The REAL, yet faded colour of life!

Today after Long, I woke up to a story of my very close friend that has instigated me to dust open my blog and scribble. I find it hard to even give it a title, but I can assure you its somewhere related to today's "Love". If it is even Love or not, is left for you to decide. 

When a girls parents start pushing for a marriage and start hunting for grooms, the girl is put into so much pressure to choose a "right" partner. The word right is stressed because we only convince ourselves that the boy is right in most cases. Today we live in a world were the girl has freedom of choice. Even if arranged, she has the final say. And during the same phase when no boy your parents bring impresses you and when a boy who is just your hang out friend, who you think has the qualities you are looking for becomes a star in your eyes (which has never happened before!). Its with that pressure on you to choose a guy that forces you into love. Its just one of the many reasons for falling into Love!  

Seeing so many love stories like this around, I have to say, I sometimes question myself,What or Is this true love? Well, At least, I got the answer today, the story behind my friends failed marriage. Things seemed to happen well for her, for it was like her dream come true - Marry a man she loved! Its sometime hard for us to accept, some situations that were well dealt before the wedding may not be so after. Be it love or arranged, a man is a man, with a slight hint of possessiveness and wanting to be the first priority. Most men/women today fail to see that, since we live in a modern world, taken over by Facebook, twitter, BB, Iphone,and being in constant touch with friends sometimes having no time for family. And being social is now being very active on FB, Twitter etc. This sometime can lead to lots of miscommunication and lack of trust on your spouse and shake a relationship that is already immature. Even with the latest technologies being invented, even if we come to a day where we can create a whole new world, a man's innate character will not change. Failing to understand this has led my friend to a failed marriage, thus a failed love. 

Even if this hasn't happened in her life I would have still found it hard to certify it as a happily-ever-after love story! Cause unless a couple have grown old together with still the same unshaken love, like in case of my grand parents, Its too soon to conclude!

Blue....ish Moods!!!

In terms of clothing - It brings a warmer tone to your face.

Likewise in terms or interiors feel the color to influence it!!

In decoration blue should remind you of only one thing - THE BEACH. Now lets picture blue and white/pale green, you can visualize a life on the shore.

Blue and white - omnipresent on Greek islands.



Can you now imagine a room like this? It would be like you got one of these islands into your home.You would get a fresh feel of the beach.

Blue notes in variety or very sophisticated but very different,city dwellings make a positive dramatic splash of color.



When you design a room,relate it to some scene,nature or picture how you want it to be or what makes you feel at your best.

Quick tip #3

This quick tip is for anyone who is not clear of what they need and here is what will make you choose the best.

Paint!! The toughest to choose from the lot. What color should my living room be in, Or my one wall of bed room be in, Etc. We often stick with one choice,which will be our favorite color,but also remember even that favorite color comes in a million shades. So to choose which one is the best

1)See color palette/swatches that you get from the paint stores and pick you favorite.
2)Once you have finalized on the color,observe that color in different lighting's mostly in natural light like morning,noon and night.
3) If you are not happy with the color choose a different one and do the same.Do not keep all the swatches at once and observe.your eyes may defy you.

Note : the same goes with the fabric too.Pin up and swatch and observe in different lighting.

**********Give yourself the flexibility to have fun!!!!!

Quick combo tips!!

Lets not see a color just as a color. But little beyond it ,with the eyes of an artist,photographer or anyone who deals with colors day to day life and by this you would be amazed with how a color can make you feel.So as we go we are just not going to see a color but to feel it.

Orange and Blue - Strong colors on natural world provide inspiration for painters.

Now imagine this on the walls, here it is!

Red and Pink - Luxury and fine living.


Yellow and Green - Brings the sun and natural light into the interiors!


Blue and White - Sea shore..!!


Many more to come.....


The pictures used here are not my work. Just to give the readers the best example for the contents in my post.

The way we live with colors

I came across this book called "The way we live with colors" by stanfford cliff and gilles de chabanieux recently and "luckily" as this brings out every essential aspect of the colors a designer should know.

This book is about
1) People and the traditional colors they use.
2) How to bring the atmosphere of Mediterranean into your living room, Persia into your bed room,etc
3) colors and the moods they reflect.

I suggest, go grab this book from the nearest library.The pictures themselves are quite explanatory.

Here is my share of this wonderful book -

Quick combo tips!!

Quick tip #2

Consider a wall over which we have two windows that are placed to far apart or too small. The best way to hide this obvious mistake is to cover it with draperies... and....

Not just that will help solve the problem , the draperies should be of the same value as of the wall.... So now the windows will blend with the wall...! Our prob solved ...! :)

Happy decorating..!! :)

colors - A million and one!

A thousand and more colors exists and we come across them everyday. We live in world full of pure colors that are of different shades , value , intensity , contrast etc which makes a the difference.

But, we just chose to live around those colors that we find pleasant and that reflects our personality.

Here are few important properties of the color a decorator and a more importantly the client should understand.

Hue : -

What is the first thought you have in your mind when someone asks you what is the color of your car or sofa? would would think of the name of color - my car is red or sofa is brown. Now that name of the color is called Hue.

Value : -

Remember

• Value is the amount of lightness or darkness in a color.
• Value progress from white (Lightest) to black (Darkest) with shades of gray between them.
• Value is ONLY Lightness or Darkness.

My car is light blue or My coat is dark brown.

Color + White ----> (Light value) Tints

Color + Black -----> (Dark value) Shades

Gray scale chart


Color value scale


What not to do ..!

Never ask anything like "what shade of red is your car?"..!
Never say "Its very light shade".!

There is no thing as light shade.

Shade is like the shade of the tree , always darker than the pure hue. :)


Contrasts :-

Contrasts work both the ways - To hide an object or make it the center of attraction..!!

---> Best example to hide an object that you do not want your guests to notice easily is quick tip #2.

You would have not noticed this fireplace if not for the woods..!!



---> Now to bring something to center of attraction is where the value if contrast will help the most.

For Example : -

Lets consider a situation where we have a fireplace mantel which is of white marble and the walls of the room are painted off white. This is where the fire place is hidden and can not be noticed , or its blends with the wall. This is only when you want to hide the fire place for some reason. But to make it the center of attraction , one obvious way is to increase the value of the wall surrounding it.



And to give it a better look we can arrange some accessories over the mantel...!

What not to do...!!

Avoid sharp contrasts (Very light against very dark) unless a dramatic effect is required.
And to balance such contrast , for example we can add a plaid sofa and two throw pillows between the area of soft and dark values.

Best is to avoid such gaudiness...!

Remember - Dark value heavier in weight than the lighter value. So to bring a balance, we can have more smaller areas with dark values to balance the large area of lighter value.



The pictures used here are not my work. Its just google'd give the readers the best example for the contents in my post.

To be continued ......