How to use Devine's Color Palettes
05/13/2009 09:45 PM by Gretchen Schauffler
Our designer Trend-proof Color Collection™ is truly trend-proof. How do I know this? Because when I went to Ireland four years ago to launch these colors, they were the perfect compliment to a 200-year-old wall tapestry. Their time-travel versatility was evident—I was not around 200 years ago, but these colors were. These trend-proof 128 colors are eternal works of art that allow your walls to become a cohesive background for colors to come and go. The way I placed each color in each family lets you view our colors in a group that helps your eyes differentiate between the colors you want and the colors you don’t want.
And you know what else I know? This makes them mistake-proof. When you see these colors you will recognize them as colors that have been woven, painted, sculpted, and birthed throughout nature, art, and history. Because they exist in oil paintings, rugs, fabrics, cherry wood, evening sunsets, and morning sunrises, you already know them. When you already know something, you make less mistakes. It is the practical side of women that wants paint colors that make it easy to decide upon, and make it easy to happen. We want paint colors to look right the first time, and why not? These colors have their own voice—tried and true—and the minute you use the palettes in your home they will speak louder than words.
When you are ready to choose wall colors, the first step is to buy our Trend-Proof Color Collection™ paint palettes. All the things you have in your home need a background to pull them together as a beautiful collage, not a crazy-quilt. These trend-proof 128 colors are eternal works of art that allow your walls to become a cohesive background for colors to come and go. The way I placed each color in each family lets you view our colors in a group that helps your eyes differentiate between the colors you want and the colors you don’t want.
Place the Devine Color Trend-Proof palette in front of you, lay out all the color pages in one spot where you can see most of the wood colors and area rugs in your home. Bring around samples of your fabrics (pillows or swatch) and art pieces from the walls. What you should be staring at is a little color capsule of your home where you can see all the colors together.
The way the colors are laid out on the palette page guides you to pick out colors easily for all kinds of decor. Start with the lightest page Pebbles and Cream and pick 2-3 colors that look great with your wood colors and you favorite fabrics.
Do this with each page. FORCE YOURSELF… MAKE A LIST! You will see, not only the green you want, but also all kinds of other color possibilities you’d never thought about. You may end up with blues you never thought would work. At the end you will end up with many great colors that are beautiful and either confirm what you thought or give you a new color perspective you didn’t previously have.
Narrow it down like you would with clothes in a dressing room, and you’ll be able to coordinate your entire home in a day!
Divide the colors into different outfits. Organize the colors like shirts and skirts that look good with each other (you have already confirmed the look good with your things). Ask yourself, would you wear this shirt with this skirt? See which colors can flip back and forth between outfits.
These are real colors, made with the real paint. You get to see their “actual” true depth. The paint palettes are finger-daubed. Rub the color and feel the quality of the paint. These are the only paint palettes in the paint industry like it. They are superior to small, lonely paint chips because chips viewed in isolation. These paint palettes will show you exactly which ones belong in your home and which ones do not!. I launched my paint line in the middle of a suburban crisis. Women were spending hours of sleepless nights not knowing what colors to paint their walls. Devine Color began to satisfy the real paint needs of women with mistake-proof colors, eco-friendly paint pouch samples, and the wisdom of a woman inside every paint can. They began to save time, be right about color, and enjoy themselves in the process – what you would naturally expect from great makeup, or a great recipe. Theses color collections are all meant to work together to make you successful at choosing the right colors for your home instantly while painting with less stress, mess, and work.
Read Testing Paint Colors Do’s and Don’ts
Comment [65]
Series: Why paint color is the most important color. Reason #3: Groups EVERYTHING together
03/26/2009 01:03 PM by Gretchen Schauffler
In a perfect home (and I do acknowledge that there are a lucky few) we would all live like this: Every room is perfectly outfitted. You update these rooms with new fabrics, countertops, carpet, and accessories every couple of years and, when you tire of an old thing, it magically leaves your home and gets replaced by a newer, better, more desirable thing. Everything looks put together, beautiful, and just the way you would want it.
