Sans, Souci.

Sanssouci palace in the winter sun

One year ago I was visiting friends in Berlin and we went out to Potsdam, to see the famous Frederician Rococo palace of Sanssouci (written on its façade as Sans, Souci. I have no idea why.) It was an exceptionally clear and sunny day and the yellow lime-washed stucco was particularly vibrant.  "This is the color of joy" I told my friends. I always associate that bright yellow with a happiness beyond reason.

Today I am working on a color scheme for a building with curséd white vinyl windows,  and have been  looking for examples of white-windowed buildings as reference, and so I am studying at this image I shot in Potsdam: warm grey limestone, pure yellow ochre pigment, black soot, verdigris copper.

One year ago today I heard the news that Japan had been stuck by a terrible earthquake and an even more devastating tsunami.   So today also I am also thinking of my friends in Japan and wishing them no worries.


photo by Lynne Rutter:  Potsdam, Germany,  March 2011
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Lynne Rutter Murals + Decorative Painting

Exterior Color: Waking up the Neighborhood

Apartment building with color design by Lynne Rutter

Here is a color project from last year, a large building in San Francisco with condominiums and an office on the ground floor. Inside are lovely flats, all quite spacious and nicely finished.  The owners called me wanting the exterior of their building to look more like a nice residence, full of stylish people, like it is on the inside.

Before: Apartment block D

Before: the front door of despair.

Now look at the "before" picture. It looked more like a correctional facility than a nice place to live. Grey stucco and white vinyl windows and no personality whatsoever.  Could  you imagine coming home to this every day? 

The entrances were particularly  sad. You could not  see the addresses, the garage doors were unfinished metal and starting to rust. It was so indifferent as to be downright depressing.  

Because of the scale of the work to be done, the budget was of course an issue, so a lot of things I might suggest to embellish or personalize this facade we could not do here.   So, it all came down to color.  Talk about personal--- color can be so subjective, and people react emotionally to it.  Can you please everyone?  Of course not.  But if you go out of your way to avoid color you can end up with a desolate, if inoffensive, look.  When faced with a choice between "not for everyone"  and "not for anyone"   I choose color!   Can just color make this building look more like home?  Yes!

Entrance to posh homes

White vinyl windows are a curse for a colorist like me.  I think they really cheapen the look of a building and make it really hard to use deep or committed colors. They seem to be a standard in a lot of new construction so I have learned to deal with them.  In this case, with white as a mandatory part of the palette, I countered it by including some black, used on anything made of metal- railings, beams, etc. 

There is no question in my mind that the Homeowners Association putting work into the exterior of the building would not only improve the lives of the residents but improve the value of the building and the potential sale price of every condo inside it.

I was delighted to work with the HOA of this building because  everyone was so willing to try what looked like such a daring color. This took commitment, trust, and teamwork to accomplish.   After seeing the palette sampled on the building, one homeowner remarked "well this ought to wake up the neighborhood!"    The deep curry gold really glows in the sun and is full of life at night.  Accents of green/grey, sage, and mahogany brown call out the entrances which now have a welcoming quality to them. 

 



Color Consulting by Lynne Rutter 415-282-8820
Paint colors by Sherwin-Williams
Painting by Winning Colors

all photos in this post by Lynne Rutter
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Lynne Rutter Studio

A House Inspired by a Jasperware Teapot

Portland Blue and Cane  Jasperware Tea Set, by Wedgwood

Recently I had a request to do the colors for a Queen Anne townhouse in San Francisco where my good friends the Von Petrins had just bought the upper flat. Having worked with them on the interior I already knew they prefer a more minimal/contemporary/unusual treatment, and they had even suggested the house be painted entirely black, a growing trend in San Francisco.

The partner owners loved the Victorian style, but also wanted a deep color and directed me to houses painted dark blue with white trim. 

Raised in the 1920s to add a garage, the house is rather high off the sidewalk making the garage door a bit more obvious than the entry. So we discussed using a bright color on the doors to make them more visible.   The upper flat has white vinyl window units and I decided to just ignore them since they may be replaced soon.   The house had previously been painted pale gray and white,  in a way that de-emphasized the  ornament and flatted out the facade.    In fact it is patchwork quilt of different applied ornament, some original, some not.   I admit it, this one was a brain-teaser for me.    

How to make a daring, contemporary splash and still celebrate the Victorian ornament and have it all look cohesive?  The answer came to me while admiring a deep blue and ivory Wedgwood Jasperware teapot:  a lovely object that had 6 distinct  ornaments that look wonderful together, on a highly contrasting surface. Seemed to me a perfect solution! Rather than call out the details in different colors, ALL of the ornament can be the same color. 

So--- here is the result:

The Jasper house

Naturally we added a bit of gold leaf here and there, and we have a few details still  to do. But I am completely thrilled with it.  It's a traffic-stopping house and reflects well the personalities of its owners.

Paint by Sherwin-Williams

Are you a fan of Wedgwood too?  Read on----

•  - Wedgwood celebrating their 250th year!
•  - Wedgwood Prestige Arabesque Tea Set limited edition available here
•  - Tea with Claudia:  Claudia Juestal interviews Lord Wedgwood  
•  - At Home with Wedgwood: The Art of the Table Tricia Foley's new book celebrates Wedgwood design

You may call Lynne Rutter for color consulting:  415.282.8820

Lynne Rutter Studio

 

Exterior Color: Contrast and Simplicity

10th Avenue Edwardian with its elegant new paint job

When less is more.... Once in a great while I find myself needing to use less color to reach the goal. For this circa 1915 stucco Edwardian house in San Francisco, the homeowners asked me to help create a more sophisticated, period look.

The previous paint job called out every detail in a mauve and white palette, with accents of forest green and dark rose. This gave the facade a somewhat whimsical, more Victorian appearance, which somehow de-emphasized the architecture by separating each element with a deep color; many features seemed to float unsupported.

10th Ave Edwardian, before and after

Houses of this era were originally far simpler, often covered in wood shingles, or with unpainted, natural stucco. To create an appearance more in keeping with the home's true period style, I recommended we give it back some of its architectural stability by simplifying the scheme to emphasize the form of the house, and started with a color similar to the stucco material itself.

Using a limited palette and strong contrast, my scheme features charcoal green stucco, with dark ivory woodwork. All of the structural woodwork is painted the same color: brackets and beams are now connected and supporting the roof! Roof tiles that had been painted red were replaced with natural brown tile, to relate better with the dark foundation brick. A touch of a warm light green in the eaves reflects some light behind the beams.

This house now has an impressive presence from the street; the architecture is doing all the talking.

Color Consulting from Lynne Rutter 415.282.8820

Lynne Rutter Studio