We all know that House Beautiful is THE shelter mag for color, but I really enjoyed their color layouts in March's issue. I think a lot of people (and mags) make the mistake of categorizing colors by their place in the spectrum, as opposed to overall combinations that really make things pop. Instead of the usual color categories like blues or yellows, HB broke down color palettes by tone (warm, cool, deep, intense or bright.) Most colors can be any of those, depending on the shade.I liked almost all of the layouts, but my favorite was "intense" which featured a Pennsylvania farmhouse decked out in shades like indigo, eggplant, kumquat and corn (love all of those food names -- guess naming colors after flowers is sooo two centuries ago).
I thought the colors combinations were so rich and painterly. The whole house looks as vivid as an oil painting, which is exactly what inspired designer Jeffrey Bilhuber. He explained, "My starting point was the owners' collection of 19th-century American landscapes. It was such a clearheaded, concise collection, so I needed to make the surroundings live up to it." By the way, please pick up the mag if you can; the colors here just don't do it justice.
