I Ordered It!

AT: About Complementary Colour Schemes and Light and Dark...

Complemetary prairie-scape:

Poor cqindc. She wants to re-cover her couch. I want to re-do my living room which may or may not involve getting the couch slip covered. So, I've been thinking about colour schemes again and I tried to quickly dash off a few thoughts in the comments section. That's what I mean by "poor." I'm sure my attempt at explaining was torturous. So, I'm going to try and be more coherent here.

Complementary Colour Schemes.
These use two colours from opposite sides of the colour wheel. Red and Green, Yellow and Violet, Blue and Orange. Here's one in Red and Green:

I told cqindc that for the room to work, you need to either 1) vary the two colours in tone, ie, one dark, one light or, 2) if they're the same intensity, they need to be slightly off, like a raspberry and green, or a lime green with red. This is an example of (1).

The second thing I mentioned was that one of the colours should dominate, the other should play a secondary role. A dark, bright, warm or shiny colour will always stand out--so you actually need less of it than the pale, light, cool and matte. Or, to put it the other way, you need a LOT of pale, light, cool and matte to balance dark, warm, shiny and bright.

Though Maxwell's 80/20 rule is applied to neutrals (80) and colour (20) I think the "formula" can be expanded this way: 80% pale, light, cool and matte, 20% warm, bright, dark and shiny. (And you can start mixing things up, too, when you look at it this way. Something large, shiny and pale green could be balanced with something small, dark and red as long as there's lots of other things matte as well (like the walls). But I digress.)

Note the white at the top of the walls. It helps lift your eye so it doesn't just stop dead at the red. Now, use your imagination and extend the borders of this photograph...all the walls painted this green. How many more objects will there be in this beautiful red? Not many, I would hope.

aside: The big red chair in the bottom right actually bothers me: with the red curtains I'm afraid the whole room will tip colour-wise to the right unless there's another massive bit of red on the left--but that would be too much red, frankly. Something dark and green on the left would balance--but then the room would loose the light and airy feel the photographer and stylist created--and which I love. So, when living in this room, the big red chair over on the right doesn't work. (Maybe in real life it sits on the left. That's the trouble with getting decorating ideas from tightly cropped highly styled magazine photos.)

So, with an eye-popping red sofa, one needs all that lovely cool green and white to balance. Imagine this in reverse. What if the walls were red and the sofa, ottoman and chair were light green? Would that work? I don't think so. There'd be too much wall--too much red. The green would float away and look lost in such an intensely painted room. (Trust me, I tried. Red walls look best in either very large rooms with lots of natural light and white (high contrast) or with dark cozy highly polished wood furniture. (low contrast). That's why it works better in dining rooms and libraries than living rooms). The point here is that with dark walls and light furniture, the proportions would be off between light and dark.

Here is one of the loveliest examples of balancing the contrast of light and dark I've ever seen.

Everything is light here--except the dark tables and little pops of black on the sofa and floor cushions. This is how to balance the "dark" and still get "light and airy." It's beautifully done, even to the asymmetrical placement of the orange canvas. It shakes up the symmetry--without making the room less formal. (From Carmen's pops of colour in the AT Fall Colours contest.)

A complimentary colour scheme, as contrast is "built in," so to speak, ups the ante when balancing the proportions of light and dark. It is, therefore a bit easier to do (2) above--that is, combining a raspberry with green or a lime with red. Then, you have a hint of the "cool" in the red, or the "warm" in the green. It lessens the contrast slightly--and looks striking, as in this example.

There is so much to love in this picture, I scarcely know where to begin. I could probably write a novel about the rug alone. Here, the red hue dominates. But it's soft--not quite as bold and bright like the first. Note, though, that the walls are, again, light (and very, very high!). There are lots of legs showing, too, which keeps the whole thing elevated and airy.

One thing: Varying the intensities with orange and blue is trickier than with red and green. (Yellow and purple is almost impossible and best left to Jaimie Drake). No matter which way you go on the colour wheel, red-orange and yellow-orange are still warm. Blue-green and blue-violet are both still cool, though blue-violet is a titch closer to having a touch of warm than blue-green.

Just for fun, I toured flickr to get an idea of how to combine blue-violet with orange. Here they are:

Don't quite know what to make of it except that it's clear that if you use blue-violet in its darker manifestations it'll be really dark: with only the palest hint of orange alleviating it all. Probably depressing, if striking. The bottom right is beautiful and bright: Lots of green to bridge the two. But it isn't blue so much as purple, is it?

Here's what happens when we change the dark/light versions of blue and orange. In this case, the orange to rust and the blue to pale blue.
I think it looks like a great colour scheme for a nursery with the pink, though.