But most of our homes are full of keepsakes, things we need, things we can’t get rid of, and things we even can’t explain—so, in other words—these things do not match and are not updated all at the same time. The new sofa in the living room is not from the same era as the dining room set you bought when you first got married. The Oak floors don’t match the new Cherry trendy cabinets. Your great-grandmother’s Victorian vanity clashes with your Scandinavian bedroom set.
So how do you make all the things you have look good together, let alone different rooms with different purposes, furniture, and styles?
The ONE THING that can make it all look like a pretty picture is wall paint. Weave wall colors through out your home and watch how things connect, look updated, and feel new with a stroke of a brush. The following is a great example of color pulling together a home with unapologetic history, character, and personality.
Using colors like Devine Glass, Almond, Date, or Steamer bring out the red splashes in the rooms, creates a fresh look for the whites, and allows the rooms to connect. Doing a sultry slate blue on the ceiling such as Devine Rain, Storm, Shark, or Cest La Vie will add to the cool background!
Turning your attention to purple reds, purple neutrals, and mandarin wood tones, using colors like Devine Bavarian, Merlot, Pinot, or Twilight. Pair these up with the richness of Devine Spice, Cafe, or Tamarind
If it’s neutrals you like, then splash rich colors like Devine Latte, Filbert, Mocha, Cocoa, Cafe, Elephant, Persian, or Truffle. Spread these neutral colors from light to dark and create wonderful depth for the entire home.
So why didn’t I use red for any of the walls? Red is the common POP ACCENT in each room. These two rooms have lots of different variations of red (bright red accents, purple reds in pillows, earthy reds in art, orange reds in landscapes) not just one. Choosing one of the reds for the walls would create too much favoritism. Enhancing all the reds through a contrasting or complimentary color creates unity and better balance between rooms. I certainly can use red as a wall color like Devine Cayenne, Saffron, or Toucan in a powder room, guest room, or office and carry yet another great red POP ACCENT through out the home!
Comment [3]
Series: Why paint color is the most important color. Reason #2: It has a JOB
03/20/2009 03:57 PM by Gretchen Schauffler
You are very familiar with everyday hard working colors whose job it is to communicate specific warnings like RED-STOP SIGN or ORANGE-TRAFFIC CONE. You are also familiar with beautiful color whose job is to make things prettier, like lip color. The world is divided between colors that have a job to do and colors that don’t do a thing. Wall color has a BIG job to do: to make every color in your home, floors, counter tops, carpet, fabrics, and pictures look more beautiful. Think how lip color is meant to make lips and faces look healthier and more beautiful. There are a lot of colors that don’t so the lipstick industry doesn’t waste time in making them. Neither do I.
The Big Job:
Make floors, cabinets, and all wood hard surfaces look rich, warm and soft.
Bring out multiple colors in stone, brick, granite, and all natural hard surfaces.
Neutralize unattractive colors.
Coordinate out-dated fabrics and colors with new and improved fabrics and colors.
Allow for flowers and small accessories come and go.
Make walls look beautiful in family photographs.
Create visual climates—warm, hot, passionate, sophisticated, cool, breeze, light, soft, strong, bold, earthy, informal, smooth, vibrant.
Be personal but indisputably beautiful.
Make a Pile:
Take an inspirational pillow, swatch of fabric, or painting within in the home. Place it on a counter top or sofa where you can see other surfaces, floors, and cabinets…you may have to do this in several areas in the home. Lay down each of our Trend-proof paint palette pages next to the pile. Write down colors from each page that look good with the pile. “Literally”—walk around your house and write down the colors that look good with your pile(s). Let’s say that you have these two fabrics in your home that don’t have any colors in common. Choose colors that make both fabrics look good. Trust me you will find them in our paint line; I have NO navy blue lipsticks!
