Marrying Painted Furniture | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Tuesday, Feb 12 2013

You have a tired piece of furniture, you like it so much, perhaps it has been in the family for a long time or you just care for the environment and don’t want to dispose of it. The solution is to repaint it.

It is fun to let the imagination run free when repainting furniture.  You are imagining the new piece in a particular corner, you found the right color or pattern you like so much and get equipped with all that is needed to do the paint job, but then you might realize that particular color or pattern will not fit with the décor of your room.  Before you get innamorate of a certain design,  the first think to do is to ask yourself if color and pattern will go with your room décor. When you are absolutely sure, purchase all the material needed. A couple of times it happened to me. I was totally taken by a certain design that I ended up changing the rest of the room to fit the painted piece.

If you are restyling a room based on the new color of your painted furniture, remember that nothing transforms a room better than colors do. Colors in nature work just as you see them, bring them in the room, they will work just as good. A room exposed to South can take bold and rich colors on walls, furniture and accessories. For rooms exposed to North, you might want to use bold colors only in accessories.
Take one or two colors from your painted furniture and use them as your color scheme for the room. Then the fun part comes. Select one color that doesn’t even exist in your painted furniture piece and make it the accent color to help the room stand out. Note what I did in my color schemes:

First colors scheme: The green tones came from the green lines of the dresser, by introducing a raspberry color the room become vibrant. Although green is a calming color, it might not be suitable for everyone, especially for those people who have a low value skin tone.

Second colors scheme: the grounding color is black found in the chair legs, coffee table and credenza top. In the next slide, notice how the same piece of furniture looks so different with different colors around.

Third color scheme: I picked up the brownish tones from the same credenza with diamond designs, changing the feeling of the room completely. Have you noticed the rug has the same diamond pattern of the credenza? It just happened by chance.

Fourth color scheme: I chose to play with the brown tone of the colorful chest of drawers. The yellow in the drawers was my inspiration for a yellow tone floral chair. Floral chairs offer many colors to mix and match other chairs in solid colors.

Fifth color scheme: painted golden and silver stripes characterize this dresser drawer, to which anything can be  matched. I chose the golden tones, bright, warm colors and added texture with the accessories. The feel is sunny and natural.

Sixth color scheme: In alternative to paint a piece of furniture, you might want to consider covering that piece with faux leather, or wallpaper. Color black grounds a room, but also, as a graphic color, lends itself to many color combinations from classical to modern.

Today’ s wise designer must know how to romance a room and how to dance around client’s budget.

If a client needs guidance in painting a piece of furniture that can say “I am an original” , I will gladly do that, it is part of my services and color is my expertise. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com
http://valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2013 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer and former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe since 1990. She blends well fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients. She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual. She is the author of three books, the latest is a book on colors RED-A Voyage Into Colors. Find them on 
Amazon http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9 
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

 

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An Incredulous Vision | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Saturday, Oct 27 2012

An incredulous thing happened to me yesterday afternoon around 6:00 pm, I just want to know if any of you have ever experienced anything similar. I am still thinking about it and what is the meaning of it.

I was driving on a super busy freeway, when all of a sudden, the town I was approaching, but not yet my exit, all the lights of that town, the freeway landscape, the shape of the winding road, all reminded me of another place in Europe.
In my over imposed view, I could not recognize this place in my déjà vu, but I was sure I had been there sometimes in my previous life. It was very clear in my mind, it was very familiar, I know I had been there in that cozy place, but where was it?
Then, as in any dream, I had an abrupt awakening, the view disappeared and returned to the dreadful, super busy freeway.

This morning, I drove 45 miles to return to the same spot on purpose, but the view I had seen yesterday didn’t come back. Perhaps the view of that beautiful place in Europe appeared because I was hungry and the emptiness of my stomach played a trick on me, or I was wishing in that moment to go somewhere unknown. Perhaps, the strange lights of a freeway in the early evening distort images, or the stress of my work is taking a toll. I think the latter is more real and not an excuse.
What do you guys think and what does it mean? Why this view appeared yesterday and not any other day, since that is an area I drive through often?
I will remain puzzled.

