To add that “wow” factor to your décor or simply create a relaxing atmosphere, choosing the right colours and lighting can really set the tone.
In May, when local contractor Rob Cheslock showed Jody Mayhew through her home on Winnifred Avenue, all she remembers about the walls was “builder beige”.
“Before I moved in, I told Rob I hated the colour,” she recalls, grinning.
Eight months later, those same muslin-coloured walls offer a pleasant common backdrop for highlighting colourful accents and natural furnishings; and provide a natural flow in ambience from room to room.
“This is really a neat colour to play with,” Mayhew says now.
Only two rooms in the two-storey home were repainted. Mayhew went for a Stanley Park green in the master bedroom
“You can do anything with it,” she says.
For the office, she was looking for a cappuccino-like shade and chose Benjamin Moore’s hiking trail, which sets a warm and welcoming mood in this cozy workspace.
“It’s a really calm room,” says Mayhew, who plans to accent the look with shades of green leather and fabric.
Around the corner on Avery Court, Kim and Rick Wickens also quickly warmed up to the muslin-coloured walls.
“It works well with anything,” says local Benjamin Moore colour consultant Joy Crookshank. “With black, brown, green – any of your primary colours.”
“We use it a lot,” says the interior decorator, who describes muslin as “the chameleon” – having no real hue. “It lends itself well to any colour that’s put with it.”
When used with fabrics and textures, the muslin on the walls, actually helps create character in the room, she explains.
“You can use colours in your fabric rather than having it on your wall,” says Crookshank.
For the Wickens, muslin was perceived simply a “nice, neutral colour that went well with the furniture.”
Cheslock wasn’t surprised. As a contractor, he often watches homebuyers acquire a fondness for the muslin-tinted primer with eggshell finish, and when it’s time to move in, he finds it’s not uncommon for them to choose not to re-paint. Generally, they also like the combination of muslin walls with crisp, clean Benjamin Moore cloud white trim, a hit in both the Mayhew and Wickens homes.
Cheslock, who owns South Shore Homes, and has been building custom and subdivision-style homes in the Parry Sound area for the past five years, finds the muslin primer with the eggshell finish is a nice combination with the darker wood flooring so popular today. Yet, being neutral, it also works well with lighter bathroom tiles and a variety of cabinetry.
“So you see more of the finishes and flooring, rather than your eye being drawn to the walls,” he explains."
Crookshank is finding that more clients are going with neutral colours and are then adding a punch of colours.
“Sometimes they’ll do an accent wall or a small room or maybe a piece of furniture,” she says. “Those type of things – more than putting up a full room of colour.”
Patterns of colours, textures, layers, stencil-work, zigzags and stripes are popular on accent walls. Tartan and plaid motifs are hot now, either with wallpaper, or with a wallpaper look, without the hassle of removing the paper when it’s time to renovate again. Many deciding to accent with bold colours are opting for today’s trendy shades of purple and jewel tones of emerald and violet.
That “pop” accent can be a piece of furniture the family isn’t using anymore, easily rejuvenated with a splash of bright colour or reworked in style.
“It’s really a personal preference what you want to surround yourself with,” says the local colour consultant. “That’s what I find when I go out to clients’ homes, and they want the “wow” factor, and I have to pull them back and remind them this is their home and they have to feel comfortable in it.”
“If you want to go to more neutral, more subdued, more monochromatic colours, then do it,” she explains. “If you are a more exuberant person, you might want to go bold.”
As a decorator, Crookshank says she is always trying to figure out the person to find that balance they’d be comfortable with.
Lighting
When clients ask about creating mood and atmosphere with lighting, the interior decorator recommends using light in layers. For the novice, she groups lighting into three layers.
Ambient, she describes as the light we see. Next is focused or task lighting, which illuminates areas where we work. Finally, there is a wide array of decorative lighting, which creates texture and depth in a room. These include side table, fixture or floor lamps; lighting illuminating woodwork on vaulted ceilings; or even small lights accenting a plant in a corner. Sometimes pot lights over a kitchen counter serve as task lights, Crookshank explains, but after the meal is prepared and guests move to the dining room, they can be dimmed to provide ambient or mood lighting.
And never underestimate the appeal of natural lighting, which she says not only affects mood, but also reacts with colours in the room.
For Mayhew, inviting sunlight streaming into large windows on the lower level of the home was an immediate selling feature.
“When you walked in that door, it was a bright and airy spot down here,” she recalls.
In the Wickens’ home, lighting was used effectively to softly break up the open concept living space into task areas. Pot lights are used throughout the area, and an ornate ceiling fan light in the dining room is on a dimmer switch to create mood.
Cheslock is finding that homeowners tend to prefer low lighting around the tub area of bathrooms, especially in the master ensuites. Crookshank recommends a dimmer switch and suggests sconces, as one type of mood lighting for this area.
“People are a lot more savvy when it comes to what they like or don’t like,” she says, attributing this to an influx of television programs offering advice on almost everything, including lighting and colour. “A lot of them know what they want and what they like. They just need some help with how to make it flow or make it work, which could be as easy as tweaking a colour that might be a little too strong for them, and making it softer or lighter, or changing the hue.”
Setting the mood with colour and lighting
Interior decorator and Benjamin Moore colour consultant Joy Crookshank talks lighting with contractor Rob Cheslock, owner of South Shore Homes.
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