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Debunking Color Fears

Now it's time to get rid of all the technological stuff and get into what I call the woo woo stuff you can no longer hide or be afraid of color after this I see little grimaces already and my and my audience they're like no she's about to call me out but honestly when I when I created the order of the curriculum for this course I thought how boring would it be if we just did color when I want and then color psychology and in the history of color let's mix it up and how much more fun uh you know could we have been really talking about fears it's kind of like watching a scary movie there's like adrenaline rush right and that's how a lot of us feel when we're starting to pick a paint color or pick a scheme for our room so fear is probably our biggest pet most power for full motivator in our lives right um and we there's always that question of in life and anything you do what would you do if you couldn't fail? What choices would you make if you knew you couldn't fail? And I think that's a...

great question toe ask us ourselves about color because wouldn't a lot of you try a lot of different things if you knew I can't fail or I have the money to fix it and repainted or it's not my forever sofa but we don't have that that's not reality, we think if I don't get this right, I'll never be able to afford another sofa again as long as I live and I'll have to live with this ugliness, you know, if it's wrong and so we don't, we don't take leaps, we don't do things that really make us happy, so fear happens a lot of times when we just think too much about something, right? We get hyper sensitive to it, and so I want us to jump into some of the fears that have held a lot of us back fears that I hear from people that I work with, and a lot of you're going to probably giggle when you see some of these because you're going to think that they apply to you t they're going to resonate with you, but we can really start once we understand them start seeing how to release it's that hold that they have over us so that we can start trying to have fun with color in our space. So let's, look at a number one fear, so it I'm afraid that if I choose a colorful design, I will get tired of it, everybody thinks they're going to get tired of something, but a lot of times I think what we get tired of more than anything is blocked and boring, right we need something to spice up our lives. So if we get tired of anything it's when we pick not the right thing for our room and every time we walk in we get why did I not get the red chair? Because it would have been so much more fun in my life. S o a lot of times we do just the opposite of what would really make us have success and be happy in our space. So it's more about being delighted and excited and energized by the things that you select and I think that's really kind of the opposite. I want you to start having the confidence to affirm your own color style but making choices that are fun and interesting so let's, think about that let's, think about what air the rial reasons that we get tired of things on dh here's what? I want you to be totally honest no excuses, no hiding it's about becoming self aware so I would love for you all to even jump in if you gook that's me on well, basically do a little color therapy here, okay? From the stage ah it's like lying on the couch to figure out what color you khun bring into your space. So, um, one of the biggest reasons we get tired of things is because we don't choose what we truly love how many times have you been in whether it's a store and you're buying a pair of boots and you really want the ones with the gold spikes all over the back or with the silver toe or the red suede pair? And you have a number of reasons go, but if I buy those, they won't go with this many outfits and, you know, it's, not a very smart purchase, and but what you really want is, like the red suede payer, and if you bought those every time you put him on, wouldn't you feel like a million bucks and be like I have my red suede boots on? I'm looking hot. I'm so happy today, it's the same thing with your interior. So when you start second guessing and making a safe choice and ignore your gut, which is the important part here and ignore that intuition, you're often making a bad choice. Okay, so what? We really get tired of us when we don't choose things that we truly want. Another thing that we really get chucked narrative is when we choose something for the sake of being trendy. So it's kind of the opposite of that toby told me that this color was super trendy so I have to have that in my house or it's a little bit different because with fashion we can introduce some things that air trendy and now and be ok if they're not on tour in the next season but you're not usually buying a sofa or a chair or painting your house you know spring and fall to get with the runway shows you know so it's a it's a different situation and so I think that's why a lot of you get nervous and scared and try to get conservatives so but at the same time a lot of you are going well everybody has chevron should I be buying chevron should my pillows be chevron should you know everybody every magazine I open has teal innit maybe I should have a teal wall in my house well here's the deal if you love teal yes have a teal wall if you don't love it then this is a trend that's not for you and the interesting thing we're going to talk about trends this afternoon but the life cycle of a trend is so short now it used to be you know even a decade possibly that you would see a color palette now it's maybe two years maximum and sometimes