On the note of my stress, a few days have passed since I wrote my last blog, I am feeling withdraws as if I have a blog vise and a few days have passed by without thanking Jamie at http://grandmothermusings.com for nominating me with two awards:
The Reality Blog and One Lovely Blog Award. I appreciate your wisdom Jamie and I appreciate all the bloggers’ talents, information, photos, fun and personal dilemmas. That’s is what a community supposed to be. It is not always possible to answer all of you, but I do see and read you all everyday.

These are five questions for both Awards.
I will only answer one, my eye lids are falling off at the moment:
1) What is the one thing really scares you?

Being left completely by myself on this world, no people, no animals, no books, nothing.
2) If you could change something, what would you change?
3) If you could repeat an age, what age would it be?
4) What one dream have you not completed yet and do you think you will be able to complete it.
5) If you could be someone else for the day, who would you be?

I am thinking that perhaps I need something as joyful as this in my photo above, chilled and refreshing, in any corner of my house. I might be able to find another meaning of life, or will cure my stress.
I am also thinking that some of my clients will appreciate having one of this in convenient places, especially when we are in the remodeling process.

I will nominate five bloggers and there is no specific rule to these awards. Each nominee is free to accept and do what he or she will with his or her award.

http://tresorsdeluxe.wordpress.com

http://passport.laurenoliviaco.com

http://astronomybythecosmos.com

http://katrinaperkins.wordpress.com

http://fueledbyvegetables.com

Create a great weekend. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

http://valentinaexpressions.com/

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer and former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe since 1990. She blends well fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients. She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual. Her latest book RED-A Voyage Into Colors is published. Check out her books on:

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

32 Responses »

 

Colors For Humans | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Friday, Sep 28 2012

“Spanish artist Angelica Dass has conceived ‘Humanae’ for Pantone. The project applies the alphanumerics classification of the Pantone coloring system to human skin tone, communicated through a photographed portraiture series. The background of each piece is dyed the exact shade extracted from a sample of 11 x 11 pixels from the very face of the people depicted, with the ultimate aim being to record and catalog, through a scientific measurement, all possible complexions” says Pantone.

Well, this is good news for people like me in the design world. I can add more personality than ever into people’s home. It has been my trait to include in my color palettes the eyes and hair colors of the main people living in the house, often also the color related to their zodiac sign. Now, I can add different skin colors to the décor or to the walls for a total harmony.

Living in our skin color season, with the right color temperature, the right color value and color intensity can only improve our feeling good in the home environment. Is it not the same when we choose our clothes? Yes, it is. That is the reason people consult image-makers to learn about the season of the skin they live in and to select related wardrobe colors in the right season that will make them feel good and project a confident aura.

I just want to make an example. If you have golden-brown hair, brown eyes and yellow-brown skin, or ivory skin tone, your skin color temperature is considered warm. You can choose all the colors in the warm palette, reds, yellows and oranges with all their warm undertones. You will feel at ease with color from Pantone 62-6 C (photo below), for the walls of your home or a few walls in some rooms. Due to your warm skin temperature you are also allowed to choose the cool colors temperature, as violets, blues and greens, but only the warm side of these colors in combination with the reds, yellows and oranges. Therefore your room or rooms will be the result of a series of furniture and accessories enclosed in an upbeat and vibrant color combination, made just for you.

These same color combinations are also perfect for your wardrobe and will exalt all the beauty of your warm temperature skin.

I like this new discovery in the colors adventure very much, it opens new opportunities and allows me to run free with many more solutions.

Let me know if I can help you with colors in any way. I offer consultations on-line through Skype line. Share me freely. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com/
http://valentinaexpressions.com/

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer and former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe since 1990. She blends well fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients. She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual. Valentina’s book #3 RED-A Voyage Into Colors is almost ready for the market. Stay tuned!

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

 

 

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Good Day Sisters! By Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Tuesday, Sep 11 2012

Today I am going off topic from my usual design and style. I like to repost a piece from one of girlfriends and artist who wrote it after she attended a talk at Stanford University.

Tiffany (left) Valentina (right) having fun at a restaurant.

