Created as a more functional and operationally superior alternative to traditional white boards and dry-erase wallcoverings for office environments, Tabrasa offers abundant opportunities in homes too. Imagine using it in the mudroom or laundry area.  Tots to teenagers finally can draw on their walls without a disaster or a time out! See the illustration of the product here. 

Tabrasa^TM is water based paint that transforms any smooth surface into a seamless, high-performance dry-erase writing surface.   Discover all the options and applications for this amazing product and consider how you could adapt it in your home.

Instead of sticking notes around your home office, choose one of four colors and post schedules, creative ideas or brainstorming concepts on the wall.  Use a strip of wall space in your kitchen and post the weekly menu. 

Let me know how you might adapt this product in your home.

After seeing the bold colors of red and gold during the Olympics, more of the same continued at Fashion Week.  No surprise to see the 2009 color trends reflect the synergy of commerce and culture.  The bold and saturated hues remind us of summer and beaches while connecting us to influences and themes of other places such as Russia, East Asia and Latin America.  As Thomas Friedman expresses, the world is flat. 

Interpreted for your home, orange becomes an appealing color for interiors but is not crayon orange but toned down with a touch of yellow and called ‘tiger-eye’.  Likewise red receives a hint of orange and becomes tropical and lush.  In a room setting this ‘Moorish’ red is enhanced by complements of tangy lemon accents.

From Project Runway to Fashion Week, vivid blues and purples are combined with neutrals.  Blue promotes optimism and it’s grounded with nature’s neutrals; think natural fiber, wool, and wood.  This combination of fresh blues with gorgeous gray grounds the palette and promotes stability – a perfect combination for a master bedroom suite. 

The Green movement is mainstream so certainly green is a star whether on the runway or in the home. Spring inspired daffodil yellow pairs with a muddier gold green and adds freshness to the interior.  An old friend, olive green, becomes a sophisticated companion.  One color that combines with all of the above colors is slate grey providing a visual ‘weight’ to the overall color scheme. 

Finally, I believe color is LOCAL. Explore your locality, see how the colors are nuanced at your local markets and store display windows.  Spin the color wheel with local hues for a timely update

This year one unexpected but hot trend is gray. Gray is making a triumphant return as a wall color, giving people an alternative to tried-and-true beige. It’s said that this moody hue  gains popularity in times of war and turmoil.  That’s a bit of a downer, however.

Ann McGuire, Valspar color consultant and lead designer of Beehive Studios in Pennsylvania says,  ”Gray feels fresh because it’s soft and cool.

Gray offers great support for fun, vibrant colors, such as yellows (this year’s popular accent color), purples (next year’s color) and even teals. It’s a sweet pairing with geranium pink or warm lilac for a girl’s bedroom, and it can be a sophisticated backdrop for shiny surfaces such as mirrors and art glass.

Think of grays as silvers, crystals and ice,” McGuire said. “Grays can be sad if you think of them as the color of battleships or the basement.”

Over the weekend, I found a wonderful resource that I want to share with readers. When you want to make the biggest impact for the least investment in your home, a fresh coat of paint with an appealing color is the best option. Designers and realtors all preach this message and numerous programs on HGTV provide examples for viewers. 

Getting the color chosen is generally the obstacle which I refer to as color phobia.  A visit to the neighborhood paint store is a great resource but intimidating.  With thousands of options, the issue is to narrow the selection and more important suit the hue to your home.

In this post I share a very helpful website to get the color selected and on your wall.  Start browsing at MyPerfectColor.com. Search colors by how you plan to use them. I like the suggested color combinations or learn what colors other people are using in the same room, or discover the top selling colors are in your state. (WA favorites are Roasted Sesame Seed, Alpaca and Metropolitan all from Benjamin Moore). And, after you narrow your choices, contact your local paint store. I suggest you ask them for a small mini-can of paint to test. MyPerfectColor will send mini-can samples to your door as another option.

About MyPerfectColor.com

Brothers Jason and Dana Shaw are transforming Breslow Home Design Center, a business started by their grandfather in 1924, into an innovative web enterprise. MyPerfectColor.com is the first website of its kind. Offering color matches of over 100,000 colors across over 100 paint brands, MyPerfectColor not only offers an unprecedented selection of colors but also offers customers the ability to choose lighter or darker versions of any color. Any color is available in a pint-sized paint sample mini-can, or gallons and quarts of any finish of Benjamin Moore paint.

The color ochre, also spelled ocher, is one of my favorites.  Early in my design career I participated in a Designer Showhouse. My challenge was the foyer, all stairs and hallways. With other designers all around my areas, I sought a color to invite, complement and add a warm contemporary feeling.  My choice was ochre.  Over the course of the month that the Showhouse was open to the public, I received many calls for the exact name and number of the paint. 

So when I saw this photo in the latest issue of Southern Accents magazine, all my memories of that design concept refreshed in my mind.  I like that this color is suited to antique and traditional elements as well as transitional contemporary styles.  Whether the other designers worked with reds, burgundy, blues or greens, the ochre fit.  Likewise soft blue greys, creams and ebonized wood looked rich and fresh.

This color is understated and doesn’t draw attention to itself.  Not too bold so that beautiful art, rugs, flowers and all the other design elements have space for appreciation.  Accents of white or black create balance when added selectively. 

Possibly the biggest plus for ochre is that it flatters all skin tones so everyone invited to enjoy the space looks equally fabulous.

In this article the author notes Sherwin Williams Sunrise SW 6668 and Weekend 1029-C Martin Seynour in case you want to check it out for yourself.