Okay, it’s only taken me almost 1 1/2 years to set up a merchant account on Amazon! When I tried to figure it out, they kept giving me a widget option and I wanted it on my sidebar as a picture to click to get to my bookstore (not a dang widget). So, don’t ask me how I did it (because I had help) but it’s finally here; Colour me Happy’s Bookstore on Amazon!
And here are the books you absolutely should have if you are as obsessed with colour as I am:
The best book on colour I have ever read is All About Colour by Janice Lindsay. I have been buying books on colour for years but this one wraps it all up in one package! If you are looking for pictures though, you won’t find them here. It’s like a fascinating colour textbook and I have already written 3 posts that have been completely inspired by this book; here, here and here.
This book by Leatrice Eiseman is the required textbook for my students in the Colour Theory course I teach at the Vancouver Community College. Leatrice breaks it down chapter by chapter with photos so it’s easy to read and also packed full of great colour information!
The first 3 books on colour that I bought 10 years ago were these three by Donald Kaufman. The first one (above) is Color; Natural Palettes for Painted Rooms. He is the one I quote in this post “A Light Colour will Never come to Life in a Dark Room”. His books are extraordinary because he has the most incredible images in them along with the colours from his collection and each page outlines each one and how it plays with light and what is happening to the colour in the room he’s showing.
Here’s what he says about this combination; “Placing colors side by side heightens their contrast. The spaces predominant yellow was given an orange cast so that it would not appear green when placed next to the red”.
Fascinating, because if the yellow was more green, the red (being the complement to green), would pull the green out of the yellow and it wouldn’t look as good as this combination does!
“The stair hall just off the front door is a Fauvist fantasy, with each wall painted a different color—cornflower blue, chartreuse, coral. Teal was chosen for the upstairs hall because it worked well with the green reflections through the windows from the foliage outside and was bright enough to substitute for it in the winter months. A pink wall would have been grayed out by the green cast. Complementary colours subdue one another when mixed and, conversely, intensify one another on a wall as being mixed with the colour of the light hitting it.”
“You have to think of the color on a wall as being mixed with the color of the light hitting it. If you want a lot of different colors in one room, make sure they are all of equal intensity. Each of these distinct planes is equally saturated, and they don’t seem disorienting.”
I was so crazy about his books and the way he distinguished colour, at the time I lived in a walk-up that had a hallway that looked very much like this one (below). Yup, you guessed it, I painted my hallway 7 colours, I can’t even remember anymore how I felt about it in the end but I was truly obsessed!
Image from Color Palettes by Donald Kaufman
Here’s what he says about this hallway (colours below): “A long, narrow hallway is visually reshaped with a full spectrum of interlocking paint colors, differentiating each architectural plane of color. The colors selected represent the full spectrum, which helps the passage way feel realized as a complete space. One side is painted in warm, darker colors. The contrast ensures that the eye has complementary relief, and reaffirms that the hallway is not a typical room setting.”
See how I’ve written the numbers in each one? I bought his colour fan (they are individual cards in a package) so that I could see how different they were from the actual colour to the ones pictured in the book.
“The contrast of blue trim emphasizes the warmth of the orange pine floors and offers a cool respite. Softer variations of the floor hues are carried onto walls and create a similar exchange with the window trim. Apricot walls in the living room (above) make the trim appear grayer;”
Image from Color Palettes by Donald Kaufman
“The dining room’s peach walls push the blue trim toward the green.” D. Kaufman
The following are some of my favourite books on Interior Design:
I saw John Saladino speak at a design conference where he was selling this book; Style by Saladino. I have never read a coffee table book (that wasn’t about colour) from cover to cover until I bought this one! It’s fabulous.
I wrote a great post here, where he talks about Monumental, Residential and Human scale. I hear Villa (his latest one) is just as great, it’s on my list to buy next!
I love this book Defining Luxury by Jeffrey Bilhuber where he says: “Decorators can guide clients and their families to an elevated standard of living. At it’s best, the process is similar to discovering a brilliant museum, one you had never entered before or even knew existed. Once you pass through it’s doors, your world is forever changed. You may never revisit your old world again. If you do, you’ll never see it quite the same way.”
Okay, I have one more book to share and it’s listed under Inspiring Books; the first one The Aladdin Factor is old, but it is the best book I’ve read on how to ask for what you want! You can read story after story of miraculous events that transpired just because a person opened their mouth and asked!
"There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others. George Shinn.
Hope you enjoy my book selections, I have received many requests asking which colour books are the best ones to own, sorry it took me so long to post them!
Have a happy weekend my lovelies!
If you would like your home to fill you with happiness every time you walk in, contact me for on-line or in-person decorating and colour.
Related posts:
Happiness is. . . Getting what you Want
Happiness is. . . Having the Career that you Love
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