The latest book to arrive at Design Sheppard HQ for review is a great little read called 1000 ideas for colour schemes by Jennifer Ott, an interior designer and architectural colour specialist based in San Francisco. Now I say it’s a great little read, but to be honest there isn’t really much reading to be done. It’s more of a picture book, jam packed full of beautiful and inspirational images. Imagine Pinterest in the form of a book and you’re getting close. The idea behind the book is to help you choose great colour schemes in all aspects of your life, from your interior decor and clothes, through to beauty, weddings and even cake decorating. It aims to inspire you to think beyond the typical colour combinations.
The book contains more than 1000 ideas for combining colour along with 125 creative colour palettes that will make choosing the right colours easy. You can enjoy browsing beautiful colour palettes such as ‘Coral and Sea Glass’, ‘Proud as a Peacock’, ‘Aqua Accent’ and ‘Dark and Decadent’. There will definitely be a palette that you will fall in love with. My personal favourites are ‘Blue is the new Black’ and ‘Evergreen’. I’m a real sucker for inky blues and deep, dark greens.
The book opens with a short introduction in which Jennifer explains how to use the book and she gives a little explanation about the colour wheel and how to choose complementary and analogous colours and how to tell weather a colour is cool or warm.
The book is then divided up into nine colour families – red, yellow, green, blue, violet, pink, orange & brown, neutral and grey – so it’s easy to find a colour scheme that interest you. Each section explores a range of hues from primary brights to subtle pastels, teaching you to think beyond classic colour combinations.
This is the perfect book if you are a little bit apprehensive of inviting more colour into your life. I’ve always seen myself as being a bit colour cautious, preferring to err on the side of boring caution, particularly when it comes to decorating my home. But having resources like this takes away the fear a little as you can clearly see what colours work well together and avoid those that clash. I really appreciate when colours set one another off and work well together, I’m just not always good at knowing what goes with what, so this book really is a helpful little guide. And it’s beautiful too, which always helps. Here’s a little glimpse of what you can expect to find inside 1000 ideas for colour schemes.
