CasaSugar

Ask Casa: A Modern, Non-White Office Color?

CasaSugar — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 06:15:13 -0700

Hi Casa,
My husband and I want to paint the office in our house, something that will look clean, modern, and streamlined (and ideally make the room look a little bigger and brighter than it is). However every single "modern" office I see is white, or the slightest variation thereof. Does a workroom have to look sterile to be modern? (If it helps, by and large the furniture in the room is blond wood.)

Thanks!
Zulkey

To see my answer, read more.

Hi Zulkey,

Homeowners and decorators paint office spaces white for a variety of reasons. Perhaps they want to add a sense of balance or serenity to the space, or keep it uncluttered or on task. These are all great reasons, and white is a fine choice for home offices. However, I encourage you to paint your office whatever color you choose. My home office in grad school was actually painted a color called "Tequila Sunrise." The shade was a sunny, vibrant orange, and since I was writing daily in this room, the color gave me a boost of energy whenever I sat down at my desk.

Similarly, consider what type of work you'll be doing in your home office. Will you be paying bills? Working on a project? How do you want to feel in this room? Inspired? Motivated? Serene? After you've determined how you want to use the room, then consider which colors will best aid your task and mood. Perhaps light blues or gray-greens will bring you more balance in your day. Maybe a sunny yellow will add pep to your work.

You can still keep the look modern, and also visually expand the space, by editing your furniture and accessories. Choose streamlined, modern light fixtures, such as the Pablo Sophie Lamp, and avoid knickknacks and baubles. A few well-chosen accessories, which complement the wall color, will tie the room together.

If you're a fan of wallpaper, you could cover one wall, perhaps the wall your desk is facing, with a fun, graphic print, such as Ferm Living's Wall Dots pattern. Whatever you do, though, as long as you make the space comfortable, workable, and a reflection of your and your husband's tastes, you'll definitely end up with a room you can happily live with.

Good luck,
Casa

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Primer: Choosing the Right Paint Color

CasaSugar — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:06:53 -0700

You guys are definitely not shy about adorning your walls with lots of color, but choosing the right shade can be nerve-wracking to say the least. So I've put together a Primer to help you ponder all those paint chips.

First, make sure your room is ready. A paint color can really set the mood for a room, but to get it just right, you should have the rest of your decorating scheme set, including upholstery patterns, window treatments, rugs and bold accents.
Pick a palette. Before heading to the store, determine a family of colors you want to work with, based on the look of the room and your personal tastes. Particularly with bolder looks, a paint shade doesn't have to match your decor perfectly. Lowe's suggests looking in your closet for a reminder of the colors you gravitate toward.

For lots of other handy pointers, read more

Stock up on paint chips. Before you even think about buying paint, take home a selection of paint chips that fit into your pre-determined palette. Be sure to take a few samples of any decor - such as fabric scraps - that you want to match Also, Real Simple recommends Glidden Paint's peel-and-stick color chips, which work like Post-its.
Try on your favorite shades. Once you've narrowed it down to a color or two, buy a quart of your chosen paint and slather it on a large piece of scrap material, such as a piece of cardboard or foam board, a couple feet wide and a couple of feet tall. Prop it up or hang it in the room, and leave it for a few days to see how it looks as the light (and your mood) changes.
Visualize your room virtually. A number of paint brands and retail stores now let you upload photos of your room so you can see how different shades will look on the walls. Behr ColorSmart, for instance, lets you upload a photo and "paint" with unlimited colors for just $4.95 .

Got any other paint-picking tips to share? Tell me in the comments below.

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Ask Casa: Help Me Choose Paint Colors

CasaSugar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:00:19 -0800

Hi Casa,

My boyfriend and I are about to move into our first house and I couldn't be happier! I can't wait to get in there and start putting our touch on things! The only problem is that I am having a tough time picking a paint color for the living room.

