Decorating with a Colour Expert

If you’re following my blog you’ll know that last week I helped Penelope Trunk pick colours for her farmhouse.

At first she hired me just for colour as she didn’t know where to begin choosing everything else for her house–it’s empty and she’s starting from scratch (This is scary for everyone!).

Country Living

Penelope said the last house she painted, every room was re-painted about 5 times before the colour was right. She was not interested in doing that again!

Now I’m helping her pull the entire house together with furniture, accessories, carpets, lighting, etc. We are emailing back and forth and it’s really fun (she sounds just like her blog—of course—but it’s fun to get emails from her about her house, this woman notices everything) then at one point she said “I didn’t know you could help me decorate my entire house? I thought you just did colour?”

This Bergere chair and ottoman is going in her living room (source)

That conversation led me to this post today because I think it’s obvious (from my blog) that I’m a designer too. After all I have a website, and one of my projects was featured in BC Home last September here.

We are doing french country can you tell? (source)

Also I think I’m always talking about so many aspects of what it takes to decorate your house, give it atmosphere and make it happy, but clearly it’s not so obvious because most of the business I get from this blog is for colour consulting.

There are colour consultants that specialize in strictly colour, however that is just a piece of what I do. I can also help you decorate your empty house from top to bottom.

Living room area rug (source)

Generally, this is how it starts:

Whether I’m helping you on-line or in-person, choosing wall colour in advance establishes a starting point (if you don’t already have one) for pulling the rest of the finishes (furniture, drapery, floor covering, kitchen finishes, etc) in your house together.

Country Living

The first appointment establishes the palette for the house. (If we are doing this on-line we both have the same fan deck and we walk through the colours together so that you can give me instant feedback on the colours I am suggesting).

A conversation to determine which colour(s) are ‘right’ for your house, is a process of elimination. Sometimes clients need to understand why all the other colours are NOT an option (it doesn’t take that long, all colours come down to 1 of 6).

This gives you the confidence to move forward with painting your home as well as making other purchasing decisions for furniture, drapery, etc. because now you know ‘why’ the colour(s) we have chosen are right for your home.

My client started with only a TV but it was too lumpy so I recommended a new one

Next is space planning. If your house is empty, I take measurements and make recommendations on furniture placement. Even if you are a do-it-yourselfer, a space plan is crucial before you start shopping for furniture!

We finalized the fabrics down to the ones you see here and then I sent her a few more toss cushion options and we ended up keeping it clean and simple as you can see by the finished room.

In the second appointment, I arrive with fabric selections (above) and furniture choices. (see example below, this is one of the options this client had and she chose the first sofa).

Then we order all the soft furnishings (upholstery, drapery and pillows) and it get’s installed (below):

During

After that we source everything else to finish the space! (below, click here to see all the images).

Interior Design by Maria Killam

Penelope was worried that she had to like green to work with me. I dispelled that concern right away. All colours are beautiful in the right context so even though I have my favourites I can pull them all together based on your likes and dislikes!

As Janice Lindsay said when I interviewed her on her favourite colour: ‘That would be like asking a mom which of her kids she liked best’.

My loft client (above) specifically asked for green and purple and the only part of that request I tweaked was that she originally wanted a gray/green but I recommended going with a fresher green because gray/green had been replaced by brown for a few years and fabric choices become more limited in colours that are dated.

Maria Killam Colour & Design

Perfect example was this outdoor lounge furniture (above). Although it might look like it was chosen to flow with her furniture inside, we bought it ‘off the rack’ with the ‘fresh’ green cushions.

The clients that call me ‘notice’ everything about colour and are committed to getting it right. People say to me all the time “I love colour but I’m so afraid of getting it wrong!”

Maria Killam Colour & Design

So if you have an empty house, a designer who specializes in colour (even if it’s just pulling together the right undertones of beige like my students will be learning in my True Colour Expert Training) is the one you want to hire to pull everything together to create the right look and feel for your home!

And now I’m curious, how many of you thought I was strictly a colour expert?

P.S. Okay, just to keep it easy for those of you that don’t read comments, here’s Penelope’s comment:

We would love to help you choose colours, select the right combination of hard finishes or create a plan to pull your room together. You can find our fabulous email consultation packages here.

If you would like to transform the way you see colour, become a True Colour Expert.

Related posts:

Successful Interiors start with Space Planning

How to Choose an Area Rug

How to Create a Tablescape

The three most Important words in a Colour Consultation

New to this Blog? Click here ; Subscribe to my Monthly Newsletter.

While you’re here, subscribe to this feed so you don’t miss out!