Customer Rave: Teaching you how to fish!
07/21/2007 01:24 PM by Gretchen Schauffler
Everyday at Devine Color, we view color as a tool for communication. We create and produce color for our customers to arm them with color confidence so they can express their color ideas the way they imagine. Below is an email describing a color experience.
Devine Color: When Color sings is not a decorating book. It is a book on how to gain color confidence, take chances, and pursue what you love by understanding how you think and what you know about color.
Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime.
This is why there are no pictures in my book. I know that this disappointing to some who are looking for color ideas. I love to look at color ideas—love the look, taste and smell of colorful pictures—I see color all day long. But, after years of color consulting, I realize that to make your own color ideas happen, you have to understand that “how you think” about those ideas is important to the outcome you desire.
I started my business answering the calls from people asking for my help. The color they had chosen was supposed to look a certain way—probably “the way” they had seen in a picture—but ended up not looking “that way”, or any “other way” they wanted.
Previously, as a color consultant—now we have a color coordination service, DevineCustom, based on the book’s color philosophy,—I asked clients who were eager to show me their color ideas to hold off looking at them until the end of our color consultation. In the end, the color palette we created together, based on the clients own home, with its life-time collage, was more exciting and more personal than any picture they had.
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Gretchen, I was so excited to get an email back from you personally!!!
I understand your reasons for not putting up photographs of ‘rooms’ but for people like myself, who have little experience with color, it helps give us confidence!
I used a color scheme in my whole house that you recommended for me on purecontemporary.com.
I wrote asking you about how to paint my house because we bought it and the whole house was painted various shades of blue. All I had for inspiration was a wooden vaulted ceiling and terracotta ceramic tile. Your colors made the house come ALIVE. You gave me two color palettes to work with, I ended up choosing the Olive, Blush, Straw, Custard and Maple combination. The house had a LOT of built in cabinetary in the family room and living room areas that was walnut colored. The colors you gave me brought the wood alive. The wood looked so fantastic against your colors, giving a rich warm glow, the we ripped up the carpet and some of the tiles and replaced with hand distressed hardwood flooring.
The result was just amazing. You gave me color confidence, and as the rooms evolve continually as I add different lampshades, light fixtures, framed prints, scatter cushions, I realize how much I love color now that I am not scared to use it. I find myself drawn to the most electic items now that I have a diverse color scheme in my house, and it really works!!!
One thing I notice when I go to other peoples houses, is that people are still scared to use color. Most peoples homes are painted a conservative shade of cream or ivory or white, I hope Devine color touches the heart of more people, and makes the world a brighter place. I enjoy coming home to my brighter walls, my favorite rooms are painted blush (family room) and olive (living room) and my entrance way exudes warmth (straw) The way these colors have worked their magic in these areas which get lots of traffic, really makes a difference.
Thanks again, and I continue to redecorate our house, I’m doing the bathroom next and will be working with the new GREEN Paint you recommended!!!
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Driving the distance
Customers Comments about Devine Color!
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Hi Gretchen. I’m commenting now even though I don’t yet have pictures to show you of our adventures. My partner and I have been together 13 years, in a bad 1951 ranch. Some explorations in the non-whiteness of self-expression were fun, but still left us with tiny rooms and 8ft ceilings throughout. Being both over 6’, it never felt right. Then, the beginnings of a big renovation brought discoveries of dry rot, termite damage, oil leakage, and also septic runoff in the crawlspace. All of our previous efforts were torn to the ground. The contractor mentioned that everyone he had seen was sad during a demolition except us! So, now we are in the middle of bringing up a new house, which is proudly delivered to us completely white inside. Totally primer, arctic, greyish blue, white white white.
We have spent the last 6 months developing a palette that reflects US. What we LOVE, how we want to live. This is the first time the ceilings will not be white, and every room will harmonize with colors in the rest of the house. Even spent 6 months finding the perfect red for the dining room wall (Endless samples under morning/evening/electric/candlelight eliminating one by one). We are excited. I will be in touch to share pictures as we complete it. And when we can actually bring in our furniture and art, we’d love to have you stop by for a glass of wine and Cher (we live over by Nike). We’re both musicians, and you’ve encouraged us to bring our talents there into the realm of our color choices. It will truly be OUR home. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Brian and Daniel
— Brian Foster 11/30/2007 11:37 AM #