Red is back in fashion, but saying red is back is crazy since red is classic and never goes out of style. The little red dress is hot right now and the color red is still popular for an accent in all areas of the home. Add one red wall to a boring dining or living room and spark up the whole color scheme.

Red is being used on kitchen cabinets in a high gloss finish. It also is seen on the front door to welcome guests.  Red has some interesting companions these days. Look for it paired up with orange and yellow, which are also popular colors this year.

The addition of a bright red pillow to a boring beige sofa can make the difference in a neutral scheme. Red is perfect for dark browns and taupes as splash of color.

But brown is not the only neutral that red works with.  The popular new gray neutrals also make good companions when paired with bright red.

Red is a sensual color; it speaks of romance and drama. It is the color of warning and has a very powerful aura. Red is a color used for weddings in Asia, for all things Spanish in Spain and Mexico, and a key part of South American culture. Red is a very common element in national flags as well as sports’ teams so to say it has come back is ludicrous. Enjoy the red movement. t will cheer you up and give new life to a color scheme.

You can approach this dilemma by finding a pattern that has your current color in it as well as some new colors. Taking those new colors, you can introduce a new wall color or accent items such as pillows. Patterns can be found in wall coverings, fabrics for pillows, paintings, tablecloths, area rugs or draperies. Adding one of these to a color scheme gives you are starting point. Let’s say you have a blue sofa in good condition.

Add a pattern with the blue and several other colors in it.

Now you have several colors to use in the new color scheme.

You can also use a new piece of art to create a color scheme. In this illustration we are using a red chair as our starting point.

Shown here is artwork with the current red and new colors.

New accent colors can include the following hues and white or light blue could be a good wall color to show them off.

These are some simple and inexpensive ways to update your color scheme!

Clear, clean water is just that; it is clear and clean like drinking water. But even water that comes from your tap when placed in a deep tub or container, appears to have a green or blue green cast. The color of water is a subject of both scientific study and popular misconception. While relatively small quantities of water are observed by humans to be colorless, pure water has a slight blue tint that becomes a deeper blue as the thickness of the observed sample increases. The blue hue of water is an intrinsic property and is caused by selective absorption and scattering of white light. Impurities dissolved or suspended in water may give water different colored appearances.

The aqua green color of the tropical oceans is a favorite for most people. This is why swimming pool paint is this hue. It takes us away to favorite places.

This ocean palette is from Color Guild’s Colour Canvas 2012 color card, available at many Color Guild members’ stores. You can locate a store by logging onto ColorGuild.com.

Another factor that influences the color of the water is the color that lies on the bottom of a body of water. Sandy bottomed oceans make water appear to be lighter in the shallows. Other factors that affect the color of water are plant life, both microscopic and large. Chlorophyll pigments in the ocean and other bodies of water absorb light and the plants themselves scatter light. Together these can make some parts of the ocean to appear green to blue green.

Swamp water is slow to move and therefore it cannot transport plant life and soils to clean the water. Mangrove swamps produce tannin that make the water look like coffee.

I live on a lake that was once a stream. It was dammed downstream and flooded farmland making the lake bottom muck. Muck is mostly black and brown soil combined with clay to make a soft base. The lake appears to be brown in some areas and green in others.

You can see why color is like a chameleon. It changes and evolves and is still one of the most common attractions for humans. When asked where you would like to live or go to as a vacation destination, it usually involves water; a lake, ocean or swimming pool.

There are hundreds of color names that are bantered about mindlessly; the author not knowing the real meaning, yet tacking it onto colors without thought of the origin. The following are examples:

• Puce: This translates into flea and is a deep red to a purplish brown found on the underside of that bug.
• Mauve: This comes from the French form of Malva and is a pale lavender lilac color named after the mallow flower. It was first named by chemist Sir William Henry Perkin, attempting to create artificial quinine. An unexpected residue caught his eye and turned out to be the first aniline dye, Perkin’s mauve or mauveine.
• Taupe: This is the Latin translation for mole and is a grayish-brown.
• Crimson: Derived from Sanskrit krim-ja, a dye product that comes from the dried bodies of a small insect.
• Indian Yellow: Once produced by collecting urine from cattle that had been fed mango leaves. Dutch and Flemish painters favored it for its luminescent qualities.
• Madder Lake: A lake pigment is a pigment manufactured by precipitating a dye with an inert binder, or “mordant”, usually a metallic salt. Madder originates from a madder plant.
• Purple: comes from the Old English word purpul which derives its name from the Latin purpura and Greek porphura, the name of the Tyrian purple dye made from the mucus secreted by the spiny dye-murex snail. This dye was so precious because it took many of these sea creatures to create one robe, therefore it could only be acquired by the rich. In turn, purple became the color of the rich and nobility.
• Aubergine: This color is often mistaken for maroon or burgundy but in actuality it is French for eggplant, making it bluer than most believe.

These are only a few of many examples of where color names originate.  Do you have any to add to this list?

You don’t need to stop with the walls either. If you are hesitant to paint an exterior wall, you may want to try other surfaces, such as the deck or seating.

