Can You Really Make a Room Bigger with Color?

© Kelly Berg

I get asked this question a lot.

The answer is no. No, you can not make a room bigger with color. No matter what colors you paint your walls, ceiling, trim...no matter what color your drapes and flooring...no matter what color your furniture and accessories, the actual square footage of a space will never change with even the most expertly designed color palette.

However, you've probably noticed I left out the word "appear." What happens when we rephrase the question to read "Can you Really Make a Room Appear Bigger with Color?"

The answer to this question gets a little more complicated.

Yes and no. Yes, there are times when using a particular color or combination of colors can help a space feel grander than it is. Contrary to popular opinion, however, I have never found white to be the antidote to a small-feeling room. My mantra: The bigger the color, the bigger the space. Within reason, of course. In my experience, bigger, bolder colors demand more of our attention and have much more visual volume, or depth, therefore "filling up" a space and giving it the appearance of being larger.

But you're still not going to change the square footage, so the answer is also still no.

But all that aside, when I'm asked this question I usually respond with "Why does the room need to be or appear bigger?"

© Kelly Berg

Most often, size is not the biggest problem. Yes, sometimes it can be. A room can simply be too small to function like it needs to. (But - again - you will not change the usable square footage through color alone.) But more often than not, when someone is concerned about making a room feel bigger, what they usually feel is that it lacks character. That it lacks a mood. That it lacks any sort of interest at all.

And that is where color steps in and does its magic. Because, although it won't be able to add an addition to your master bedroom, it can bring character, mood and interest to a space. It can make your room feel full of life. It can make a space sing. It can make you fall in love. (Yes. In love with a room. It really can happen!) And when you love something, who cares what size it is?


Do you want your space to sing? Give me a call or shoot me an email to discuss your project at 650.867.3896 / kelly@artestyling.com

Adventures of a Stylist (and amateur photographer)

©Kelly Berg

I recently had the fun pleasure of styling - and photographing! -  a few rooms in my friend and colleague Rachel Perls' house. I'm sure you know her - she's the owner and color expert over at Hue Consulting. We've worked together quite a bit over the past few years on various projects, and her blog, one of the very first in the world of color, was a huge inspiration for me when I first began blogging myself.

Rachel lives in a great Spanish/Mediterranean style house in Oakland near the Berkeley border. She had painted some terrific colors on the walls, but as a busy mom running after a two year old, she was struggling to find the time and energy to create more cohesively designed spaces. Knowing that her wall colors could be an amazing addition to her architectural color portfolio, she asked me if I could help her whip the place into a more photo-worthy condition. I happily agreed to help. 

Rachel just blogged about her experience here: The Next Layer After Color. I thought it'd be fun to also share my side of the process.

Me, the amateur photographer. © Rachel Perls

Let me start by saying this was a speed styling session. Something that isn't unfamiliar to me, as I have quite a bit of styling experience from the early days of my design career. It's not easy - it's definitely an artistic skill that comes with lots of practice. I told Rachel we could have done so much more and that I considered this the "first phase." I think that scared her. She might have experienced enough styling for now.

Usually, when I style for a client, I do all the shopping and returns. I schlep everything to my client's home and schlep everything back that doesn't end up getting used. I had the luxury of sending Rachel on her own shopping excursion. She sent me photos of the spaces she wanted to get photos of, and I directed her to specific items in specific styles and colors. It was a little difficult to give up shopping control, because a lot of times I just don't know what will work until I see it. But Rachel did a great job. And I was not sad to miss out on making returns (my most un-favorite part of styling gigs.)

Before ©Rachel Perls

Here's Rachel's living room pre-styling. Great wall color, fun rug, very purple sofas...and a dog named Lucy.

One of the main problems I saw with this space was that it read very chunky. There's a block of yellow, a block of red and a block of purple, and nothing is balanced properly. Also, the deep pillows on the deep sofa were getting lost. Lighter pillows and throws in yellows and creams would help tremendously. And a little texture was needed to tie in that rug a bit more. Oh, and we definitely needed to add a more Mediterranean/Spanish feel. We were lacking a clearly supported design concept. 

After some shopping and styling and light adjustments for the photo, here are the living room photos we ended up with.

