by Paula M. Bodah
bold color can give your home a unique look and feel
THE EARTHY NEUTRALS of the New Mexico landscape, those warm taupes and terracottas, tans and golds, just seem so right in our living spaces. But don’t you sometimes long to break out of the neutral mold? Maybe go a bit wild with some bold color beyond the occasional throw pillow or vivid piece of art? Design professionals agree that committing to color can feel like a bi g step. “A lot of people worry that they’ll get tired o f a color or that it will go out of style,” says designer Carol Ware.
There are ways to ward off that danger says Ware, who with her husband, architect Vahid Mojarrab, owns the Santa Fe-based firm WAMO Studio. The design pros advise clients to use bright color as an accent, not as the main event. For one couple’s home, Ware and Mojarrab started with a neutral backdrop. “In some homes, you might go with colorful accent walls,” Ware explains, “but our clients are art collectors, and we didn’t want large color fields that would take the focus off the art.”
Instead, they kept all the large surfaces neutral. Off-white walls would look right at home in an art gallery, while the kitchen cabinetry and the burnished concrete floors are a warm brown. Then, pulling colors from the couple’s extensive art collection by local artists, they brought in almost every color of the rainbow, starting with a glossy orange that frames all the windows. “It’s intense and vibrant and shiny, almost like an automobile paint,” Ware says. To complement the orange, they outfitted the furniture in lime green, deep purple, and sky and cobalt blues.
For contractor Kevin Evans of Albuquerque’s Annex General Contracting, accent walls were the way to go in his client’s classic 1950s pueblo-style home. Here, too, neutrals play a prominent role, but every room has a major punch of burnt orange. The foyer, kitchen and dining room each sport an entire wall painted the sunset-evoking color, while the living room has a hefty dose of orange accents, and the bathroom has an orange floor and accent tiles. “Don’t go overboard,” Evans advises. Used as an accent, color infuses a home with personality. “It’s a happy place,” Evans says about his client’s home. “You feel good when you’re there.”
Albuquerque-based interior designer Jeannette Salazar also opted for color as an accent against a backdrop of neutrals for her client’s home, but in this case, that translated to bold green kitchen cabinets and colorful tile accents in the kitchen and bathrooms. “In any space, I recommend choosing one thing—a piece of furniture, one wall or, in this case, the kitchen cabinets—to add that bold color,” she says.
Aim for consistency throughout the home, the pros suggest. Salazar kept the backsplashes in the kitchen and all three bathrooms in a similar palette and style with slight variations. Evans used the same burnt orange paint in each room of his client’s home, while Ware and Mojarrab employed the glossy orange window framing to tie the rooms of their clients’ home together.
And if you’re not quite ready to add that much punch to your main living spaces, go bold with a smaller space, like a powder room or a TV room. Mojarrab says, “If we can get a client excited about color in one small space, then a lightbulb goes on, and they start to look for other places where they can add some excitement.”
