Paint it Easter Egg!

April 3, 2015

Spring is upon us, and with it the holiday celebrating new life.
Whether your inclinations tend
toward the formal pageantry of church,
or a more casual appreciation of the holiday's trappings,
for this grand occasion,

Paint it Easter EGG!

The cast of characters in our festive pastel parade:

Lavender
Orchid
Pink
Periwinkle
Baby Blue
Yellow
Mint

• • • Lavender • • •

What could be more inviting
than a plump lavender velvet chair
perfectly oversized for snuggling up
with the one you love?

Comfort…perfected.

Tufted lavender velvet makes this
crisp crystalline living room approachable
in a friendly yet very sophisticated way.
For those who fear pastels as child's play,
lavender never looked more classy.

• • • Orchid • • •

That lovely balance point between pink and lavender.

Velvet again, paired with bold wallpaper.
Funny, isn't it, to think of pastel anything as bold
— but here you go!

photo courtesy of lauracaseyinteriors.com

• • • Pink • • •

Serenity is the earmark of this lovely pink retreat.
Soft, mellifluous, and glamorous.
who couldn't relax on this chaise?

The elegance of pink in a color-wash ombré wall
— from cream at the top fading down to petal pink at the base —
this is how I like my simplicity:
colorful & mindful,
with lots of room for my mind to roam.

• • • Periwinkle • • •

If any color speaks the language of Easter,
in my book periwinkle does.
Paired with bright white,
it rates at the top of my color love scale.

• • • Baby Blue • • •

Baby blue pairs with white in this airiest of bathroom spas.

Heavenly!

• • • Yellow • • •

Butter yellow and baby blue
team up in a farmhouse setting
that feels both traditional
and fresh at the same time.

• • • Mint • • •

This quintessentially girly bureau is
a fairly conventional execution of mint.

The lacy white accessories, however,
float like doilies reinvented in metal......

If that bureau represents mint in a conventional sense,
this chevron flooring moves mint in a totally unexpected direction.

photo courtesy of calloohcallay.ca — photo courtesy of calloohcallay.ca

• • • Easter Basket • • •

Here — our pastel cast of characters
are rounded up into a dining room
as charming as mint chip ice cream.

It is the perfect way to sign off with warmest wishes for your
Easter celebration and the new life it ushers in.

For more color inspiration, check out our Pinterest Board!

Love what you see? Sign up to receive our Spectacular Design inspirations!

*header photo courtesy of freeimages.co.uk

1 Comment

Comment

Paint it Gold

February 22, 2015

Grey February rolls on.
The sun exuberantly bursts through
— in spurts —
For winter inching toward spring,

Paint It Gold!

And embed it in grey.

Erte did.
In his signature long, lean, stylized fashion.

photo courtesy of wikiart.org — photo courtesy of wikiart.org

What would his inimitable style
look like in an interior?

Something like this grey and gold
luxuriousness from Ralph Lauren?

• • • Effervescence • • •

Same theme, with stronger contrast.
The boldness of black floating free
on expanses of white
renders the potentially-somber color scheme
effervescent like champagne.

Here,
the effervescence is translated
into space through the ingenious placement
of gold tile on white ground:

photo courtesy of gilesmiller.com — photo courtesy of gilesmiller.com

Small, varied gold mosaic
set among large-format white tile
makes this bathroom sparkle
with the same effervescence:

• • • Regalia • • •

When the conversation turns to gold,
most of us think of the full-bodied gold
adorning the Vatican’s pomp and circumstances
and royal regalia.

Something along these lines:

photo courtesy of chasingthegreenfaerie.tumblr.com

That royal ethos lives
in this magnificently embellished door.

• • • Deco • • •

Watercolor captures this ethereal woman.
As she floats on open white space,
her face is grounded with black,
and crowned with glowing headgear:

The black-white-gold color palette
in the hands of Ralph Lauren,
with an Art Deco flavor:

Here the black and gold magnificence
is taken further in an Art Deco doorway.
The geometry alone
is one of the many reasons why
I love this period so much:

photo courtesy of beautiful-portals.tumblr.com

• • • Ethereal • • •

Halos are gold.

So is this ethereal woman
buoyed on wings and lace.