So, I think the tack to take with blue and orange is not to vary the intensities so much as to find a third colour to work. CQindc already has brown working for her with the pampasan and her furniture:

See the proportions? Perhaps the sofa should be brown and the poang cushion blue. Use the kimono and pillows to bring in the orange and given what you already have, you'll approximate these proportions here. I think it would be stunning. But again, I'm not sure about your walls being able to carry the dark brown. But with the poang recovered in this incredible ble (though, in reality, it'll be closer to the loveseat, right?) it may just work.

What about introducing yellow into the mix?

Of course, it can get very blotchy and cluttered to have four hues in a small space: and the blues here are much darker than your loveseat (which helps balance out all the brightness of the orange and yellow). Would this medium-dark blue work on the sofa? It might. I'm not sure. You might actually have to add yellow or orange to the walls with curtains to make the sofa work and then I think we're just getting too garish. The dark blue is balancing all that yellow and orange, so to put yellow on the sofa would skew the proportions too much. But, lets change the yellow to cream.


Again, the blue is lighter in tone than the loveseat and the orange has more red in it. But a nubby cream on the sofa and slate blue pillows would bring the room around. In this scenario, I'm wondering if the curtains should be this slatey blue, too?

But since cqindc is thinking of burgandy, I tried that, too.

Obviously, I tried to find images with burgandy, blue and orange. I wasn't terribly successful, as you can see. The oranges are more saffron--or yellow orange--and blue is nearly non-existent--except for the maples. And, I love that image so much, I'm going to suggest cqindc re-cover the poang in blue to balance the blue love seat when she re-covers the couch in the burgandy--and then leave the room alone. (Well, cream curtains in some sort of crewel work in burgandy or rust would be fantastic...in my mind's eye, anyway!) The kimono will work, the pampasan will work. Saffron pillows will bridge the look to the kimono--and we just might have something.

So, to sum up for cqindc: (1) recover the poang cushion in the same blue as the loveseat. Then, either recover the couch in brown and use orange cushions (my favourite) or recover the couch with the burgandy and use saffron coloured pillows. Evaluate what you may need to do with the curtains once you can see what you've got.

(2) cover the couch in a nubby cream, change the curtains to cream, keep everything else the same and use slate blue and red-orange cushions.

Top Ten: Winter

What an interesting idea--a top ten by season. I've seen top ten wardrobe lists before, of course, but not one just for the season. The list at TooFatForFashion is very practical, but also stylish. I'm thinking more along the lines of 10 essential items for winter...even though I may not wear all these items everyday, I couldn't survive winter on the prairies without them. (It also ties in nicely with out inner/outer theme this week).
So, let's see.

1. The Coat. I've talked ad nauseum about The Coat, so I won't go there again, now.

2. Boots. About, oh, 12-15 years ago I got very lucky and found the perfect pair of boots for me. They're calf height, low heeled and round toed. And lined. I know it's rather a fashion faux pas and it makes my legs look short, but I tuck my pant legs into them. There is snow on the ground, after all, and I hate having soggy pant hems.

3. Scarf. Hmmm. I like my pink felt, I wear it wrapped around my neck, under my coat. That way I can pull it up over my nose and mouth if needed. (Did I mention it gets cold here? I'm reading about how cold it was in NY--and I'm looking at pictures of people with coats unzipped. People, if your coat isn't zipped, it isn't cold.)

4. Gloves. Now, these I need. I'm wearing off-white knit gloves with holes in the index finger of one and the thumb is nearly gone in the other.

5. Hat. This is a tough one. Since I wear things in my hair to keep it out of my face, a hat can be a problem. As well, it needs to cover my ears (in which I do NOT wear earrings. Metal+cold=earache.) Right now I have a ratty black toque. I must do better. But all the hats seem to be very silly things with faux braids. What's up with the laplander look anyway?
Good grief, we're 1/2 done and I've only talked about the top layer!

6. Long underwear. I have children who like to go skating and sledding. I have a husband who likes to go on walks. I dream of the day I can afford thin super-miracle-fibre long underwear. Since we don't tend to like hypothermia, we don't actually do these activities below -15C so, I don't need the megatherm long john's. Ultratherm will do. For now, I make do with lots of layering and an old-fashioned "mormon" type pair of thick thermal bottoms. (The best I ever had were from the army. Yes, I had a brief stint in my late teens in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves. Believe me when I say keeping that underwear was more than a fair trade for all the rifle cleaning and boot polishing I had to do. (It's also the place I learned how to iron a shirt properly.)

7. Socks. Oh dear. I think I need support stockings. The current "sport" socks I wear (bought in a six pack from Wallyworld) are leaving nasty indentations on my ankles and lower calf. (Do you really need to know this? Does anyone?) I saw something called "diabetic" socks the last time I was there and I'd like to try them.