it's just a few months so it's not a great reason to buy unless it's something you truly love so just because your friends have that are just because a blogger featured in our just cause the magazine covered it like house beautiful, or toby told you, that's just showing you options, but it doesn't mean there's a rule that you're out of style are not cool or not chic. If you're not trying this color trend, it's more about making a good choice for you, and I think sometimes that impulse buy or that instant gratification leads us to make bad decisions with trend, because we can't get the whole room we want. So I'll just go ahead and buy this because it's really exciting in the moment and that's where some of your buyer's remorse sets in later, like, why did I waste money buying those trendy pieces? I could have just put that towards something that was a better decision for me long term. Um, why else do we get tired of things? We sometimes we choose what other people want for us? How many of you choose what your mother thinks your house should look like? Or maybe your mother in law? We were joking about leathers in law yesterday. Are your husband or your friend or someone else in your life? So are you a pleaser, and are you trying to please other people as opposed to really making yourself happy, and, yeah, we're going to talk about um how to make ups project work for several people that live there because if you're married or you have children or other people live in your house it's not I'm not suggesting that you be selfish and not worry about anyone else, but there are times when you start ignoring that some kind of gut feeling or that intuition because someone else says that's not gonna look good or I don't really think you should have that or maybe I've always had this maybe you should have this, you know is your mom pressuring you to have the same kind of interiors that she always had? It's it's an insecurity a lot of times that won't let us move forward with what we really want or maybe it's because we're young and we think, oh, I don't know anything yet about decorating and so we really kind of squished down that that interior you know, motive that get feeling where we really know usually your intuition about your own spaces, right? And if you love something, you're probably gonna lie for a long time and then a lot of times people are just afraid to fail so that paralyzes you more more people than anything, just what if it doesn't work and we're gonna talk about howto had a dip your toe in the water just in case another reason we get tired of things is we don't really consider whether it will undermine our entire goal, so we're not thinking about the big picture in the long term of our whole house or a whole project, we're just thinking in the moment, I like this let's buy it, and then you get home and you go, oh, but it doesn't work with everything else. Um, or maybe the opposite, you are afraid that you don't know what your whole plan is, that you go safe just so that hope awfully one day it will match everything else in her house, but ultimately this comes from not having a plan, because most of us can't run out and furnish our whole house in a short period of time. Our budget's just don't allow, so we'll talk more and more over the week of what a plan khun do for you, but it really helps you make good decisions, buying things that you won't get tired of, and really, honestly, the biggest waste of money is not usually making a color mistake it's buying something that you don't love so most people don't regret most the time when they take a color lead. A lot of times, they like it it's when they buy that boring brown or beige sofa that they really regret long term, so, um, that's what we get tired of and then we just get impatient sometimes and just don't even want to think about it all it's too overwhelming let's just get through this choice and then we'll worry about everything else later so how many of us are in a hurry? We're about to have a party at her house that we just buy something that'll work for that we would rather not have people come over and think we have a space that they really wouldn't even notice that there wasn't a chair they're we have this like weird pressure toe I have to have a chair let me just buy something when ultimately long term you would have been better off waiting until you found the thing you really really loved and a color that was really exciting or a pattern, art texture or something that really made you love at long term. So it's is it either that hurry or impatient are overwhelmed or maybe even sometimes it's just laziness because there's so many choices out there that the weed through a mall you're like just give me that when I don't even care, I'll just take the beige one or the pale blue whatever that's fine, it doesn't matter when ultimately it does matter because at the end of the day when you're looking at why you're bored and tired of your space it rarely is because you made a big daring leap with a color or a pattern or something exciting. So s so that so how do we remedy this? How do we protect against that color burnout? Just that blogger attitude over the things you've purchased well, know what you want and go ahead and make a choice to get what you want. Don't be shy don't try to please your mother in law, you know, really invest in some key pieces and it's okay to slow down and let rooms evolve over time. Somebody this morning here on the staff said, how long did it take you to get your house the way you want it? And I said, well, I just moved into a new house three weeks ago, so it's gonna take a long time for this one, but the last one