A few years ago, I bought a set of three prints that I absolutely love. I want to hang them above the sofa in our new place, but I'm having a tough time finding the right paint color to highlight them. When we first bought the prints, our living room was white and they popped beautifully. But now I'm a little sick of white and want to add some color, but I'm not sure what direction to go. The living room in our new place opens onto the dining room, so whatever color we choose will have to continue into the dining room too.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for the help,
KatieMise

To see my suggestion for KatieMise, read more.

Hi Katie,

Great prints! I love them. This isn't a tough one. When choosing a wall color for a wall with artwork, my rule of thumb is always to choose a hue that's an accent in the art piece, but not the primary color. You should choose a complementary color, too. In this case, the background colors of two of your prints are a greenish-blue and a true blue, and in all three prints there is reddish detailing. So, I think a red or watermelon hue would really make your prints pop. Not only are they on the opposite side of the color wheel from those greens and blues, but reddish walls will make the red detailing in your prints pop!

I made a couple of mock-ups to give you an idea. But the best thing to do is head to your paint shop and grab a few samples in these colors, and then bring them home to see what works with your prints. Then, test the paint on your walls before you paint the whole thing. If a whole room in a red color is too much for you, you can always just paint an accent wall and then leave the rest of the walls white. I think it works with the artwork, too, because red is a really important color in Asian culture.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Casa

How-To: Make Your Bedroom Perfect For Sleeping

CasaSugar — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 08:00:00 -0700

Is your bedroom less than relaxing? Want to figure out how to make it a place of comfort and relaxation? Then take a look at my tips!

Keep your bedroom tidy. Clutter, piles, and messes can stress you out and remind you of tasks that need to be finished. By keeping everything in its place (or at least out of sight), you'll immediately feel calmer.
Paint your bedroom a relaxing color. Blues, grays, neutrals, and lavenders are good choices for the bedroom.
Banish your television and laptop. Surfing the net and watching television in bed can lead to physical and mental health issues, including obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes. So keep the laptop in your office and the television in the living room, out of temptation's path.

For the rest of my tips, just read more.

Pick a comfortable mattress. Even better, pick a green mattress.
Keep your bedding clean. Wash your sheets once a week in hot water, which will kill dust mites. Dust mites can exacerbate allergies and respiratory issues.
Use blinds or curtains that allow in the right amount of light. If you work a late shift, you'll want to invest in blinds that completely shut out the sun. Otherwise, try to let in natural light in the mornings; it will help to wake you up naturally (when you don't have to get up with an alarm, that is).
Dress your bed with soft linens, and choose sheets with a high thread count.

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Casa Interview: Grey Gardens Set Designer Kalina Ivanov

CasaSugar — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:00:13 -0700

In a Love It or Hate It poll, I asked for your opinion on the sets of the HBO movie Grey Gardens. You overwhelmingly loved them, just as I did. The film, which focuses on "Big Edie" (played by Jessica Lange) and "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale (played by Drew Barrymore), and their home, Grey Gardens, is currently playing on HBO, and the DVD will be available in July. The film's beautiful look is courtesy of designer Kalina Ivanov. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Kalina about how she crafted the set of Grey Gardens, and how the designs developed.

CasaSugar: You had to imagine much of the original look of Grey Gardens. What was the most challenging part of this re-imagining?

Kalina Ivanov: Grey Gardens is one of the most intriguing and challenging projects of my career. There is a large fan base of the original documentary and Little Edie is a true icon in the gay community. I had a huge responsibility of getting the look right. The house needed to be both authentic and poetic. The director, Michael Suscy, spent three years researching the project, and he had a treasure trove of images, articles, and architectural drawings. However, we didn’t have images of what the interiors looked like in the 1930s, only the exteriors. We did have a verbal description Little Edie wrote many years later, but . . . as you know she isn’t a very reliable source. That left Michael and I with much room for interpretation. My main goal was to create an environment that captured the Edies' spirit perfectly.

CasaSugar: The original pre-decrepit Grey Gardens set has a very bohemian feel to it; were you inspired by any art, movies, or cultural happenings from that time?

