a previous article? If you are a cool color person, brown orange and beige would never be in your color palette. Cool blue, cool green, cool lavender, these choices as your 90% color would make you feel like all was right in your world. Adding in the splash of color with accessories adds the zing to the palette.
If you are a warm color person you would have your eye on warmer whites, warmer browns, warmer reds…getting my drift here? As a warm color person myself, I add touches of metallic golds and coppers to my décor. I can sit for hours in a room that is based on my colors zone and never turn on a TV.
Don’t be fooled by the design magazines. They will tell you that this season’s colors are X, Y, and Z. But look them from a healthy mind perspective. Would you go crazy in a room painted in the colors they are suggesting? Would you get a headache after sitting there for an hour?
Your mind and body can easily react to the color surrounding you. I had a customer one time who had every wrong color in her house, opposing her natural color balance. She hated inviting anyone over because she hated her house, but she didn’t know why. When we did her color analysis, she changed her whole decorating schematic (it’s only paint people) and she found her joy!
You bought your home because you fell in love with the city views. Get excited by having your friends over for a late summer’s eve meal in a dining room that revolves around YOUR season’s color palette.
Change is in the air. Capture it with love, food and friends. You will find lots of colorful accessories just around the corner, at any of your favorite shops.
Indulge in decorating for the fun of celebrating. So, let’s grab this late summer by the colorful paints, fabrics and accessories offered in our local stores, and let’s get living!
Carol Townsend A.S.I.D.
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Don’t miss my latest books on Kindle and Amazon! Glitz Glamour and Murder and the sequel Follow the Money under Carol Daems Townsend