Colour stories: Turquoise!

Have not written a colour post for a long time ..Not that one needs to make an excuse for Turquoise anyway.. It's one colour like pink, I absolutely love, but have not imagined dedicating entire walls to!- yet  :)

Today's post is about the colour, used in a mostly traditional, ethnic scheme.... 

Turquoise in all its shades- wether  an intense burst of blue or a softer and paler version- is so unique to the gem stone it derives its name from, that the stone and the particular shade of blue are now synonymous to each other...

Called Turquoise as it was thought to have originated from Turkey at first, the gem stone hails from the Alimersai Mountain in Persia (now in Iran). The best quality Turquoise to this date  is credited to the region.

The intense shades of turquoise have endeared it to many ancient cultures:  Ancient Egypt, Aztec, Mesopotamia, Indus Valley and China. Despite being an old gemstone, it was introduced to Europe via Turkey only with the silk road novelties and  not until the 14th century was it used commonly in jewellery. The stone was introduced in India only during the Mughal times and remained unknown to the far east until the 18th century..

The color to me, denotes a relaxed, fresh and contemporary feel ..  It goes well with a bunch of warm colours, reds, oranges, pinks and yellows,  and provides a fun visual pop against muted, earthy tones of natural materials- stone and wood. It also provides a lovely foil for ethnic objects like baskets, textiles and jewelry..

Every once in a while, I change up the accessories around the bedroom and more private 

spaces of the house to make way for the Turq :)

Hopefully  in some near future, I will gather the guts for an all turquoise wall .. until then, this will have to do ..!

Colour Stories : Foyer

Posting an after picture of the foyer. Refer to a previously uploaded image here. Have a Happy Ganesh Chaturthi guys, may the elephant headed one shower his many blessings on you and your family.

Have a blissful and sunny, golden yellow Ganesh festival.. :)

It happens to be the darkest corner in the house..the yellow brightens it up, reflecting whatever little sunlight it gets in the late afternoon, to light up the space with a sweet spot of cheerfulness.

Lit up with candles in early evening

Colour Stories : Green....

While on the subject of colour, one looks at art for inspiration. And on the subject of art, I just have to mention Rothko! Mark Rothko, born Marcus Rothkowitz was an American painter born in Russia. Among the greats of abstract expressionist, his work is a sublime example of stunning beauty that is achievable with pigment.

His famous rectangle paintings, are simple, yet deeply moving works. Blocks of colours, coexist on his canvases in a harmony of four sided shapes, rich in texture and luminosity. A lot of what I did in the house is inspired by the master.

This is a post about my green wall. The guest bedroom wall. I chose a dual toned wall, an almost chutney green textured with a very dark teal green.

Posting pictures of the different Rothko inspired permutations and combinations of wall and room colours.. Have mostly restricted pattern to minimum while playing in on texture in the space.

In terms of connotations and symbolism, green is an intriguing colour, denoting both the positive and negative, holy and unholy at the same time. Often times related with growth and fertility, it is also said to denote immaturity jealousy. Where in some religions like Islam it is the colour of purity and sacredness in others it is symbolic of the devil. For the materialistic, green is the colour of cash and abundance. Luckily the most popular association of the colour links it with nature.

..The idea appeals to me a lot. Green has long been my favourite colour.

Translating the colour into the space, restricted the colour pallet of the room to a select few colours complementary to the green family, which it self is a non subtractive colour- created by a mixture of yellow and blue.

Where the base of the soft-furnishings, I then use in the room are green or a more neutral beige, the accent colours vary from those in the same family or from the complementary spectrum...

Have to mumble a complaint here about paint companies and how misleading their catalogues are. We went through cycles of painting and repainting this one until I got something I was happy with. None of the variants resembled the sample colour provided on the Asian Paints catalogue at all however!.

Unfortunately none of the painters I worked with, or the paint companies knew how to do it. If anybody has an idea about how to achieve the look, do drop in a line. Will be much appreciated :) !

Colour Stories : Red post

Starting with a colour that dominates most of the living and entertaining areas in the house. We chose Red. It comes in all shades -right from the more somber, earthy maroon and terracotta to the most vivacious deep red. Is cheerful. Goes well with the dark, natural wood surfaces and textiles I was going to pair the walls with. Is very Indian- Think Wedding saree, think tilak, rangoli, sindoor, mauli- Above all because, most reds contrast wonderfully with Black -the other wall colour on my pallet for the area- so a no brainer really.

Here is the color pallet for the living dining and entertainment areas...

The red, in shades of terracotta and deep red are paired with charcoal black and soft white for the walls, and taupe on wooden surfaces like doors and windows.

Posting the final look below.

(above): view of the Living room from the foyer. The wall sports a terracotta red.

In the family room, which is used for watching television or casual entertaining, the colours are a brighter red and black..This is the area I chose to paint myself... three coats of absolute fun and zen, which is befitting, because the area itself has a very calming feel to it , inspite of the loud  red on the walls...  

The dining area offset against a terracotta wall, has a more formal- earthy look.

A red lacquer shoe cabinet contrasts  with a charcoal black wall at the entrance.

Colour Stories :All things red and ravishing

Ceramic Platter from Earth Home, Hong Kong, assorted seasonal fruits in red . Silk sarong from Altfield Interiors, Hong Kong. Silver Cuff from Khan Market, New Delhi.

Holi just went by, spring is out there is in full bloom, Valentines day, Chinese new year all wonderful occasions, that bring colour to mind one way or the other. Particularly the last two stand for a very vibrant and bold hue....Yes, I am talking Red !!

Bright, bold, hot and the irrepressible red!

Lately because it has been on my mind to, I see the colour every where.. In stores, books, magazines, in nature, in my kids crayons and paint boxes, clothes, lipstick ( a la Sandra Bullock rocking the colour on Oscar night)... every where. Since a lot of what one sees comes around, let me post some pictures of all that was red the past month.

Red and orange kantha reversible sheet from Anokhi, Delhi, Kantha cushion covers in Maroon (Anokhi) Red rectangular cushion covers from Tequila Kola, Hong Kong.

Red Lacquered bamboo tray and runner from Laos, hand glazed Tea pot and cup from Lane- Crawford Hong Kong. Wooden opium grinder from Rajashtan.

Red and turquoise necklace, Lhasa. Red Dzao tribal neck piece from Vietnam

From the archives: Red and yellow Ranunculus.