8. Proper slippers. This is tough. Since I need support for my feet every second I'm awake (and probably asleep, too, but I'm not wearing shoes to bed!) I just tend to wear my sandals, as I mentioned and then switch to my socks and runners as soon as I've drunk about 1/2 my coffee. But--sometimes even socks and runners aren't warm enough (and I can't curl up on the couch, either) I have "afghan" knee-high slipper socks. They are amazing things. They are knitted (presumably by women in Afghanistan) mucklucks, basically, with a leather sole. I have a beautiful purple pair which I attach to the bottom of my pants with safety pins. These are a close approximation from apathtofreedom(dot)com.

9. A really good moisturizing cream. If scb can include lipstick, I can include this! I like stuff put out by Aveeno.

10. A Colourful Accessory. This is a brilliant idea from TFFF. She cites a brooch--and I like the idea so much, I'd like to implement it. My coat is dark, dark, dark. It needs a bit of a lift of colour. A brooch, if not too precious could say "stylish and hip"--or would it say "grandmother and frumpy?" I don't know. The only person I've ever seen wear a brooch on her coat is my grandmother--and at this time of year it would be a brooch shaped by coloured stones making the outline of a Christmas tree. I liked it, actually. (She would alternate that with a brooch of a three dimensional bell that actually "rang". That one, I didn't like so much.) Interesting idea. Here's a few from a shop called SilverMe in Pasadena CA. What do you think? (click pics to make larger)



PS. This is not theoretical! OMG, I just called the frugal husband over, explained my thinking and we looked through these. Each one is about 1 3/4"--2" big, if "actual size" means anything on a computer screen. His favourite is the middle blue. I'm worried it won't show up that well against a black coat. Then, I saw the pink one and I think I love it. It would show up well--and as I pointed out to him, I could wear it for "Valentine's" as well. He said, "Go ahead and order it. See if it gets here before Christmas." Should I? Will I regret it? Is it too much? maybe the "wreath" makes it too Christmasy? I'd like to wear it all winter. Are they tacky? oooh, I don't know. Take a look at the others there, too, if you like. I'll take suggestions!

Added later: I keep coming back and looking at the one on the left. I just don't know what to think of it. Is it vintagy enough to stand alone after Christmas, yet festive enough for the holidays? And I also like the one on the right, though it really isn't Christmasy at all. And I do wonder about the blue being visible against black. Oh, there are so many pretties--especially in the flowers and vintage style sections. But this is for "everyday" while I run into Canadian Tire and Safeway and the Library. I'm also wondering if they are too small. If they were bigger--say 2 1/2" it would be dead obvious they're "just for fun." and not to be taken seriously, like I'm trying hard (but not hard enough). Nice "conversation starters" though--or maybe everyone will wonder why that crazy lady is so silly and overdressed? Man, this is more anxiety producing than picking paint colours.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

You know, the best rendition of that song I've heard is in that terrible move "Elf."

I actually found it! Who knew Zooey Deschanel could sing?

I have a new winter coat. It's fine. It's not green and it keeps me warm. With temperatures hovering around -20C for the last ten days and an expected high of -13C on Friday (though I'm sure it will seem balmy by then), that's really important.

As some of you may remember I bought it last Sunday. We tried to find a replacement Monday. Tuesday we headed out again.

After three days of trying, we managed to find the Fen-Nelli, at the Bay, not Sears, but I needed to go up one size. It's the first one pictured in this post. We should have walked over to the "plus" section...but well, we'd been in the mall for three hours at that point and everyone was overwhelmed, tired and thirsty. I did go back to the plus section on Thursday--they had maybe three different styles of coats available--mine wasn't among them.

But knowing the exact size I needed, I decided to order it on-line Tuesday night. It's not available. The husband has conceded. He says, now, that the when he saw the coat I'd found on Sunday, he should have said "it was the best coat he'd ever seen." He's complimented me on it twice since then, silly guy.

I finally wore it out to the Christmas play we attended Friday night. And I've been wearing it since. It will be my winter coat until some disaster happens to it, or I shrink out of it. Let's hope when I need another one, the selection out there won't be so dismal.

Christmas is All About Food, Isn't it?

On the first Tuesday of every month, grocery stores go crazy in this town. To lure in customers and encourage bulk buying every single one offers 10 to 15% off one's purchases this day every month.

I do my best to take full advantage of it. I buy the coffee I need for the month, the frozen pizza's, all our meat, canned goods, you get the idea.

To this month's Master Shopping List we're adding scads of butter, flaked coconut, chips: white chocolate, chocolate, butterscotch and dried cranberries.

Yes, I made The Cookie List.

I've also got the menu planned for Christmas Eve:
Tourtiere and Cream Corn,
Salad
Cookies
Milk, and Coffee.