After © Kelly Berg

Before © Rachel Perls

After © Kelly Berg

I have to say, this was a tough room to shoot for this amateur photographer. The lighting was a bugger! And the yellow walls were glowing sooooo much more in the photos than in real life. It was good experience for me to shoot an interior like this, but just another layer to be considered when trying to create portfolio-worthy pics. My best advice? Take loads of photos and keep playing with the manual camera settings. (Yes, you'll need a camera with manual settings. And don't use the flash. Ever.)

And here's a shot of the dining area before I got my hands on it.

Before © Rachel Perls

Great space, but it needed, like the living area, some design cohesion. Before the big styling day, I suggested Rachel swap out the seat cushion fabric on her dining chairs. The blue and turquoise hues and patterns weren't relating to anything else in the space. She had a great idea to cut down on time - borrow the neighbor's chairs. Worked for me! On the day of styling, I pretty much ordered Rachel around, asking her to produce bowls, vases, runners, plants, etc. etc. She was a very resourceful trooper and we ended up with this:

After © Kelly Berg

After © Kelly Berg

After © Kelly Berg

Very subtle changes, but the new styling allows the wall color to be the center of attention, which is the whole goal when you are trying to sell your services as an architectural color consultant. We didn't need to sell Rachel as an interior designer, so I made sure not to over-style anything.

One of the rooms that Rachel had spent the most time decorating was her daughter's room. This is all too common. I see it over and over again. What is it that spurs us into decorating for our children, but not for ourselves? We know it's important...and we make it a fun process. But somehow, many of us forget that tending to color and design in adult spaces is just as important...and should be just as fun.

Anyway, here's little Nina's room in its before stage. So cute. And Rachel painted that gorgeous dog portrait. She is a very talented artist. 

Before © Rachel Perls

But, it needed a little fine-tuning. So, I suggested swapping out the pillows, losing the black-out curtains and clearing out the clutter. We had gorgeous light when we shot and ended up with these magazine worthy pics.

After © Kelly Berg

After © Kelly Berg

After © Kelly Berg

The final room we styled was the master bedroom. Rachel had recently painted it a soft, velvety shade of pink, but was a little stumped on how to proceed. She consulted with me awhile back on bedding, and I suggested a creamy white duvet with a good amount of texture. Between the two of us, we landed on the pintuck style bedding. But we still needed more.

Before © Rachel Perls

It didn't take long for me to see that this bed was on the wrong wall entirely. It felt completely unbalanced and a bit unsettling in this location, being halfway under the window, halfway not. I strongly suggested she move the bed to the opposite wall. Not just for the shoot, but for living. Rachel obliged. She had purchased one super-cute pillow online. It looks a little lonely there, doesn't it? We did our best in this room, but the fact of the matter is, there now needs to be something more on the big empty wall over the bed. Headboard, art, decorative painting...it's very bare right now. Regardless, we still got a few beautiful shots. The lighting cooperated with us beautifully in this space, and Rachel's new wall color looks amazing...don't you think?

After © Kelly Berg

After © Kelly Berg

After © Kelly Berg

So there's a little behind the scenes of an informal photo shoot. You can see there really is an art to photo styling. It is different than interior design in some ways, although the same basic principles are applied. It's about balance and light and mood. But it's also about thinking on your feet and making things look good on camera even if they don't look quite right in real life. Fortunately for most of Rachel's shoot, I had a good foundation to work with. 

Thanks for the opportunity, Rachel! I hope you are enjoying your "new"spaces!

Need help styling your home? Give me call at 650.867.3896 or send me an email at kelly@artestyling.com to discuss your project.

Napa Guest Room Color Makeover

Here's one of my latest color consulting gigs - my parents' guest room! 

This is the how the room looked for a long time, before I got my hands on it. 

Then, about 5 years ago, my parents gladly donated the use of the room for a magazine project I was hired for. See those crazy striped drapes? I made them with iron-on fabric tape and grosgrain ribbon.   We had a full-on photo shoot at the house, but the story got killed and never went to print. I was pretty bummed, but looking at it now, I'm not surprised!!

The wall color at the time was Silver Mist by Benjamin Moore. It was very lovely. So lovely that I was surprised when my mom asked me to help her select a new color.  It was time to repaint - there was some wear and tear - and she wanted something a little more saturated. We have added so much more saturated color throughout the house since this room was first painted that the color was feeling very pale in comparison. 

So, I reached for the Benjamin Moore Color Stories deck, which I have been having lots of success with, and landed on a slightly deeper, slightly greener blue - St. John Blue. It turned out great, and was just the change they were looking for.

