Let's Talk (paint) Color

While this episode began as an interview based on a book about kitchens, it became something much more - A treatise about how we live in our homes, how to make a kitchen your own in ways which acknowledge who you are, how you live and what you love. Sophie Donelson is a former Editor-in- Chief of House Beautiful Magazine. She is a design journalist, speaker, and strategist whose work celebrates the connection between people and their homes. Her 2023 book Uncommon Kitchens: A Revolutionary Approach to the Most Popular Room in the House is where our conversation starts. Sophie's humanistic and forgiving approach to design resonates. Packed with helpful ideas about how to consider your kitchen design she showcases tens of unique kitchens created by designers for themselves and their clients and by others as well. When a conversation veers towards describing some colors as "the squeeze of lemon on a fishy pasta", compares matching upper and lower kitchen cabinets to attaching one's blouse to their underwear and compares the size of some kitchen islands to Escalades you know you're in for a ride.

What do jazz, communism, Dracula and wallpaper have in common? Tune into this episode to hear how they all converge. My guest is Stefan Ormenisan, the founder and creative director of one of the most unique lifestyle brands, Mind the Gap. Conceived in Transylvania and sold all over the world, MTG offers wallpapers and textile patterns spun from tales of folklore and global cultures. Their products are a color lovers dream. Learn how this amazing company got off the ground and became who they are today. When a company's leader talks about connecting with people's souls, you know you're onto a stunningly singular business ethos.

Ever walk into an art museum and find yourself just as mesmerized and transported by the color of the exhibition walls as you were by the art? Well, that wouldn't have been the ultimate goal of the exhibit designers but it does speak to the power of wall paint color, even in a museum setting. My guest in this episode is Kathleen Morris, the Director of Collections and Exhibitions at The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA and the Curator of Decorative Arts there, as well. Kathy shares her decades of experience helming a team of staff and freelance professionals whose jobs it is to create the ultimate museum experience. One of her most powerful tools is wall color. Learn what factors they consider when choosing wall colors for an exihibit, what colors often work well with which kind of art and hear how the public reacts to their choices. It's a fascinating conversation and one which should send you high tailing it to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.

Ever walk into an art museum and find yourself just as mesmerized and transported by the color of the exhibition walls as you were by the art? Well, that wouldn't have been the ultimate goal of the exhibit designers but it does speak to the power of wall paint color, even in a museum setting. My guest in this episode is Kathleen Morris, the Director of Collections and Exhibitions at The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA and the Curator of Decorative Arts there, as well. Kathy shares her decades of experience helming a team of staff and freelance professionals whose jobs it is to create the ultimate museum experience. One of her most powerful tools is wall color. Learn what factors they consider when choosing wall colors for an exihibit, what colors often work well with which kind of art and hear how the public reacts to their choices. It's a fascinating conversation and one which should send you high tailing it to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.

Think there's nothing more to a color than whether it's blue, red or green? If so, hold onto your hat. On this, the first episode of our new interview based format, Architectural Color Consultant Amy Krane introduces our listeners to trained Color Consultant and Interior Designer, Ellen Divers, who has spent the better part of the last decade studying how humans perceive color. Her findings will change the way you choose colors for your space forever.

There are so many functional and aesthetic factors to consider when designing color for non-residential interiors. Your color choices must support a range of branding, comfort, productivity, and /or way finding goals, to name a few. Tens, hundreds or thousands of people may be users of this space and the color decision makers can be a plurality of people. Done well you can soothe an anxious patient, inspire a creative maker or focus a leader. The list goes on... All achieved by the thoughtful and educated application of good color.

Is the modern farmhouse style exterior a trend or is it more entrenched in our collective mind as the epitome of what "home" is now? What are the architectural elements that define the modern farmhouse? Why did it come about and can we use those elements on other exterior house styles? We discuss this and more. The modern farmhouse. Are you yay or nay?

Join Amy Woolf & Amy Krane ( and our dogs) begin an engaging conversation which will span multiple episodes about bringing color into your decor. We never stray too far from wall color which rears its head in almost every facet of the conversation. Should your wall and decor color tie into the architectural style of your home? Should you repeat an interior color on the exterior? How about how different should each room be? We cover all of this and more! Tune in.