Kalina Ivanov: On my interview, I brought Michael an image of a purple French Art Deco room. He immediately fell in love with it and this image became the base for our design concept. I felt strongly that since Big Edie was a Bouvier by birth, her taste would be influenced by European design. American Art Deco style is much more masculine and geometric; European Art Deco is fluid and organic.

I also wanted to introduce the idea of a garden inside the house, which is why we painted Big Edie’s bedroom with trees and birds. An astute viewer would notice that the colors of that room are yellow and pale turquoise. These colors show up later as the famous yellow bedroom and turquoise staircase in the documentary.

For the rest of the interview, read more.

CasaSugar: I love the use of Chinoiserie in the set. Tell me about how you decided to use it.

Kalina Ivanov: Good question - it was the one element Michael and I kept from Little Edie’s description of her home. Chinoiserie was very popular in the 1930s, and according to Edie, they had many Chinese antiques around the house.

CasaSugar: On the set, there's a plant inside a bird cage; was this inspired by the light bulb inside the birdcage that was from the original house?

Kalina Ivanov: Actually, Michael and I wanted to do something unexpected to show the non-conformist spirit of Big Edie. We thought putting a plant inside the cage is whimsical and not exactly what a proper society woman would do.

CasaSugar: What furniture and décor sources did you use for the set?

Kalina Ivanov: Most of the furniture was antique; all the paintings were from the period or earlier. We did buy some Chinese pieces of furniture and aged them to look older. We used different vendors from Toronto (the film was shot here) and Montreal. For the wallpaper, we used sources like Second Hand Rose in New York. We also made some of the furniture - the beds in the yellow room are so well known from the documentary, they had to be re-created.

CasaSugar: What's your favorite room in the house?

Kalina Ivanov: Short answer - all of them. Long answer - Big Edie’s bedroom because I created it from scratch. There was no photographic evidence of what it had looked like or a verbal description. People seem to love the purple room too; I’ve received many calls and emails asking me what color we used. I guess we started a trend of purple rooms across America.

CasaSugar: What was the most challenging part about deconstructing/aging the house?

Kalina Ivanov: Making it look real and not too theatrical. I wanted the audience to feel the authenticity of the decay, to be able to smell the cat piss and the raccoon stench.

CasaSugar: What era do you consider your greatest inspiration or interest in terms of interior decorating?

Kalina Ivanov: It depends on the nature of the film. I love Art Deco and Art Nouveau. At the same time I also love minimalist design. I think of myself as a storyteller, so for each film, I choose a design style that tells the best story. That’s how I arrived at European Art Deco as the inspiration for Grey Gardens.

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Desire/Acquire: Tea Set Lamp

CasaSugar — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 08:00:14 -0700

The Anthropologie One-Lump-or-Two Lamp ($198) is quite cute in a British country cottage way, and I adore its espresso cup finial. But, I'd say it's a tad overpriced for a table lamp that looks so crafty, and that doesn't come with a shade. Luckily, there's a more affordable alternative that can be customized to fit your color scheme. To see it, read more.

Etsy seller Vintage Renaissance hand-crafts these Tea Set Lamps ($100) from vintage dishes so that each one is unique. You can choose your preferred color of Krylon spray paint for the base to personalize the lamp. Unfortunately, the shade is not included. I can see this lamp looking really cool with the right palette and a not-so-country-bumpkin shade. Personally, I'd go with a glossy white base and perhaps a tall, black, silk drum shade.

Fresh Home Hits News Stands Today

CasaSugar — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:17:12 -0800

Fresh Home, a new home improvement magazine launched through Reader's Digest, hits newsstands today, and if you're a new homeowner or someone who's keen on improving their living space with minimal expenditure, I recommend picking up a copy. With a wide range of content aimed at homeowners on a budget, this is the right magazine for the right time.

The magazine will initially launch as a quarterly aimed at the DIY inclined - which is why it's also available at Home Depot and Lowe's as well as stores like CVS, Borders, and Barnes & Noble.