Now what can we do about a headboard? I think I've just discovered a new project for my dad. 

Need help selecting the perfect colors for your home? Give me call at 650.867.3896 or send me an email at kelly@artestyling.com to discuss your project.

So You've Pinned it. Now What? Exploring the Influence of Pinterest on Interior Design

Pinterest has gotten crazy popular this year. Everywhere you look there's pinning, pinning and more pinning. And the most popular category for pinning? The home. According to RJ Metrics over 17 percent of all pins fall under "Home", with the second most popular category being "Arts and Crafts" and the third, "Style/Fashion."

Pinterest's mission is to "connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting. We think that a favorite book, toy, or recipe can reveal a common link between two people. With millions of new pins added every week, Pinterest is connecting people all over the world based on shared tastes and interests."

Is this true? Is it really about connecting?


No doubt, it's about "things." Things we see. Things we like. Things we love. Things we want. Things that inspire. Things we want to make. Things we want to eat. Things we want to say. Things we crave. Things we envy. Things that make us laugh. Things that that make us think. Things that we want to share. Things we want to promote. Things we want to buy. Things we want to sell. Things we want to save for a rainy day. 

Yes, Pinterest is certainly about things.

But what does it all mean? With "Home" being the most popular category, what effect does this have on how we view our homes, other's homes, and interior design in general? And with all this image collecting, aren't we just breeding a new kind of clutter? Is pinning the new hoarding?

Maybe, maybe not. I think the answer lies in what we do with what we pin. 

I actually really enjoy Pinterest. I have a number of boards that I've created and I pin and re-pin, collecting images that I think are cool, pretty, inspirational and such. I also pin my own work as a way to share images that I hope might be inspiring to others. And, I'm not gonna lie. I get a steady flow of blog traffic directly from Pinterest.

But then what? I worry that the interest in any single image is so short lived. And that pinners are pinning just to pin. Or that perhaps it's turning into a popularity contest. Who has the most pins? Who has the most followers? How many re-pins does an image have? Doesn't all of this just add up to a bunch of extra social media pressure? Just one more thing to curate and stay on top of? Not to mention the quality of images pinned is AMAZING, making anyone feel like a complete degenerate for not having highly styled, beautifully lit, professionally shot photos. 

And what about those of you who aren't designers? How many of you implement these projects in your own home? Do you ever feel like you have image overload? Are you gathering with the intent of re-designing areas of your home? Have you actually used Pinterest images in real-life decorating and interior design? Does all the pinning help you? Or does the whole thing fill you with despair because it's just one more reminder of how beautiful everyone else's home is, and how yours will only look good in your dreams, or, well, on your Pinterest board which you've aptly named "Dream Home."

I'd like to think that Pinterest is contributing to a greater good. That, at its core, it's about connecting. That it fills our minds and hearts and homes only with joy and happy, creative inspiration. That it's about collaboration rather than competition. But I'm just not sure. As I write this post, I feel a strange sense of duty to pin a few pretty images of doors and calla lilies and the perfectly flowing pair of white linen drapes against a backdrop of the perfect shade of barely-there turquoise. And I'm not sure if that's good or bad. So until I figure it out, I guess I'll just keep on pinning.

Living Room Makeover in Benjamin Moore's Dragonwell - Before and After

© Kelly Berg, 2012

It's been a few months since I painted my living room in Benjamin Moore's glorious full spectrum green, "Dragonwell." I've posted a few pics here and there, but never got around to showing the full before and afters of the space. It's been quite the process, and even though it's not "done" to my complete satisfaction, the fact of the matter is it's how we live and it is our real space. Since I'm all about authenticity and bravery, here goes!

The living room looked like this for the first 4-5 months. Totally unfinished. I bought a rug our first month here and, well, that was pretty much it. No sofa. Bare walls. And a paint color that I really couldn't stand. The furniture was a complete hodgepodge. And, did I mention...no sofa?

To be completely honest, I agonized over paint color for some time. For many reasons. (One of which I will get into eventually on The Brave New Home, but it's along the lines of this post.) I purchased the rug quickly because we needed something for our dog, at the request of our landlord. I found this beautiful rug on Overstock by Safavieh.

But then what?

We finally picked out a sofa and it was delivered in December. Another agonizing decision. However, our fabric selection - a dusty turquoise velvet -  got us one step closer to the wall color. The pillows helped, too. I picked these little guys up at Ross for $8 a piece. Total score considering I've seen the same thing at Anthropologie for five times the cost.