it's, you know, lived there for five or six years, and a lot of it was done in the first year or two, but then there were a lot of pieces that evolved over time, so even the professionals don't go out and instantly know exactly everything they want. It takes time to find things that you're looking for sometimes, and sometimes, you know, you want something really interesting with a pop of an accent color. And maybe if you're doing your homework and using our color theory and you ve really planned out with that color scheme's gonna look like you can't necessarily just run out and find that very thing in an instant so no it's going to take time designing like the prose is a really key to this and what does that mean? Well, the professional designers like me and other designers I know planet all on what I call on paper first we don't go start buying a sofa and a chair and some other things and hope it'll work out we literally make a road map and we already know even if for you at home or as a consumer you're printing off from the internet here's the sofa I think I won and here's a coffee table I think I won and I'm considering these three paint colors and you literally start building your own sort of inspiration border even almost like a key to what I would call a key the floor plan here's the sofa is going to go here here's the chair it's going to go here and map it all out first that keeps you from making mistakes and it keeps you from talking yourself out of taking risk because you've it's more like taking an educated risk you know what everything else is going to be so you have the confidence to know that if I splurge on this exciting colorful item it's going to work and be supported by everything else in the space on drily educating yourself on what's out there. So just because you saw one cool table doesn't mean that's the only option, maybe it's metal have you considered would have you considered stone? Have you considered something that's painted in a bright lacquer finish? I know what's out there and really educate yourself. All of these things are going to give you the confidence to then really indulge in some pieces that really excite you. Ah, and you know we all here life is sure, but drink the, you know, drink good wine or wife is life a short where the great shoes but life is short by the cool coffee table our paint your wall purple but know why you're doing it and that way it's gonna work for you and you're not going to be bored with the color choice that you make. So hopefully those ideas help you with those color fears. Also do that gut check. You know, we all know every time that you ignore your intuition and buy something boring. Don't you go home? I go. I knew I knew this was gonna be so boring, like, why did I just not get the red suede boots? And then sometimes you spend twice as much money because you go ahead and end up buying the thing that you love and then what the heck do you do with this one give it to your sister sell it on ebay I mean then it's more of a problem than it had you just made a good choice to begin with so do that good check and know what's motivating yes question funny that you say that and I just want to comment on it because you you tend tio I mean I'm one of those people that goes on my gut a lot of the time but I don't really I don't really think about it in he's in this working in this regard and so I'm I think it's interesting because I tend to go off what people like I'll send an email to all of my friends and say what you know what? I'm buying a new comforter which one do you guys like the best and they all like this one but then the other one is the one I really liked the most and I would tend to probably go with them and you would I don't I would just wouldn't put you know I wouldn't put this under the thing I love the way your check telling on yourself too you're so great but I think that happens a lot and I don't know what it is it's like feels like it's permanent or something like you're never gonna have another comforter as long as you live in this. So, like, even if this one's only like one hundred eighty nine dollars like you have to go with the one everybody else's what that's something about human nature that I really want to give you permission here to go, this is my house and I'm the one they're not they might come over once in a while, you know, and see it, but they don't live here and this is really needs to support what I want my space to be like the energy, the all of those things um and as we go through, hopefully all of you will leave here and people that are watching at home will actually come away after these three days with knowing what are my color goals are, at least if I don't know have a list of questions to go start fleshing that out because and that's, really I think what professional designers do that's so valuable for people we get through, we cut through some of that and give you permission to really select things that excite you and that work for you uh but he says, definitely I get worried about the cost of furniture, paint, etcetera, so I go more neutral in the hopes that it will last longer right, and that's what most people do and yes, there is that I mean, that can be a great concept, and I use that as well in many ways in a space for longevity. But if you make that choice for every item in the room, then it becomes really boring and blah and uninspiring and not a representation of you, your personality, your family, anything that's going on in the space in that and I don't want to live in an uninspired space, and most people don't either. Where that's what we're looking for being fulfilled and are relaxing or