Colours of Provence

My sister Elizabeth and I took our mom to Griffin’s in the Hotel Vancouver for her birthday lunch a few weeks ago and of course I had to snap a photo of the restaurant and do my usual analyzing.

Loved this happy piece of art in addition to the black and white mosaic chair rail.

I’m guessing that this yellow is close to Benjamin Moore’s 2155-40 Semolina.

This restaurant has a Provence bistro feel to it and I love it. Notice the undertone of the chairs though. Don’t they look very peachy/pink next to the yellow?

What was interesting about this fabric is that up close it looked like it was a match to the wall colour but because of the other colours mixed in it, the ‘read’ was entirely different when viewed farther away.
Some fabrics can be tricky like that. You have to actually place them in front of the wall colour and walk away to make sure it reads the colour you want. A lesson that one should never select a fabric without being in the actual space with a larger painted sample of the wall colour (if it’s not already painted).

I was in Provence 2 years ago and this was the villa we stayed in. Only there could you get away with pink stucco and mint green shutters. Mint green was everywhere in Provence.

The sun was setting when I took this photo (below) the buildings were lit so beautifully (this image doesn’t even do it justice).

Years ago, when I first started specifying exterior colour, I was absolutely terrified. If it’s wrong, EVERYONE KNOWS! And, because I was already working for Benjamin Moore I had to learn quickly! So I just drove around and walked right up to houses with my fan deck (I would ask the owner of course) and matched the colour so I could start wrapping my head around what the chip looked like compared to the end result. In fact, you could do that with interiors too if you really wanted to learn fast!
I’ll be talking a lot more about exterior colour starting in the Spring.

Have a happy weekend!