Edit the List:
Once you have a list of colors, imagine one of the colors being 50% of the home. The color doesn’t have to be in everything. It has to compliment everything. It may be a yellow that is present in most things and looks good with non-yellow things. After you do that, add accent colors and you will have personal beautiful colors that do their job. United the stand, divided they fall.
This is how you make floors, cabinets, and all wood hard surfaces look rich, warm and soft, bring out multiple colors in stone, brick, granite all natural hard surfaces, neutralize unattractive colors, coordinates out-dated fabrics and colors with new fabrics and colors, allow for flowers and small accessories come and go, make walls look beautiful in family photographs, create a visual climate and be personal but indisputably beautiful.
It’s not a lot to ask from Devine Color. It’s how I made the colors to work and everyone who paints with them knows exactly what I’m talking about.
Comment [2]
SERIES: Why paint color is the most important color. Reason #1: It's BIG...
02/23/2009 05:21 PM by Gretchen Schauffler
After color consulting for so long, working in million-dollar mansions and thousand-dollar ranch homes, I can truly say I believe paint color is the do or die decision, or the make-it or break-it factor that determines how you are going to feel about your home. It’s the single most important ingredient when mixing up a beautiful environment.
Why? because it’s the biggest.
Wait, you don’t believe me? Let me see if I can put it into perspective. Think of paint color as the “sky color” in your home. Lets say paint color is the sky and your stuff is a landscape. Although the landscape remains the same, as the sky changes color throughout the day, so do the colors in the landscape. In the same way that the sky color truly determines the colors in a landscape, paint colors truly determine the colors in your room.
You can have a new beautiful linen-colored sofa in the middle of a painted room and have it look like a dirty sock or an old linen-colored sofa in the middle of a painted room looking like a crisp and cool summer suit. Your oak cabinets can make your kitchen look like halloween year-round or they can look like “tuscan” sunshine depending on the wall color.
There is more… paint colors, just like the sky, affect how you feel. Sunny days affect your mood differently than rainy days. Paint color can make a home “feel” really good or bad, boring or exciting—you get the idea. So as an advocate of feeling good, I suggest you take the business of paint color seriously.
The next time you look at your walls think of a sky and ask yourself what kind of mood are you living with and how does your landscape look…
Really…nail the right paint color and the right paint finish sheen because, it’s really, really important for your to feel right and your home to look beautiful!
Comment [19]
What to look for when you are looking at color
02/07/2009 11:17 AM by Gretchen Schauffler
Color and light come wrapped up in a rainbow package (blue, red, yellow, green, orange, purple). Obvious rainbow colors are easy to see—like with our Valley Vineyards & Spices. It is a collection of beautiful reds. Everyone can see that these colors are red. The differences among the reds are a result of other colors that “reflect” from the “obvious” red, changing the red towards blue, orange, yellow, green, or purple. This is how blue-reds, orange-reds, burnt-reds, purple-reds become burgundy, maroon, crimson, rust, or cherry. As an artist, I use this to my advantage and create colors with purposeful variations that you can manipulate to fit your specific color needs.
For example: Devine Bordeaux is an “obvious” rainbow red color. It also has a blue reflection, making it a blue-red. Devine Blush is red with an orange reflection, making it an red-orange. You get the picture. In the case of Devine Bordeaux, the obvious rainbow color is easy to see. This makes comparisons between red variations easier to see and decisions easier to make.
Where it gets really tricky is with the more nebulous colors: taupes, beiges, grays—full of hue ambiguity and environmental mystery. In these shades of paint colors not only are the obvious rainbow colors hard to see (there is one—really), but other colors that might be “reflect” are even harder to detect making distinctions between neutral variations nearly impossible to the human eye. Not so with our Devine colors!
Our Devine Color neutrals make it easier for you. If you can’t see the “obvious” rainbow color right away in a Devine Color neutral, start deducting! For example: Devine Shell is not orange, red, purple, or blue, so it’s either green or yellow. If you can see that it has more yellow than green, then you know that it’s a yellow neutral with green reflections. As a yellow-green it will look great with a wide range of colors.
