Colour to the rescue

Well, well,My Dears, My apololgies, your Greta has been remiss in not recounting her recent escapades in the Design and Art world.. I promise to be a better correspondent in the future. Since I was a debutante long ago in the Viennese days, long before that magical Fritz von Schmedlapp came into my life; back when I was the daughter of Dr Abel and Ruth Stahl, I have always wanted to Travel, and live with other cultures.. I all ways believe that Art and Cuisine are the best keys toward understanding cultures. Aurelien and I always joke that we travel for museums, Restaurants, and Shopping. As I have said in the past, with my anecdote about the Velvet Bullfighter, One must realize that often the styles and colours from one civilization dont easily transfer to another disparate life style without some adjustments...Aurel has often re-painted, or re-upholstered items in a clients room to compensate for new elements from vacations and holidays that bring back fond memories for his clients, but too often sadly stand out in a room and often destroy the harmony he has created... So, I must again remind you, If you must (or really want to) return from the grand trip with some substantial souvenier, Please , Please, do pack in your valise a photo of the room in question, with samples of the fabrics, all measurements that are crucial ; and colour chips of the wall paint, to insure that you wont have the wrong kind of surprise, or worse, a great deal of flack from the family, lover, partner, about what a waste of time and money the statue or painted platter that you lugged back from the trip. Peruvian colours are not North American colours at all, so we were extra careful to see what went with our cottage living room walls before buying the lucious watercolour of the oldest church in Cusco: Inglesia San Blais. The artist had made a temporary matte to display his work with a fairly strong corn yellow that did help its visibility, allthough, that same matte against the Sutton cottage walls was too Andean. As my favourite Art consultant, Diane Turmel, (of Dimensions Plus) pointed out, the strong matte framing was too high of a contrast with the paler of these inclinations. When Aurel and I am working with a new project, we do a taste diagnosis... Last week, we helped visually shorten and widen a long narrow hallway with a colour choice that when you see out side of the condo, you are certain that we are crazy! First,we selected a tone of warm mocha taupe for both walls and ceiling to eleminate the vertical and horizontal junction -usually people paint all ceilings matte white. That would have emphasized the narrowness, and the 9 foot height was also making it feel narrow. The end of the hall jogged in a dog-leg to allow privacy for the 2 bedroom and bathroom suites. For that end wall we selected a strong red from the super colours of the new Affinity collection from Benjamin Moore called Salsa Dancing! As you might suspect, it is a rich red-tomato, with burnt orange overtones.It covered in 2 coats, just as they said. Colour Theory says that all warm colours visually appear closer,so conversely,If we painted that same end wall a watery aqua, or a light grey-blue, the same hall will appear almost 3 feet longer..Aurel has read all those reports..I did see the before and after photos of the same hall . I will try to convince him to show the effect on his newly up-dated web site. Oh, by the way, another reason for choosing that the taupe -cocoa for the walls was to allow the two very contrasting existing colour schemes at either end of the hall to co-exist,as the warm neutral medium dark goes well with both sets. Please do realize that one need not have your halls so brightly lit - after all,you are not reading the paper,or doing the taxes there. The compression,-expansion,and dark-light contrast will make the rooms appear lighter and more airy . Now, I do hope that I have not been too preachy and didactic since our recent break. I will tell you some surprises next time, but you must explore the newly renovated Empire Paint and Wallpaper store on Park Ave just north of Sherbrooke, and next to that fascinating rug shop Ararat...P.S" I have found a very good source for a Pisco from Peru at the Westmount SAQ, so there is no excuse now for missing a lovely,meditative Pisco Sour !....Hugs for now, I must rush to a Vernissage, your Greta von Schmelapp --DO let me know if anyone is curious about seeing the before-and-after shots... my e-mail is aurelien@colorsbyaurelien.