whatever that goal is. So I think that yeah, we're made were intentionally ignoring our got more often, then we like to admit, don't we? Um so, you know, really thinking about if I, um, if I love it now, will always love it too, and a lot of times you will. But you have to know your own personality, like noticed the way you are with other buying choices. Do you find yourself often having buyer's remorse about things on dh, maybe even analyzing? Why is it did you buy it on the whims? You because somebody else said so? For me, I know that if I love something, I usually love it for a long time I'm a person to buy a car I really like and keep it for a long time or buy a watch I really like and keep it for a long time some of you know you constantly want to be changing things up you constantly want to get a new a car in a new hairstyle and knowing yourself and that's where that self awareness piece I mentioned earlier you really have to know some of this because if you constantly want to change all the time, then yeah, you want to be careful with some of your bigger purchases and no which things are easiest to change paint is about the easiest thing to change and ultimately it's not that expensive you can eat most people can't even paint a wall themselves or a room themselves, but but getting self aware do you do you love it usually for a long terms if you ever love it or not and that's all that's going to be personal for each of us on dh then here's another thing some people doing my forgoing this just because I've seen it everywhere so thank you um I for going this because I have seen it in every magazine and I have some clients ago well, I really really love that turquoise chandelier but I've seen it six places so if I buy it am I going to feel like it's already overdone only you can know that about yourself do you like to always be at the height of trendiness and cutting edge and everybody that surrounds you to think that you are on the cusp of what's cool and she could new are you so confident in yourself that it's really more about what makes you happy when you're with it every day at home and so analyzing why you're making decisions and even forgoing something that you truly love because somebody else has it or your friend has it or your neighbor has it is not necessarily a good idea be confident to make choices because you really like it yourself um and then don't assume a lot of things and we make a lot of assumptions on dh so maybe like I can't buy this because my husband will hate it well did you ask him if he would hate it because you might not need to compromise? Maybe he loves the blue sofa and he was thinking thank god we get rid of that brown monstrosity that's been in our living room boring me to death for fifteen years maybe you don't know what other people are thinking so really find out if something is an issue or a non negotiable are a deal breaker for the other people involved in using it um, and then even taking that a step further and say, well, why don't you like it? Because this is what happens with designers a lot of times even we make an assumption like a client says, I love this room and I show you a picture, and what they really mean is I love the black and white floor, but you made the assumption they loved the blue wall, so you come back and present to them and entirely blue scheme, and that was the one thing they hated. Ask the right questions. If someone in that's part of the decision making says they hate something, ask why they hate it. Is it the color that you hate? Or is it the style that you haters it because it's leather and you slip off of that every time you try to sit on it? Or is it that it makes you its rule and so it's hot? And you always feel like you need to have the air conditioner on when you're in because it might not be the color? It might be something else. So getting beyond assumptions and knowing why somebody really want something and then also ask yourself if you're using other people. In your life as scapegoats because you don't like to get outside your comfort zone. So if you just blame everybody else, my husband would hate this or my kids would tear this up, or I could never have a white sofa because I have three year olds. Is that really the truth? That maybe or is it you using them as a scapegoat? So you don't have to step outside your comfort zone and make elite with something that would actually make you a lot more happier on a day to day basis? You wouldn't get bored of it. If you do have a family have all those people, you might scapegoat them, or maybe they have very definite views. How do you get around the fact that there are those personalities in the house and you need to give them their colors, the color worth they don't have tohave every day, they don't get to necessarily have an opinion or have to have an opinion on every single item in an entire house. So I love to compromise and let some people have their own zones and their own spaces and let people way in. And you know what, it's kind of like what I love to do with my eight year old when I know she's gonna win one away or something that I don't want her to wear. Instead of letting her go in her closet and pick from everything I narrow down two or three choices that I'm okay with and let them then weigh in on which one of those they like the best most people are confused when they have too many choices anyway so a lot of times the people in your life if you're asking enough questions and really getting to the root of what's gonna work with them and then bring a few kind of vetted choices that you would read yeah maybe one's your favorite but you could live with or be excited about