Accentuating the Positive
Bright, crisp touches bring personality and contrast to a neutral backdrop.
FEBRUARY IN NEW ENGLAND CAN BE synonymous with gray skies and a dreary winter landscape. While you can't control the world outside your windows, you can brighten up your indoor environment with an infusion of home accents in vibrant colors and rich textures.
Take, for example, the home that Frank Roop of Frank Roop Design & Interiors in Boston recently decorated for Eric and Janey Levine, who wanted to use sleek, contemporary, mostly neutral-colored furniture in their new Back Bay condo. "I suggested we do something different with the accents," says Roop. At first, Janey Levine was reluctant to use bold color, "but she's a colorful, bubbly person," Roop says, "and I wanted the home's design to reflect that."
The living room, which strikes a balance between cool, muted background hues and shots of intense accent colors, is a reflection of Roop's overall design strategy. To provide a soothing backdrop, Roop papered one wall with pale-blue hand-cut rectangles and then covered the other three in a celadon-colored paper-backed silk. The living room sofa is upholstered in an inviting silvery sage mohair, the chairs are done in gray flannel, and the chaise lounge is a gunmetal-colored woven fabric.
Roop spiked the room with silk taffeta throw pillows in iridescent lavender, chocolate brown, lemon yellow, and azure blue. "Pillows are a terrific way to change up a room easily," he says. "You could have several pillows with different color cases for each season."
Roop adds, "The neutral background palette makes the crisp citrus accent colors we used really come alive."
The table behind the couch showcases two vintage glass lamps with eye-catching turquoise shades, which give the light shining through them an almost ethereal look.
"People often don't think of doing something other than white lampshades," says Roop, "but changing a lampshade is another easy way to add color to a room."
Curtains can also add a splash of color, and Roop's window treatments in the living room - sheer linen over the windows, with a long cuff of deep blue-green and silvery gray silk from the sill to the floor - introduce a layer of shimmering tones that don't overwhelm the space.
Natural accents add an exotic touch to the design. A Moroccan star-shaped table features a sparkling abalone-shell veneer, and a piece of brilliant-white coral rests on a shiny apple-green tray on the honed-marble coffee table.
The play of intensely bright colors against a cool, neutral backdrop gives the home a high-tech feel. "The color combinations are graphic and sophisticated and meant to catch your eye," says Roop. He compares it to the design of Apple's MP3 player: "The iPod uses bright colors and a cool, graphic design that is modern but warm and accessible at the same time."
In the hallway off the living room, Roop's use of graphic colors is even more intense. A bench upholstered in coral silk taffeta is flanked by floor lamps finished with a veneer of brilliant lime-green abalone shell. Above the bench, a black-and-white signed lithograph by Robert Motherwell is mounted on a wall covered with a paper and coated with high-gloss lacquer. It's a striking combination of colors and textures, a Roop trademark.
"Incorporating different finishes and textures on walls and furniture is a way to offset colors," says Roop. "I never do all matte or all shiny - it's usually a combination of both."
Another example of how Roop balances crisp, modern design with warmth and color is in the breakfast area. A large banquette in off-white linen is dressed up with throw pillows in sky blue and cobalt and is paired with a pedestal table with a chrome base and pale-gray marble top. Above the table, a light fixture sports an oversized silk-taffeta lampshade in stripes of Kelly green, lemon yellow, and white. "It's graphic, modern, and fun," Roop says of the chandelier inspired by fashion. "It reminds me of colors from a dress."
Initially reluctant to use bold colors, Janey Levine now says: "It is the best thing we have ever done. It's a serene environment with punches of color. It catches your eye, but doesn't overwhelm you."
TREND: tech
The colors of personal electronics have given rise to a technology- driven palette. Think metallic gray, shimmering turquoise, and glowing pink. The pairing of silver with aqua in everything from workout clothes to furniture may stem from the cellphone. "The color of cellphones - with their blue screens and silver frames - has driven the popularity of that silver-blue combination," says Aimee Desrosiers, color forecaster for California Paints.
TREND: nature
With colors that include the blues of water, the vivid greens of foliage, and the soft pastels of an early morning sky, a nature-inspired palette suggests re-energizing the soul. "Light is a compelling life source," says Doty Horn, Benjamin Moore's director of color and design, who sees a restful, calming pal- ette as pale blues, sea greens, and misty whites.
Jane Healey is a freelance writer in Melrose. E-mail her at jane@janehealey.com. 