“They Teach It at Stanford:
In an evening class at Stanford University the last lecture was on the mind-body connection – the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends. At first everyone laughed, but he was serious.
Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality “girlfriend time” helps us to create more serotonin – a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well-being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers, and evidently that is very GOOD for our health.

He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym. There’s a tendency to think that when we are “exercising” we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged? Not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking! So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky.

Let’s toast to our friendship with our girlfriends. Evidently it’s very good for our health”.
Maria Grazia Romero is a renowned artist in the San Francisco Bay Area http://www.artslant.com/global/artists/show/87298-maria-grazia-romeo

I am taking this opportunity to thank Jamie, my new-found friend here on WordPress
http://www.grandmothermusings.com for my nomination of “One Lovely Blog Award”. Jamie says that “Sharing little slices of life makes the journey more exciting!” I could not agree more.

Rules for the One Lovely Blog Award:
1. Give credit to the awesome person who nominated you and post the Award on your site.

2. Describe 7 things about yourself.

3. Nominate 15 other bloggers. I will tweak it a little.

7 Things about Home Designs Master
1. A few moons ago, I moved away from the Old World to only find myself doing things in the Old World style in the New World:

a. My laundry yard is where I hang my clean laundry to dry in the sun and wind. Will never own a clothes dryer.

b. Microwave cooking is not for me, it’s very bad to cook in it. Will never own a microwave either.

c. In my garden, I created an orchard, where I grow many types of food, Summer is harvest time. I preserve them for the winter, going through so much cooking, stuffing, canning and pickling, but my winter looks colorful, abundant and healthy.

d. If I am not using parts of my home at night, the lights stay off in those area; only keep lit the rooms I am using at certain given time of my evening.

e. For a good health of the home and the health of people living in it, I keep windows open to circulate fresh air all through the day. In the morning, when I get up, I open the windows and when I cook, the windows are open also. During remodeling process, I make sure to include plenty windows in clients’ kitchens and bathrooms. It is important these two spaces have egress for steam, vapors and odors.

e. I learned to make facial masks and skin, hair, or body treatments with food in my kitchen.

My way of living is in tune with my eco-friendly designs, which I offer to my clients, if they care to save money and live in a natural way.
The government didn’t have to tell me what to do to respect the Earth, I was born into a saving mentality.

Allow me to tweak the rules of the award and nominate the following 10 exceptional blogs for the One Lovely Blog Award. Many thanks to all of you for spending time with my writing and sharing your experiences and thoughts with me. Ciao,
Valentina

http://healthdemystified.wordpress.com/
http://zenandgenki.com/
http://openplatforms.wordpress.com/
http://myhomefoodthatsamore.wordpress.com/
http://cancerkillingrecipe.wordpress.com/
http://jeffsinonphotography.wordpress.com/
http://bluebutterfliesandme.wordpress.com/
http://shareandconnect.wordpress.com/
http://thebigbookofdating.wordpress.com/
http://thismansjourney.net/

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola has been a lifetime designer in fashion and interiors. Her extensive knowledge of colors and materials led her in both directions successfully. “Vogue Italy” magazine featured Valentina as the guru of staging in the theatrical way. Among designing and remodeling homes, designing custom-made furniture and writing books, Valentina is now teaching etiquette, table manners, table setting and life style. Her new book on the subject of colors is almost ready to be published. Stay tuned for Red-A Voyage Into Colors. Visit her at: http://www.Valentinadesigns.com
Check her previous books on 

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

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Hidden Spaces | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Sunday, Jul 1 2012

Consumerism has put a great need in our lives to accumulate things (useful or not).
We are seeing more boxy container furniture with dual functionality to make up for the lack of space, providing additional storage and serving other functions as well, such as seating arrangements. Many corners in the house are now utilized to the fullest of their potential with various creative solutions. Lot of them are showing up in up on my Pinterest board.
http://pinterest.com/vcvalentina/

This means that many people are thinking about this problem and finding solutions anywhere they can. I will point out some good solutions to emulate and others not as good to copy.