any of them that's going to help direct things um you know in a way that everyone feels invested in it and part of it and you're still going to be happy with the final result on dh yes you know there are a lot of people who don't want to buy things because they have young children and they're gonna wait until they're grown I'm more from the philosophy and the mentality of life is short and it's you have to at least have part the pieces of your interiors that make you happy every day and don't way it's like you know only pulling out the good china at christmas I'd love to use it every day of the week instead so but you know everybody's different and so again that's going to go back to their personal you know believes personality types but I think pressing yourself out of your comfort zone is really good when it comes to color. If it feels really scary to you, you're probably going in a direction that's actually going to be a good choice for you if it's safe that's, when you're going to be bored with it all the time, if it's easy for you to make a decision all day long, you're not doing anything exciting, you're not pushing the envelope, and you're going to get probably more tired of that, then you would something really bold and exciting. Um, yeah, thanks great. And then, um, that ultimately it's all about the plan, so designing, like the pros helps, you did block your color fears that helps you get over all those fears, because you can see it right there in front of you, about how every piece of it works together and really supports a space of the idea of measure twice, cut once, plan more paint, lis, you know, like, don't just go out, necessarily and pick a color and put it on the wall, and they go well, if we'll fix it, if we have to, you know, really think about what else is happening happening, study more by lists, use things like pinterest and other sides to help you kind of oh, satisfy your need to be looking at all these different things, but don't buy all of them don't just go out on impulse buy a lot of different things I think the thing that helps me a lot people say do you just rearrange your house all the time and re decorate all the time? They think that I would and I actually don't I get things right for my family and for me and for the space and the architecture, but I get the pleasure of designing a lot of other people home, so that kind of feels that create a void for me, so you have to find other ways to sort of fill that create a void for yourself other than constantly buying things that aren't part of a plan, they don't work s o know that about yourself and then knowing the slow and steady wins, the race sort of thing it's not a race toe absolutely finish every single piece and part of this room and knowing also that, you know, don't don't we find in life in general if we're having a hard time are running up against the wall, if we just set back from it for a little while, it becomes really clear what we should do that's the same thing that I do even in a project if I feel like I can't find something or I'm forcing something I just leave it alone for a little while and know that ultimately I'll find the right piece not just pick something safe that's going to be boring so ultimately the number one fear we don't want to given to is, uh, fear of color in our house, which makes us pick something really boring and I bet that's the one that most people fall into first you're really do toby feel like I am sitting here in color therapy because like you said it because I'm just sitting here nodding, saying I'm totally relating to this well, as I like I said as I go about trying to find for my new apartment pieces and colors and and I have been sitting at it so I'm like, okay, I'm good right? And I'm recognizing that that pathetic excuse that you go well, I guess that's timeless, so I should get it in beige mutual, white or cream? Yes, which I can't stand I love both colors, but I'm sitting here hearing myself yes, someone looks like they say I should find about something that's timeless and just because something has a color to it does not make it not timeless right it's all about a lot of things the size and the scale in the shape in the form and a lot of other things go into at longevity besides just color on ultimately the reason we throw stuff at us because we're just sick of looking at it cause it's so inspiring it how do you I know this is this is kind of ah, I don't know if you can give the right the perfect answer for this but how do you know when to sort of give up like I I I'm look like I've been looking for a dresser like trying to figure out what color to buy and what's shape and style and like, when do you just sort of given and by something? I mean, because you need somewhere to put your clothes like when do you I mean, do you just buy something super cheap and wait until you find the exact peace that you're looking for? What do you mean? What do you mean that's not a bad idea? I mean, but sometimes they're the only down side of that then people end up just wasting money, buying a bunch of temporary fixes that if they had put all that together they could have splurged on the one item they really loved. But yeah, ultimately you have to store your clothes, they can't be in piles on the floor forever either, so sounds like possibly that's a good idea and maybe think of something that hasn't another place it could go, so if I buy this now and I put my clothes in it then it could go into my kid's room or it could always be this I want to have alternative uses sports so it gives me the confidence to get it's not a total waste of my money to invest in this until I can find the