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In 20 years of working with clients I’ve yet to meet a color I don’t like. But I’ll
tell you, convincing clients to try something daring can be a little challenging, even though
the results can be spectacular. So I wanna talk about five colors you absolutely should
not be afraid of.
And I’m gonna start with the obvious, black. This is my condo; it’s an urban space and
nearly every wall: living room, kitchen, foyer is sheer, perfect black. This happens to be
Benjamin Moore Black Satin. Close runner up was from the Infinity line, Silhouette; also
a great choice. But for drama and chic urban impact, black is definitely a great choice.
Call it orange and clients will run and hide. But if you call it Tuscan Sunset, ah now you’ve
got their attention. The fact is even plain old orange is a fabulous color. Just ask anyone
who’s ever received a gift from Ermez. I have some favorite oranges as well from Benjamin
Moore: 14 Carrots and August Morning. This is a fabulous color to wake up to.
While blue and green are perennially popular, the combination of the two in to a vibrant
turquoise frightens some. Well not me. I love the way turquoise brings to mind deep Caribbean
waters. You can pair it with sophisticated black and it becomes dramatic, or with crisp
white and it becomes cool, chic. To call turquoise trendy just isn’t fair. Two of my favorite
turquoise colors: Blue Lake and In the Tropics.
Rubber duckys aside, no color is cheerier than yellow. And I do not mean a beige with
yellow undertones. I mean heart stopping, sunshine popping, make me happy primary yellow.
I love this room and this photograph by Calgary designer and photographer, Lori Andrews. I
can’t wait to use real yellow on one of my next projects, and when I do, Hannah Banana
and the aptly named Yellow are two paint choices that are at the top of my list.
It’s probably not too hard for us to agree that we like red, most people do. But would
you paint an entire room red? I sure would. We’ve done client living rooms and dining
rooms; I once had a kitchen that was deep, fire engine red and I loved it. For drama,
for real style you cannot do better than red. I love Exotic Red from Benjamin Moore. And
in fact I love it so much it made the cover of Dabble’s issue number six.