Take a look at Devine Stone. Devine Stone will look more red with certain fabrics, and more green with others. You get the picture. This is why I believe that each Devine Color has the potential to make your room exactly the way you imagine it because it has endless color possibilities you can see and understand.
Training the eye to look for the rainbow will become easier as you practice this discipline. Read About Our Neutrals. If you want more read my book Devine Color: When Color Sings
About our Designer Trend-Proof Colors
01/01/2009 12:30 AM by Gretchen Schauffler
With only six colors in the rainbow mankind searches constantly through hundreds of variations for the right one. We have the right ones for walls. Just like navy blue should not be a lipstick color, there are many color variations that shouldn’t be on walls.
It is the practical side of women that wants paint colors that make it easy to decide upon, and make it easy to happen. We want paint colors to look right the first time, and why not? These colors have their own voice—tried and true—and the minute you use the palettes in your home they will speak louder than words.
TREND-PROOF COLOR COLLECTION
Our designer Trend-proof Color Collection™ is truly trend-proof. How do I know this? Because when I went to Ireland four years ago to launch these colors, they were the perfect compliment to a 200-year-old wall tapestry. Their time-travel versatility was evident—I was not around 200 years ago, but these colors were. These trend-proof 128 colors are eternal works of art that allow your walls to become a cohesive background for colors to come and go. The way I placed each color in each family lets you view our colors in a group that helps your eyes differentiate between the colors you want and the colors you don’t want.
And you know what else I know? This makes them mistake-proof. When you see these colors you will recognize them as colors that have been woven, painted, sculpted, and birthed throughout nature, art, and history. Because they exist in oil paintings, rugs, fabrics, cherry wood, evening sunsets, and morning sunrises, you already know them. When you already know something, you make less mistakes.
READ: HOW TO USE OUR DEVINE COLOR PALETTE TO GET THE PERFECT COLOR YOU WANT
It all starts with our neutral paint colors. They set the tone so that other colors can be beautifully featured—like how the soft sandy shores and skin tones in this Mary Cassatt painting makes the reds, whites, blacks, and blues feel “at home” on the canvas.
We have lots of neutrals to make your other colors feel at home. Our neutral colors can cover 50% of your home’s wall and ceiling surfaces allowing other saturated colors to look like perfect outfits. We call our neutral paint palettes our “skin colors” because like skin, these paint colors are the foundation to build upon the rest of your wall colors. As we all know, someone with fair skin looks good in a red that someone with olive skin cannot wear. We have the perfect “reds” for the perfect “skin” you choose.
Devine Color reds, yellows, oranges, greens, purples, whites, blacks, and blues mix and match together beautifully for the look you want.
Our reds range from clay to crimson like those found in Raku pottery, and our greens spread themselves out like seasonal landscapes ranging from early spring leaves to deep winter needles.
The Devine Color Trend-proof Color Collection™ includes 3 neutral color palette pages, 6 saturated color palette pages, and 2 theme palette pages for a total of 127 colors.
Read more on our blog about each color family starting with
OUR NEUTRAL COLOR PALETTES.
Comment [10]
About our Designer 'Green' Color Collection
01/01/2009 12:29 AM by Gretchen Schauffler
devinegreen: FLORA FAUNA COLOR COLLECTION
Our 42 designer ‘Green’ color collection, mixed in our 99% VOC FREE devinegreen: Breathable Wall Finish brings color luxury to a ‘Green’ market that is defined by materials that are recycled, improve air quality, and are energy efficient. These colors are rich and highly saturated while maintaining a very LOW VOC value. The number generally accepted for a low-VOC paint is less than 50 grams per liter; a zero-VOC paint has fewer than 5 grams per liter. (All Devine Color products are less than 50 and devinegreen is only 1.4. grams per liter)
With colors like devinegreen: Flamingo™, devinegreen: Lobster™, and devinegreen: Poodle™, you get freshness with a sense of whimsy. Paired up with colors like devinegreen: Seastar™, Jay™, and Impala™, you can go from modern, to “retro”, to just plain fun! Devinegreen: Rhino™ is a stunning “warm black” (look for Rhino in our new Semi-Smooth Gloss Finish, trim, doors, and cabinet paint).
