It's all getting rather emotional really. I mean choosing a whole colour scheme can be somewhat unsettling, specially when starting a new project from scratch. The thing I see on a regular basis is a huge pile of freshly purchased interior magazines ( complete with all the promo-cards falling out everywhere) a complement of coffee table books, colour-cards from the usual suspects, plus a few specialist paint suppliers that most will have never of heard of. It is in short, brain damage of the highest order.
It's something that we obviously don't intend on doing but it is the way many end up. It's like a crash course in taste and design all heaped into a very short space of time.
No wonder you're overwhelmed by it all & unsurprisingly how often we revert-to-form by playing it safe.
Really though; it doesn't have to be like that. The thing is a magazine features maybe 3-4 interiors in one edition. Each has its own look, after all they need to appeal to their broad readership. If you're new to all this then you probably haven't developed a look as such, so trawling through the magazines, cherry picking the bits you like is as far as you've gone, right?
I'll let you in on a something here. Most successful designers have a 'formula' or a 'look'
( though they'd be loathed to admit it). It works by them developing a signature style or palette, I should know as I work with many of them. No one designer covers all the areas, the styles, the looks. However, I know of 3-4 individuals who could collectively fill a magazine with their unique styles. Mono-chrome and angular. Natural, tonal, shaded. Masculine, industrial, vintage blah blah blah. I could go on.
Conversely, we all know of somebody, who it seems effortlessly pulls off a decorating scheme, wardrobe, dinner-party with such aplomb as to make it look easy.
"Oh I just threw it together" they say, but how ?
Under their cool & calm disclaimer is a strategy, acknowledged or not. They're generally creative, observant and pretty well organised.
So, can you take some of this for yourself, can you get into character ?
I think what's needed here is a little bit of healthy compartmentalised thinking. Use it as a tool to aid the whole process. Think of how the super-markets do it, so subtly that we don't notice. All the milks, cream & yogurt in one isle. Or a department store, bags & perfume on the same floor, like for like as it were.
Now transport that thinking to colours on a colour card. They're usually gate folded & organised into groups for a good reason. Farrow & Ball and the excellent Paint Library are a both good examples here. What I do is, start out by discarding the colours I definitely don't want, then isolate the groups that might work, cutting it down to a good half-dozen.
Conversely, If you do try to view the whole card as one sheet, it can blow your colour-fuse. It exhausts the brain's processing power, much like if you viewed a whole store offer in one go.
So be kind to yourself and learn to organise your thinking. Keep it neat and keep it simple.
Here's an example of how I work.
This image was taken on the north-coast of Cornwall in the West of England 2011. It's un-edited and was taken using an i-phone 3GS. The image is stored on my laptop, my phone and on Image-Shack.
I don't usually start with a colour chart, it's actually the last place I look to find the colour of my dreams.
So when i'm starting a project with a client I use other resources to inform the direction we're going in. Of course I have made valuable mental notes as i've chatted informally with a client. Clothes, objects and attitude (even the food in the fridge) are a good indicator .
If you look at the image above, take your time and notice the tonal range in the stone, from pale grey to taupe browns, green-grey lichen complements the reds of the rock-flowers. There's enough of a range of shade and colour here to imagine a scheme.
As i'm at creating a scheme with this, i'll isolate the colours-shades that i'm trying to use as the core part of that scheme. It could be a strong Gray-white that will take up the main area. Adding the deeper tan-taupe colour for a painted floor. The stronger grey-browns on the skirting & maybe the architrave. Windows and doors in the lightest shade of French Gray. The rest, like the reds & green saved for furniture, blinds and textiles like linen or raw silk.
It doesn't take long before we are living it in our minds eye and imagining the scheme as real. Now is the time to start looking at the colour samples, now we're dreaming it, we have a story and we are emotionally connected to it. And all that from one image.
Over the years I have built a resource library of my own, mainly photo's stored digitally online but also physical items too. At the last count I was up to around 10,000+ digital images. Technically it has never been easier and i'm now at my most productive. I go out and about on scouting days, through this great city of London. I ride the train & my Brompton bicycle, armed only with an i-phone. There is endless materials and objects for inspiration. Open an Image-Shack account for yourself, it's free. Get up-loading and building a library for your own future schemes. It really is so simple.
Lastly.....
The image at the top of the page is an Oswald Boateng jacket from his Spring-Summer 2011 collection. Shot in Bond Street W1 on one dark evening back in April (again taken with an i-phone) It stood out a mile off, so it had to go in.
The whole image is again a scheme of it's own. All the deep rich browns, tones of matt-gold and cream, all set off with that exquisite butter-fly bright turquoise-blue. I can easily see a neat apartment having a bedroom or a lounge like this. Add some reflective glass & natural wool, wood and waxed leather.
The possibilities and inspirations are endless, you just need to make time to look. Take images, send, save or delete them. Use your phone as a mobile reference library. All created by you.
In part III of this article, i'll show you how i've used paint colour-cards and the images to build a story board. The paint codes, the finishes and some of the projects from them.
You can also try this colour test Farnsworth-Munsell 100-hue test, it's fun and it will also show you where your colour eye is most accurate .
Oh, and some very useful reading, Farrow & Ball's Living with Colour.
Meantime, feel free to ask me anything.
Mark
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