Ideal Color Consulting

09/02/2026

Purple has a lot to say.

My high school graduating class recently held a 40th class reunion. I was lucky to attend Garfield High School in Seattle, home of the Bulldogs, with the school colors purple and white—colors which can be bold and iconoclastic, sophisticated and elegant, playful and bright. Perfect for that diverse and vastly talented student body and alumni.
�I have always loved purple. My stepmother invited me to choose the color of my childhood bedroom, and lovingly executed it to my specifications—purple and blue, in an intricate counter-changed design. Her encouragement of my taste was instrumental in cementing my color-love at that early age!

Purple’s boldness makes it a rare choice in home color. Can purple aficionados paint our houses in our favorite color? Of course. We’ve all seen shocking purple houses which stand out from the surroundings. If you are not that bold, you can include purple in your design, express your unique identity, while holding harmony in the neighborhood.
��Dark purples such as deep plum and midnight violet feel substantial, elegant, and fearless.
Soft, greyed mauves can be combined with equally muted blues and greens for a misty, nacreous look.
A whole range of blue-violets, from pale periwinkle to majestic violet navy, can cloak our purple in the respectability of blue.
A pop of strong purple on a door can be so satisfying, especially if you pick up the same color nearby, (a flower pot, a wind sock, a cushion on your porch swing).

But if you want to go full grape, I won’t stop you…

08/31/2026

This showy hybrid fuchsia is thriving in my Dad's garden. Right beside it is a more sedate hardy fuchsia, so delicate in comparison.
I love them both...the pendant drops of the buds... the flaring of their sepals and inner petals as they progress in their bloom, like spinning skirts with bright petticoats...the fine fireworks of stamens and pistils.
I love seeing the variety of colors the hybrid fuchsia offers, but I always come back to the unmistakeable original.

08/26/2026

A little something to liven up our heat-drowsing senses...
Bold purple and intense magenta pinks, nested in a tracery of middle greens...
If we are looking for something vibrant, that feels cool, here are some examples of colors on the boundary of perceived color temperature.

Greens with more yellow than blue feel warmer. Purples more blue than red feel cooler. But how can a strong red feel cool? Reds can have blue leanings or yellow leanings, too. If a color is pushed lighter in value, any leaning might become more evident, giving us a pink that looks more peachy or more lavender.
Our perceptions of color temperature are always subjective, and always relative to surrounding colors. Colors in these cool/warm boundary zones can be combined and manipulated to give us surprising sensations.

08/19/2026

I find it very interesting that a complex surface, painted in all one color, can reflect such a variety of colors and values.
This old refinery, converted into a park, has a tremendous array of textures for my kaleidoscopic treatment. This particular stack has been painted uniformly with a moderately glossy brown, with a few areas of grey mesh catwalk and oxidized beams.

The large cylindrical surfaces reflect the cool color of the overcast sky, and the smooth curvature creates an ombré effect from light to shade. Delicate gantries in silhouette outline geometric segments of sky.
The conceptual contrast of an earthy, organic brown with such an industrial subject would leave anyone guessing.

08/13/2026

Chocolate browns, like these, are the desaturated form of violet-red. Maybe that's why the color seems delicious. Not only do I associate these browns with chocolate (yummm), but violet-reds make me think of luscious ripe berries. The colors go directly to the "eat this delicious thing" centers of my brain, prompting a mouth-watering appetite.

An arrangement of a single hue in a gradation of values also appeals to me, this time as a tactile sensation...deep colors tinted with white create a soft, velvety impression.

I often wonder about these multi-sensory responses. Are they simple associations? Synesthesia? Instinctive food-seeking responses? Any/all of the above? How universal or subjective are these sensations?

What colors prompt responses from your other senses? Does that make you like or dislike particular colors?

08/07/2026

Here's a recent thrift store purchase for all us blue-green fans...I dismantled this necklace so I could repurpose (i.e. play with) the rustic faceted beads.
Labradorite is a form of feldspar with shimmering refractions in its depths. Most of the mineral is translucent smoky gray, while the shimmer appears in blues, greens, and golds. Some variations include brighter purple, pink, and yellow, but that's outside the remit of this post...