devinegreen: Lobster is a perfect red lobster tail.
devinegreen: Impala™, devinegreen: Bison™, and devinegreen: Lion™ are warm chocolates over caramel layers.
devinegreen: Chicken™, devinegreen: Poppy™, and devinegreen: Coyote™ are Southern, earthy yellows.
devinegreen: Jasmine™, devinegreen: Chameleon™, and devinegreen: Gosling™ are smokey sunset purples. devinegreen: Gosling™ is also a color suggestion for our new Devine Semi-Smooth Gloss Finish™ trim, doors, and cabinet paint.
devinegreen: Cheetah™ and devinegreen: Toucan™ are truer reds that generate great heat.
devinegreen: Mantis™, devinegreen: Peacock™, and devinegreen: Trillium™ are lemony fresh like spring foliage growth. devinegreen: Mallard™ in COLLECTION THREE is like pine.
Blues and purple shadows range in depth with devinegreen: Buffalo™, devinegreen: Elephant™, devinegreen: Grizzly™, to devinegreen: Beluga™.
devinegreen: Elephant™, devinegreen: Persian™, and devinegreen: Siamese™ are like healthy whole grains.
devinegreen: Komodo™, devinegreen: Gator™, and devinegreen: Penguin™ are like rich wool suits.
devinegreen: Orangutang™ is an earthy clay bar.
devinegreen: Walrus™, devinegreen: Sarsaparilla™, and devinegreen: Clover™ finish the line with deep berry flavors.
Comment [6]
About Our Color Well Traveled Collection
01/01/2009 12:28 AM by Gretchen Schauffler
COLORS WELL TRAVELED COLOR COLLECTION
Our Colors Well Traveled™ Collections come, go, and stay. The idea behind a revolving ten-color palette is that these designer colors are a fresh way to introduce ethnic, pop, and historic cultural references into your home. The colors are “Devinized”. I re-size the colors to be large without being loud, because I believe that wall colors should not drown-out little colors scattered around a room and they must make natural wood colors look radiant so I deconstruct and reconstruct cultural color palettes to have the same Devine Color® temperament you can trust and count on. Once the colors retire, they are still available in gallons, quarts, and drum formulas. As far as color tools go, the hand-daubed palette will always be available. Mini-Paint Pouches and Paint Pages are discontinued so you will only be able to sample the color through quarts.
PIECES OF PARADISE 05-06™
Designer Color Collection is an overall feel-good palette that pairs up a dark, rich mulch color like Devine Truffle with frothy pinks like Devine Frappe™ and Devine Mo’ Pink™. You have the golden flavors of Devine Ray™, Devine Lil’ Melon™, Devine Plantain™, and Devine Tamarind™, along with the watery Devine Agave™.
FRENCH CASINO™ 07-08
Designer Color Collection is a different story. Images of luck, faith, hope, and grace, as in Grace Kelly, are behind the recreation of these ten new French paint colors, resulting in a gallant, feminine collection.
Devine Adieu™ and Devine C’est La Vie™ are grays sprinkled with silver-blue dust to keep them from becoming simple or dull. Devine Comtesse™ mirrors the concrete feel of quaint roads that wind around the countryside. Devine Encore™, Devine Soirée™, and Devine Pot D’Or™ bring the bling of gold and feeling of luck as you take on a wager with confidence. Devine Bon Vivant™ is all about festive lips and red-carpet glamor. Devine Victoire™ captures the fresh feeling of eternal summer with more than 300 days of sunshine each year. Devine Risqué’™ and Laissez-Faire™ are rooted in the essence of french color and strong femininity.
French Casino: Designer Color Collection
01/01/2009 12:28 AM by Gretchen Schauffler
FRENCH CASINO™ 07-08
Designer Color Collection with a French Twist. Images of luck, faith, hope, and grace, as in Grace Kelly, are behind the recreation of these ten French paint colors, resulting in a gallant, feminine collection.