What a happy place this is!  The deck and chairs are bright floral colors that blend well with the real flowers surrounding them. Maybe you have an old, faded deck or ordinary wood chairs?  Why not paint them in contrasting hues of violet and lime?

If you have plain stone or concrete pavers, you can paint them with concrete stain to make an assortment of interesting colors and pave the way for your new patio color scheme.

This homeowner used several colors to add charm to their outside space. This is perfect if you have stucco or even siding that could use a pop of color that no one will forget.

Exterior colors are usually very neutral because homeowners are conservative in areas that the general public can view. But, they can take a chance on the part of the home that is out of view and for their eyes only. I would hazard a guess that if they take a chance, visitors will make positive comments about their leap of faith.

A calming neutral is perfect for home offices. The color should complement the rest of the home if it is open to those areas. Keeping clutter to a minimum makes a working environment efficient and productive. Task lighting is important especially if there is no natural light available. The lighting should not be so bright that it causes a glare, but light enough to easily view reading material.

Your office environment should reflect your product or your service. If you are a designer, a trendy office is essential, especially if you have clients visit your office. Keeping work materials hidden in cabinets streamlines your office for a clean look.

Seating for visitors should be comfortable and suitable for an office. Appropriate furniture placement allows for conversation and work space for both you and your clients.

If you need to add color to your office, avoid accent walls and put the color into chairs or accessories. A bright wall can be distracting in a work area but a small accent can add interest to a neutral space.

Give your office personality with exhibits of your product or service. Use either actual product or photographs on the walls that feature your product in a flattering way. A wall of colorful samples is always beautiful and interesting and can look like art while offering a practical solution to displaying your product.

Whatever your product is, your office should reflect your style and taste and be an enjoyable workspace.  This can be achieved by the proper use of color, light and design.

If early humans expressed themselves and their surroundings by scratching out stories and illustrations, does that differ from modern day graffiti?

First of all, the choice of surfaces and use of new materials gives us much brighter interpretations of contemporary life. Both the wall paintings and the current graffiti are expressed in understandable graphics. Everyday images and communication tools are common elements found in these two mediums.

Graffiti can be taken from the streets and translated into wall accents for media rooms, kid’s rooms or almost any area of the home.

They don’t need to be complex designs, but can be simple shapes and patterns. An example is this organic figure above.

If you are not artistic you can use stencils to create your own modern graffiti.

We have come a long way since the cave dwelling days. Today’s quality paints and tools make it easy to create your own statements on your environment and surroundings while expressing your feelings and ideals of a modern time.

Wood floors do not have to be stained in just one color; this floor has excitement and interest with multicolored stained blocks. It is rich and glamorous without the cost of inlaying many different kinds of wood. Mark off areas with painters tape and select stains that are contrasting in value or hue. Patterns can be achieved just as you would on walls, with tape and imagination.

Floors can be painted to look old and distressed by applying thin coats of paint with a semi dry brush. This can make an interesting and unique pattern.

Paint the floor a bright blue and then stencil a pattern like this one using white paint. If you use floor enamel you will not have to seal the surface to keep it clean.

A look like this can be achieved by marking off squares with painters tape and can be done in paint or stain. Remember to paint only one color, remove the tape and then tape it for the second color. Make sure the first coat is dry before applying the tape for the second color.

Painting Tile

Did you know that you can paint tile? Just make sure you have a good primer such as Kilz.

This is an inset in my kitchen tile floor. When it was originally installed, the dark brown in this photo was a deep blue green. When I remodeled the kitchen, I did not want to replace the floor and the blue green was not right for the new scheme. So I taped off the blue green parts, primed it with Kilz and repainted it with floor paint using a sponge for texture.

Here is a tile backsplash that can be achieved with real tile or faux painting. I have painted many backsplashes to look like tile and it is an easy and inexpensive solution. First paint the base color that will serve as the grout color. Second, using narrow painter’s tape, apply it where the grout lines will appear. Then paint in between the painter’s tape with a variety of hues. I usually use 4 colors that are similar in value; that are nearly the same lightness or darkness such as a medium sage, medium gray, medium brown and medium gold as used in this kitchen. Using a sponge, use your first color randomly, paint more on one square, less on another, and so on. Do the same with the other three colors.  When you are finished, each square will look similar but not the same. Then remove the tape and the grout lines will appear.

Another idea for an interesting backsplash is done by painting the back of glass and applying it to the wall. There are special paints for this purpose that can be found on the internet. Here, a bright red was applied to the back of the glass and also a light cream color.  Then they were glued to the wall. Most glass tile today is just back-painted glass. You can find sources for glass paint on the internet or at your local paint store.

This kitchen uses a bright lemon yellow used against the stainless steel and black in the kitchen.  Since the backsplash is the smallest amount of color and therefore the smallest amount of paint why not change it every year to freshen the look?

Backsplashes are also an ideal area for a bright wall covering. This can also be achieved by using paint. Using painter’s tape and 3 or 4 adjacent colors will achieve a striking pattern. Adjacent colors are those that are next to each other on the color wheel, such as yellow, yellow green and lime green.