Her lightness is translated into space
in this kitchen’s hammered metal cabinets.
Not much is heavier than stone and metal —
— and yet the kitchen feels so light
that it could ascend at any moment,
just like the woman buoyed
on lace and wings.
Pretty amazing trick —
— the alchemy of turning gold into air.

photo courtesy of theentertaininghouse.com

For that floating on a feather experience,
in this divine bath
the softer side of gold whispers,

“Relax! Relax!”

When the days are long and grey,
why not sprinkle them with gold?!?

For more color inspiration, check out our Pinterest Board!

Love what you see? Sign up to receive our Spectacular Design inspirations!

Comment

2 Comments

Color Exploration: Paint it Plum!

November 10, 2014

November skies are moody, dark and tempestuous.
Crisp fall air has mellowed and moistened.
Evening falls earlier and earlier.
Curling up at home is becoming irresistible,
which puts me in the mood to

• • • Paint It Plum! • • •

• • • Hues of Plum • • •

From purple verging on black,
to a bright raspberry —
— here is plum, literally:

• • • To Brighten the Dark • • •

The brighter side of plum,
grounded on a smoky taupey wall,
floating on a greeny gold rug
to keep it all from brooding.

It’s the interior manifestation of tempestuous November skies:

• • • Raised to Perfection • • •

Here, the dusty purple skins of the plums
are raised aloft on a charcoal chalice.

photo courtesy of thetastefulgoth.wordpress.com

• • • A Room in Full • • •

The pillows perched on the chaise
make me want to reach out and touch them,
just like the dusty skins of the plums.

Why settle for a pillow tossed in a bland world,
like a punctuation mark,
when you can wallow in a sea of color?

Add velvet to the mix,
and it’s positively royal.

photo courtesy of housearquitectura.com — photo courtesy of housearquitectura.com

• • • Tufted & Velvet • • •

Talk of velvet somehow always turns to purple.
No other fabric holds the saturation of color that velvet does.

Tuft it and put it on a curvaceous beauty,
and you get a plum of a chair
that is so adorable, who doesn’t want one?

• • • Plums & Greens • • •

Plums lead to one of
my favorite color combinations:
purple and green.

In combination they are
rich, royal, and fresh
— an unbeatable duo.

photos courtesy of welke.nl and realmushishi.wikia.com — photos courtesy of welke.nl and realmushishi.wikia.com

• • • A Contemporary Setting • • •

Here, a Spectacular Design living room
that radiates purple and green energy:

• • • Plum Outside • • •

Look at what the palm tree does for this exterior.
It is an incredible shade of plum.
But how much less interesting
the building would be if it were naked,
without the palm’s green contribution…..

photo courtesy of ocantinhodamulher29.blogspot.com — photo courtesy of ocantinhodamulher29.blogspot.com

• • • Plum & Crisp White • • •

Taking a clue from the exterior’s
smoky purple facade and white windows —

Here is what happens when that inspiration
is let loose in a classic bathroom:

photo courtesy of uspro.pl — photo courtesy of uspro.pl

Plums are apparently one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. I understand their allure.

Beautiful in the wild, plums are beautiful inside too.

For November — Bring them in! Bring them in!

For more color inspiration, check out our Pinterest Board!

Love what you see? Sign up to receive our Spectacular Design inspirations!

2 Comments

1 Comment

Color Exploration: Paint it Spice!

October 5, 2014

• • • Spice is in the Air • • •

From pumpkin ice cream
to fall color on the trees:
rich oranges, golds, and cinnamons
are the colors of the season.

photo courtesy of kettlewellcanvas.wordpress.com — photo courtesy of kettlewellcanvas.wordpress.com

• • • Warm Inside • • •

Here, the spice colors come inside.

The deep and velvety colors
in this simple bedroom absolutely glow.

photo courtesy of ingridrasmussengallery.com — photo courtesy of ingridrasmussengallery.com

On a white ground,
and with white and pale pink sprinkled in,
the spice colors in this simple vignette
feel light and floaty.

Somewhere between velvety saturation
and a breezy plea for rain,
this workspace mellows some of the colors
while punching up the hot pink.

photo courtesy of littleaugury.blogspot.co.uk — photo courtesy of littleaugury.blogspot.co.uk

This Spectacular Design kitchen embodies
the spice color story in terra cotta and black.