Devine Adieu™ and Devine C’est La Vie™ are grays sprinkled with silver-blue dust to keep them from becoming simple or dull. Devine Comtesse™ mirrors the concrete feel of quaint roads that wind around the countryside. Devine Encore™, Devine Soirée™, and Devine Pot D’Or™ bring the bling of gold and feeling of luck as you take on a wager with confidence. Devine Bon Vivant™ is all about festive lips and red-carpet glamor. Devine Victoire™ captures the fresh feeling of eternal summer with more than 300 days of sunshine each year. Devine Risqué’™ and Laissez-Faire™ are rooted in the essence of french color and strong femininity.
She did after all, meet Prince Rainier at The Cannes Film Festival where ‘ To Catch a Thief’ was filmed (a must see color-action movie) and became a princess in a country synonymous with gambling. I am fascinated by Monaco’s French colorful history, where royalty mixes with casinos, film festivals with topless sunbathers, and yachts line up like taxi-cabs. Our contemporary image of American gambling is “What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas”— where you go to unleash your inhibitions, while doing a little gambling on the side. Monaco does not need a slogan. It appears to be a timeless beautiful place for grown ups to play, no excuses necessary. Gambling there seems to be full of good luck and charm. I am sure it has to do with the beautiful eternal vacation feeling you get from its surrounding landscape and the jet-set culture that inhabits its shores. Maybe it is the nonchalant way the French do business. Yet, it is an American movie star, Grace Kelly who brought glamor to Monaco like a supernova among stars.
Grace Kelly’s legacy continues to make Monaco a place where dreams can come true, and anyone can be a princess. So with this in mind, I wanted to serve a French paint color “plat du jour” that depicted Monaco’s gambling culture and Grace Kelly’s winning style.
Large, adaptable, beautiful French paint color is not easy to create, so it is no small feat when I arrive at a color’s perfect rendition of my self-imposed standards.
About our Red Wall Colors
10/22/2008 01:58 PM by Gretchen Schauffler
Every Devine paint color sinks into walls making the color belong to a room instantly. Our reds do this beautifully without becoming the loudest drunks at the party! They don’t scream bloody murder, your won’t hear the fire engine coming, and you definitely won’t see a STOP sign. We call “painting with our worry-free reds” LANDSCAPING WITH REDS—just like no one worries about matching greens in their gardens, you won’t need to worry about our reds. Our Valley Vineyards and Spices™ palette page (part of our Trend-Proof Color Collection™) are reds that exist in art, nature, and rugs, traditional or contemporary. They have a livable quality that unifies all reds in a room along with all the other colors. Most important: They will not—I mean they will not—overpower or drown-out the color of natural wood. They only make wood colors more radiant!. That’s the deal I struck with them if they were going to make it as Devine reds.
Traditional Red Wall Colors: SEVEN
Devine Paprika™ is the most versatile of our truer reds. This red is dreamy like the red you think of in a perfect red dining room or a warm red kitchen. Devine Damask™, Devine Cabernet™, and Devine Bordeaux™ are burgundy wine versions of red. Devine Shiraz™, Devine Merlot™, and Devine Pinot™ are ripe plums versions of red.
Earthy Red Wall Colors: FOUR
Our earthy reds are sprinkled with green, gold, and orange mineral-like earthiness. Devine Spice™ is a heavy golden red clay. Devine Ginger™ has a deep smokey red flavor. Devine Blush casts a warm orange blush, and Devine Sangria™ is a truer red with a gritty kick back.
Lighter Red Wall Colors: FOUR
Devine Cayenne™, Devine Saffron™, Devine Bon Vivant, and Devine Toile™ are lighter and brighter in nature.
MORE REDS: FIVE
Our new flora-fauna Color Collection “reds”
expand on our red colors even further. See our section ABOUT OUR GREEN PAINT COLORS
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