Do you need Help picking your Logo Colour?

When shopping for my clients, I buy all my silk flowers at Chintz and Company which is located in the heart of downtown Vancouver. Every time I go there I see this building (which is right next door). I love heritage buildings and especially this one with the happy blue colour. So yesterday I took a picture just for you! It’s Benjamin Moore CC-904 Cascade (and a great boys room colour as well by the way) it’s the colour of the sky and rare to see it on a commercial building (or any exterior in Vancouver for that matter). I looked up their website to see how far this colour goes in their branding and sure enough, it’s the exact colour of their site as well.

Periwinkle blue is the happiest and warmest of the blues. A mid-tone ‘colour of the sky’ blue like this is open and expansive. Blue in general is the #1 choice for use in Corporate branding and identification. As Lee Eiseman says in her book Color: Messages and Meanings, ‘the constant challenge of such pervasive use of the colour is to keep it looking fresh and not hackneyed. If the essential message begs for a true blue image, look to a combination of dominant blue used in innovative combinations’.

The White Fish Group is a brand management company. Choosing this colour works well in a suggestion of “always being there for you”, strong, reliable, loyal and the purple undertone means that working with this company will also be fun. All of this I got from just the colour of their site, which is certainly a strong argument for choosing the correct colour for your company logo!

Tracy over at Comfort & Luxury wrote a post yesterday about this exact shade of blue as well and she has shown some gorgeous interiors, and included some more definitions of blue click here to read. For even more messages and meanings about blue, check out Julie Hoylen's blue post at Sensational Colour.

It would be interesting to know exactly why the owners chose this colour. If I find out, I’ll update this post!

Have a happy weekend!

Related posts:

White: Messages & Meanings

Can White be a Lonely colour? (Definition of Orange)

Why your Teenager wants a Black Room? (Definition of Black)

Warning: You are the Colours in Your Home (Definition of Green & Purple)

Michelle Obama in Vogue (Definition of Hot Pink)

Do you need a Tree for your Interior?

If you are going to install a tree in your home (fake or not), this is the one (below).  It’s a fig tree and I’ve seen them in interiors reaching two stories high. I found this one (above)  today on one of my favourite blogs; Pure Style Home, click here to see her post with more images from Stephen Knollenberg.  The one in this image might be real, but the fake ones look identical.

I installed one in a master bedroom I decorated for a bachelor last year [below].

Interior by Maria Killam Colour & Design

Related posts:

Must have Custom order for your Bedroom

Dreamy Bedroom

Glamorous Hotels in London (upholstered headboards)

Easy Way to create Drama with Drapery

Eggshell is NOT a Colour; Paint Sheens Defined

Eggshell must be an actual colour in a fan deck somewhere because I have had many clients ask for it and they were not talking about low lustre sheen (which is what eggshell is). The other day I received a request from a reader to write a post explaining paint sheens and I thought, “How can I have a blog about colour and paint and not include a post about which sheen is right?” So here they are;

Flat for ceilings is the usual rule

Flat or Matte; no shine is what you get here. Joanne Day with the Daystudio said “If you paint a dining room a dark colour and you leave it flat, at night it will look black”, better to give it a sheen and then (if you have recessed lighting) the wall will reflect the light back into the room”.

The problem with using flat paint in the past, was that it wasn’t washable, (until paint companies came out with washable flats). And the plus side is that you can touch up flat paint where you cannot with any other sheen. If you do, you get flashing, which is a phenomenon where the additional coat or sheen builds upon the first--which is why you have to re-paint the space when your tenant moves out.

Great for dark colours which are sometimes hard to get perfect with a sheen

Flat paint is also good for walls where you want to cover a lot of imperfections as it doesn’t reflect light.

Bottom line, use flat for ceilings--unless you are designing something very dramatic, like this high gloss ceiling [image] below--because if you are, your ceiling must be absolutely perfect, so that all you notice is your reflection!

Eggshell; the low sheen of the shell of an egg is what this looks like on the walls. It’s the sheen I specify the most. Good for any room in the house (including the powder room) except really high traffic areas where a shinier finish would be even better. This room below, both the ceiling and the walls are painted in an eggshell finish.

Pearl; These days where latex paint is much preferred to the toxicity of oil, at least use a minimum of a pearl finish if you are painting trim, as latex does not take the beating oil will take which is why furniture and trim are usually painted in oil.

This sheen is usually the one I specify for bathrooms and kitchens because it’s more durable and scrubbable.

Image source

Satin; It’s the one I specify the most for trim (in oil, with Benjamin Moore you can't get latex in a satin finish anyway) because it’s self-leveling and has a smooth, velvety look to it. However, with latex paint becoming more and more durable, you can now paint trim in much lower sheens with Benjamin Moore’s new Aura which is great on trim (and you can even do a flat in a bathroom).

