Emerald Coast Licensed Interior Designer, Cara McBroom

Color Conundrums | By Cara McBroom

Colors can be deceiving! They can take on many personalities, and play all sorts of tricks on the eye.  Here are just a few quick interesting facts and lessons about color that I’ve learned throughout the years:

Everything is Relative:

In my profession, I often come across situations where people can get caught up on whether a teal potato is actually a peacock blue po-TAH-to, or whether red tomato is actually a crimson to-MAH-to.  It brings to mind my elementary school art teacher, who always insisted that “there is no purple—it’s called violet!” (Ironically, her name was Mrs. Brown). Don’t get me wrong; knowing the difference is our job!  Patronizing clients and correcting them is not a good idea, however, which is why we all usually keep a fan deck of paint colors readily on hand, for reference, at new client appointments.

It is easy to deduce that, because people are all different, they are likely to name things differently—More importantly, however, people can SEE things differently! It could be that Mother Nature made some people slightly color blind, or it could just be that everything is relative.

Here is a color (on the left) that I use all the time.  Benjamin Moore’s Palladian Blue.  Next to Seafoam Green, it probably looks blue to most people.  In the color story below, however, you can see that Palladian Blue looks decidedly green next to Fantasy Blue, Paradiso & Ocean City Blue.

Palladian Blue actually lends itself either way, which is why I use it a lot!  I actually would call it a gray-green, as I tend to think that blue is blue, and if it has a perceivable amount of green, then it’s in the green family.  SEE?  We all have our own perceptions, and trying to label them can be just semantics.  That’s why it’s best to not rely on semantics and rely on that paint deck for reference!

Light-changing experiences:

Sometimes, in our profession, we also find ourselves trying to solve color mysteries for clients.  Maybe they chose what they thought was the perfect basket beige color, but when they painted their walls, it looked pink! It could be that it’s time to change out their bulbs from incandescent to L.E.D.

Here you can see how certain light bulbs give off different colors. Fluorescents give off cool, or blue light; Incandescents give off a golden, or warm light; and L.E.D. bulbs give off a cool white light.

The pink walls in the above analogy could also mean, for instance, that they have a red vase in the window, or a red accent wall that’s casting off a pink glow.  Sometimes it’s the little things. Here’s a common illustration that shows how a SETTING can change our perception of a color:

In this diagram created by Edward H. Adelson, the two yellow dots are actually the same color. The gray squares they are centered in are also the same value! Because the surroundings are different, they are perceived differently.

The lesson to be learned from this category is to always pick out paint colors IN the room you will be painting, so that all lighting and environmental factors come into play.  If you are still skeptical, try painting color patches onto the wall (preferably a white one—remember the lesson we just learned!), and always remember to use a good primer!

Follow the Yellow-Bright rule:

(Ok, so I was “reaching” for a clever title for this category). “Yellow is psychologically the happiest color in the color spectrum”  The last thing you want, however, is a room that is SOOO happy, that you need a mental nap every time you leave the room.  The color yellow, for some reason, gets brighter and brighter, the more you use it.  So, what looks like a subtle, pastel yellow on a small sample, can turn into a Bananarama “Cruel Summer” very fast. There are other colors that can have this effect, too, such as primary red and electric green.  I am picking on yellow, because you would think that yellow is mellow, so its effect can be unexpected.  Stick to yellows that have been tamed down with some gray, or only use it in small amounts. If a bold statement is what you want, then plan it very carefully, so that the brightness is balanced by enough white, gray or other neutral.  Here are some examples of what I think are tasteful uses of yellow:

Via Ligne Roset USA

Via Marcus Design

Via Evermotion

I like this use of yellow, because of the way they balanced it with a lot of white, and shortened the wall with wainscoting.

A Dark myth:

Want to know a cool trick for making your room feel taller and more spacious? Try painting your ceilings a darker color—Yes, I said dark!  Fellow interior designer, and dear friend, Joey LaSalle says, “…you may have heard that painting a ceiling a dark color will make the ceiling feel much lower. That is actually a myth. In fact, dark colors recede. Therefore a darker ceiling would actually give the illusion that the ceiling is receded or higher than it actually is. On the other hand, bright colors jump forward, which would give the perception that the intensely painted wall or ceiling is closer than it actually is.”  I have also found that painting your crown the same color as your walls help to extend the length of your walls, which aids in the perception of height.

There are many more points I could go over, but I will save you from a lesson on color theory, and leave my color wheel in my pocket for now. I will leave you with this: even though colors can be tricky, I still urge everyone to not be afraid of color! Embrace it smartly, and use it to your advantage!