PHOTO | ANA LUÍSA PINTO | ♡ HER WORK
Another aspect to consider when choosing a wall color, is you. When designing our spaces, we look at them forgetting to see ourselves against them. It’s enough hassle to coordinate what we see, but what do others see when they visit?
While reading Emily Post’s, , I learned that the coloring of our surroundings can actually detract from our own personal appearance. It makes sense when I think photography. When looking at pictures taken against different backgrounds, the effect is obvious. Some backgrounds drown us out, others clash with our hair or skin colors, while some magically enhance everything about us. Same with wall colors, they are the natural backgrounds to our lives and considering how they effect our personal appearance is worth the effort.
Emily Post focuses on women, but this can be applied to the man of the house if he wishes to conquer his domain. She divides women into categories by hair color. When she first published her book in the early 1900’s, hair color was one of those traits that people were born with. In our day, hair color is a choice– one that can easily change with the seasons so this concept may be less stable today, but nevertheless.
The two major hair categories are blondes and brunettes. These are then subdivided: a blonde: can be the noonday blonde, the moon blonde, the drab blonde or the red-haired blonde. Brunettes can have: white skin, blue eyes, or darker skin and brown eyes. There are obviously many variations, but I’ll stick to this.
BLONDES
THE NOONDAY BLONDE is characterized by white skin, golden hair, cream and coral coloring. Her own colors are best magnified when set to a simple background. Too bright, or too many colors around her can make her look chintzy. Robin’s egg blue is best avoided and the colors that would give most quality to her beauty are: grays, taupes, gray-blues, very gray yellow-greens and certain pallid yellows.
THE MOON BLONDE is naturally pale and surrounding herself with colors like: robin’s egg blue, apple-green, mauve, white, black, steel, emerald and lemon yellow will enhance her. Rooms with decorated with soft romantic feminine vibe seem to suit her best because strong colors can wash her out.
THE DRAB BLONDE, despite the unflattering description, this hair color has the most thoroughbred natural appearance. The drab blonde fits well into the sorts of houses that appeal to men. Monotone backgrounds, deep cream colored walls, dark wood, pine, and a bit of red or orange naturally complement her appearance.
THE RED-HAIRED BLONDE is accentuated in herself, she takes the spotlight and being of the red-orange-copper family, her discord is: red violet, mulberry, or bluish crimson.
BRUNETTES
DARK HAIR, BLUE EYES. The dark haired, fair skinned, blue eyed Irish type of brunette can look equally attractive in the light of all colors. A good design tactic to bring out her eyes, is adding a blue chair or sofa in a shade slightly deeper than her eyes.
IRISH BRUNETTE with skin of snow and watermelon-ice and blue, blue-gray or blue-violet eyes is lucky, all colors suit her even those that despoil any other type. Colors of a less thick quality are more becoming to her coloring. Orchid rather than salmon, apple-green rather than olive, a white room, brilliant colored flowers, loads of watermelon-pink work in her favor.
TRUE BRUNETTE. The entire range of reds and yellows is the best background for a true brunette. Women with black hair and dark skin benefit from a shade of yellow-red, red-yellow or very yellow-green. Following the scale of yellows helps to bring out her beauty while, blues, blue-greens, violets and rooms painted black or gray are not to her benefit.
On the flip side, if your house is painted to perfection, but you now realize that the colors are all wrong in light of your brunette hair. Hold off on the paint rollers. Step into a hair salon, they’ll fix the problem from the other side.
I hope you enjoyed the last three posts on Painting Walls, I started writing them while trying to decide on paint colors for my current project. Emily Post’s advice guided my decision and the result is satisfying. I have a few more things to tweak and I’ll post pictures of my final project. I’d love to know what you think about the colors I chose.
RESOURCES
by Emily Post
Lowes and Designer Paint for paint and painting supplies.
