Add an Accent Wall to Update a Room

Accent walls are especially popular because it’s a way to add a colored wall to a room without having the color define the entire room. Painting an accent wall also save spending time and money repainting the room to update it with color. The best accent wall is one that reinforces a focal point in the room. A focal (or focus) point is an area of a room that catches your eye.

White is Not on the Color Wheel, but it’s Still a Color

Though white is not on the color wheel, when it’s used in home decor and interior design, white functions as a color, (which is as good as being a color). Here are some of my tips about using the wall paint color white: Mix up the sheens (texture). Layer whites from bright to creamy . . .

Can a Color Bring You Serenity?

Some interior designers and color forecasters are touting gray as the new “it” color — the color that is guaranteed to update your home. I’ve read pieces claiming that the color gray is calming and will soften the mood of any room. Don’t believe it.

Beware of Matchy Matchy

Have you seen the TV ads of homeowners bringing their lamps and teddy bears (or whatever) to the paint counter of a big box retailer? They look so relieved when the friendly paint store employee informs them that, “Yes, we can match this color!” They may be relieved at the paint counter, but that doesn’t always mean they’re going to love the paint color on the walls of their home. Matching paint colors to fabric and favorite object colors isn’t a fail-safe way to choose colors. Though looking for paint colors that exactly match a favorite object may seem like the best solution to finding the proper hue, the wall color may not look as good as you imagined when the paint is on the walls in the three dimensional space of your home.

Updating A Bathroom – Figure Out Your Design Concept

Remodeling advice can be confusing. Cristina Acosta gives you a tool to cut through advice overload to get what you want.

Getting Into Your Client’s Head – An article for Design Industry Professionals

Though we may have a good idea of what we like, getting into the heads of our clients and guiding them to know what they like is a bigger challenge. We are not privy to the experiences they have, and even if we were, the tendency within ourselves to relate to the client through our own story influences our perceptions. The way any of us respond to a color is the result of our experience, good or bad. Everything we see, hear, feel, smell and touch informs our color perceptions.

Colors Together Create a Melody Line

Have you ever found yourself looking at two or more house paint colors or other home decor colored items and been completely confused as to which paint color is the best choice? Cristina Acosta says that you need to be aware that every color in your home links to another color and is part of an overall melody line of color. Keep that concept in mind when you get stuck between two color choices.