Since I’m on the verge of repainting several rooms in my home, I’ve been thinking a lot about color lately. I’ve also been talking to a lot of color experts to get their insights on how they use it to create a mood and enhance the character of a room. When designer Nestor Santa Cruz showed me this room in a home he designed in Washington D.C., which appeared in Elle Décor last year and was just republished in a Portuguese magazine called Casa Claudia, I asked him to share his thoughts on how the color scheme evolved. Here’s a portion of our conversation.
Jean: The color in this room is a strong, yet it’s not overpowering. How did you choose the wall color for the room?
Nestor: My client saw it at the London home of Ashley Hicks (the son of the late decorator David Hicks). The wall surface is actually made of faux leather panels done by Lenore Winters, her decorative artist friend who’s based in Bethesda, MD. When I got the job, my client had already done the walls done in this room. The existing old furniture that remained was shabby, less the chic.
I think the green walls are striking, but the room needed to reinforce the green with the addition of other greens—in the rug, the 18th-century French wallpaper screen on the wall, the vases, art, pillows and chairs. That’s one reason why the color palette in this room is so successful. There is commitment to a color and the color “story” is clear from the minute one sees it.
Jean: Do you have a personal association with the green color that dominates this room?
Nestor: My personal association is referential. I studied David Hicks’s rooms, in which color is presented as a complete story. Also this color and the wall treatment fit the English country-style house. It also fits my client’s personal taste and personality when seen as a whole.
Jean: What are the elements that introduce nuance and texture and dimension to color on the walls? The green seems to change from square to square on the wall. And even within each square.
Nestor: Light! Natural or artificial, light can change a color for better or worse. Think of the brighter colors that you often see in hot climates. The right lighting is what makes a color work.
In this room, the patina and depth created by the decorative painter is key, and the light brown faux-leather stitches around each square give it another layer of texture, but the room gets beautiful natural light during the day. And for the evening, we have five table lamps and a few recessed wall-washing accent lights, so it’s balanced. This room is so warm at day or night, because of the lighting.
The finish and quality of product will also make a difference. Farrow & Ball paints, for example, are very chalky. Therefore they have an innate depth. Or take a very bold patterned wallpaper—the more contrast there is between the background color and the pattern color, the more graphic the result will be, and thus the color will react to light differently as compared to tone on tone colors.
Jean: How do you balance or play one or more colors off another?
Nestor: I like maybe two more accent colors, but I like neutrals to unify the color story. I also I like using several shades of greens, or blues, or whatever color in one room. It’s very classic. Think of the White House—with its red room and blue room, etc.
I think relying on color on accent pillows or accessories is just too decorative. I also hate “one-note” color palettes against white and black. Black, white and turquoise, for example, or red, white and black. It’s too simple. Also, if there’s more than one color in a room, I like it to be an unexpected combination, something that has a “modern” sensibility.
To see more of Nestor’s work, visit his Web site, or if you’re in Washington, check out the Elle Decor show house in the Washington D.C. Design Center, where one of the rooms showcases his talent and will be open through December 2010.