Neil Wertheimer, editor in chief of Fresh Home, notes that "Fresh Home is dedicated to providing readers with clever, easy ways to personalize their homes, whether they want to roll up their sleeves and do it themselves or take a shopping trip with the family on Saturday afternoon . . . There is nothing else in the marketplace today with the creativity and unique concept of Fresh Home and this magazine is perfect for the growing number of people who find some of their best design ideas and home improvement inspiration online."

I received an advance copy, and have been poring through it for the past few days. To see my review of Fresh Home, read more.

There are some magazines I covet for their gorgeous home spreads and aspirational decor, and there are others that I love because they're absolutely essential for my home library. While the pretty magazines are usually recycled, I can guarantee that Fresh Home will find a place on my bookshelf for years to come. It's full of essential home improvements, great advice, and budget-friendly projects. This magazine is absolutely practical, but that practicality is presented in sleek photo spreads and reader-friendly text that belies the magazines seemingly fuddy-duddy roots. According to Comag Marketing Group, Fresh Home is the "best-performing test concept the publisher has seen in years." This comes as little surprise to me: As a DIY-oriented reader who fits its age demographic (between 25 and 50), I loved the magazine.

Don't pick up a copy of Fresh Home if you want to stare at opulent, multimillion dollar homes. However, if you want to learn how to build a beautiful stool for $30, design a front garden for maximum curb appeal, or learn the best ways to paint your home (and how to best choose colors), pick up a copy of Fresh Home. It's a resource you'll likely refer to for years to come.

Cool Idea: Prohibitive Shopping

CasaSugar — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 06:15:49 -0800

Cruising design shops and surfing the web all day, there's a lot of home décor temptation to ward off. If I were to buy all of these seductive goods, you might catch me on a Dr. Phil episode about shopping addiction. Instead, I've devised a method of prohibitive shopping that helps me to curb spontaneous and unnecessary purchases.
A month or so ago, I fell in love with this 1961 Spanish matador painting in a vintage design store in my 'hood. The colors were ideal for my crib, and there was something silly and offbeat about the subject that I was drawn to. But, I couldn't justify shopping at the time, so I told myself if it was still there - and I still loved it - in three weeks, it would be mine. As you can see, it's mine now.

I usually give myself until the time of my paycheck to snatch up the object I'm lusting after. Right now, it's an ornately designed jute rug on clearance that I can't get out of my mind; I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't sell out before payday. I've found this to be a tried-and-true method for cutting spending and choosing only things for my home that won't lose their appeal on me. Do you shop this way?

Professional Help: Refinishing This Craigslist Find

CasaSugar — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:15:00 -0800

Su Casa member Katedavis recently asked for some help with refinishing a cool bar she found on Craigslist. Since it's Renewal month here at Casa, I thought that her post fit in perfectly with our theme.

I felt like I was in a little over my head with giving great advice on this issue, so I thought I'd pull in Chris Howard, who you might remember as the awesome midcentury-modern furniture refinisher I highlighted in my Adventures in Craigslisting posts. Let's see what advice he had for Katedavis.

Chris labeled the necessary steps as, "Strip, sand, repair, prime, paint . . ."

He says,

If this project is taking place indoors, I'd recommend hand painting. If you have access to a garage or exterior space, spray painting will get the best results. For color, black is versatile and modern. Black will go with any color pallet. Unfortunately this is the hardest finish to perfect.

To see all of the steps, just read more.