The spice color story
can be told infinitely many ways,
from pow pow pow pow!
to mellifluous and breezy.

• • • Spice Subdued • • •

As sweater weather is upon us,
this spice color study comes wrapped
in cozy bundles of wool.

photo courtesy of cozyhomemaking.blogspot.com — photo courtesy of cozyhomemaking.blogspot.com

Here’s a two-dimensional version
by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

photo courtesy of http://morfo1.blogspot.com/ — photo courtesy of http://morfo1.blogspot.com/

• • • Bold Spice • • •

This graphic gig poster
is a cerebral yet whimsical
take on the color story.

And this is a saturated version
by one of my favorite artists, Odilon Redon.
One of the many things I love
about his work is that while
his colors are deep and saturated,
he still leaves room for introspection.

photo courtesy of crushculdesac.tumblr.com — photo courtesy of crushculdesac.tumblr.com

Fired up with bright white and dynamic shapes,
here the spice color story positively dances.

photo courtesy of brightbazaarblog.com — photo courtesy of brightbazaarblog.com

• • • A Happy Note • • •

As Halloween and the Great Pumpkin are coming,
here is Frank Sinatra on October's own color:

If Frank is right,
this must be the Door to Happiness………..

For more color inspiration, check out our Pinterest Board!

Love what you see? Sign up to receive our Spectacular Design inspirations!

1 Comment

Comment

Color Exploration: Paint it Peacock!

September 6, 2014

What does the opulence of a peacock
look like translated into space?

photo courtesy of splendidactually.com — photo courtesy of splendidactually.com

• • • Saturated Jewel Tones • • •

— From plums and turquoises
through orchids and deep blues —
enthroned together
on a mysterious dark ground:

photo courtesy of happymodern.ru — photo courtesy of happymodern.ru

• • • Variation on a theme • • •

The backdrop mellowed
and the velvet punched up:

photo courtesy of marieclaire.it — photo courtesy of marieclaire.it

Peacocky pigeon —
— on math in Russian, no less!

I call it The Elevation of Higher Math:

Bedroom given the peacock treatment:

One of my favorite artists, Richard Burlet,
paints lovely representations of women
wrapped in peacock-toned patterns:

photo courtesy of erosart.tumblr.com — photo courtesy of erosart.tumblr.com

• • • The Peacock Embodied • • •

“Right this way!”

photo courtesy of honey-and-bee.tumblr.com — photo courtesy of honey-and-bee.tumblr.com

For more color inspiration, check out our Pinterest Board!

Love what you see? Sign up to receive our Spectacular Design inspirations!

Comment

Color Exploration: Paint it Powder Blue!

August 3, 2014

When the heat and humidity are rising,
and it’s time to cool off —

Paint it Powder Blue!

Steely, icy, baby, powder —
— when the heat gets out of control,
I like my blue to float on a feather.

• • • Ethereal Powder Blue • • •

It’s light, it breathes, and so do I.

Add a dash of silvery grey,
and you get The Bluest Eye.

(If you haven’t read Toni Morrison’s novel
by that name, I highly recommend it!)

If you are looking for powder blue paint,
Emily in Miller Paint’s Historic Line
is one of my go-to blues.

In one of my current projects, I am creating
a floating-on-a-feather personal sanctuary
in powder blue, white and silver.
The elements include wallpaper
with a metallic swirl,
white leather reading chair,
gloss white furniture,
and silver lamps with white glass shades:

Here, a glamorous bedroom in
the powder-blue-silver-white palette.
Has the palette ever looked better?

photo courtesy of lapetitefleurdelondres.com — photo courtesy of lapetitefleurdelondres.com

The charcoal Tibetan lambs wool pillow
takes center stage, and grounds the scene.

A multi-dimensional range of blues
can also ground the ethereal palette:

• • • Powder Blue & Grounding Black • • •

Adding black for contrast and drama
grounds the palette even more:

photo courtesy of patternatic.tumblr.com — photo courtesy of patternatic.tumblr.com

Fascinating how the open black chair
focuses the eye and makes you really
see this study in blues:

Here's what black does for Emily:

And here are the
floating-on-a-feather sanctuary
elements grounded with black:

With or without the grounding power of black,
the powder-blue-white-silver palette is light as a feather.

