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Color your world
 Patricia Mahler, president of Home & Comfort Interiors, describes the effect of different patterns and textures on a room, as well as trendy home colors, at a presentation sponsored by the Seekonk Public Library Friends Group. (Staff photo by Mike George)
Top Headlines “In” this year for home decor is “calming, peaceful” wall colors and comfort accents, a way to provide an oasis to retreat to with all that’s going on in the world right now, said Patricia Mahler, president of Home & Comfort Interiors based in Rumford. Mahler recently spoke about the hot decorating colors for the coming year in a presentation sponsored by the Seekonk Public Library’s Friends Group. Being touted this year are gray-based paints making for softer colors, she said. “People are working harder, longer days, we have a war, an election going on, an unstable economy ... we need peace when we go home,” Mahler said. The slate of new home interior colors each year is determined by a color-marketing group, comprised of people who check out fashion shows in Milan, attend the famous home shows in Germany and even go to Detroit to view the color of the vehicles coming off the line for the coming year (the car color for ‘08 is white), she said. “They talk about what trends are going on in the world” in deciding a palette of colors, she said of the industry color group. Benjamin Moore, one of the paint lines she uses in her business, has a collection with 18 new colors this year, all gray-based. But grayer, doesn’t mean drabber. She points to a page of a paint book which shows a dining room with “everlasting,” a type of cream color on the walls and “branchport brown,” a chocolate, ceiling. The “pop-out” color in the room is a “misted fern” which is only reflected in the patterns of the glasses and dishes set on the table and a niche within the brightly-lit room for a modern, contemporary look. “They have used quiet colors. It’s very clean.” There’s little artwork. The green fern color is picked up in potted plants in a foyer, or adjoining hallway, which can be seen from the dining room. “Tying in and relating” items to one another is what makes a look, Mahler said. The chocolate ceiling, in this case, ties into the dark-colored table and paler shades of brown in the floor. Comfortable materials, like a tight-woven chenille fabric for the chairs in a neutral color with hints of brown, ties in the colors of the walls, the floor, ceiling and table. She chose a woven window treatment for additional texture. Antiques would not likely work in such a room, they have to be “in their own environment,” Mahler said. They can sometimes be worked in, say a bench that’s not right in the room, but perhaps visible from the room in an attached hallway. Another picture shows a living room with walls painted in “cork,” a gold color, with decorative wooden moldings around windows and a fireplace mantle a creamy “lemon ice,” in a scenario that uses amber and warm colors, gold and copper. Contrasting color is provided in a “black raspberry” which is tied in with a leather couch of that color and a framed fabric pattern over the mantle. While people might think beige and gray are boring colors, Mahler said, other colors can be brought into a room through accents; one that she showed introduced green glass and reflective accents, including a side table with a sea-green glass top. “How many people have a beige couch and beige rug?” she said. Think of all of the colors that can be used in such a room. “Beige doesn’t have to be boring,” Mahler said, noting one scenario which brought in chocolate and soft aquamarine colors in the form of plates displayed on a wall and toss pillows. Furry throws, pillows and other “textural” things can also add warmth to a room. And shag is back, she said, especially in area rugs. Mahler noted that while laying out a room, make sure all of the front legs of your seating is on an area rug. She suggested that in open layouts, say a living room that opens to a dining room, one room should “relate” to the other. Use the same color on the walls of both, though one can be a different hue of the same color. Also, “think about the surfaces you’re using.” A “flat” paint color can be used, but using a “satin” or “eggshell” can give a sheen to the walls and “give more warmth to the room.” “Don’t ever use semi-gloss,” Mahler said. “You can see yourself in it.” Dark-colored ceilings may not be for everyone, especially if it’s a small or dark room, she said. Mahler said that what she has done with ceilings in smaller spaces is used white ceiling paint tinted with the color of the walls. “It’s wonderful for slanted ceilings — it gets rid of angles. But you can only use so many colors when tinting ceilings, like golds, beiges and blues,” she said. If you ever decide to repaint kitchen cabinets, be prepared for a lot of work. You have to use a cleanser to get out the grease, then sand, then prime — and sometimes it can take two coats of primer. Then there’s at least two coats of oil-based paint to be applied, Mahler said. In bathrooms, the trend is “neutral, neutral, neutral,” with textures and tile. In window treatments, luxurious drapes are at the forefront. “It’s no longer a curtain in the window,” Mahler said. If you’re considering changing window treatments, she said, just remember to always put a blind or shade in south-facing windows because otherwise the intense sun exposure will fade everything, from furniture to carpet. On average, in the decorating world, and if you can afford it, a room should be painted every 7 years based on wear and tear and style changes, Mahler said.
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