The Color Purple is rich, garish, and outrageous when worn by ladies sporting red hats. Purple is royalty, has liturgical significance and makes tongues brand the color after sucking down a cold glass of grape juice or room temperature bouquet of good – or not-so-good red wine (what a waste).
Alice Walker expressed great symbolism of pain and beauty when writing her novel. It is certainly a complex color which for our purposes of interior design would want to focus on the positive attributes and not the less attractive. Purple continually surfaces in interior design and it’s probably due to be an upcoming trend. Whether eggplant or lavender, it is a wonderful, classic, good color (aren’t they all in some context?), – yes, purple can be quite fun!
In nature, our Sandias at sunset – although said to be “watermelon” red, by their very Spanish name, transition from many shades of pastel colors including pinks, blues, lavenders and rosy reds. Lavender fields, lavender bouquets, periwinkle blossoms, red bud trees…the list goes on… Currently, I am designing a purple scheme in a home that will be all of fun and stunning, whimsical and elegant. It seems that the brighter colors of purple often bring a smile. Extracted from a charming oil painting, of a northern New Mexico calle with brilliant white and purple lilac bushes blooming along a dirt road accented by a royal blue picket fence, that we have selected as a focal point – the colors are enchanting. These will be more robust than pastels but softer than the royals – delineated with crisp white against a neutral backdrop of sage/stone.
I often reference colors in nature influencing interiors – and here captured in the artist’s painting is a scene from nature setting the stage as the focal element of the space.
Meanwhile, take a look around. See the earth and sky, new blossoms and colors in the built environment – and consider the possibilities for building a color scheme or punctuating with accents in your interiors.
Visiting the Rest of the Planet, Upon Occasion
Back after a week of visiting family and friends in my hometown of Washington DC and the surrounding Virginia suburbs, we find that we have compiled myriad observations about the contrasts between our two worlds. The sensory overload and ideas galore give us energy, if not exhaustion.
Lights, graphic designs, shopping extravaganzas, all the chain restaurants and those individually owned – those mega enterprises and the more personal entrepreneurial endeavors. So much design is universal and obviously certain cultures have their own. Multi-cultures within one complex setting is startling, fascinating and worth consideration.
I met with a new client. His needs were like others, to create a homey environment where there once was more activity – to re-invent a new version of life in the same environment. Starting with the basics that he already owned, some from long ago and others recently purchased, we set forth to design his interior.
Listening to what he liked and enjoyed and what he hoped to achieve, we began the process. To hear what a client is saying and to discern what they mean differently from what they actually speak is a fine line. We weaved through the discourse and moved between statements of seeming fact only to be dispelled in the next few minutes by new considerations after careful and thoughtful exchanges of ideas took place. His life was comfortable, in a beautifully intimate setting, fairly insulated in a pleasant pocket, paced well and not too different from ours far from the bustling city. More on this in a later blog.
But comparing our relaxed, fairly even pulse and predictably manageable pace to the frantic, blitz of traffic and graphic overload that we’ve seen – we are reminded that people do live in “pockets” of larger environs. They shop close to home and work if possible within a reasonable radius. Less fortunate have lengthy tiresome and tension-filled commutes and interact with a broader, more complex set of people and places. It’s a mix.
Yet, in summary we find that, well, we love our life here in the Land of Enchantment and very much enjoy visiting the rest of the planet upon occasion!
