Show your true colours
Use technology to colour your world
By Suzanne Moutis
It all started when I inherited my late uncle’s retro orange couch. A boxy 1950s shape in a bold tangerine shade, it immediately turned into the focal point of my family room.
“Throw it out,” my husband said.
“No way,” said I. “I’ll make it work.”
I was determined to make the daring hue fit with the room. Finding a balance between the unconventional colour and my current décor was key. I couldn’t take my couch shopping with me, so I turned to technology to help me pull the space together.
Compile and save ideas
When you’re dreaming up a décor scheme, paint chips, magazine tear sheets, fabric swatches and photos can be invaluable, but they often become unmanageable. Try a digital décor scrapbook to better organize your items. A digital scrapbook lets you tag items, add hyperlinks, and collate articles, notes and measurements for easy retrieval.
I used Microsoft’s OneNote, which categorizes information of all kinds, such as pictures, digital handwriting and video recordings, in one virtual notebook. OneNote let me view all my information at once to help me better plan the entire space.
OneNote also made it easier to pick and choose products to start making the room’s elements, such as furniture, accessories, walls and flooring, cohesive.
Start your own décor scrapbook
OneNote comes with Microsoft Office Home and Student, Microsoft Office Ultimate and Microsoft Office Enterprise.
- Begin by opening OneNote. Click Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > OneNote.
- Start a new notebook by clicking on New > notebook.
- Name your notebook. (We called ours Décor notes.)
- Choose Personal notebook and click Next. You will be asked whether the notebook will be used on one or multiple computers and whether it will be shared with several people. Choose the best option and click Next.
- Choose where your notebook will sit on your computer and click Create. Your notebook is ready to use.
- Now you can start adding items to help with your décor planning. To add items, click Insert from the top toolbar. You can include photos (from your scanner, camera or files), files, screen clippings from the web, and audio and video recordings.
I filed a digital photo of the couch. Then I popped a scan of an orange press-on wall decal that I spotted in a magazine into the same place.
Find the right colour
Whether you’re choosing a colour to complement a bright accessory or to freshen up your space, you can use technology to help with shade selection.
Most paint company web sites, such as Benjamin Moore and Ralph Lauren, feature a favourites section in which you can save your chosen shades and palettes.
Some, like Behr, also have fun interactive tools that let you virtually paint your home by uploading photos. For a minimal annual fee, you can use Behr’s ColorSmart tool to preview different colour options on photos of your home. The number of photos you can upload is unlimited, so you can test many shades and hues.
Although the colour may look great online it may appear differently on your walls, so you should get a second opinion, says Bev Bell, creative director of Beauti-Tone Paint. “If at all possible, take your item into the store to make sure the colour you’ve chosen on the computer looks the same in real life as it does onscreen.”
If your furniture or accessory is as unwieldy as my sofa, take heart. Many hardware stores provide alternatives to ensure you select the right hue. These include portable colour matchers you can bring home and in-store scanners that do a more accurate job of matching your photo.
Share information
To get a friend’s input on your digital design, you can send links of the items at your favourite stores or to your OneNote inspiration folder (it can be shared). Or create a folder on the web through Windows Live SkyDrive. Files as big as 5 GB can be stored, swapped or shared. Then hit the shops with the image at your fingertips for great new accessories.
My family room now has a bright new look. And that orange couch? It has a bright new future.
