Benjamin Moore Paint Hale Navy & Alexandria Beige

Walls BM Alexandria Beige 50% Formula HC-77
Woodwork & Trim BM White Dove OC-17
Front Door BM Hale Navy HC-154

Every once in a while I work with a client that has natural design savvy.  I knew this was the case the moment I walked up the entranceway and recognized the door as Benjamin Moore's Hale Navy.  I smiled, and could not hold back my enthusiasm.  When my new client opened the door, I exclaimed  "Hi, I'm Cathleen, the color designer, pleased to meet you, IS THIS HALE NAVY, it's such a BEAUTIFUL COLOR!"

Door BM Hale Navy HC-154

She was kind enough to go into the basement and look for the paint container, and indeed confirmed the Hale Navy.  I smiled, brightly.

Walls BM Alexandria Beige 50% Formula HC-77
Trim & Woodwork BM White Dove OC-17

My client was on a mission to transform the existing bright light yellow foyer to something more dramatic, gracious, and sophisticated.  She had a wonderful vision but needed a color professional to bring it to fruition. After sampling several colors that did not work, she called me in to help.

Walls BM Alexandria Beige 50% Formula HC-77

Woodwork & Trim BM White Dove OC-17

The homeowner has a great eye for color, but it's difficult to translate tiny chips of color into gigantic walls, as color changes and is all about context.  Selecting paint colors is an art, it takes experience, talent, knowledge, enthusiasm, persistence, the right color tools, and often guts.

If you are having color anxiety, know you are not alone.  Simply call in the color professionals, that is what we are here for.

Walls BM Alexandria Beige 50% Formula HC-77

Woodwork & Trim BM White Dove OC-17

Front Door BM Hale Navy HC-154

Notice the deep blue dining room above.  It was a burnt red!  (Oh I wish I took a before picture)  My client wanted a blue dining room and had several wallpaper samples for me to look at.  I said "Blue, BRILLIANT, especially with the Hale Navy Door and the blue accents throughout the first floor".

Unfortunately the photo does not rendering the blue wallpaper correctly (computer colors are inaccurate), but it absolutely looks stunning in real life.

Walls BM Alexandria Beige 50% Formula HC-77

Woodwork & Trim BM White Dove OC-17

The foyer was a bit of a challenge.  The mission was to go dramatic, with richness and depth, but not too dark.  The home is used extensively in the daytime, as well as in the evening for entertaining.  Plenty of natural lighting is provided by a large window, causing the colors to lighten in the day, and darken in the evening.  The dilemma was finding a color that the client loved both day or night, that simultaneously looks beautiful with all the elements in the foyer and adjacent rooms (including their lovely art collection and stunning blue-green living room).  Oh, and of course, we needed to find a color to go with the Hale Navy door!

Always, always, always consider how the paint color of the foyer looks with the exterior of the house.  Doors are frequently left open, and the front door and foyer are the first things we experience when we enter a home. 

Walls BM Alexandria Beige 50% Formula HC-77

Woodwork & Trim BM White Dove OC-17

So I brought in my large paint boards, and we worked together as a team, finally narrowing it down to two colors.   As always, I moved the boards around to different areas of the grand foyer, up and down, and all around, because color changes depending on its immediate surroundings.   I left the boards overnight, because color changes throughout the day and evening.

My client called me the next day and informed me that one color is too dark at night, and the other color not dark enough.  I knew we wanted the sensibility of those particular colors, because we explored many options already.  So I simply had the paint store lighten one color up and darken the other. I painted up two new color boards, and left them for viewing overnight.

Walls BM Alexandria Beige 50% Formula HC-77

Woodwork & Trim BM White Dove OC-17

Bravo, we did it.  My client loved one of the modified colors!  It was exactly the look and feel she desired,  and went beautiful in the space.  The color is Benjamin Moore - HC-77 - Alexandria Beige lightened to a 50% Formula.  

Beware, computer photos do not render color accurately.  My monitor is showing more red undertones than in reality.   Be sure to look at the paint colors in the actual space during different times of the day.   And always test the colors on the walls before you commit.

Must sound like a broken record but I'll say it again - color is all about context, and naturally changes.  It looks differently on one wall than it does on another.  Once you accept this fact, and embrace it, you will love the creative process of choosing colors.

Ahh, BM Alexandria Beige 50% Formula, warm, gracious, and sophisticated  (just like the homeowners personality) with just enough drama - intriguing in the day, and at night.  Nothing makes me happier than knowing my clients are delighted every time they enter their home.

Especially when they walk through that fabulous Hale Navy door.  :-)