The Voice of Color

How can I find out about new color trends?
I would like to use more than one color in my living room, but I’m unsure how many colors I should use and in what proportions?
I can’t make a final decision about color for any rooms in my home. How do I know which colors are best for me?
I saw your Inspiration Brochures at my retailer, but they were out of stock of the blue family. Are they on the website as well?
I’d like to add some texture to a wall in my sunroom, but I don’t want to use wallpaper. Any suggestions?
My sister says yellow helps improve memory. Is this true?
My bedroom faces north and does not receive much natural light. I’d like to make it look warmer, do you have any suggestions?
We just bought a house in Miami and we would like to keep our colors in tune with the history of the house. Do you have any suggestions?
We need to redo our home office; my husband and I both use it, but we don’t seem to be able to agree on color. How can we find colors that will please both of us?
How to use the 60:30:10 ratio of color?


	How can I find out about new color trends? Part of the mission of The Voice of Color® is not only to keep you up to date on the latest color trends, but also to help you integrate them into your décor by defining the character lying behind each of these trends. Our Art Director, Josette Buisson, is a member of the Color Marketing Group (CMG), an international association of color experts. Every year, the CMG identifies the direction of color trends that will be appearing in the years ahead. Josette and her team then translate these color forecasts into trends suitable for decoration before bringing them to your attention. To find out more about this year's trends, please see the Inspiration Café™ section and click on Trends. ^ TOP I would like to use more than one color in my living room, but I'm unsure how many colors I should use and in what proportions? The Voice of Color® has a simple and effective way of coming up with a balanced palette, starting with three base colors. This involves the famous 60:30:10 rule, whereby approximately 60% of the space is given to the dominant color, 30% to an intermediate color and 10% to one or more accent colors. In order to properly understand this rule and play with the proportions in a color palette yourself, click on Proportions in the Harmony Collection™ in the Inspiration Café™ section. You'll see: a picture really is worth 1,000 words! ^ TOP I can’t make a final decision about color for any rooms in my home. How do I know which colors are best for me? The Voice of Color® has developed an amusing and highly revealing tool that will help you discover what your tastes and needs are in terms of color. To try it, click on Color Sense Game™ in the main menu. You will be more than a little surprised by the results! It’s a fact that certain colors stimulate us and others have a tendency to soothe, making us feel good. However, these influences vary according to our personal background, the environment around us and the time and place in which we live. Please see also Room Index in the Inspiration Café™ section to get some great ideas for all the rooms in your home. You will certainly find some stimulating suggestions for your project. ^ TOP I saw your Inspiration Brochures at my retailer, but they were out of stock of the blue family. Are they on the website as well? You will find all of the families in the Harmony Collection™ presented in our Inspiration Brochures^™ on the site, in the Inspiration Café™ section, by clicking on Harmony Collection™. ^ TOP I’d like to add some texture to a wall in my sunroom, but I don’t want to use wallpaper. Any suggestions? Why not try out a faux-finish? Our Clear Blending Glaze is the medium par excellence for creating some magnificent effects. It’s a product which is simple to use and gives impressive results. The Faux-Finishes section in the About Color menu provides detailed step-by-step explanations for using several different techniques. There are a host of interesting ideas awaiting. ^ TOP My sister says yellow helps improve memory. Is this true? A number of specialists working on the psychology of color do indeed affirm that the color yellow has some virtue in regard to memory. It is interesting to look at the effect of color on our emotions, but you also have to take cultural elements into account, as these also affect our perceptions. The Voice of Color® has researched this topic and come up with a few thoughts to help you understand it more clearly. Read our explanations in Color Theory, in the About Color section. ^ TOP My bedroom faces north and does not receive much natural light. I’d like to make it look warmer, do you have any suggestions? The light which enters a room influences the color and atmosphere of that room in a number of ways. By understanding how this works, it becomes possible to counter certain tendencies by using the right colors, in the right degree of saturation and value. You will find some clear explanations by visiting Lighting in the Decorating Library in the About Color section. ^ TOP We just bought a house in Miami and we would like to keep our colors in tune with the history of the house. Do you have any suggestions? Our Historic Color Statement color card proposes a number of colors intended for homeowners who, like you, wish to highlight the historic character of their home. This card is available at all Pittsburgh® Paints retailers as well as on this site, in the Inspiration Café™ section, by clicking on The Voice of Color® Collections. ^ TOP We need to redo our home office; my husband and I both use it, but we don’t seem to be able to agree on color. How can we find colors that will please both of us? The Voice of Color® has developed an amusing and highly revealing tool which will help you discover what your own tastes and needs are in terms of color. First, you and your husband must define your respective tastes. To do this, click on Color Sense Game™ in the main menu. Then, to learn more about creating a décor which takes your different tastes into account, read the article entitled: Maintaining a harmonious décor… and relationship! in our Color Chronicles in the About Color section. ^ TOP How to use the 60:30:10 ratio of color? Because decorating is about more than just one color, each Harmony Chip offers 5 colors that work together beautifully. Experiment with these colors in any ratio. ^ TOP