Friday, August 19, 2016

Why Exterior Color Doesn't Always Travel

A past client moved from their much loved family home, not by their own choosing.  Circumstances beyond their control, poof, they're in a new city, new home.  Off I went, creating a new garden for them, garden #2.
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It was good being with them again, though this time, there was the gift of simply bearing witness, in memory of their previous home, turning the page, in joy, creating their new garden. Counterintuitively, home #2, regardless of circumstance, absolutely one of the happiest houses I've been in.  Partly, I think, from her use of the color salmon in many of their antique rugs, and on the walls.
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First garden I designed for them landed on the cover of a magazine, This Old House, here.
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Enough 'happy', remembering her salmon, and how it made me feel, I called her recently asking for the paint color.  The house we've moved into is about the same age as theirs, ca. 1900.  Our dining room similar in scale to, below.  Alas, it is a deep red, nice/good, but not for us.  I'm thinking her happy salmon, for our dining room.  A north facing room, it can do with brightening.




Another good salmon, below.  Salmon is a hard color to get right.  Which continent and where on the continent you live affects salmon.  A client outside Chicago loves salmon, alas it's not for her front door, the bricks won't work with it.

mnswick:
“ Good morning from Charleston!
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Pics, above, here.
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Notice the drip irrigation tubing, above?  Subtle, well done.  From the front door, I must know who you are.  Yes, I want to go inside, above.  Salmon in both pics, above, are not the same.
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Client, when I called her, said she needed me to come back, late this fall.  I will arrange for Beloved to tag along.  Their home is about equally west in Georgia, as ours is east, just below an imaginary middle Georgia line.  Important to note because our sky & sun & red clay are equal in their impact on salmon.  Studying historic landscapes across Europe for so many years, it's another thing I learned, sideways, exact colors don't always translate well to new locales.  Allowances must be made.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T

4 comments:

  1. Sometimes it doesn't carry from one house to another in the same zip code. I loved our yellow walls in our last house, Filtered Sun by Valspar. Tried it in sample patches in this house and it faded away. Here, more saturation is needed ... Windham Cream is perfect.

    Now you are making me want to paint something salmon.

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  2. Thank you for promoting Parisienne Farmgirl on your sidebar! I do really appreciate it!
    Blessings to you.

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  3. Oh Tara, Salmon was my Mom's favorite. I remember her bringing home a pair of Coral Lamps from Neiman Marcus, and how happy she was.
    My Mother in Law ordered Red carpet. She called me crying, in the morning the sunrise made the entire room PINK.
    Would love to hear your speeches. yvonne

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  4. LOVE salmon. Jumped over to the wild side and painted my living room BM Adobe Dust. It's just muddy enough not to come across "too sweet" and it looks fabulous with my citron-yellow, Bailey and Griffen documentary fabric that's covered with peonies.
    I've been reading old posts & I'm taking the challenge of picturing my 2-story brick traditional w/ NO foundation plantings! Horrors (my mother-in-law would say)! Can't wait!

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