A Color Lesson and Schloss End Tables
Blue, green, yellow, shade, tone, hue, cool, warm.
Did you realize there were so many things to learn about colors?
During the past few months, I've been learning all about color and I'd like to pass my insights along to you. Hopefully this little post will help you make color choices on your furniture pieces in the future!
First, let's start off with a color wheel, or a color triangle.
Here's a simple one:
There are 3 main colors from which every other color is derived. They are Blue, Red, and Yellow. These are called primary colors and they make up the 3 corners on a color triangle. If you mix any two of these colors together, you get Orange, Green, or Purple. These are in the middle of the triangle legs and are called secondary colors.
Now let's get a little more complicated.
There are different variations of Green, Orange, and Purple depending upon how much of a primary color is added in. There are called tertiary colors.
All of these colors are divided into two groups - warm and cool colors.
Reds, Oranges, and Yellows are warm colors while Purples, Blues, and Greens are cool colors.
Your neutrals like gray, white, and brown are in the middle, however even these colors can lean warm or cool (believe it or not).
Did you know that Miss Mustard Seed has a warm gray in her milk paint line? Yes, that's right - a WARM gray. It sounds completely counter-intuitive, doesn't it? But yes, it's true!
Can you find it?
If you guessed Schloss, you're right! Compare Trophy and Schloss next to one another in the photo above. See how Trophy is a true gray and Schloss has more of a warm brown undertone to it?
Schloss is the German word for "castle", and the color harkens to the stones that dot the walls of German castles. Miss Mustard Seed's creator, Marian Parsons, actually lived in Germany for a bit during her childhood. Her father was in the military and was stationed there, so she got to experience all the country had to offer first hand. What an appropriate name!
When I got these two little end tables, I wasn't quite sure what to do with them.
They had beautiful carved details along the legs and the top "tray", but I wasn't completely sure what paint color to use for their makeover.
The last time I visited Blue Dandelion by Tiffany in Strasburg, I remembered seeing a dresser towards the front of the store. It was painted in the most beautiful greige (gray and beige) color. I checked the tag, and lo and behold it was painted in Schloss.
Color selected!
I mixed up a few batches of Schloss and gave these girls a fresh new look. After 3 coats, I worked MMS's Antiquing Wax in to all of those beautiful details with a small artist's brush.
Don't they pop now?
Yummy, yum, yum!
Staging was a blast. I only photographed one table in my vignette. A simple cotton wreath, aged pages of a 1930's copy of Wuthering Heights, and a rusty metal lantern all bring out the warm tones of Schloss while still keeping everything neutral.
Each table has a glass insert in the middle, keeping them light and airy.
Can we revisit those details just one more time?
That'll do, Antiquing Wax. That'll do.