Wet Bar – It is a perfect idea to utilize a dead space under the stairs for a wet bar in an informal basement or family room. However, I would not like to see kitchen cabinets style, appliances and plumbing fixtures in an elegant space such as living room. With state of the art Italian technology, a faucet can be hidden behind moveable walls and doors. Take a look at this video, you will be surprised to see how beautiful technology can be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag-J9R8DtTU

I would disguise cabinets and appliances with panels made of the same wood style and colors of furniture present in the room. The wet bar will not look like a small kitchen cramped under the stairs.

Library on Landing – Great use of both spaces. Stair landing are usually treated as transition areas with little importance and often left undecorated. At times even lighting is not adequate to travel that route. In this digital era, it is sad to see the lack of books in homes. For me, adding books around windows, doorways and landing together with a comfortable seating area, show that anytime is a good time to stop and read, even when doing the laundry upstairs.

Craft and Hobby Room – Nice solution if everything needs to be in open view. A standard base cabinet is 24” deep, there is enough space to make a slide-out cabinet from the back. After accounting for backings and sliding mechanisms, the two base cabinets might be reduced to 8-10” each. Furthermore, keep in mind that a little bending down might be necessary to reach that back slide-out cabinet.

First Step – That first step must hold the full weight of a person. To make parts moveable and operable for storage it is necessary to reinforce the tread (where foot rest) of the first step, otherwise it could cave in.

Banquette – Filling a window area with something useful such as a banquette and storage underneath is always a good idea to use as seating and storage for extra china or linens.

Stairs Drawers – Of the two examples, I prefer the drawers, but both are good use of the under stairs space.

Kitchen Cellar Stairs – I would have to say a big wow to this idea. Sure it is nice to go down below to get a bottle of wine while cooking, for me at least, but the building code requires the stairs tread (horizontal part) to be at a min. of 11” wide and at least 7” high for the riser (vertical part). Big pain! The idea is nice, but the stairs as they are built appear to be dangerous.

Implementing these small solutions can only improve the life of the people living in the house. The expense is only paid once, but the reward is immense, you get more space, a better-organized life and value added to the house.
Like what you read? Sharing is caring. Pass it along to someone who’d benefit. Ciao,
Valentina

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola, is the principal designer and owner of Valentina Interiors & Designs. She is a trained designer and has been in business since 1990. She works on consultation and produces drawings for remodeling, upgrading, new home construction, décor restyling and home fashion. Valentina was featured in Italy on: “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California. She also has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15.
RED-A Voyage Into Colors, her new book on colors is about ready to be published.
Find her books on 
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

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The Power Of An Idea | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Wednesday, May 2 2012

Not too long ago I was 14 years young and I found myself with a bunch of middle school kids going to visit the Pinacoteca, a large museum of my hometown in Bari, Italy. We were somewhat well-mannered kids, but the yearly school trip in a bus, guided by a couple of teachers was more an excuse to be silly for one day and an escape from everyday routine sitting at a school desk than a time to learn something in the fields of life.

The Pinacoteca is a large neo-classical building with large open spaces and so much art on the walls we had never seen before, of course we were only thirteen and fourteen years of age. Each art piece amused us in some ways or another while teachers were making efforts in keeping us attentive to their explanations and comments on the beautiful art pieces. We arrived in front of Lucio Fontana’s paintings and we were abruptly silenced at the view of sliced up canvases, at least that’s what we thought they were.

The Argentine-Italian artist was well-known in Europe for his series of slashed monochrome paintings. Sometimes he embellished the slashed canvases with costume jewelry and glitters. Lucio Fontana, lived between 1899–1968. His art was seen a mixture of avant-garde art under Italian fascism and kitsch painting of the postwar economic miracle. “Fontana attacked the idealism of twentieth-century art by marrying modernist aesthetics to industrialized mass culture” said art critic Anthony White. His art was a reflection of his time and it was perhaps the beginning of pop art.

Lucio Fontana started developing the idea of space-oriented art, renouncing the usage of traditional materials and painting objects with fluorescent colors in dark rooms illuminated by ultraviolet light.

The perforated canvasses marked the starting of a new “Concetto Spaziale” Spatial Concept and did not come until the beginning of 1950. It was this idea that really left a mark in the art world.
Today Fontana’s works can be found in the permanent collections of more than one hundred museums around the world.