Remove any hardware, adjustable shelves, and any moving parts that can be done separately. Prepare space with tarp, dust covers, etc.
Strip. It's important to strip away the old finish (dirt, grease, remaining glues, etc.) to guarantee the paint's adhesion. Otherwise the paint might not stick; the finish may orange peel; or, the paint could chip off. In addition, furniture strippers will soften/ripple the contact paper, making it easier to pull off.
Sand. Always in the direction of the grain, sand from low grit to higher e.g. 150-180-220. When sanding veneer be sure not to sand through.
Repair the damaged corner with Bondo. First use a razor to cut triangles, dig holes - crevasses, whatever is necessary so the Bondo locks/grabs in place and won't pop out in the future. Read the directions. Mix. (You'll have 15 minutes to work with the mixture.) Push the Bondo into the space, slightly higher than it needs to be. Once the mixture gets firm, wait 5-10 minutes and use a razor to gently slice the Bondo into shape. Allow it to fully cure for about an hour. Then use 180-grit paper to do the final shaping. For other significant fills use Bondo (or plastic wood for small chips) and a Spackle knife.
Do a final sanding with 220 over the entire surface. Use a cotton towel to wipe off any dust from the surface and grain. Repeat until there is no evidence of dust on the towel. In addition you can vacuum the surface.
For home painting projects, I'd recommend either Rustoleum professional, or Rustoleum Painters Touch. They're readily available at OSH, ACE, Home Depot . . . and generate a durable, smooth factory-like finish. If you're confident with your brush and fanning skills, go for it. Brush lines can be finely sanded out. Rustoleum also sells Aqua, a child-safe, water-based paint. Color charts and MSDS available at Rustoleum's site.
Apply two coats of Rustoleum Primer. Working from one side to another (Left to right, right to left, half-way overlapping each line). Allow the wood to soak up the primer. The can says it dries in two hours . . . but let it dry one to two days. Then lightly smooth with 220-grit paper (or #0000 steel wool), and remove the dust. If the sand paper gums up quickly, the primer needs additional time to dry. (Drying times may vary depending on weather conditions.)
Apply two coats of FLAT (in the color of your choosing). Flat sands easily and the dry time is much less than the primer. Let dry for 1 day . . . sand with 220, then dust.
Apply two to three coats of semi-gloss. This will create a strong finish, which will last for years to come. Use #0000 steel wool to buff between coats one and two . . . make sure there is no dust anywhere before you spray the final coat. This will be dry to the touch within two hours. . . . But will not cure for two weeks. (The can does not say this).
(For tabletops spray a clear coat of nonyellowing scratch-resistant enamel.)
For a heavy-use bar, consider custom glass cut for the top, and a mirror behind the liquor shelf. Also available are tiny halogen light fixtures for cabinets, to create a high-end modern touch.
Lastly, pour a stiff drink, relax, and admire your work.

Thanks, Chris! That's some excellent advice that I'm sure Katedavis will appreciate, as will other readers interested in a refinishing a project.
If you have other technical home project questions, send me a private message with the subject line Professional Help, and I'll do my best to find an expert to answer your queries!

Coveted Crib: Sumptuous Sleeping Room

CasaSugar — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:00:58 -0800

Leah Hennen and her husband Nick recently repainted their bedroom a rich, chocolate brown.

Leah writes,

So we finally screwed up the courage to paint our bedroom dark brown. (And when I say "we" and "paint," I of course mean Nick. Much as I love to choose paint colors, lately the novelty of actually laboring to put them on the walls has lost its allure. So thank you, honey-you're the best!) We hemmed and hawed about the actual shade of brown for about a year, with various paint chips taped up on the wall and big brown swatch painted in the corner. Finally, Nick made an executive decision and choose Benjamin Moore's Chocolate Sundae (over the even darker, cooler Bittersweet Chocolate that I had been angling for). I think he was right-the color is deep and luscious, but warm. Although the room faces north, it gets tons of light from a big corner window and a French door, so I wasn't worried about it being too dark. Crisp white trim, bedding, and a large bookshelf, plus mirrored accents around the room help offset the deep color.

To see a gallery of photos, just read more

I love that Leah sourced the furniture and linens from a variety of easy-to-find and easy-on-the-budget sources, such as flea markets, Ikea, Craigslist, and Ebay, among others. The room looks amazing, and the chocolate brown really brings out the crsip white of the linens and the brilliant blues in her ceramics. For the full story, check out Leah's fabulous design blog More Ways To Waste Time.

View 10 Photos ›

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