Cape Cod Weathered Siding

Regional color preferences are based on several factors, foremost is the available and popular building materials of a region. It is true that most regional color preferences appear on the exterior of homes and commercial establishments whereas interior choices tend to be more personal.

Yes, the weather does have an influence on color, cool colors tending to show up in environments in the north and warm colors in the south. Is this because of the ambient temperature or a natural occurrence in a region? I think it is both, just as warm colors are dominant in the southern hemisphere because the sun is a major element but also the surroundings tend to be brown based or yellow toned hues. Dry grasses, sand and sun equal warm colors in the warmer climates whereas snow, sky, green trees and gray stone is obvious in the cooler climates.

Ethnic cultures also add to the mix in regions and often are common to an area such as the bright, warm colors of Mexico and Latin America that are strong influences in the southern part of the US. But also the use of materials, such as stucco is found in those southern countries and is are natural canvases for the warm colors of gold, peach, yellow, cream and orange. Putting cool colors on stucco doesn’t always work and can look somewhat out of place whereas peach looks terrible on cedar, the substrate itself strongly sways the choice of color.

Home styles often dictate the color of a structure, such as the dusty hues of arts and crafts, the historic colors on Georgians and Victorians as well as the rustic stains on cedars and shakes. Cape Cod gray is a natural color applied to cedar shakes due to the tradition of that color as a coastal favorite.

Florida Stucco Home

Roof colors are also regional with white as a common roof color in the warmer climate due to its concept of a light reflective color, terra cotta tile is more common in warm climates and grays appear more often in the cool climates. So as the roof color goes it influences the house color or vice versa.

White, a perennial favorite, is all over the map and can be found in all parts of the US as it is a perfect neutral along with beige and clay colors that are among the most popular colorsoverall.

The rules of regional colors are changing as more people move from one region to the next taking their favorites with them, so today you can find a mix of styles, colors and materials in one single neighborhood. Enjoy the diversity!

By Pat Verlodt

The Arts and Crafts movement was born in England in the late 1800’s and grew in popularity to flourish in North America. New home styles reflect many of the design details that made this style popular. It is further popularized by those same features appearing in commercial buildings as well.

The Arts and Crafts movement began as an effort to maintain the handmade craftsmanship of design that was being lost to the industrial revolution and mass production in Europe. This movement grew to include Bungalow design, originally designed as resort lodging in the early 1900’s.  These bungalows with the large extended roofs and porches were particularly suited to the warm climate and became popular in California.

Gustav Stickley, who published his influential magazine, the Craftsman, included over 220 home designs. After WWII mail order companies like Montgomery Wards and Sears, Roebuck and Company offered kits that included all the components make affordable homes and their popularity grew, therefore the term Craftsman was born.

Several regional styles developed the large Arts and Crafts style evolved into the low one story styles popular in warmer climates of Florida, California and Texas that were influenced by the Spanish Missions and therefore became known as Mission style.

The Arts and Crafts homes are recognized by the elements of divided light windows, low pitched roofs with deep eaves with corbels and triangular brackets, covered porches, wood or shake siding, square tapered columns and contrasting trim. Natural wood and stone were included in the design, especially in the front porch designs.

The Mission style evolved from the Arts and Crafts style and adapted arches, stucco, tile roofs and rough cut stones as influences of the Spanish missions and was popular in Texas, California and Florida.

Today’s new homes reflect many of the elements found in these earlier styles with a mix materials and colors. Stone is used as an accent with painted trim and walls in contrasting colors, usually White against a muted or neutral hue. Colors are kept natural or nature based with clay, gray, warm greens and muted golds being the most popular.

Color Is Color Recomendations:

0218,0323,0345,0415

Life is but a stage...

The more things change the more they are alike. Color movements have been fast at times and slow as snails others but they are interesting just the same.

The most stable of colors are the neutrals and they remain so, after all, that is what they are meant to do. They are evolving into grayer tones as we move into 2010. They are the forgotten cast of characters that serve as the background for the stars of the show, the bright lights and the dramatic jewel tones. And warm neutrals will still dominate the palette with yellow cast beiges being the VIP’s.

Consumers are looking at ways to get a longer shelf life out of their major purchases, such as carpets and appliances by using neutrals and in doing so they leave the stage open for the crisper, more enlightening colors in the palette. These include the diva red that has become as common as the neutrals in the group. Crisp greens and ocean blues are the only cool stars in the play with the warm hearted golds, yellows and oranges as supporting players.

The ingénue is the lavender lady with the gray cloud surrounding her. She is a mysterious character only too willing to support the golden hues that sparkle in the palette. A spicy orange offers to upstage her with its brilliant flair and exciting talent.

Coming attractions include the real stars, the ones that shine in the sky. Photos from outer space give us a glimpse of their beauty and surprising combinations. Brilliant turquoise, sparkling gold, fiery orange and amazing purples dot the galaxy and remind us of our small part in the universe.

