Today is day one of my new blog. I plan to use this space to post informative information regarding kitchen, bath and home design. I am a professional designer in Saint Petersburg, Florida. My work life keeps me hopping, that's for sure and I love what I do for a living. I find though, that there is a huge disconnect between the design professions and regular people. I want to use this blog in a similar way that I use my career --to try to bridge that gap. A nice home needn't be the sole province of people with a lot of money. Everyone deserves to live in a pleasant, well-though-out environment. So to that end, here we go:

I spent the better part of today selecting interior paint colors with a new client and I have paint on the brain it seems. Due to their contractor's insistence, I am selecting colors form ICI's palette with is an unusual thing. I'm usually pretty brand loyal to Sherwin-Williams. I love Sherwin-Williams for its neutral palette as much as anything else. Although they do a nice job with brights as well. ICI's neutral palette works differently and even though the colors going into this new house are fine I would have preferred to be working with Sherwin-Williams.

The key to color selections for a whole house is pretty basic coordination, regardless whose palette you're using. If the black values line up across a range of colors the house will have a harmonious palette. It's the same way with lining up the yellows or the blues or the reds. Although when I'm asked to do it, I go for the black values. I guess I am a neutral kind of guy at heart.

In English, all of that means that I used a taupe as a dominant color throughout the house in question. Based on that taupe, I selected accent colors for rooms that bled into one another. Starting with a darker version of the original taupe. Then a smokey blue and then a sagey green. Bouncing back and forth between those colors and combining them will allow these clients to live in a harmonious home. Harmonious from a color perspective at any rate.

As I figure out how to use this blog I will post examples of colors and how to combine them. For tonight though, I think I'll leave it at this.