Google+ House Revivals: A Little Seattle Tudor

Thursday, October 24, 2013

A Little Seattle Tudor

I recently did several paint consults for this little Tudor. This was going to be a big project -- repainting the entire home interior, plus plaster repairs. Basically, this meant that over the course of a few weeks, my client was going to have to move his furniture around over and over again, and move some of his belongings temporarily into storage. As you can see, however, repainting was long overdue!

(I suggested addressing the light fixture while we were at it.)



We came really close to buying a little Tudor a couple of years ago.  Ultimately, we bought our beach house out on the coast and bought a pied-a-terre in the city  (where we crash during the work week), but I still think about that Tudor.  The biggest problem I had with it was that is was so dark.


My client's Tudor gets lots more light, but it still has dark spaces....

If you haven't guessed already, yes, these are really bad cell phone pictures.

You might think that the best solution, in this case, would be to paint everything white, but in a dark room, white can look dingy.  It took several appointments to plan the colors for the entire house, but it's going to be amazing.  One issue that kept coming up was that my client kept taking his color samples outside to view them, then he would change his mind about the color.


I had to explain that the color needs to be viewed in the context in which it will be seen.  The lighting in a space affects how we perceive a color. There are lots of other variables, like texture and sheen, but lighting is the most important.


The client had several art pieces and textiles that we used for inspiration. While I was working with him, I also made a few suggestions for making his kitchen more attractive and more functional.  This kitchen is literally twenty feet long, and has no upper cabinets whatsoever, which is why he is using his countertop for storage.  I will update you on progress!