Why did I tell this story? I recalled asking one of my teachers on that field trip to the Pinacoteca, if Fontana’s art was really to be considered art. With all my disbelief, I thought anybody could have taken the knife and slash the canvasses. I thought art was supposed to be an extension of what is in our mind, not just an act of a “crazy moment”.
I said to my teacher that I could have done just the same and make a ton of money like him. She responded by saying: “Yes, you could have done the same, but he had the idea first!”

My teacher’s answer was simple, but powerful and stayed with me my entire life. Never underestimate the power of your idea, regardless of how big or small it might be. Ciao,
Valentina

 

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

http://valentinaexpressions.com

 

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian interior designer in business since 1990. She is passionate about colors and all expressive art. She is a “colorist”. To her, selecting art means to bring out the best energy of her clients and nourish their soul. She is the forthcoming author of her book on Colors: Red-A Voyage Into Colors, which will be released very soon. Check out her books on

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

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The Story Of Your Home | by: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Thursday, Apr 12 2012

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I was in a funny episode a few years ago, it just resurfaced yesterday because I was talking in a forum about this episode. I met a woman in a store in the area where I live, she was a foreigner, but we spoke Italian to each other, because she knew my language. We got acquainted and we talked casually for a while. At the end of the conversation she invited me to a party at her house that coming weekend. Bare in mind we were perfect strangers.

She appeared to be not well-groomed person, she said she was gardening that day before going out to the boutique were we met for the first time. She was very dirty, she was wearing jeans with holes (me, going out with holes in the jeans? Never, not even if they are in high fashion!), she had a mount of oily red hair flowing in the air, well you get the picture. Any way, I don’t know why, I accepted her invitation to the party.

When I arrived to her address, I saw a huge mansion of about 30,000 sq.ft., which wrapped around a hill (I learned later that the entire hill was her property, among many other properties). I called the number she gave me to tell her that I might had arrived at the wrong address. She assured me I was not and opened the gate.
Statues, fountains and scented flowers opened a beautiful path for me.
The family is a multi-millionaire ten times over. Her husband retired from his own company at age 37, he is now in his late 60s. There is no need to tell you what a beautiful, colorful and really extravagant, out of the ordinary home unfolded in front of my eyes, all decorated by her.

During the party she had a paid tour guide wearing a livery and white gloves who took every hour and half a group of 6 people at a time to visit the house interiors and the exterior luscious gardens, artificial lakes, ponds, outdoor pizzeria and outdoor rooms. The woman came from very poor origins and made it really big in this world as an emigrant.

Lesson learned. Never judge a book by the cover and never question the motives of rich people. They have it, they can flaunt it and I will enjoy every moment spent in their wealth any time I am around them.

Showing our home to the guests is a costume of certain cultures and a privilege to be shown around, but not everybody does it for a fear of losing privacy or being criticized. Commonly the rooms well made up are foyer, living room, kitchen and powder room. The rest of house being off limit to the guests is either not pretty or not clean, but you live in it and you paid for that space too, why not give a little consideration to it, adding a little sense of pride for what you achieved, may I add?

It doesn’t take much effort to bring the invisible part of the house up to par, especially with the help of a professional who has a trained eye and knows how to find the best within your budget. Each one of us has a story to tell about the house, your guests will be interested to hear it and get to know you better through your cocoon. Surprise them!
I am here for you or anyone you know. I have been at your service since 22 years ago and I show no signs of wanting to quit. Sharing is caring, pass my article around freely. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com
www.Valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Italian Interior Designer in business since 1990. Being Italian born and raised, Valentina’s design work has been influenced by Classicism and stylish, timeless designs. She is a designer well-known to bring originality to people’s homes. As an Italian designer and true to her origins, she provides only the best workmanship and design solutions. Valentina is the author of the forthcoming book on colors RED-A VOYAGE INTO COLORS. Check out her two published books available on

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9

Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

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Woman’s Day In Yellow | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Thursday, Mar 8 2012

March 8th is the International Woman’s Day.
It is traditional on this day to give yellow mimosa flowers to women as a sign of respect and solidarity. This is a day to celebrate appreciation and love towards women and to celebrate women’s economic, political and social achievements. Women give Mimosa to each other as well.