Semi-gloss; This finish has a slightly glossy appearance but is not wet looking. Good for high-traffic and high-moisture areas like laundry rooms. Keep in mind that the imperfections in the walls will reflect in the light with this finish.

High-Gloss; The trim in this hallway [below] is definitely high-gloss. The more formal your decor is, the shinier everything gets (and it’s the most durable).

If you pick the same colour for the trim as the walls and you change the sheen, many times it can look like a completely different colour, or at the very least, look like you tried to match it and failed, so make sure you test it before you start painting it all. This happens many times in a contemporary space where the woodwork is painted the same colour as the walls (but in a different finish)!

One more very important point; what one paint company calls eggshell, another may call semi-gloss, so if you don't have a lot of experience specifying a certain brand of paint, make sure you pick up some sheen samples which every paint store will supply. 

Suggested Guidelines:

INTERIOR

Living Room ~ Matte or Eggshell

Family Room ~ Matte or Eggshell

Kitchen ~ Pearl

Bathroom ~ Pearl

Powder Room ~ Matte or Eggshell

Bedroom ~ Eggshell or Matte

Kid's Bedroom ~ Eggshell or Pearl

Foyer ~ Eggshell or Washable Flat

Staircase Walls ~ Eggshell or Washable Flat

Hallways ~ Eggshell or Washable Flat

Trim and Doors ~ Satin or Semi-Gloss

EXTERIOR

Stucco - Matte or Eggshell

Siding - Eggshell (to repel dirt)

Trim & Doors - Semi-gloss (for durability)

Related posts:

The best trim Colours – NOT Cloud White

White Floors for Instant Happiness

Interview with Colour Expert; Janice Lindsay

Thank you to the Washington Post for including this post in your blog watch, July 9, 2009!

Some of you know that I recently purchased Janice Lindsay’s new book called “All About Colour” [below] and then wrote a post about the first thing I read when I opened the book here.

Janice Lindsay is one of Canada's leading colour designers. With a column in The Globe and Mail newspaper and her newly published book, Janice is a sought-after colour consultant for residential, commercial, and institutional projects. 

When I received her book and started reading it, I decided I had to interview her for my blog! And given that she is a Canadian, I thought it was even more appropriate that she should be my first interview; so I am pleased to introduce Janice Lindsay:

[MK] What is your favourite colour?

[JL] I am red by nature and mauves are not me but I don’t have a favourite colour. That would be like asking a mom which of her kids she liked best.

[MK] What colour would you like to see banished from all paint decks?

[JL] Pinkish, grey beige.

[MK] What was your biggest colour/design mistake?

[JL] In an insipid office hallway I introduced too much colour. It wasn’t that the colour was wrong but I did not take into account how much people hate change!  (70% of all change is perceived as negative!) Now the people who weren’t happy would probably squawk if it were painted back to its original blandness.

[MK] What is the most important colour lesson you’ve learned?

[JL] I am still learning so it’s hard to say.  One would be trust your instincts?  Or colour rules are meant to be broken, or at the very least, bent.  That colour is not tiring but to many, too much colour contrast can be. . .

[MK] When it comes to colour, what’s hot? Which one do you think is timeless and which colour trend would you love to see disappear?

[JL] All colours are timeless.  It is combinations that go in and out of style.  When others ask me what colour is hot you can’t just say ‘yellow’ or ‘chartruese’.  A colour trend is not about a colour so much as how and where a colour is used.

A few years ago at a Color Marketing Group conference I said greens would be very big.  The leader in my group took me aside and said greens were always big in interiors so it was not a trend story.  She missed the point.  I was saying green would divorce red and show up alone in the most unexpected places—grass green on an expensive Italian sofa, for example—and in unexpected combinations—primary green with olive with yellow-green.  And that citrus green would replace red as the attention getting colour in everything from advertising to purses and home accessories.  Green as in celadon and sage, is a constant in home decor always, but this greenness was totally new.

[MK] What is the most under utilized colour?

[JL] Black.  Because when it is doing its work you often don’t see it and that is its magic.  Because we associate it with negative things and forget that is is strong and elegant and quiet – the yin to white’s noisier yang.

[MK] What do you think is one of the biggest mistakes homeowners make with colour?

All images above - Pink Colour & Design

[JL] Actually there are a lot of mistakes that people make – like under estimating the power of colour to not just decorate but renovate on a physical and an emotional level.  Like not using enough or using it crudely.  Like being obsessed with white ceilings and trim!!!  Or thinking that colour is always about look-at-me decorative colour when it is the less attractive work horse hues that are just as important to balance up the final result.  They are the ones that you feel but don’t notice.  I could write a book about this----oh, I did?!?!

[MK] What are the 5 things in life you cannot live without?