Sometimes neglected, your basement might get the least love in your house but it doesn't have to be that way. Paint color is the final touch but before that we need to think about the fundamentals when designing this room. What are you going to be doing down there? What's your floor and lighting all about? Are you thinking about finally finishing your basement? We walk you through it all the way to the finish line with paint color!

Putting a paint color on your walls is deeply satisfying but if you want to kick it up another notch (or 10) add pattern to color and you've got the recipe for extraordinary walls. In this episode the Amys talk all things wallpaper. Where can you put it? How do you use it? What patterns are hot right now? Who is selling unique and stunning prints? Tune in to hear us talk wallpaper. And thanks for listening.

Putting a paint color on your walls is deeply satisfying but if you want to kick it up another notch (or 10) add pattern to color and you've got the recipe for extraordinary walls. This episode the Amys talk wallpaper. Where can you put it? How do you use it? What patterns are hot right now? Who is selling unique and stunning prints? Tune in to hear us talk all things wallpaper.

Specifying exterior color for multi- family dwellings is a wholly different animal than for single family homes. The ownership, the goals, the sheer size of the complexes offer a completely different set of challenges. When done right the outcome can be stunning, increasing property values and the joy of home ownership. Proper color application for built environments enhances the human experience. Join Amy and Amy as they discuss the ins and outs of how to do it.

In this episode we return to the important subject of exterior house color but examine it on a more granular level with an eye towards the different architectural styles prevalent in the United States. How was the earliest house paint created and how did that influence the types of colors available to use? What types of color palettes were the norm for different architectural styles historically and has that evolved over the centuries? Tune in to hear more color wisdom from Amy Krane & Amy Woolf.

Every year around this time, the major paint brands launch their Color of the Year. It's a marketing event that's awaited by many, and ignored by others. The two Amys discuss the newest COTY's. How relevant are these? What do choices like these mean? And do we even like them? We let you in on how we've used colors like these in the past and how you can too. All this with a lot of good cheer thrown in for good measure.

So you have a space that has little or no natural light. What to do? Complain to all that will listen, ignore the situation, paint it white? No, no, NO! That's the MOST common mistake. Tune in to hear how to handle a dark room so that it does not end up a room ignored or reviled.

Choosing paint color for a child's bedroom, be it a toddler or a teenager, poses a somewhat different set of considerations than for adults. Should they be involved in this choice or not and what if they are? Certainly most kids gravitate towards different kinds of colors than many adults do. Tune in to find out how to tackle paint color for kid's bedrooms with Architectural Color Consultants Amy Woolf & Amy Krane.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Oh, hi! We were just catching some shut eye. Ok, no we weren't, but in this episode we’re discussing appropriate colors to paint a bedroom for adults. What's the goal? For all the activities we conduct in a bedroom the number one is to foster sleep so functional color is paramount. We all know how grumpy we can get without the proper rest. So tune in to hear the how-to on choosing bedroom colors.

In this episode Amy and Amy explore how each landed in the world of color. Coming from another profession then having an "aha" moment directed each of them towards Architectural Color Consulting. This happened at different times in their lives but was a second career for both. Coincidentally, each studied Economics and Business in college but also had a lifelong interest in fine art: studying it, admiring it and creating it. From New York City to Sarasota Fl, from Upstate NY to Western MA, these women followed their passion and ended up in the same colorful place.

Who you are choosing paint colors for should play an important role in what you pick. If you're planning to sell your home or rent it out for short term rentals your goal is to appeal to others. What's the secret to making it work? Tune in to hear color experts Amy Woolf and Amy Krane let loose their tried and true tips for choosing paint colors to sell your home.

Tackling paint colors for a whole house at once might seem intimidating. There are so many things to consider and a lot of false information out there. Where and how to start is the big question. This episode is your primer, Color 101 : how to choose a color palette for your whole interior. We walk you through what not to do, what to consider and how to tie the colors together.