Amazing Galactic Colors

Every room in every home inside and out must have someone making color decisions that impact the look of the final setting. The choice of floor material, paint for walls and ceiling, fabrics, and furnishings will involve someone making several color choices. This task can seem daunting to many, horrifying to others and sometimes there is someone who does it with ease. But most of the time it is an overwhelming chore to the majority of the population. They look for guidance in shelter magazines, television shows, hundreds of books, newspapers and even advice from their friends and family and in many cases they still are at a loss as of what to do. Here are several avenues to follow to find that elusive road over the rainbow and into their homes.

• If the is an existing, unchangeable or desired color in a room or on the outside of a home use that as a starting place. Find a pattern or combination of colors in a piece of fabric, on a pillow or in the case of an exterior, a single stone or brick that contains that color. This pattern or combination of colors should appeal to you; search until you find something that really draws your interest. Use the other colors in the pattern for the rest of your color choices. Perhaps there is a neutral hidden in the pattern that can become the wall color, an accent color may exist in the group and that can be used in small amounts, maybe on a feature wall or on a front door.
• When starting from the ground up you can also accomplished this with a pattern or in some cases a favorite painting or even a pleasant place to visit. Using a painting or print you can identify the colors that caught your eye when you first saw it and use them to create the color combinations you are looking for. Take a photo of your preferred destination and select colors based on them.

What initially intrigued you about a particular painting or fascinated you in a pattern or combination of colors should be used to create the perfect environment for living and being comfortable in your color decisions.

Use a Painting for Inspiration

Using a painting as inspiration, in this case the pale off white could be the walls, the deep blue a carpet or piece of furniture, the lemon could be curtains. You don’t have to take the colors as they appear you can neutralize them by making them lighter or grayer and you can make them lighter to tone them down. The colors should be used in three proportions of visual interest, the largest for walls, the medium for carpet and the smallest for accents.

Suggested Color Is Colors: 0391 Sripsa, 0620 Star Studded, 0848 Yellow Tail

Red, Hot or Haute?

When thinking in colors in terms of their color temperature red is at the top of the scale for being a really warm hue. It is commonly referred to as the color of fire and flame and it sizzles in terms of sensuality. It is a romantic valentine or a sweet smelling rose on one level and a feared rash or sunburn on another level. There is nothing wishy washy about red, it makes a statement no matter how it is used. It says “stop” one minute and can indicate “come hither” the next.

This color has risen in the ranks of popular colors rather quickly in the last few years. There was a time when a paint dealer sold a quart of red a month and now they sell it by the gallon on a daily basis. Why is this? What happened to make this hue move to the top like the mercury in a thermometer? One factor in it move to the top is the preponderance DIY shows using it as a makeover color. The one thing a makeover show wants to provoke is a reaction from their participants and their audience, whether it is a good or bad response, it needs to be controversial to be memorable. It enjoys a love/hate reputation that one can’t deny is dramatic and thought provoking. Because red was highlighted often in these shows it gave confidence to consumers that they could achieve dramatic results in the easiest, least expensive method, a gallon of red paint.

Our connection to certain colors is based on our memories of past experiences or recollections of objects featured in that color. We may have had loved a color because it is the hue of a favorite flower, you may hate it because it was a color overused by a not so favorite neighbor. Looking for the most common pleasant memories is significant in the selection of colors for products and because of this packaging often uses red to boost the sales of certain products. Red can’t and won’t be ignored and it will remain in the limelight for years to come.

Red, HOT or Haute??

The Ladd Carriage House

The Ladd Carriage House Comes Home

The Ladd Carriage House was designed by architect Joseph Sherwin in the English Stick Style, the 1883 house is the last remaining building from the once expansive Ladd Estate.  Constructed at the NW corner of Broadway and Columbia Streets in Portland, Oregon, it housed twelve horses, William Ladd’s personal carriages, a hayloft, and residential quarters for the estate’s coachman and gardener. The Ladd family owned and maintained the building until it was converted into small shops and offices in 1926. The building later housed architects such as Van Evera Bailey, civic institutions such as the Portland Civic Theatre and major employers such as Hoffman Construction.

William Ladd was one of Portland’s pioneer entrepreneurs responsible for creating the eclectic city that Portland is today. Ladd arrived in Portland in 1851 when the city was little more than a ramshackle trading post. He grew a single product store into a thriving business and within three years was elected Mayor or Portland. In 1859 he co-founded Portland’s first financial institution, the Ladd & Tillton bank. Throughout his life Ladd continued to expand his influence by serving on numerous boards and was a vocal advocate for Portland’s business community.

A devout Presbyterian, Ladd felt duty bound to give back to the community. He provided offices for the Portland Library Association and left a generous endowment upon his death. Other institutions such as the Oregon Humane Society, the Ladies Relief Society Child’s Home and the San Francisco Seminary all received support during his lifetime.

In October 2008, the Ladd Carriage House was moved down Columbia Street and back to its original site after a sixteen month absence. Relocating the Carriage House was part of the first phase of a redevelopment project which includes Ladd, a 23 story residential apartment  building located in the heart of Portland’s cultural district. To help retain the history and character of the neighborhood, Opus Northwest, LLC worked with a number of local partners including The first Christian Church, the Friends of the Ladd Carriage House and Ankron Moisan Architects to create a revitalized mixed use block that will prominently feature the Ladd Carriage House. Construction requirements included an underground garage that necessitated the moving all 350 tons of the carriage house to a temporary location in June 2007.