right thing ah lot of times just the minute you quit looking for something and stressing out about it suddenly you find the exact thing that you're looking forward to so that idea of what you were what you resist persists as they say in the woo world like don't force it just like let it go on a lot of times um some you know you'll you'll see exactly what you need or we're going to talk about as we move through the rest of this course ways to make something work for you can you find something that say you love everything about it but you wanted it to be in a fun color and it's not it's beige can you paint it or do something else to it to make it work for you a lot of times there's a solution that's right? You know that's so simple that we go I never thought about that like I've been known to take things like a light fixture from a restoration hardware some great online store that's in like rusty metal and painted lacquer green because I love the shape of it and so, instead of, like, reinventing the will to try to go out and hope somebody created that fixture in a color, I just make it the color that I wanted to be with confidence. So and again, paint is one of the cheapest and easiest way is to change a lot of things, and it can always be painted over later if it doesn't work. Um, so okay, so let's look at another fear besides, the one of being being bored are making a bad decision that you'll tyrant. What about? I'm afraid that using color will make my room fill, cluttered or small. That was already a question we had earlier today. So you think if I go with something that's really bright it's gonna really make this room seem cluttered and small? Well, it depends on how you use the color and where you use the color. First of all, um, and a lot of times, solid colors and solid fabrics can look less visually noisy then something with a lot of pattern. So mind also depend on the way you bring it into the room. But at the end of the day, usually what makes her a room filled, cluttered and small is that we have it full of clutter. And so very seldom does paint have that much power over us so we're giving it a lot more power than we should when really we should just go get rid of a lot of the stuff in our house is filling up and cluttering our space and allow ourselves to bring in the excitement with paint or with a fabric or was something much more appealing so paint is not that powerful and again almost that becomes a scapegoat in innocence for us pain itself for choosing a color becomes like we blame it for all of these potential problems what if what if I do this and it looks small what if I do this and it looks cluttered um and a lot of times those air unfounded things that were just kind of creating it's that little uh negative self talk or that little other person on our shoulder feeding us bad information I just along those lines I feel like living in san francisco and living in small spaces I feel like paint has actually been my friend in terms of bringing dimension into a room without actually putting anything else in the room I feel like that really really good solution for a small fee with you and and so that's one thing that I have actually liked to dio in my small spaces is adding paint to the wall it doesn't add clutter doesn't add dimension but it does add and interests so just in a mood and a feeling and all of that I completely agree but it doesn't necessarily make a right now yes if you paint an entire small room black are you going teo are navy or you're going to enhance the fact that it's small yes, but sometimes that's what's so brilliant about it because again, you can't necessarily hide the fact that it's small it's obviously small like more than five, people can't fit in here, so why not roll with it? Lean into it, go with it and actually make it so chic and amazing and exciting because it is small and and you have the guts to really enhance that that's what's great about the space you know, a lot of times we try to make things something that they're not we try to bring in thing you know, we try to ignore the fact that the rug is filthy because our children, you know, spilled grape juice on it, so we're going to do something over here to hope it distracts you and the rug still dirty, you know? So what is it that you're trying to achieve and why are you afraid to embrace the smallness of the space? And I think you're I think it can be really fun, so what are some of the ways that we can think about this a room filling cluttered well um I love it's what I was just talking about I love this idea that I use in a lot of designers use what we kind of lovingly called the jewell box effects so when a space is really small maybe even it's within your house may be your whole house isn't small, but maybe you go into a powder room or a library or some little cozy space and you intentionally make it even more cozy or make it even more dramatic with a strong paint color or a graphic wallpaper or some cool paint technique or something special that really helps it be even more exciting on a lot of times those kinds of rooms that small rooms in your house if it's like a powder room you don't spend that much time in there, so you're not honest you're not going to get tired of that anyway it's not like it's your bettering where you're sleeping in there and spending hours in there so again, it depends on the goal in the use of the space but it can have a really amazing impact ah and make a space feel exciting and fun also it's interesting to think about color in different ways as faras feeling cluttered or small or having some kind of an effect on one thing that comes to mind to me when I think about