Neutral Color Schemes: Neutral Palettes and Dramatic Accents for Inspirational Interiors [Spiral-bound]

Alice Buckley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 26, 2008

A practical handbook for maximizing the decorative effect of neutral colors.

This is an easy-to-use guide to working with neutrals in home decorating. Once limited to whites and beiges, today's neutrals come in an overwhelming range of whispery pinks and yellows, organic grays, greens and browns, and even blacks. Each of the 150+ color palettes and combinations includes notes on where the color is best used; for example, on furniture or as trim. Mood boards, scrapbooks and beautiful images provide added inspiration.

Topics include:

• Why neutrals are popular
• How neutrals work with other colors
• How to use neutrals to create spaciousness
• How to decide which color scheme to use
• Understanding the effect of light on color
• How to layer neutrals
• Using neutrals and bright colors.

The "Color Directory" has more than 220 pages of palettes and their variations. As well, Alice Buckley tells the stories behind such schemes as northern lights, Parisian elegance, ice cream, white heat and desert beauty.

For home decorators and interior designers, Neutral Color Schemes is an essential handbook.

(20081227)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Artists and paint swatch-hoarders will find the book fun to flip through simply for its color pairings. (Katie Aberbach expressnightout.com 20081129)

Alice Buckley proves neutral doesn't have to beige or boring. (Herald and Review 20090801)

This is a good source that demonstrates how to take a favourite neutral and run with it. (Jane Harrison Star Phoenix (Saskatoon SK) 20090430)

The format of this book is a user-friendly, coil-bound handbook, offering prescriptive colour combinations. (Jane Harrison The Calgary Herald 20090202)

Buckley delves into the history of neutrals and discusses how to use them effectively.... Photographs make projects easy to implement. (Design NJ 20090218)

An easy-to-use guide to tapping the potential of neutrals [and an] essential, tool for homeowners and interior designers alike. (Hamilton Magazine's Interiors 20080819)

Buckley's Neutral Color Schemes explores ways to add calming colors and touches of drama to a home. (The Tuscaloosa News 200908)

Author Alice Buckley treats neutrals ("the least understood") with reverence; hers is a practical and engaging primer on color theory. (Kim Yeager Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN )

Alice Buckley proves neutral doesn't have to be beige or boring. (Lancaster New Era )

Buckley's Neutral Color Schemes explores ways to add calming colors and touches of drama to a home. (Modesto Bee )

Artists and paint swatch hoarders will find the book fun to flip through simply for its color pairings. (Washington Post Express )

Neutral doesn't mean bland, as this handbook richly illustrates. (Real Long Island blog )

The book is both practical and stimulating and is sure to become a well-thumbed handbook. (Country Accents )

About the Author

Alice Buckley is an interior designer and textile designer in London. Her creative works have been exhibited and sold widely across North America and Europe.

(20090201)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 256 pages
• Publisher: Firefly Books (September 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1554074010
• ISBN-13: 978-1554074013
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #983,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Serious help for the novice and the professional, September 21, 2009

By 

Decorating Lover (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Neutral Color Schemes: Neutral Palettes and Dramatic Accents for Inspirational Interiors (Spiral-bound)

Alice Buckley has created an ingenious way to self-help when choosing a color scheme for any room or home. She has taken 100+ basic colors, recommended for walls, and pulled together beautiful color schemes, showing you the basic wall color and up to 4 accent colors to consider using with that wall color. On pages 28-31 are small examples of the 102 wall colors with the page numbers of the fuller color scheme listed on each color. This makes it quite easy to find what you're looking for. Granted you might be looking for a wall color that isn't depicted, but that doesn't take away from the book when you consider there are millions of colors one can use. No book can cover them all and it would be ludicrous to expect that. Even 100 colors is ambitious enough.

She further divides the colors into groups and at the beginning of each group she gives you a beautiful picture of a room using one of the color schemes found in that group. Naturally we'd like to see more pictures, but when you consider that no one will have a room similar to the rooms depicted, there's no way more pictures would truly satisfy. I can expect the author means you to focus on the color schemes presented, not the room photos. Let's face it. You've got to stretch yourself at some point and do some thinking for yourself. If your color isn't shown, find one that comes close and adapt.

Would the book be better with the actual brand and paint color mentioned? No. A book can never reproduce a color exactly as that color would be in reality. Even the paint manufacturer can't provide you with chips that are perfect representations of their own paint color. So you have to be smart enough to recognize that there is no way to reproduce paint perfectly in a chip or a book and you've got to make the best selections you can that appear closest to the colors you find represented, then test the colors first in your home before rolling out a big purchase. There are many factors that will alter the color of the paint once you get it on the wall: lighting, time of day, other colors nearby, etc. So even the best color experts are prone to make mistakes if testing is not done first. Colors also look different on huge surfaces than in small sections. That's what makes it both tricky and challenging.

Anyone who would rate this book below a 5 star is naive and doesn't appreciate the extreme difficulty of creating a book of this sort. Congratulations to you, Ms Buckley, for such an excellent resource. I am happy to recommend this book to anyone wanting help with developing a color scheme that works and plan on using it as a quick resource with my clients.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not what I was looking for, April 27, 2011

By 

WickedWoman987 (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Neutral Color Schemes: Neutral Palettes and Dramatic Accents for Inspirational Interiors (Spiral-bound)

It does provide many color combinations, but they just weren't appealing to me. Many palettes included one or two interesting colors, but then they would be paired with something that to me looked dated, like a terra cotta color. I much prefer the Domino Book of Decorating.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Idea, Colors somewhat limited, August 17, 2009

By 

J. Truesdale "Eager Reader" (SW Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Neutral Color Schemes: Neutral Palettes and Dramatic Accents for Inspirational Interiors (Spiral-bound)

Overall I liked this book and will keep it. It's beautifully put together. However, many of the "neutral" color schemes are much darker and more intense than expected, even strange looking, and the color palette seems a bit limited. I had several ideas for interior color schemes I'd hoped to explore with this book, but none of the combinations in the book came close to those I'd envisioned.

While the book provides many photos of rooms, there still aren't enough examples to picture most color combinations as they'd look in a room. Although the paint colors all have names, no manufacturer is given, so you'll have to ask a paint store to help you match any colors you want to use.