Annie Elliott Design

Greater Washington DC

Covering the spectrum with “Color Confidential” Guest blog post from Hue

Annie Elliott |

I recently wrote a guest blog post for Hue, one of my favorite color blogs. Color consultant, muralist, and blogger Rachel Perls was kind enough to return the favor while I’m at the IACC Seminar…Rachel is associated with IACC and speaks very highly of the organization; she confirmed my decision to fly all the way across the country to attend. In any event, thank you for the post, Rachel, and Gentle Readers, I hope you enjoy it!

Covering the spectrum with “Color Confidential“
by Rachel Perls, Hue

On a recent trip abroad, I was enthralled by the personal television screen installed in the seat back in front of me.

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Forget my new juicy novel, I was now held captive by a plethora of movies and tv shows at my fingertips for the next 6 hours. One show I had never seen was Color Confidential, filmed up in Canada. This syndicated program is called “Get Color” on HGTV in the US. Claiming to utilizes color theory to educate homeowners and viewers about how color interact, Color Confidential has been dubbed the “thinking person’s décor show”. Intrigued, I wanted to see how much of an educated, multi-disciplinary approach to color would be involved in a show completely dedicated to the topic.

Jane Lockhart, the show’s host and designer, is a charismatic, friendly, fast-talking woman. Her show “hook” is a large circular color wheel with little wooden boxes to fill with goodies for each hue.

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Unique to this show is the fact that existing furniture pieces are not thrown out with the bathwater. Instead, they are painted, slip-covered, or reupholstered to change the character of the make-over space. Although, many before and after shots I’ve viewed were almost all entirely new pieces, which is great for tv impact, but not so practical for the rest of us living in reality.

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She does slip in some great suggestions, like sharing my distaste for white ceilings.
“Nothing says ‘builder’ like a painted, white, stippled ceiling,” Jane declares, as though all developers were in cahoots to irritate her. “Ceilings add a lot of dimension.”

So how does the show work? Jane waltzes into a house, gathers some info on the homeowners’ interests (ie their color “story”), and returns with an elaborate display of colorful, themed items set up around the wheel.

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Her wheels are always themed, like this one created for budding photographer Brad who was afraid of color. In an attempt to ease this homeowner into more colorful options, filters, matte board, film canisters, and camera accessories are selected for their sense of familiarity.

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This display takes the place of paint chips, fan decks, and fabric swatches. Instead of a small brown paint chip, homeowners might select a box of coffee beans or chocolate chips. From that, she asks homeowners which colors appeal to them, then explains how that color will relate to the floor color and the space as a whole. Jane backs up her approach by rationalizing that “if you pick things that you love, you’re more likely to create a space that you’re much happier with, because your personal associations are positive.”

A bit over-simplified, given how many other issues there are to consider when selecting colors for a space. But for a ½ hour television series, I can understand why it must be boiled down into sound bytes. Won’t someone provide a comprehensive show that goes deeper than inspiration pieces?

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