Finding drama in a new coat of paint | Inside Real Estate

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Don’t be afraid to turn it up, but make sure you tone it down.

Looking to get a new look for your old digs? A fresh coat of paint can do the trick and enhance the feeling of any room.

When it comes to color, the sky is the limit, and much more than blue can do.

It’s amazing what colors can do to re-sculpt a space and give you a completely different environment, and highlight things architecturally,” said Connie LaMont of LaMont Design, Inc., an architecture/interior design firm she owns with her husband Wayne LaMont.

Although remaking a great room or the kitchen may seem like obvious starting points, in some cases, Connie LaMont said, people shouldn’t be afraid to think small.

“You can change a laundry room, or powder room, even a front porch, and give some drama to the space,” she said.

Yes, a fresh coat of paint can result in needed “drama.”

What’s drama? It’s that reaction during your first steps inside that redone room.

“When somebody says, ‘Aaaahhhh.’ Or it takes your breath away. It draws your attention; stops you in your tracks,” LaMont explained.

LaMont has been an interior designer for more than 30 years, and has a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from UC Irvine and an additional four-year degree from The Interior Designer’s Institute in Newport Beach, California. The daughter of a structural engineer dad and a psychotherapist mom, LaMont is also a colorist — some have called her a “colors therapist” — and LaMont stressed that everybody’s perspective of color is different and personal.

And that means drama is different for different folks, as well.

For some, the drama may come in a dining room that’s all navy blue, but trimmed out with white for a regal look.

No matter where one falls on the spectrum, LaMont said it’s best for most people to “avoid Crayola crayon colors.”

“Don’t do that fire-orange red,” she said. “When you open that can of fire engine red, don’t do it,” she said.

If you feel you must, LaMont recommended dialing back the vibrancy, by adding some “dirt” — an element of grayness.

“I usually want to encourage them to go a little bit deeper in tone,” she said.

The use of black, as well, can have a big impact. It can force the element of shadows into a room.

“In my own home I have kitchen cabinets that are all black, which makes my kitchen look larger.”

White has the opposite effect.

“White does not grow a space; it actually makes it seem like it’s colder and smaller,” she explained.

That’s a hard notion for some to accept, especially for people who have been living under an eggshell ceiling and surrounded on four sides of white walls for most of their lives.

“The hardest part for people to embrace is going that one shade deeper than they think they should,” she said.

A client’s own personality, what they wear or even how they stand, can provide important clues when it comes to creating an environment that fits, LaMont said.

“I don’t want to change anybody’s comfort zone, but I want to help them create a home they didn’t know they were allowed to live in — and make it that extraordinary.”

It’s OK to think outside the box when it comes to painting schemes, because it doesn’t cost much to start over if the first choice doesn’t feel right, she said.

“It’s amazing how cheap paint is,” LaMont said.

For more ideas on interior (and exterior) colors, visit lamontdesigninc.com.