this is you know earlier we were talking about how in art galleries, they keep all the walls. Why, so the art can show up, but there's this amazing art gallery in arkansas that some of you have probably heard about called crystal bridges use the elements the walton, the wal mart family, it's, the biggest collection of american art in our country and its it's gorgeous and the most interesting thing about it to me is none of their walls or white, their walls or like a cinnamon color and a blue color and it's so interesting for what it does for the space. So you want to spend time in there, you don't want to hurry, it doesn't feel stark and you have to be quiet and you can't hang and enjoy the experience and the, you know, really be interested in the are you kind of feel like, oh, it's, sterile, and I need to hurry and get out of here and I think that's such an interesting concept of sort of breaking the rules and those kind of societal ideas of how color should be used and creating an an an intentional effect in a completely opposite way for the space. So I don't know if any of you have ever seen an art gallery with colored walls, but it's pretty fabulous and interesting and fun. You got to come in from lynn online saying I'm fifty four years old and finally broke out of the boring books most of my adult life, I always chose safe beige and browns, but now I've got one purple accent wall and all my accent pillows and glass pieces have purple in them. And I just wanted to say how freeing it is and how much I love it. Okay, wei need people. Teo, give us those kind of testimonials, right? That gives us permission to go try it on her own because a lot of us are just going well, what if my friends come over and think I've lost my mind? Cause I've painted a purple wall and she says it's the most liberating thing she's ever done. That's fabulous, here's a little just a example of where you could do something. Really well, this is a pattern room. The walls were actually upholstered and vinyl eyes but it's so bold the paint is so crazy and bold. And would you wrap your entire bedroom with this wall covering? Probably not, but what a fun surprise to open the door of the powder room and this is what you find, so this is an idea of that jewel box effect we were talking about even thinking about your closet. Or a laundry room a space that you have to go into but you don't want to go into a lot of times we'll do something really fun and clever with the paint color or a wall covering or paint a pattern on the wall in some of these spaces to really energize a room like a like a laundry room so mom's air in there like washing clothes for hours and hours and hours and it's sterile and it's wide and it's boring but how much more fun might it be if you did something really interesting there? Eight out of ten laundry rooms are white exactly people feel like they have to be clean and sterile but we all hate to go in there I do it exactly and and so I think about doing stuff one comes to mind that I recently had a lot there are a lot of doors in this land a room like a door to a closet and a door to a storage room and a door tow some other space and I've just painted all the doors bright yellow just a pop of yellow and it was so much fun and then we put a back splash on the wall that picked up on the yellow and white so it's sonny it's cheerful it's exciting it's different and she loves to go in there on it really changed her made a lot so definitely creative ways for changing spaces and really that's kind of embracing the laundry room just like you might embrace the small small space and leaning into the idea that I'm going to be in here for hours. I have four children like I'm never going to be out of this room, so I might as well make me really, really like it ana and I think that's really smart it's a liberating like our person from online said um so this is an entry on and I love entryways is a space to really make a statement, teo and but look how interesting it is we went really, really bold this is a project of mine really bold on the wall color, but everything else is toned down so intentionally breaking up the space with the white moldings and some other things but it's not overwhelming toe have this bright red to set the tone for the house because there's not a lot of other stuff happening in the space you can decide to like in this instance the ceiling is painted the color of the wall, you might decide to intentionally keep the what the ceiling why'd it might transition to other rooms in the house but just thinking through all the color decisions when you're going to go bold and make sure that it's really working for you another I love to have color our pattern, our color and pattern in an entry again because, ah, lot of times it's a room that you don't even go into a lot of us come in the back doors of our house, and and we never make it all the way to the front entry until we have a party or the ups guy rings the doorbell or something else, and why not make that a space that really sets the tone for your entire house? So when people open the door, they think, wow, interesting fun this person is daring or this person sexy, you're sophisticated or chic or cool that's a perfect place to do it because you're not hanging out in there for hours you're usually passing through it. In my last time I had and we may I can't remember I'm sure we have a picture of it somewhere in these slides black and white, huge damn a squall covering in my entry and stairwell I walked through that space every single day several times a day to go upstairs to my bedroom to come downstairs to my bedroom. I never tired of it. I enjoyed it