Choosing Color with ...

Choosing color with Donald Kaufman...

Paint Swatches

I came across an article in this months Elle Decor on choosing colors...food for thought for anyone planning to paint in their home..

If you have not heard of Donald Kaufman, it is no surprise unless you are into painting houses, interior design or something similar.  This man, along with his wife, is a nationally known color consultant.  He started his own company in 1976, and his best advice "is to use as few colors as possible."


Don Kaufman color

His rules are:

1. Use like intensities: don't put bright green in a room next to a gray-green.

2.  Look at your neighborhood for inspiration if you are considering paint for the exterior.

3.  Spend time looking at all of the elements in a space- furniture, windows, the color of the floor.

4.  Use complementary colors from a color wheel.  If you have a yellow kitchen, try blue for the dining room.

5.  Tone it down.  Find the color chip you think you want, then look for a quieter version, as it will look much brighter on the wall.

6.  Dark colors make a small room feel larger.  They make the walls recede.

7.  The cost is in the labor, not the paint.  So go for the gold in materials.

***Another tidbit from his article: warm neutrals are the safest choices , which is why they represent 90% of all paint sold.  Hmmm....do you want to be in the 90% or more unique?

 

Custom mixed paint color from Kaufman Paints



I use these rules daily when helping clients with choosing colors!  You should think about them as well!  And, if you need help doing this, I would be glad to help!  There are several ways to contact me- just do it! 



2 Hour Headboard

Pottery Barn's Natural Linen Headboard

Two Hour Headboard

Finished Headboard




Do you have a spare 2 hours?  And about a $150 dollars? That's all it takes to build this beautiful, Pottery Barn-like headboard.....



Yes, sometimes it is easier to buy a piece of furniture...but in this case, it was just as easy to build it.  AND, you get to pick the exact fabric you want!!!  I have to confess that this is the 2nd HB we have built-the first was for the master bedroom and used a toile fabric.

What do you need: a saw ( a skill saw works great), a 2 x 4 piece of wood, a piece of plywood the width and heigth you want, poly batting, fabric to upholster with, an electric staple gun is nice, but a manual 1 is okay too, bolts to hook the HB to the bed. 

If you are not sure of the size, just check out a website that sells headboards; consider the size of the bed, room and any heigth restrictions because of windows or daylight basement foundation walls.

We needed a queen size HB, so we made the headboard 61 1/2" W x 46" H with about 30" of that heigth for the headboard itself.  (The rest is legs or ~ 16")  I found instructions online-just google "How to make a headboard" and you will find lots of help. The square shape of mine is only 1 option, you can draw any shape, like an arch or victorian arch as well.

"Wrapping"

It literally took 2 hours to complete, including installing the nailheads.  I purchased these through a local upholstery shop. The 100% linen was extra wide and purchased at a local Jo-Ann store for $9.99 per yard and sprayed it with a protectant.  


Just adding the Nailheads

Nailheads at corners



Spacing of the nailheads was pretty easy- we used 1 of those fabric pens that the ink disappears after a certain amount of time.  We chose to space them with a width of the nailhead between them.  So the nailheads were 5/8" wide, we put our marks at 2 times this or 1 1/4" apart. 

Fun project- not too much money  spent- I saved over $650 by making it myself.  (Yes, the Pottery Barn HB cost $799 plus postage)  So-o-o-o, happy building and stapling!   Send me pictures if you do get the itch to make your own headboard at v.v.design@msn.com