Yellow really? Picking a color for a room is not a trend or a blog post.

    
Yellow??? not feeling it here, not sunny yellow for me, although this is a room I styled, the yellow really took over and that's all you see.

I think that I have been in the design world long enough to have seen every home decor trend come and go, and come back again...the truth is that we all have favorite colors and tones of those colors and no trend is going to convince us otherwise. I have lots of folks ask me what my favorite color is, and my reply has been the same since I could speak. "All of them" as I grew older I realized that this answer was for the most part true, with some exceptions as I matured.

I think that all colors are really viable in decor, however tonal qualities do make a huge difference when it comes to choosing colors for a coat of paint in a room, cabinets, or furniture.

I have worked with genius designers that can make a snap decision as far as tone and quality of a paint color, and I have worked with those that could not pick the right shade of paint if you had a gun to their head. Color is a gift, it is an eye, so don't dismiss the importance of choosing the right shade for your home.

The best advice I can give people about how to choose the perfect color for a room if you are unsure, paint giant swatches of color in the room and live with several tones for a week or more until you have seen it in every light.

By giant paint swatch I mean no less than 3'x3' that's right 3 feet by 3 feet, anything less it is very unlikely you will be able to judge what it is going to look like painted throughout the room. Believe me I have worked with "pros" that can't tell from a small brush mark on the wall.

Take your time and study the color, and it's mood most important CAN YOU LIVE WITH IT and love it.

I have been seeing a lot of yellow lately...my immediate reaction is yuck!

(although I live in a ochre color house, which by the way took, 3 months, 24 LARGE swatches, crying Romanian stucco craftsmen, and many drives to various homes around the city to finally land on this brackish yellow)

My point is yellow is a tough color, followed closely by green, (keep mind I am writing this in my green kitchen that took me, "a pro" 2 months to land on and my painter Joe 3 times to get this green just right, which BTW, I nicknamed "Kate Spade" green)

When I was young I was a window dresser in NYC. I had the innate ability to pick perfect beautiful colors for our very grand bank of windows from  tiny paint swatches my very intimidating body building boss handed me every week. I was a color savant...it was the only job I could do well, mind you I was almost eaten alive by an all male staff of very competent and very bitchy/talented queens.

It saved me.

My point here is unless you are a color savant, take your time or better yet hire a pro,in this NEW~DIY world it seems strange to say but in this case it is worth the cost of a consultation. With all the information out there, sometimes mere design mortals think because, we read on our favorite design blog "yellow is in", we will be able to accomplish the design savvy of those that write away in there design offices in the sky.

Remember design is a study, and unless you are ready to commit, or a color savant. Taking on the color of a room, or a house can seem daunting.

My best advice, is great architecture, and stick to white and great furnishings. 

Remember it is a brave choice to choose white these days. 

( more on white paint next time)