I wanted to share the following article written by my friend and neighbor, Karen West, for Seattle Woman Magazine. It will be done in two parts, one as a fun backgrounder on my home and the second will address color moods, taken from one my books: Colors for Your Every Mood.
Color Expert Tells How by Karen West
“Leatrice Eiseman is a confessed color addict.
As a small child, she wouldn’t leave her house unless her socks and hair ribbons were color coordinated. Her favorite pastime was coloring. And at age 15, she painted her bedroom furniture glossy black and her walls tomato red to create a sophisticated look.
Today, she is known as ‘America’s color guru’. As executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, and author of ten books on color, Eiseman’s expertise in color trends and color psychology is recognized internationally.
For the past 30 years, Eiseman has helped hundreds of companies – from Schick to Shiseido – choose colors for product development, logos and identification, brand imaging, websites, and packaging.
As a worldwide color consultant, Eiseman, who also is founder and director of the Eiseman Center for Color Information and Training, until recently had spent much of her time on the road or in the air.
She traveled 160 days a year, leading an average of 100 seminars on color psychology and trends at trade shows, design centers, schools, and conventions for both professional and consumer groups. Much of her work is now centered on color consulting and building online courses in various areas of color.
Her books include: ‘The Complete Color Harmony: Pantone Edition’, ‘The Color Answer Book’, ‘Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color’, ‘Pantone on Fashion’, ‘Color Messages and Meanings’, ‘Colors for Your Every Mood’, ‘The Pantone Book of Color’, ‘More Alive With Color’, ‘The 20thCentury in Color’. Signed copies are available on her website: LeatriceEiseman.com
A native of Baltimore, Eiseman studied fashion and interior design for several years in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Antioch University as well as a counseling specialist certificate from UCLA in California. combining art, design and psychology to build a career in color.
Eiseman currently lives in a traditional Barn Red farmhouse on Bainbridge Island, a ferry ride away from the Emerald city of Seattle.
Words don’t need to be spoken in the home of America’s ‘color guru’, Leatrice Eiseman. The walls do all the talking.
By using a variety of color combinations in each room, Eiseman’s Bainbridge Island farmhouse evokes a myriad of emotions, sending out messages of warmth, drama, humor, surprise, fantasy, excitement and contentment.
‘Color is the single most important contribution to establishing a mood,’ says Eiseman. ‘Decorating by mood allows you to choose the themes and the colors that work best to express the feelings you want to get across in any given space.’
‘That need for self-expression appears stronger than ever and continues to be a trend for home furnishings’, says Eiseman. ‘The one-size-fits-all color and style mentality is a dinosaur of the past.’
Color, or the lack of it, is the vital conveyer of color moods and catalyst to creating interior moods.
‘From the moment you enter a space, you are inundated with the sense of the colors surrounding you,’ she says. ‘It is the first thing you notice when you enter and the final message that you take away when you leave.’
One step inside Eiseman’s home is all it takes for guests to be instantly greeted before words are even spoken. The creamy yellow walls in the entryway and living room give visitors a warm and inviting feeling. It’s a nurturing environment – just one of the many moods Eiseman has created throughout her contemporary farmhouse, which is painted a vibrant barn red.”
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