[JL] Hmmmmm.  If you mean material things rather than family, friends, travel, music and a good game of tennis – then:

1. Really comfortable shoes – Arche or John Fluevog,

John Fluevog

2. Clothing by Annie Thompson because they feel like Me

3.  Fresh Flowers

4. Geoffery Lane candles

5.  And unfortunately perhaps, my blackberry.

Janice has recently partnered with Pittsburgh Paints and developed her own Colour Card which can be ordered by calling 1-877-238-6441 and soon available on-line here.

Janice Lindsay’s company is called:

And if you are lucky enough to live in Toronto, you can call her directly for a consultation!

Related posts:

Rules are for Breaking by Janice Lindsay

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Happiness is. . . a Beautiful Bookshelf

I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves.  ~E.M. Forster, Two Cheers for Democracy, 1951

The other day, a bookshelf arrived at my clients home (it’s located at the top of the stairs next to the patio doors of her roof top deck--hence the summery flowers).  She was skeptical at first, that it would accommodate all her books like I said it would:

Before

Until I came over and styled it for her:

Photos by Maria Killam Colour & Design

It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.  ~Oscar Wilde

What is your favourite book?

Related posts:

Happiness is.  .  . being Remarkable

Happiness is. . . being Uncomfortable (when you pick the wrong colour)

RIBBA Frames from IKEA – A Transformation

I am working on this fabulous loft in Yaletown (to be unveiled in September) for one of my equally fabulous clients, Kareen Zimmer and I mentioned her in this post  when we talked about the colours we chose and why?

The artwork was just installed last week, (photos from her travels around the world, sample above) as the photo shoot is this Monday, but here’s a sneak peak at the dining room side of the loft.

Most of the walls stayed white as she is renting this loft, but the fixed colour in the space was the yellowy beige carpeting, which I repeated in the fabric we selected for the drapes and the striped parsons chairs. 

Up until last week, I have always hung all the artwork for my clients but I knew hanging 12 pieces, perfectly on this wall would have taken me forever, so I googled ‘Art Installation, Vancouver’ and found Kent Southwell (above).

When he got there I said “Where have you been all my life?” he said “Waiting for you to call me!” Then I mentioned that [on-line] it looked like he was the only guy in town that specialized in hanging artwork and he said “No I’m the only one that does website optimization!”  So smart!

Designers have been using IKEA’s RIBBA frames for years to create maximum drama for less!  You can display the matt and photo at the front or back of the frame which means it also works as a shadow box if you wanted to display a collection of shells, or coins or even plates!

I learned how to hang art symmetrically and perfectly (without a single mistake) that day, but I would still hire Kent to do it for me next time.  Watching a professional do their job reminds me of my favourite quote by a commenter “Hire a professional for everything you can’t do professionally yourself”.  So much easier!!

It was Kareen’s sisters kitchen that got my blog into the Washington Post Blog Watch for the second consecutive week in a row back in March, and now Kareen’s loft is going to be famous as well!

After – All photos by Maria Killam Colour & Design

I was so happy with Kareen’s photos and she is thrilled to finally have her travel photos on display!  Professional photos coming soon!

Related posts:

Warning: You are the Colours in your Home

When should you buy a Book for its Cover?

This is a Guest post from one of my favourite, outrageous bloggers, Awesome Sara!  She is my first guest blogger and I have also mentioned her in a previous post where you probably thought, what the heck is this?  Enjoy;

Let Me introduce myself. I'm Sara from Sara Says Awesome. When the great Maria (that's the name of the person that made this blog idiot) asked me to do a guest post I was so freaking thrilled!!! Like Julie Andrews spinning on a mountain top kind of excited!! Then when that was over. All I thought was holy f**K. This Maria is like a freaking expert and I'm just a really good looking amature. Yea, I'm serious I really am really good looking. I was like what the hell am I suppose to right about???

Then I remembered Maria thinks I'm the kitty's pajamas and everything I do is awesome. So that was it. One day it just came and I wanted to do everything in color. Because Maria=color (and awesome and sexy and way cool) I wanted to keep the same vibe as her blog but add my psychotic-ness to it. That's my preface. Let's get to it, yea! I hope you enjoy it.

So, maybe I'm a little late here has everyone noticed that everyone has been color coding their bookshelves???

By the way, it's called color blocking.

By putting the same color next to one another it makes it easier on the eye to compute what it is looking at.

That means, your over processed eyes will cause you less headaches.

Less chaotic=peace.

The only thing really that I can't stand is I can never find what I am looking for. Ever.

But it sure does look so peaceful. Like staring at a rainbow.

Does this mean I have to start buying books bc of the spine color? Oh no I don't have enough red spines, must buy red spines!!

Go ahead. Take all your books of your shelves and start color coding. You'll thank me later.

I love you MARIA!!!!!

Note from Maria:  Because coffee table books are important elements to include when styling coffee tables, I am always buying them for my clients; but they have to be the right colour to work with the decor!!  Also if you do have a lot of colourful books, the images above are certainly an effective way to style a bookshelf.   So I loved this post, thanks Awesome Sara!!

Related post:

Colour & Condoms