A grey that all of a sudden looks blue in the afternoon light? A beige that looks violet in the dim light? A plethora of choices exist among the color wheels in any given paint store. What seems to be a soul mate of a color under the fluorescent lights in a store can be completely different in the changing lights of the landscape of a home!
Jumping into color can be daunting for some and easy for others- picking a color based on a sample card or quick swab of sampling on a wall can leave one disenchanted with the end result.
Making a house a home typically involves changes in existing paint colors. Managing move in projects or even redecorating or repurposing a specific room involves new furniture and accessories which all can be impacted in whole by the base color choices. Items such as existing carpets and couches or future to buy items all make a splash in how the eyes will share the combined mixture.
It all revolves around a pivotal point of working with colors-Undertones. With a passion for design for hues and nuances in the painting universe, Maria Killam has carved out a unique niche for herself. As an expert teacher and mentor in the color industry, she is able to educate her clients in the any varying ways to utilize color palettes. Internationally known, Maria is a color expert, design blogger, author, trainer, decorator and stylist.
Working with interior designers, homeowners or otherwise color enthusiasts, Maria opens up a world of understanding on color choices. Her approach involves a live color workshop and hands on learning in a session as well as online support options. She has a regular blog, Color Me Happy, on her website www.mariakillam.com that flows with ideas on changing trends and color usage as well as simple and practical tips as well.
Chatting with Maria about her blog, she shares, “Color Me Happy is my expression in the world on all things color and design related as well as my thoughts on life and business.” Tidbits included in the blog are color forecasts. Her recent post for 2019 included a note on the color peach as being on the upcoming trend for 2019. What exactly does this mean? To the novice, it may be to add a few accent pieces in that hue or maybe to possibly look at it as an option to use in the color scheme. However, Maria delves deeper. With peach making its way to the center stage, her blog shares the impact peach is to color hues. With peach coming in, she details its impact to ‘beiges having orange undertone and even furniture to have a warmer orange stain to be seen more frequently’. It’s not just about one color but the effect and play the color has alongside lighting and other hues.
Having worked with a popular paint store, Benjamin Moore, Maria started out doing color consultations with customers. She credits this experience for giving her the base knowledge and curiosity to start her passion in color. “I was going on 5-6 color consultations as week and over a few years, I picked up that, most of the time, clients were connected all the items that made an impact on their color choice when picking a paint.” She adds, “Most people do not realize how important the countertop is in the kitchen palette scheme or the rug in the great room…it’s not just picking the paint in a can, it’s the whole room of color accents to consider.” With her knowledge, Maria was eager to jump in to a solo career. She recalls, “I went all in leaving my day job and starting with an ad in the Yellow Pages.”
Educating clients included a stint teaching in a local college. She reflects, “It was my partner who saw the interest in my classes who encouraging me to set up online and to do live seminars which made my career grow to what it is today.” Maria travels across North America sharing her systematic approach to color. Maria reflects, “You CAN master colors if you know their undertones in a rational way with reasons behind your choices instead of mere intuition and guess work.” Over 20 years of experience led to Maria’s creation of Understanding Undertones™ – The Color System and led her to publish her book, How to Choose Paint Colors; It’s All in the Undertones and White is Complicated; A Decorators Guide to Choosing the Right White.
When asked about the basics of color planning, Maria enjoys teaching the basics of being timeless. For example, she notes “I believe timeless is key to creating a new home- white or crème for a bathroom and kitchen always leaves room to be trendy if you want to paint an island your favorite color of blue for example.” She shares 9 primary neutrals in her color wheel design focusing on taupe, three types of grey, and 5 types of beige. As well, her systemic approach to specifying a color choice surrounds three basics points about color. “Color is either cool or warm, light or dark, clean or dirty.” For those curious on the ‘clean vs, dirty’ descriptor, I asked for clarification. Maria elaborated by saying, “As an example, the color coral would have a ‘clean’ look whereas a rust would appear ruddy or ‘dirty’. “She shared a further example of ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ coloring. “I remember walking into a commercial bathroom. The walls were white, the floor had a terra cotta type accent, and the stalls were bright red.”
Maria’s love of color is a beautiful gift that she can share to everyone who is interested. For those not interested in a large project or those without ‘money to burn’, she advises to do what is needed. Her wealth of experience can make any project big or small, a treasure that will be timeless.