If you don’t have Colour me Happy as one of your daily reads then I urge you to run over there and catch up! Maria is a design professional from our neighbors up north. She started her career in design as a paint/colour specialist which then lead her  to start her own residential design firm. She also shares her vast knowledge of colour by teaching a class on color theory at a local college. Lucky for us she also shares her knowledge on her blog. You start looking at colour a bit differently when you read her words of wisdom. It really helps you see the world through different color glasses. I’m constantly looking through her old posts and seeing what her colour pics are for the perfect shade of white, etc.

I was honored that she took part out of her busy day to share a day in her life. So sit back, relax and enjoy!

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It’s 6:30 am (I’m a morning person) and I’m having an americano with my laptop (enjoying the amazing view from my house) checking comments from yesterdays post (only 4) and responding to emails.

7:35 am time to go to the gym.  This is a local community center that desperately needs an overhaul with the colours.  I mean, how inspiring is this to stare at gray/green walls when you are working out?  And what is with the fresh blue right next to the serious burgundy?

Here we have 6 colours (if you include the white) that do not relate to each other in the slightest!  North Vancouver Rec Center?  If you are reading this, call me.

9:30 am – My first appointment of the day.  This couple could not agree on what to do with the garage door, but they told me they would go with my opinion.  The issue here was that it was trying to be a carriage door but without the windows at the top, so I recommended they paint it out the same colour as the house (but leave the trim around the garage door white). 

Usually if a garage door is the first thing you see when you drive up to your house, I like to paint it out because then it stops being the focal point.  Here this entry was definitely the focal point but it didn’t make sense to leave the ‘white’ trim on the door painted the trim colour.

10:45 am: A designer working on a huge renovation called me to take a look at the colours she was testing–in her view, every single colour was going orange/peach (and she hates that colour) I confirmed that "Putnum Ivory" was not going to be peach in this house, but the edges were indeed looking peachy; lesson here: don’t paint these kinds of samples in your house, a colour requires 2 full coats (not one thick one with the edges all frayed like this one:

11:30 am; Drop in to Benjamin Moore for some colour samples:

To create a colour chart, this way it makes it easier when I’m sourcing fabrics for each client. Sometimes I’ll even bring my bigger colour samples into the showroom.

11:50 am Lunch in the car – on my way to Maxwell Fabrics

12:30 pm, I just get to Robert Allen and a client calls, she only has the keys for the afternoon (for her new place) and needs a consultation ASAP. I spend 45 minutes at Maxwell and then drive over to her new place:

1:45 pm The biggest conversation in this call is the kitchen. Do we take out the tile? They are on a budget and will need new furniture as well so what to do? What about the very orange cabinets? She doesn’t think she can live with them.

After trying out a few colours (to paint the cabinets) I’ve determined that the tile also has an orange undertone–see how comparing whites to the whitest white (in this case the existing trim colour)–makes it easy to see what is happening and what works?

We decide the floor definitely has to go. Right now the orangy/peachy tile looks creamy next to the ‘very orange’ cabinets, but as soon as they are painted white (the floor will look peach) if we paint the cabinets a colour that matches the floor, unless we choose a strong dramatic colour which will effectively create the ‘illusion’ of creamy cabinets and tile–any other colour will still have the kitchen look peachy.

4:40 pm (It ended up being a long consultation, many other decisions to make) I arrive at Colin Campbell where they are having a designer event: I love this carpet showroom, it’s just beautiful.

5:30pm – I have to go as I’m teaching Colour Theory tonight.

6:10 pm– My copying done (for the hand-outs) I pick up a peppermint tea (it’s always the same) and go up to class.

6:45: class in progress and they all knew I was taking the picture (how can you tell)

I have all kinds of opinions about the colour of this classroom, *sigh* I’ll keep them to myself.

One of my lovely and enthusiastic students Debra Thompson agreed to pose for a photo! Class goes until 9:30 pm, and since this was the first evening where we are painting 6 charts [clean/dirty, light/dark, warm/cool] it’s very busy as everyone has a lot of questions.

I was tired tonight when I got home and definitely had to put my feet up! With my fabric sourcing plans thwarted today (by a lovely client I might add) I’ll have to schedule it in for another day next week!

This was fun, thanks Camila!

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I totally decided I love writing Colour this way and not our normal US way. It just looks fancier! A big thank you to Maria for participating. As always let me know if there is anyone you are dying to see featured on IN HER SHOES. I aim to please.

xoxo,

Camila