Yellow is one of the many colors that characterizes spring and summer. A controversial color that makes people feel happy, but creates anxiety; it is the color of the sun, which gives life to nature, but as the autumn approaches, the leaves turn yellow, lose their life and die. It is a cheerful color, however not many people can wear it, they feel either washed out or don’t feel good in yellow. Being a bit of a difficult, but inviting color, how can we include yellow in our fashion or homes?

(Bouquet Bed from Arch-Expo).

Orienting your color scheme to your own particular hair and skin coloring is a good practice to make a pleasing cosmetic environment. The same practice is valid when decorating any spaces we live in. Before pairing colors with yellow, we should know how to distinguish each yellow.

Winter and summer yellow is stripped of any gold reflexes. Winter yellow is pale like the winter sunlight. Spring yellow is hot and delicate, like the yellow of the daffodils; summer yellow is riper as the pineapple and it is also sharp as lemon; the autumn yellow is deep mustard gold.

White is the neutral color needed to calm the yellow and it is perfect for the blue-based winter and summer skin tone, as it brings out the pink tone in their skin and make them look healthy. Winter and summer people can use yellow in home décor with a good amount of white. White washes out people with golden tones skin. Spring and autumn people need to turn to creamy beige colors.

It is good to pair yellow with metals. Add silver for people with a blue-based skin tones and gold for people with yellow-based skin tones to bring out their warm coloration. Brown and purple are perfect colors to tone down the yellow. As you see in bedroom photograph, a metallic yellow is the accent color in the bedspread, pillows and glass details.

It communicates well with the metallic purple, the silver coloration of the floor and the white light of the lamp, but what brings everything together is the golden brown of the wood furniture with a yellow tone. This room will work well with an autumn person.

The right cosmetic color will lift our spirit and light up our face, it will work the same in our home décor, after all if one color doesn’t look good on us, it will not look good in our environment either. The walls or décor will reflect the wrong energy and we will never feel comfortable in that space.

Mimosa (acacia dealbata) was introduced to Europe from Australia in 1820.
It is probably the first tree to flower as early as January with yellow flowers.

A Mimosa Cocktail to serve at a morning brunch is the easiest drink to prepare:
Mix one part champagne (or other sparkling wine) and one part thoroughly chilled citrus fruit juice, orange juice or grapefruit juice.
It is traditionally served in a tall champagne flute.

Tomorrow, celebrate your beautiful self and give a woman a mimosa.

My book on the subject of colors RED-A Voyage Into Colors is just about ready to be released. Stay tuned for the launch, but if in the meantime you need suggestions on colors, please do not hesitate to leave your name in the box below. Ciao,
Valentina
www.Valentinadesigns.com
www.Valentinaexpressions.com

Valentina on Affluent Living:
http://youtu.be/kWuB7I8uJjg
http://youtu.be/eC2LVXANG5U

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer and former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe since 1990. She blends well fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients. She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual.

Check out her books on
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

 

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My Red Philosophy | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Saturday, Feb 25 2012

Lovely to place another check mark near my goals with the word DONE. Here I am at my third book, finishing up the publishing process.
Red-A Voyage Into Colors will be released in the Spring 2012.

In this book, I have talked about colors in our spaces, homes, offices, gardens, fashion, food and astrology. I have also included easy studies on colors for those readers who want to learn how to make colors, learn how to see and interpret them, or learn to understand their psychology. Oh, yes, wear the wrong colors and the face will show signs of aging, the body will look awkward, out of proportions and the wrong colors in the house will give us headache.

The philosophy of Red-A Voyage Into Colors is based on the playful nature’s colors we have been gifted with and that we enjoy every day. It was easy to think of nature and write about it. I get up in the morning and salute the sun. Even when it rains, I welcome the gray colors of a wet day and wear the brightest colors in my wardrobe as a propitiatory dance to let the sun return into my life, but in the meantime I enjoy the changing of weather. Nature is my inspiration, always.
Color is life! We live under a blue sky and a yellow sun; a silver moon kisses us at night; we swim in green-blue seas and climb on brown mountains; we stroll in green parks and forests, our gardens are filled with a profusion of colored flowers. Nature has done it all for us, we can just copy it and celebrate. We are the nature; we are the colors.