And here's the state of the room after the sofa. Oh geez. Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better. What an eyesore!

There was a big problem at this point. And it's a problem I see again and again with light colored walls. I have found that when you bring in richly saturated pieces of furniture into a space, like I'd done here, and you don't give the walls some good depth of color, you end up creating a feeling that your furniture is floating. Of course, there is also the problem that there is nothing on the walls. That is definitely contributing to the overall sense of unbalance. But artwork can only go so far. And I wanted this space to feel cohesive, and rich and funky and cozy. I wasn't going to get that with those pale yellow walls.

So, I tested some greens. It's hard to see, but there is a bit of olive green in the area rug. And I was  completely inspired by the crazy green of my Ross pillow. Oh, and also the color of wine bottles. I became a little obsessed in my quest for the perfect "Wine Bottle Green." 

That's Dragonwell on the bottom. It was the clear winner.

Ahhh. Much better.

However, now there was an issue with furniture layout. At first it seemed like the most obvious place to put the sofa was directly across from the TV armoire (which couldn't move, by the way, because of the cord situation.) But, as we lived in the space, we realized it wasn't working out. You had to sit sideways and strain your neck if you wanted to stretch out and watch TV. Not to mention the horrible glare coming from the big picture window. So...the sofa moved to the wall. 

I purchased a few new/old things throughout the decorating process, mostly from estate sales. You may remember my very excited post about the pink chair. And the vintage bird prints were quite a find at 10 for a dollar. They are actually old menus from Swiss Air from 1958.

I also found a great brass sconce (shown in the far left corner of the room) after falling in love with some from Schoolhouse Electric. It's ingenious because it needs no wiring. It plugs right into the wall and the cord is hidden with a brass cover. Two screws and a couple of minutes and it was installed!

And these wall plaques I picked up at Tuesday Morning. I was hoping for something vintage, but they were so beat up they certainly looked the part.

The rest of the styling was done with stuff I already had. Mostly vintage. Books, silver dishes, candlesticks, an old game of dominos. Oh! And I did give my yellow mirror a coat of pink paint. Inspired, of course, by the lovely pink chair. (And it just so happens to be the same pink I used on the bedroom walls: Embroidered Flower, another full spectrum paint by Benjamin Moore.)

Here's some "final" befores and afters. And I use the word "final" loosely and in quotes, because I don't think a room should ever be "done." As I've said before, our homes are ever-evolving just like us. Or, at least, they should be. So, even though I'm done...for now, I know that this is just one version of our living room. Whether here or in another home entirely, this space will always be changing. And that's good, because that way I'll never run out of blog post ideas!

Before

After

Before

After

And a few more shots, since I only took about 300 of the space! 

 

Need help with your home's evolution? Give me call at 650.867.3896 or send me an email at kelly@artestyling.com to discuss your project.

Why is Color Important When Selling a Home?

Photo © Vanessa Stump; Color Design and Styling by K. Berg

In 2009 I was interviewed for a couple of articles on the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate website about using color in the home. I was quoted several times, but never shared the full questions and answers on my blog. Well, why not now?

Here's one of my favorite questions that seems to have a perpetually elusive answer. We still keep getting bombarded with the whole "beige is best" mantra. As you'll see, I'm not in the colorless camp. I have a much different perspective than many real estate experts who far too often take the position of "'neutral is best...because using anything else will offend potential buyers.

BHG} Why is color important when selling a home?

KB} Home-buying is a very emotional experience and colors and emotion are completely intertwined. We make conscious and unconscious associations with every color we see, so it is important when preparing a home for sale, that the colors used are very carefully considered. A cohesive color palette is one that doesn’t have jarring contrasts - colors that work together to create an overall mood for the space. Prospective buyers want to feel invited into a home, so the color palette should reflect a feeling of comfort and warmth. If the color palette isn’t cohesive, and the wrong feeling is conveyed through improper color use, a potential home-buyer can be left feeling cold and unwelcome - definitely not what you want someone to feel when they are looking for a place to call home.

Anyone have any tips or stories you'd like to share about color and your own home-buying or home-selling experiences? 

Photo © Vanessa Stump; Styling by K. Berg

Do you need help selecting colors for a home you're selling? Give me call at 650.867.3896 or send me an email at kelly@artestyling.com to discuss your project.