color at home A YOUNG HOUSE LOVE COLORING BOOK BY SHERRY & JOHN PETERSIK • ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOAN BORAWSKI Published in 2016 by Paige Tate & Co. An Imprint of PCG Publishing LLC 3610 Avenue B San Antonio, TX 78209 email: [email protected] www.paigetate.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN: 978-1944515096 Printed in China this book belongs to: Introduction Simply put, this book has two purposes. The first is to a color scheme for my room? How do I know that I'll have fun and relax, as any fan of adult coloring books is love a paint color once it's up on the walls? Should I go known to do. with white curtains or bold patterned ones? What's a couch color that I won't get sick of in a few years? Color The second purpose actually caught us by surprise. paralysis is a real thing, y'all. Although we’ve had some fun with adult coloring books, we wouldn’t call ourselves aficionados and we couldn’t The process of figuring out what you like (and what you sketch a room to save our lives (thankfully the talented don't like—which is just as valuable to know!) can be Joan Borawski swooped in to spare us—and you—from time consuming and wallet draining. Heck, it took us ten that train wreck). But over the course of documenting years and three house renovations to experiment with three do-it-yourself home renovations on our website, everything from beachy neutrals to bold jewel tones younghouselove.com, and writing two DIY/decorating back to something sort of in between. We've finally books, we’ve learned a thing or two about the critical found our current sweet spot by layering a few soft role that color plays in our home. hits of color in unusual places—like the ceiling or the back of a bookcase—along with bold patterned rugs, The colors that you surround yourself with in your house, white bedding, colorful art, and neutral window apartment, yurt, or whatever else you call home can treatments. And recognizing that preference means have a powerful effect on how each room feels and the we can stop making green curtains, hanging them story it tells to anyone who enters. Is it a calm retreat? up, and then replacing them with something that A lively entertaining space? Is it muted and refined? Bold we end up liking better (believe it or not we did that and playful? Simple and modern? Rough and rustic? twice about three years apart!). We hate to bust out a cliché on you so soon, but the options are truly endless. Finding YOUR color sweet spot is where this book comes in. You can use these pages to experiment Those endless options are also what can make color so and play with color for your home without actually hard. Believe us, we have painted and repainted dozens applying any paint or buying any new furniture. So of rooms. And we've received hundreds of questions you can, for all intents and purposes, go nuts. Stretch about it from our readers over the years. How do I pick yourself. Let it all hang out. Use the following pages as a color testing ground. A try testing them out on the fi rst page) and put on home decor laboratory in two dimensions. A safe place your interior designer hats for a bit. We hope that where you can take risks and fail the failiest fail that ever escaping into these pretty spaces full of home decor failed. We won't go as far as to say there are no wrong and eye candy gets you a step or two closer to answers (that burnt orange and maroon bathroom understanding your relationship with color at home. maaaaay not be a winner), but there are TONS of right Or at the very least, we hope it helps you turn your ones—and they can differ drastically from person to brain off for a bit and sink into some pretty rooms person as well as from room to room. you'll never have to dust or vacuum (with plants you can't kill and grout you'll never have to scrub). Huzzah! Maybe you'll discover that you love a high contrast, monochromatic look. Maybe you'll realize you hate it, and you can fi nally let go of the idea of decorating your house like a Kardashian. Either way you're sussing out what your eyeballs like and what they don't—so you're moving in the right direction towards a room you love. Speaking of rooms, this book has bunches of 'em (from chic bedrooms and kitchens to cozy nooks and playful vignettes). Readers of our blog and books may even recognize some of them! We've also included a few warm-up exercises up front, as well as some other fun pages mixed in, like mood boards and roundups of lights, chairs, pillows, and more. We even tossed in a few frameable quotes and botanical pages that you can color and pop up on the wall. So go ahead, bust out your colored pencils or markers (beware: some markers may bleed through— Try this at home * If you ever get stuck or want to shake up how and where Fight your instincts. Go bold where you tend to go you add color to the pages of this book (or in your real neutral. Practice restraint where you usually get vibrant. life rooms), here are a few ideas to try on for size: Sometimes going against your “default” can unlock surprising choices you actually love. Add color to a ceiling. Skipping the white ceiling can make a room feel taller by drawing your eye up to a soft Let a piece of art guide the room's color scheme. Like (or bold!) color. a rug, artwork can be a great starting point to help you choose colors for furniture and accessories in a room. Experiment with non-white trim and molding. Use it to add color against white walls, or match the wall color Put a really strong color on one major item in the room for a stately tone-on-tone look. (the sofa, the headboard, etc.) Keeping everything else light or neutral and choosing just one item to be the Start with a mood in mind. Identify the feeling you color star can help you “try on” that look for your home. want the room to evoke (serene? happy? adventurous? sassy?) and choose colors that create that vibe to you. Make the window treatments the boldest thing in the room. Curtains are often overlooked as a place for Make a color-coded grouping of accessories or books. color, especially in rentals where the wall colors can't Grouping books on a bookcase by color or creating be changed. a rainbow of dishware in a kitchen can add a lively focal point. Be inspired by your dream rooms. Use a photo you've pinned or magazine page you've saved to steer your Start with a bright or colorful rug. Anchoring the room choices, even across different types of rooms (for like this can inspire color choices for the rest of the example: let a gorgeous living room color scheme space, like choosing accessories that match or keeping inspire a bedroom's color choices). things neutral to let the rug shine. *or just within these coloring pages (your call) Try a dark or colorful door, even inside. We love a cheery front door, but have found that interior doors with some color on them can also bring surprise or drama to a closet, pantry, or bedroom. Alternate between adding dark and light items for a high contrast look. You can actually create visual energy by using contrast, without having to use lots of color. Incorporate a gradient or ombré effect. Moving gradually from a dark tone to a lighter shade of the same color (or across a few related colors) can create an interesting effect on textiles, accessories, or even walls and furniture. Incorporate something you own. Spot an item similar to something you already have, like a chair, rug, or table? Start by coloring it to match its real life counterpart and then see what other colors you can incorporate around it. Let's Get Warmed Up For some people, choosing colors for their home comes easily. But for many others (us included), it can take time—and more than a few mistakes—to fi gure it all out. What colors make a room look inviting? What tones can be a little too demanding day in and day out? Where do you like to inject color in your home: the walls? the rug? the pillows? How much color is too much? And our personal favorite: where the heck do I start? The following four exercises offer a little warm-up and an opportunity for some self-diagnosis, so you can inch closer to pinning down your favorite color schemes and combinations. Exercise #1: The Color Wheel Fill in the empty color wheel below according to the provided labels, making the inner petals the lightest tint of that color and the outer petals the darkest shade of that color. This will become a useful tool in understanding how colors relate to one another and will become the basis for Exercise #2. It also gives you a chance to practice creating a variety of hues that you can use within this book. Red Red-Violet Red-Orange Violet Orange Blue-Violet Yellow-Orange Blue Yellow Blue-Green Yellow-Green Green