Renaissance of Color

 

 

Some years back the Italians undertook a project to restore the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In the process of carefully removing layers of dirt accumulated over hundreds of years, they were astonished to get an actual look at this beautiful work of art as it must have been at the time of its creation. Instead of the somber colors that people associated with it, there was color – bright, beautiful color and lots of it.

Conservative colors and shades are not something that many cultures adhered to in times past. Broad use of bright blues, reds, yellows, greens, earthtones, and variations thereof have been used liberally throughout the world in art work, clothing and structures inside and out.

 Fast forwarding to present time, we find many design schemes catering to off whites and shades thereof, which while not intrusive, lack the life that color is meant to bring. Over the past number of years you heard about a “Tuscan look”, with some concept of creating a rustic Italian feel.  This “Tuscan look”  was an Americanized mass marketing, me-too look using blown-on textured walls painted in off whites. While it wasn’t intrusive or offensive, it lacked life.

Try this exercise. Go to a bookstore and look at design and travel books from various areas you like or are from your cultural roots. You’ll see just about every culture rooted in color, ( color that is not sparingly used). 

We invite clients to pick one room in the house where they can push the envelope with some color. We try to create wall finishes with texture and color that replicate something from the past or create something new, and the use of color is a very key element. See our portfolio on our website for some pictures of just a few of the different projects we have done introducing color and texture,  In this newsletter, we have picked shots of some of our many sample boards.  To see our sample boards, call 408 448 1683 today for an appointment to talk about using color on your next project.