Christmas Day:
Quiche
Salad
Pickle plate


Snacks:
Grapes and Cheese plate
Veggie plate.
Taco Chips smothered in ham, cheese and salsa, toasted in the oven. Served with sour cream and more salsa on the side. (Husband's contribution).

I'll make the pastry for the Quiche and the Tourtiere at the same time--hopefully this week. In fact, I plan to make the whole Tourtiere this week and freeze it. I can fry up the bacon for the quiche ahead of time too, and then all I have to do Christmas Day is whisk a few eggs, toss in the bacon, pour it into the pie crust and eat 30 minutes later. No muss, no fuss.

I think we're doing Christmas Day dinner at my Mom's. If not, I've got a ham in the freezer I can throw into the pot--and I'm not averse to leftovers, either. Last year my Mom got Subway to make up a couple of party platters and we had so much food (all together there's only six of us) we agreed we could have done without the turkey, the trimmings and all the effort it took. (Basting every 15 minutes for three hours or more just isn't as much fun as it used to be!)

I will miss the bacon-wrapped shrimp I used to make as hor's d'oeuvres on Christmas day--but perhaps we can do that for New Year's Day! (oops, I just realised I totally forgot to do New Year's menu. Oh well.)

image from Martha Stewart(dot)com.

Christmas Has Officially Begun!

We have the tree up.

It's a small (about 6 1/2 feet) artificial tree my husband and I purchased 10 years ago--at a garage sale--on our "Honeymoon." Someone had given us a free weekend at a bed and breakfast in a dinky town many miles west of here. Can you get a picture of how small it was if I tell you the only store was the Farmers Union Co-op? But, lucky for us, we landed the weekend of the town-wide garage sale. We had a good time, actually. And we were so smug about buying the Christmas tree in May. We were starting a new family, new traditions, and here we had the tree to go with our brand new made-up life.

The husband is talking about buying a new tree this year, after Christmas, when the sales are on. I don't really care that much about it. I no longer "care" about decorating the tree--I gave it up a few years ago. I string the lights, but I pretty much let the kids hang whatever they want from the "Christmas ornament box" wherever they want. It was just too stressful to treat the tree as my own decorating statement--and besides--who is it for, anyway? If I'm in the decorating mood, I have an artificial garland I attach with 3M hooks all around the arched entrance way to the living room and I "decorate" that. I may or may not do it this year. I'm feeling pretty low-key about it. I always do until about Dec 23rd!

We purchased the flooring for the bathroom on Sunday. It's some kind of miracle thing, called "fibre floor" put out by a company called Tarkett. The floor is backed with an underlay that doesn't need gluing! Just cut it to fit (with a box cutting blade) and put it in place. Nail in the corner round next to the baseboards and it's done. It's amazing. Of course, the floor one puts it on has to be absolutely flat and stain free. So, there's more washing and sanding required (plus, we need to make a small patch) before we can put it down. Meanwhile, the bathroom has thrown up all over the hallway outside it and I've got half a toilet in the entrance hallway and the other half in the dining room/office. The 8' bench from the living room is in here too--I finally took it out so I could move a chair to make room for the tree! I also washed the whole living room floor with vinegar and water, vacuumed the couch, etc, before I let the kids bring the tree upstairs.

I think the last time the house looked decent was when I took those pics for the slide show.

(image from Guide2Christmas.com)

Bathroom: Second Thoughts

The floor is sanded. It was a heroic effort on the husband's part. We have to clean the walls and the side of the tub and re-install the toilet flange before we can put down the floor. I have purchased a new toilet. (Boy, I never thought I'd find buying anything for the house boring but choosing a toilet is dull, dull, dull). Yep, that's the company pic of the one we bought.

But the vinyl floor tiles we purchased?

Bad idea.

My husband was concerned about water seeping through the cracks. As we were reading up on installation we discovered he's right to be worried. So, instead of installing the tile tomorrow, we're going shopping for linoleum--or sheet vinyl, whatever you want to call it.

I wouldn't mind ceramic tile, small hexagonal tiles in dark, dark blue and white, but we don't know how to handle the threshold from the hardwood in the hallway to the bathroom floor. We just don't have any room to maneuver. (We even looked into cork for about 5 minutes until we realised that it's about 3/8ths of an inch thick. The husband figures we have about 1/8th of an inch--unless, of course, we take out the underlayment (which I've always thought was the sub-floor, but it's not. The sub-floor really is the diagonal bits we can see from the other side on the "ceiling" of the basement and runs the entire length and width of the house) and put in a newer, thinner one (if that's even possible). And underlayment isn't quite as DIY friendly as we'd prefer.

Yep. Hostages to the house. That's what we are.

And my daughter wants us to put up the Christmas tree tomorrow.