For more color inspiration, check out our Pinterest Board!

Love what you see? Sign up to receive our Spectacular Design inspirations!

Comment

Color Exploration: Paint It Patriotic!

June 29, 2014

It's the 4th of July — Happy Birthday, America!
To celebrate the occasion,
a small study in the colors of Old Glory.
However the political winds blow:
Long May She Wave.

• • • Red • • •

We tend to think of red as aggressive,
and surely it can be.
One of the things I enjoy about this image
is that Montserrat Gudiol
makes the red contemplative.

It's like the zen of red,
which sounds like a contradiction —
— that's the marvel of the
Spanish artist's accomplishment:

painting by Montserrat Gudiol, courtesy of tatucya.com — painting by Montserrat Gudiol, courtesy of tatucya.com

• • • WHITE • • •

The whitest white of birch bark.
On a pillow, no less.

photos courtesy of Scott Butner on flickr.com and society6.com

• • • BLUE • • •

One very blue moon.
Gigantic.
Blue locked up tight,
forever and ever,
like the lovers' locks on bridges.
Towards the Infinite.

photo courtesy of space.com and Lotte Hjorth on flickr.com

• • • BLUE & WHITE • • •

Floating on a blue field —
— stars of the tea party.

photo courtesy of zsazsabellagio.blogspot.com — photo courtesy of zsazsabellagio.blogspot.com

• • • Red & White • • •

Ancient white walls
and a pile of patterned red
and white pillows on the windowsill.

Nonsensical — but soooooo inviting.

photo courtesy of furnish.co.uk — photo courtesy of furnish.co.uk

• • • RED, WHITE & BLUE • • •

The cobalt is deep and engaging.
The white sets off the blue.
And the red makes it all go

BOOM!

photo courtesy of farm5.staticflickr.com — photo courtesy of farm5.staticflickr.com

For more inspiration, check out our Pinterest board!

*Header image from brainpickings.org

Comment

Color Exploration: Paint it Rose!

June 1, 2014

Portland is in the midst of celebrating
our annual Rose Festival.
So for the month of June,

Paint it Rose!

Our roses are gorgeous and range in color
from white through the deepest darkest red.
My personal favorite is the Peace Rose
for the complexity and freshness of its palette —
— yellow, cream and pink.

photo courtesy of seniorhiker.wordpress.com — photo courtesy of seniorhiker.wordpress.com

Things are always more interesting
to me in combination.
I love the Peace Rose for
melding the richest creamy yellow
with ivory and pink in a luscious palette.

Here, a bedroom as
light and fresh as the Peace Rose —
— perfect for floating-on-a-feather dreams:

photo courtesy of perpetual-perfection.com — photo courtesy of perpetual-perfection.com

• • • History of the Peace Rose • • •

The history of the Peace Rose is as magnificent as the bloom. In 1935, the third-generation French rose breeder, Francis Meilland, tagged one of his promising seedlings 3-35-40. While war clouds gathered in Europe, he introduced the unnamed rose to friends and professional rose growers who responded enthusiastically. His nursery faced the threat of destruction when Hitler invaded France. To ensure his promising seedling's future, Meilland hastily sent three parcels of 3-35-40 budwood out of France, including one that was smuggled out in the diplomatic bag. (I mean, seriously, who thinks about smuggling roses?!?)

In America the Meilland's agent planted the rose in his own trial beds and gave it to other rose growers for testing. The rose did so well that they decided to release it in the United States. With war still raging in Europe, the launch date was set for 29 April 1945. Coincidentally, on the same day that two doves were released into the American sky to symbolize the naming of the Peace Rose, Berlin fell and a truce to the war was declared. (source)

photo courtesy of sadieandstella.com — photo courtesy of sadieandstella.com

Peace returns.
Exhale.
Inhale...

Exhale.

For more inspiration, check out our Pinterest boards.

*header photo courtesy of Tanaka Juuyouh.

Comment

Color Exploration: Paint it Marigold!

May 4, 2014

• • • Spring on the Verge of Summer • • •

Summer is rushing in,
and with it blooms, sunshine,
and fresh pickings.

