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Health & Fitness

WITH PAINT, LESS IS NOT MOORE

Paint is hot. I think it all started with Martha and Ralph's 'designer' paints. Now, it seems every designer, retail store and museum wants their own pain line.

Paint is hot.  I think it all started with Martha and Ralph's 'designer' paints.  There was also a wonderful paint collection created around the same time by  bona fide color consultant Donald Kaufman. Many smaller designers have recently gotten in on the paint act, and there are now lines from retail stores Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn.  Even the Guggenheim Museum has its own line of paint. NY Times article 'The Paint Doctor is In'  profiles architect Eve Ashcroft, whose new paints through Fine Paints of Europe sound amazing, and are priced so at over $100 per gallon. Marian McEvoy, past editor of House Beautiful and Elle Decor sums it up saying, "Paint lines have become like scented candles. Seems as if everyone has one." To further overwhelm you, there  are natural paints, organic paints, environmentally correct paints, historically correct paints, paints incorporating the full color spectrum, and paint that claims to last almost forever, all in a multitude of finishes above and beyond simple matte and glossy. I knew with certainty, when the  giant box from Benjamin Moore Paints arrived at my office that, in matters of paint color, less was no longer.  With 3500 colors and more finishes than I would ever deal with, Moore, my go-to paint line, was officially More. My simple fan-deck suddenly seemed like the tiniest box of Crayola crayons. Here were five binders filled with extra large pages of paint samples. Don't get me wrong-I love color, but my process for selecting paint colors is fairly simple.  Based on years of experience and trial and error, I choose colors intuitively, as described in the Nature of Color. I let the space, rather than whim or fashion, dictate the color.  I begin the process spending time alone in the space, sort of meditating on it. At a current project, I brought the selected fabric and rug swatches and my favorite paint color palette, Benjamin Moore's 'Affinity'. With the textiles laid out on the hardwood floor, I looked around at the big, open empty space of kitchen, dining area and living room, studying the architecture and imagining how it would look with the selected furnishings. I felt the quality of the current light and imagined evening with artificial light. What colors were on view outside from the ample windows? What did the room need to achieve architecturally and emotionally that a paint color could help deliver? My eyes settled on the kitchen wall tile. A herringbone pattern made from a variety of natural stones,  the backsplash was a prominent design element spanning three long walls.  I wanted the overall feel of it to carry through onto the remaining walls and into the areas outside the kitchen, creating a quiet envelope for the furnishings inside. With the open floor plan, the wall color needed to  link the areas together and provide cohesion.Do you need to change proportions, bring symmetry, hide bad architecture, add light or darken a space? Paint can achieve all this and more. Envision the color in your mind before even looking at the paint samples. Then, try and 'match' it. When it comes to paint, I think we've reached the saturation point. So, if your mind draws a blank, and you are about to succumb to standard white, contact me!  We'll make less out of more, once again.

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