The Office: Colors Galore

Hey guys,

After deciding on a layout and determining our aesthetic, it's now time for color! This is the part that I was very excited about for a few reasons.

1. I'm inspired by designers who use colors, patterns and textures in such tactful ways.
2. The current color scheme of our house is very neutral — a lot of grays and a bluish gray color... I think it's time for a change.
3. Using colors pushes me outside of my comfort zone, so I want to challenge myself to use color.

As I was thinking about the office, I knew that every color palette I selected need to to incorporate non-neutral colors. I used Kelly Moore's Color Studio to select a set of colors for three different color palettes. Many paint companies have similar design tools as Kelly Moore. I decided to use Kelly Moore because it's pretty easy to use.

Here's what I put together...

OPTION #1: AUTUMN ACCENT
In this palette, I used neutral color combinations for the walls and tried to bring in brighter pops of color. In general, the palette is very muted, but definitely incorporates colors that I wouldn't normally use.

None of these colors are ones that I would actually, use except for the neutrals (the gray and the charcoal).
But I think they look nice together.

OPTION #2: FOGGY BOTTOM
This palette is very neutral with a small pop of color. Foggy Bottom probably fits better with the themes in the rest of our house.

Pretty much all neutral colors with the purple as the main "pop"

OPTION #3: CITRUS FRUIT
This palette, while full of neutrals, has very bold and strong colors that will make anyone's head turn. It naturally is a more eclectic selection.

Very bright accents...challenge accepted!

In the end, we decided to be bold and step completely out of our comfort zone. We went with Citrus Fruit!

I am super excited to have a bright orange wall and can't wait to piece everything together!

Up next we will take a look at various design concepts in order to hone in on a final concept.


Stay tuned!

{Rashida}

Design Board | Parents' Family Room (Formal)

Happy New Year fellow Interior Designers!

Here is another example of a design board that I created for class. It was for the same project as my last design board post. I could not decide which one to present, so I did both.

CLIENT: My parents

SPACE: Current family room

MY DESIGN CHALLENGE: My parents pretty much are empty-nesters. The furniture has been in the living room for at least 15 years and is quite dated, faded, and heavy. The carpet is also a dark green color, which easily attracts lint and makes the the room feel very bottom heavy.

MY CONCEPT: Since my parents are basically empty-nesters and my mother has her own home spa business (BeautiControl by Diane), I wanted to give her a space that used her spa colors but was also elegant. The space would require more labor as it replaces the current fireplace wall, hearth and surround.

After showing my mother both boards, it turns out that she like the Informal Board the best. She thought it was light, fun and more friendly for a family room. She also asked when was I going to get started on implementing it :-/ 

I guess I have to start putting some of my skills to use!

Until next time,

{Rashida}

Design Board | Parents' Family Room (Informal)

Returning to school to further develop a gift is one of the best things that I could have done! I really had a chance to formally explore how fabrics, materials, colors and textures fit together to make a concept.

A key concept that helped us students have a better grasp on textures, fabrics, colors and materials was a design board.

Design Board (n.) — a physical or virtual board that incorporates drawings, materials, or other swatches to convey your design to your client.

We had many opportunities to create design boards for real or fictitious clients so that we can become accustomed to mixing and matching swatches, presenting our design concept, and using design language.

Here is one of my early boards from class...

Design Board for my parent's family room (informal look)

CLIENT: My parents

SPACE: Current family room

MY DESIGN CHALLENGE: My parents pretty much are empty-nesters. The furniture has been in the living room for at least 15 years and is quite dated, faded, and heavy. The carpet is also a dark green color, which easily attracts lint and makes the the room feel very bottom heavy. I wanted to give them a room with informal furniture, new window treatments, and a lighter color palette.  

I've done a number of these design boards for various "clients", so I'll be posting more boards from my class in the weeks to come!

Stay tuned,

{Rashida}