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About Rebecca Bushner
Expertise
Specifying paint/coating colors or materials for interior or exterior of buildings including residential and commercial spaces. I also do graphic design & color marketing. I'm the current immediate-past-president of the International Association of Color Consultants/Designers North America (IACC-NA), a former Color Marketing Group chairholder, and an award-winning fine artist.

Experience
I've been officially a color consultant for 7 years, a designer and researcher (tableware design) for about 10 years. I have my own color consulting/graphic design business in Arizona.

Organizations
IACC-NA: International Association of Color Consultants/Designers, North America.

Publications
NAFEM (North American Association of Food Eguipment Manufacturers, Ceramics organizations.

Education/Credentials
BA in fine art, MBA, and have taken the full International Association of Color Consultants/Designers seminar course and oral exam.

Awards and Honors
Past-President of the IACC-NA

You are here: Experts > Style > Interior Decorating > Painting & Wallpapering > Color Choices

Painting & Wallpapering - Color Choices

Expert: Rebecca Bushner - 10/27/2009

Question
We have an old home with tons of wood trim - I have been told it is Georgia yellow pine with some sort of amber finish on it. Anyway, it has a reddish/yellow tone and is dark, but not like a walnut. My son's bedroom is pretty small. He would really like a blue in there and he would probably like a slightly more "with-it" look - I have kept the rest of the house pretty traditional. There are wood floors in the room which are much the same color as the trim. His bed and an armoir in the room are in the same sort of wood tone color - the furniture is traditional. I would like to add a desk to the room and was thinking of going with a black finish on the desk to kind of break up all the wood finish we have going on in there. Will a black desk work and what color wall paint would you recommend? What color in the blue family of paints would work best? What about a rug for color in the room - would it be best to match the paint or contrast or what? Thank you!

Answer
Hi Jamie
You apparently need decor ideas for your son's bedroom. A great starting point: get the area rug first, and here is why:
1. Area rugs are the single fastest way to update a room.
2. They run the entire design gamut from traditional, middle-eastern, ultra-modern, contemporary, themed, tone-on-tone, etc.
3. They are available everywhere, including big box stores. My favorite store for fun kid's (You do not mention how old your son is though) rugs is here: http://www.thecompanystore.com/dept/Kids+Home+Rugs/5210/
4. Getting a rug with a pattern, even a simple stripe, allows you to have some or all of your colors in one item: blues, black, brown, and other colors: like reds, greens, gold, whatever is appealing. This gives you many more wall color choices now--instant inspiration!
5. Area rugs can also add needed texture into a room. Rugs make a great contrast with wood floors by adding something soft for bare feet. Look for sculpted or carved, shaggy Flokati, regular shag styles, flat weaves, plush traditional weaves and even painted floor cloths.

Once you have your son's perfect rug, you can concentrate on the colors for the rest of the room. BTW: almost any color in the blue family will work if you have natural woods: blues and browns are opposite on the color wheel, so they usually work together well.
Good luck with the bedroom!
~rebecca

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