every time I was in that space because it was interesting and fun and I would find myself just walking through going out so pretty in here is so exciting cause I made a daring choice on embraced it so thinking about what are those spaces in your house that you could create a jewel box effect or that you aren't going to be in all the time that you could really move towards something fun and exciting and not be afraid it's gonna look smaller than ever because you went boulder are exciting their type is that I'm in trade by the red because the red you would think would be quite violent but it's super friendly is they want in that red yes it's kind of a coral so it's probably along the line of like the tent when we saw red earlier and you start adding light to it it becomes a little peachy or more pink and people up look great look healthy and happy and those kind of pink and peachy tones and so that's another great thing for an entry so it does lean towards a softer, almost more coral version of uh red as opposed to something that's really more dramatic or super friendly red yeah, I agree and it all is about what we talked about earlier that color one on one you can select read and it depends on what kind of red if he went more towards burgundy or something really dark or black it could be dreary or gloomy or maybe it could be even more sophisticated in chic but know what you're going after when you pick the color but definitely I think I hope you go home and look at the rooms that you thought were just little boring rooms that you passed through and think oh actually these are some of the moments in my house that I could make more exciting than anything else and create that jewel box effect eso this idea of using clutter to make my room I mean using color to make my room maybe phil cluttered or small will think about it it weighs to infuse color even in larger living spaces so it prevents the room from feeling stifled but it still reads its colorful well that maybe it's not necessarily on the wall it might be pops of color in a space that just because we're thinking of color again let's not forget that it's not just putting paint on the wall it's it's the idea of like you were just saying using different tents and shades and um all sorts of versions and varieties of color so let's look at a couple of examples of of what I mean by this so this is like a living space family room the color on the wall is really ultimately pretty much a neutral it's yellowish so it does it is a color it's not, you know, totally wider bland it's definitely warm but look how much color is in that space and it's not achieved fromthe wall really it's coming from the fabrics and repeating them across the whole room and you see how your eye goes to things like this green and it moves around the space there's so much interests and so much movement and it's a really dynamic. But none of that color is really super strong it's not overwhelming in and of itself, even the brightest color, the greens or so you know, derived from nature and things that we all can relate to and feel comfortable with. So a lot of color, but not at all overwhelming on dh we kept the sofa white, which is one of the biggest pieces in the room. So there's a lot of solid space in place for the id arrest that's the great thing about a wall to sometimes think about how much space is covered in a solid paint. All the walls, all the ceiling and all of your floor often are all neutrals, like what I call the envelope or wrapping a room in a spice, and when you really start looking at the percentage of the room that has color and it's not very much um so you khun, dip your toe in a room and still, when you look at that space, you don't go it's like a warm yellow beige t you go, oh, it's full of color, it's, green and blue and, you know, it's, bright and cheerful because you notice the fun and exciting pieces that are a little pops around the room punches of color, as I like to call him, um, you could just literally change most of the accessories in this space, and the room would almost go to a completely neutral room, too. So talking about longevity, this is how you can make a white sofa and a beige wall makes sense. And you did invest in something more boring, but bring in color and other spaces. And so then the sofa could last for twenty years if he wanted it to, and you could just change out other pieces and elements. So that's fun to see. This is another very neutral room for the most part. But it looks like a blue room because the drapes are blue. The chairs air balloon, the lamps or blue so it's, very strategically placed color. And which is not on the wall. It's in dry paree, it's in the flowers. Even that air also blew right here, there's some over there that have a little pop of color s so this is where it becomes that more intricate on dh, thoughtful placement of color in a space. And the way I mentioned earlier, people would look at this room and go that's, a blue room but it's, not a blue room it's, a beige ring with a gigantic based sofa and a whole lot of beige carpet like ninety percent of the room, is beige. But it's, not boring, is it's it's, real it's, relaxing and serene and not at all cluttered in any way from six kids. Mom who says, I'm loving toby's comments about making a boring entry more of a jewel box with some visual interest, and, in fact, six kids, mom, as you're talking, she's got you on her ipad watching, created live on her ipad and repainting my formerly safe yellow entry, a much more delightful soft turquoise. Okay, totally multitasking in the morning, and she does not wait. She was a woman that can make a decision quick. I love that.