Color Conversations with Cristina

Color does more than convey a mood or set off a room. Color is a language that continually evolves with the cultures that contribute the shades and tones of meaning each of us sees. Artist and Color Consultant, Cristina Acosta, shares her insights and expertise about the colors in your life – your home – your business.

Afraid of Color? Is it Chromophobia or a Fear of Expensive Mistakes?

Though white isn’t a “color” on the color wheel, it certainly is a paint color, and one that many people love. But if the only reason you have white walls is because you’re afraid of color, you may have a touch of chromophobia or “fear of colors”. Or maybe you just have a fear of making expensive mistakes with paint color. That’s more often the case.

Choosing Colors Can be Like Chasing a Rainbow

Color communicates. Any color expert, designer or artist will agree with that statement. But ask those creative types what exactly a color is communicating and the answers you get may have surprisingly little in common. Here’s why: Color is a language that continually evolves with the cultures that contribute the shades and tones of meaning each of us sees. And, each individual brings their personal biases and perceptions to the mix, further complicating things. Consequently, the meaning of a color is a moving target.

Matching Pantone Colors to House Paint Colors – Is a Color Match as Good as Buying the Real Thing?

When color consulting clients look at paint color samples the most common question I get from them (after they choose their colors) is this: Do I have to buy “this” brand of paint to get the color I want, or can I buy something cheaper? The answer isn’t simple. There are at least 3 parts to how a latex house paint color looks: Base tint, pigment and sheen. House paint isn’t just white paint with colors added. Depending upon the color, the paint store selling the brand uses a particular (there can be several choices) tinted base color to which they then add measured amounts of their color pigments.

Choosing Room Colors

Creating a paint color scheme blending good color design with the architecture of your home is like putting together a 3-D puzzle. One part of that puzzle changes and everything changes. And change can be complicated. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by color, you’re not alone. Putting together entire interior design color schemes can be a lot to think about. But, mixing colors around your home gets a little simpler if you think about those color combinations as a master color plan.

Color Captures Your Attention – So Think Before You Paint Your Garage Door Trim

Put a red tomato on a white sand beach and your eye will instantly focus on the tomato. The color difference (even if you know nothing about tomatoes) will be enough to capture your attention. Not only does this visual attribute help you find a snack or your socks, it’s an important concept to keep in mind when you’re painting your house.

Exterior House Paint Colors – Tips and Ideas

Exterior paint colors can change the way you perceive architecture, and it’s the least expensive “remodel” you can do! Artists know that color “moves” visually in space. Colors recede or advance depending upon where they are in relationship to each other and their surroundings. If you are a homeowner choosing exterior paint colors to create color schemes or a color plan for your home, here are a few color tips:

Best Ever You Paint and Color Expert

Best Ever You magazine has invited Cristina Acosta to be their Paint and Color Expert. The editor, Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino along with her team has put together an anomaly in the current publishing business climate; a successful and growing magazine. Kudos to the staff at Best Ever You!

Why do Americans Have a Fascination with White Ceilings?

Painting your ceiling white is not necessary or even always a good idea. White paint will not always make your room look larger, cleaner and more fashionable. Sometimes it will, but sometimes it’s a big mistake. Mostly, people paint their ceilings white because they don’t know what else to do. I’m not exactly sure when white ceilings became the fashion, though I suspect the country’s fascination with white paint began in 1893 at the Chicago World’s Fair. The famed White City made of white stucco and brightly lit with the new-fangled street lights must have been an entrancing alternative to the dark countryside and dimly lit city streets filled with dark tenement buildings.

Changing Two Paint Colors Takes Contemporary Architecture from OK to Gorgeous

Have you ever painted your house and when it was done, wondered why the paint job didn’t look as good as you thought it would? Changing paint colors doesn’t have to be a complete re-do. With a few strategic changes of color you can get the look and pizzaz you want by changing only the colors or areas that make the most difference, rather than repaint the entire exterior of your home.

Painting a Brown Accent Wall

Painting one wall a strongly different color than the others creates an accent wall. Only paint a accent wall if there is something on that wall or the architecture in that part of the room that you wish to emphasize. Click here to read more about accent walls.
How much brown is too much? When you have a lot of brown wood and still want more brown, I suggest that you choose an accent color that has brown (or a warm base color) in it, but is different from the wood.

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 . . .

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.

Painting Your Home? Color Tips for Home Exteriors

Choosing exterior paint colors? Cristina Acosta’s shares tips & shortcuts that guarantee your success.
Contact her to schedule a color consult for your project.

keep looking »

  • Color Consulting Portfolio Slideshow – Hire Cristina as Your Color Specialist

  • Categories