Sherwin Williams offers a muted green-blue color called Labradorite (SW 7619), and it caught my eye while I was compiling some color ideas for a client. While the color doesn't exactly match any of the hues flashing out from my stones, it carries the same smoky, chameleon quality. Could be blue, or green, or gray, depending how the light hits. Subtle, yet full of surprises.
I developed a palette starting from this color, adding softly harmonizing green-grays, with a marked value contrast for a crisply modern style. I offered this combination to the client almost on a whim, and it proved to be a front-runner. Will it be the winning choice? We shall see.

07/10/2026

Euphorbia Mediterranean spurge, an ornamental import, has always struck me as unusual, almost extra-terrestrial.
Typically, its radial foliage is somewhat blue-green, with paired inflorescences in luminous chartreuse. They are popular in landscaping because they are interesting and drought-resistant; they are also poisonous, cause skin irritation, and they self-propagate (aka escape the garden) easily.

This variety has some extra purple-red pigment, which creates burgundy-tinted stems, purplish foliage, and coral-tinged bracts. It looks even more exotic than the all-green.
If I could visit another world, where the sky is misty orange and the people wave at me with phosphorescent tentacles, I think I'd see this plant gracing the floating gardens.

07/09/2026

As I thought about why this image attracted my interest, I noted its overall muted tones, and its spikes of contrasting light/bright. At first glance, I see gray…then I look deeper and see the range…silvery plum, metallic sage, deep seaweed green. Subtle, interacting colors. ��

When I started matching some of the colors in this image, I found many corresponded with “Historic” paint collections—colors that hark back to earlier days, without modern synthetic pigments. Colors with less intensity, which may harmonize nicely by virtue of similar saturation.

Colors like these are a marvelous choice for those of us who want some color identity in our lives, but don’t want a house that shouts. Colors like these nestle among the surrounding foliage like hidden berries peeping out from undergrowth.

�When applied to an exterior, and illuminated by sunlight, even colors that look drab on the sample chip can come to life. Colors that seem, well, gray, have a variety of undertones, which can brought forward or softened back by different trim and accent colors.

06/26/2026

This rose is one of many that blooms in the front garden at one of my family's homes. I had stopped by for a visit, and as I was taking my leave, I had to stop to look at it, and then to photograph it. My sister-in-law came along a few minutes later and said, "I see you didn't get far!"
She knows exactly how easily I can be waylaid by some seemingly simple, beautiful thing, which requires my close examination. I don't just stop to smell the roses, I have to take a lot of photos and kaleidoscopic images, too.

Did you guess that this could be a pale rose? Part of what makes this image hard to guess is that the source flower looks so pale and luminous, but the images I captured show more of the deeper colors. The yellow at the core of the flower is concentrated in a way we don't notice so much when we view the entire blossom. We don't perceive the faintly purplish grays that appear in the shadows of the pink-touched petals. Sunlight and shadow, blended opposites.

06/24/2026

Apparently, I'm not the only one intrigued by warm-toned combinations right now...Sherwin Williams offers "Sundew" as their color of the month for June, and is showcasing it with this array of ochre, umber, and off-white. I saw this right after I published this week's "What-Is-It Wednesday" post featuring an amber-toned sunburst and variations.

We are all subject to the same subliminal influences, even the experts...

Our June Color of the Month, Sundew SW 7688, brings warmth and softness beyond the wall through Full Spectrum Possibilities. Paired with natural wood tones, high performance flooring, and coordinating finishes, this creamy neutral creates spaces that feel cohesive, relaxed, and grounded in material connection.​

Save this palette for projects that call for warmth carried across every surface.​

🎨:​
Sundew SW 7688 (289-C1)​
Alabaster SW 7008 (255-C2)​
Bunglehouse Gray SW 2845 (Historic Color)​
Woven Wicker SW 9104 (203-C4)​
Roycroft Bronze Green SW 2846 (Historic Color)