[Find my images on Pinterest]

A jolt of happiness travels through our brain and body when we get up in the morning and see beautiful colors in our house and then again when we go into the closet to select special color combinations fit for the occasion of the day.
With the promise of a colorful day that will put our disposition on a positive track, why would anyone live without colors?

So many people spend their life in dreadful beige homes, or worse in the colors for resale value, living not in colorful spaces of their liking, but living the life of the next buyer. People are so afraid of colors and yet colors have flavors, emotions, harmony and music. Colors play along with the daily rotation of the sun transforming their structure and light each time the sun touches each colored surface with its warm rays and because there is rhythm in colors, let’s not forget that each colors will increase our creativity, or inspire us.

Allow yourself to experiment with various color combinations and challenge your fantasy, when in doubt, always refer to nature.

I have produced one book a year for the last three years. I can really say nothing is impossible! I know which book will be next, I will leave that news for later.
Stay tuned for the release of Red-A Voyage Into Colors, hardcover, filled with my photographs and my drawings.

I am available for hiring in speaking engagements on colors and how we can use colors to our advantages. Ciao.
www.Valentinadesigns.com
www.Valentinaexpressions.com

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer and former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe since 1990. She blends well fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients. She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual.

Check her two published books on
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

 

 

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A New Red Vibration | By: Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer Saturday, Jan 7 2012

We are one week into the new baby year, but I can still wish you a Happy New Year. This year will be exceptional! I am feeling the electricity vibrating all around me. I sense a renewed positivism in people, we will have new election in this country, in Chinese astrology 2012 is the year of the dragon and I am a dragon, but not shooting fire, only good vibrations.
My third book, now in the finishing line, has been accepted for publication on the evening of December 31st, while the previous year was ending and I was celebrating the arrival of 2012. What a better way to start a new year with a new book to be published soon! The title I chose is RED-A Voyage Into Colors, just right with this year powerful energy. The book will be on the market in the Spring, please stay tuned for the news of the launch. Red is a book on the subject of colors in our lives andt how colors affect us.

I have included a section of colors in astrology, colors for interiors, colors in food and fashion. The beginning part explains what colors really are, how to see them and how to interpret the character of each one. Writing this book has been a labor intense, but also a fun process and in a few months I will see it realized. I will be putting another check mark next to my goals and dreams and a big “DONE”.

This year 2012 is all about colors. Colors will take inspirations from nature, but the exciting part is that we can create a mysterious combination with the undertone of each color and use it in a new way to set the mood, or create high contrasts never done before. Pantone, the leading industry in the subject of colors, for decades has influenced product development in multiple industries, including fashion, film industry, traveling, interior designing, home industrial design, product packaging and graphic design. This year Pantone made Tangerine Tango the color of the year.

Tangerine Tango is a red-orange hue, which will characterize 2012, performing well in spring and all the way through autumn. It is an all-round color most people can wear, exotics in its structure and very friendly to most skin colors. It will perform exceptionally well with green and blue eyes and when paired with brown eyes will highlight the amber cast. It is highly wearable in daytime and evening affairs.
Tangerine Tango in interiors is an energizing color that will lower inhibitions. It is perfect in entryways and foyers, love to see it kitchens or simply in a few kitchen appliances for a surge of energy. It will spice up the rest of the house just with a few pillows, accessories, bedspreads and rugs. Don’t need much of this colors, its warm presence is visibly palpable.

In the past years, red color really irritated me, therefore I kept away from fire-red and wore it extensively only in December through the festivities, but now I feel good toward that red energy in my life. Through this year I will be celebrating my twenty-two years mark in designing business with RED-A Voyage Into Colors my new book on colors and my renewed hopes and goals for my future. All the good reasons for not letting this powerful vibrations passing unobserved. May all your dreams be realized in a colorful life. Let’s Tango! Ciao,
Valentina
Design website: www.Valentinadesigns.com
Books website: http://valentinaexpressions.com/

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer and former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe since 1990. She blends well fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients. She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual.

She is also a published author of two Italian regional cuisine books available on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, through her publisher and her books website:
http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna
http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/9agl5v9
Barnes&Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/valentina-cirasola

 

 

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