The Friends of the Ladd Carriage House are actively engaged in preserving and restoring the iconic Ladd Carriage House by serving as advocates  for the buildings retention and integrity. For over three years the Friends have worked diligently with their partners towards the goal of producing an economically viable building that will enrich the Ladd redevelopment site and downtown Portland in perpetuity.

Painting contractor Schiller and Vroohan painted the building using Miller Paint. Colors were selected by Opus Northwest based on their suitability for the style of the building and to also fitting into the surroundings. They are a combination of subtle neutrals much like the colors of the era.

There is More than Bland Behind Beige!

Beige is a best selling color, and to stretch its reach even farther you can include off white as a pale version of beige. Not only is it a best seller in interior colors but also in exterior colors. Its scope extends from the rich tones of tan to the grayed nuances of taupe. Beige is not a color family, only a tone in the family of Orange. Its big brother Brown is the darkest value of that tone and it is also a winner in the marketplace, enjoying a revival as of late. So what is the mysterious allure of beige? Why does it play such a key role in decorating today?

There are a number of reasons why we are inundated with beige. First of all it is a neutral, a color that plays well with others and is a great companion. In the scheme of things it is in the correct hemisphere, the warm side of the color world. Warm colors outsell cool colors by quite a large margin. They are comforting and offer refuge from an over colorful world. Color love comes from a memory of things that are pleasant, familiar and predictable. Our minds make connections with colors we see around us every day, such as our natural surroundings and objects we love and cherish. We see these warm tone colors in the trees around us, the earth beneath our feet and in the wildlife we cherish. So as humans we have a strong connection to this color family and it translates into big sales in a broad range of products from carpet to siding and from low end to high end. It looks good on flat surfaces such as walls and on textured surfaces like carpet. It is rich as a best selling metallic or pearl of automobile finishes and even on plastic wastebaskets. How can they possibly make it look fashionable and new?

Tone on tone neutrals can suggest a rich, luxurious look. High end fabrics made of silk, wool and cashmere can add ambiance to a humble  color like beige. Pair that with our memories of the familiar and it doubles its power. In today’s economy beige is a proven winner as it can live a long time in a home environment. It is easy to punch it up with a broad range of accents, both warm and cool, giving it an even longer life.

I used to call beige a chicken color, not the color of a chicken but a color for people who were too chicken to pick a more colorful hue. I take my words back, easy or not, beige is where its at!

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What is the next color over the rainbow?

As a color designer we are asked time and time again as to what is hot? What is the latest trend? If the inquirer is designing a product it can be a very important question, but if it is a consumer, what difference does it make? Is it merely curiosity on their part or will they rush home and change everything in their homes? We can also preface our answer with, hot in what? And, hot does not mean best seller, it may mean that it is just “different” from anything out there.  Fashionable automotive colors will not tell most people what color to paint their bedrooms. Trendy interior product colors will not tell the inexperienced what color to paint their front door and there are dozens of questions that need to be answered before a definitive color solution can be determined. Following a trail of influence is essential to finding true satisfying results. Listed below is a brief overview of where to find the appropriate color origins for the elusive hot color you may be looking for.

• Is the color for an Interior or an exterior? Typically exterior colors are based on neutral and near neutral colors because they need to last a long time, sometimes as long as 40 or 50 years. You wouldn’t want to have something really trendy, and in 10 years have it look dated and out of place. Chic new colors could be used on the front door or shutters where they can be refreshed when the hue goes out of style. Exterior colors get their influence from interior colors that have lasted the test of time and then they are neutralized to give them longevity.
• If the color is for an interior then the question would be what room is it going to be used, but most of all what is in that room already? If you want the hip color will it fit into the current environment? Fashionable interior colors can derived from women’s fashion palettes, but don’t be so quick as to take them in their original context, usually they become interior colors once they have proved themselves and last more than one season. Then they may be interpreted as neutrals, near neutrals or watered down versions of the original color. Look more the color combinations in fashions, they are more likely to become evident in what you can put in your home. You would be more likely to use a stylish color as an accent wall or an item such as pillows, wall décor, area rugs or accessories, as long as they work with what is already in a room.
• Other factors that influence color trends are evident in the news, on television and most of all on the internet. What a first lady is wearing, what a sitcom has as a set design, good economy, bad economy and emerging lifestyle changes are just a few of the triggers for colors emerging in the marketplace.
• So, with all of that…..What is on the other side of the rainbow? With a glimmer of hope that the economy will improve we see brighter, cleaner colors on the horizon. We are in an era of dusty, neutralized colors for interior and exterior colors and they will remain popular but the evolution of the high chroma colors will advance, slowly but surely. 
• The question that is the answer to this all is “think of a color you have never seen”. In it the answer is, there are no new colors, just new combinations, new uses of color on existing products and new textures and effects that make existing colors look different so that we can call them “new”.