Spring on the verge of Summer
— Yellow on the verge of Orange —

Paint it Marigold!

photo courtesy of artchive.com — photo courtesy of artchive.com

Prolific, sturdy, and ruffled —
— marigolds are easy,
like laughter.

photo courtesy of katepitner.com — photo courtesy of katepitner.com

Marigold is the freshness of yellow,
tiptoeing gingerly toward
the warmth of flame.

photos courtesy of tout-bon.com and bibliocolors.blogspot.com — photos courtesy of tout-bon.com and bibliocolors.blogspot.com

Marigold flowers used to be used
to give cheese a golden orange color.
Depending on its intensity
and the colors it is paired with,
marigold can range from
a whisper to a powder keg.

• • • Marigolds & Pinks • • •

Between camel and orange,
marigold plays well with pinks.

photo credit: akala-beach.tumblr.com and ryotakemasa.com

• • • Blues & Marigolds • • •

Floating in a field of blue,
marigold mellows into a regal calm
befitting the plant's use as
a topical herbal remedy
for soothing skin irritations.

photo courtesy of ymutate.tumblr.com — photo courtesy of ymutate.tumblr.com

Light, fresh and effervescent,
marigold can pack a punch
or mellow into mellifluous dreaming
as stately and elegant as
Wallace Simpson herself.

photo courtesy of caravaggista.tumblr.com — photo courtesy of caravaggista.tumblr.com

For more marigold inspiration, check out our Pinterest board.

Comment

Color Exploration: Paint it Spring!

April 6, 2014

Spring

A fresh start and new growth.

We've slogged through soggy grey days.
Bulbs are pushing their way up to the light.
It's the perfect time to revitalize
the space we call home.

The fastest way to
the most dramatic
transformation is paint.

Clear the clutter.
Clean it up.

Paint it Spring!

• • • Greens, Blues, Yellows • • •

Bold prints,
whisper soft solids,
crisp whites.
Even leather and suede have spring fever:

A great color scheme
is like a great perfume:
a mix of base notes for grounding,
midtones for range,
and high notes to soar.

For more drama,
amp up the contrast.

To mellow out your space
while keeping it fresh,
tamp down the contrast
by softening the darks and lights.

And finally, in celebration of the glorious, riotous, swell of energy that is Spring:

• • • SPRING • • •

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify?
Not only under ground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.

For more inspiration, check out our Pinterest board!

Comment

Color

Paint it Easter EGG!

• • • Lavender • • •

• • • Orchid • • •

• • • Pink • • •

• • • Periwinkle • • •

• • • Baby Blue • • •

• • • Yellow • • •

• • • Mint • • •

• • • Easter Basket • • •

Paint It Gold!

• • • Effervescence • • •

• • • Regalia • • •

• • • Deco • • •

• • • Ethereal • • •

• • • Paint It Plum! • • •

• • • Hues of Plum • • •

• • • To Brighten the Dark • • •

• • • Raised to Perfection • • •

• • • A Room in Full • • •

• • • Tufted & Velvet • • •

• • • Plums & Greens • • •

• • • A Contemporary Setting • • •

• • • Plum Outside • • •

• • • Plum & Crisp White • • •

• • • Spice is in the Air • • •

• • • Warm Inside • • •

• • • Spice Subdued • • •

• • • Bold Spice • • •

• • • A Happy Note • • •

What does the opulence of a peacocklook like translated into space?

• • • Saturated Jewel Tones • • •

• • • Variation on a theme • • •

• • • The Peacock Embodied • • •

Paint it Powder Blue!

• • • Ethereal Powder Blue • • •

• • • Powder Blue & Grounding Black • • •

• • • Red • • •

• • • WHITE • • •

• • • BLUE • • •

• • • BLUE & WHITE • • •

• • • Red & White • • •

• • • RED, WHITE & BLUE • • •

BOOM!

Paint it Rose!

• • • History of the Peace Rose • • •

• • • Spring on the Verge of Summer • • •

Paint it Marigold!

• • • Marigolds & Pinks • • •

• • • Blues & Marigolds • • •

Spring

Paint it Spring!

• • • Greens, Blues, Yellows • • •

• • • SPRING • • •

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

503-929-4675

Affiliations

What does the opulence of a peacock
look like translated into space?