Design 5 Seventy-One: October 2009

Friday, October 16, 2009

iPhone Paint Colors

Ben Color Capture is a free iPhone app from Benjamin Moore that makes it a snap to find and match great colors to use for your next painting adventure. Take a picture of anything with your iPhone that has the color you want and the Color Capture app shows you a strip of colors that have the closest paint color match highlighted. Give your phone a simple shake and your ben app will give you four coordinating colors that create a perfectly harmonizing palette based on the original color. There are a ton of colors all with their names shown in the Ben Color app. It also allows you to save your favorites for instant color coordination and comparison. Favorites can be enlarged to the size of the iPhone screen for easier viewing.

watch how it's done!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNtRzZXbAqs

For the free Ben Color Capture download visit www.appshopper.com/lifestyle/ben-color-capture

Not familiar with Benjamin Moore? This is the paint I prefer to use and specify and one of the country's leading manufacturers of premium quality residential, commercial and industrial maintenance paint/coatings. Their products are distributed via a network of independent paint and decorating retailers located throughout North America. Locally that includes Guiry's, Belcaro, Ponderosa Paint Centers and select ACE Hardware locations. Benjamin Moore is committed to sustainable manufacturing practices plus the ongoing development of the most eco–responsible formulations possible. Its portfolio of Green Promise™ products continues to grow and includes Aura, über–performance low–VOC paint; Natura Zero–VOC Interior Paint; and EcoSpec Zero–VOC Paint for commercial interiors.

New Ravenna Mosaics

On Tuesday I went to a tile showing at Decorative Materials in the Design Center for the tile company, New Ravenna Mosaics. The founder/owner/artist of New Ravenna, Sara Baldwin, was there from Virginia to speak and show her new products. I was so inspired by her! Not only is she an amazing artist but a true entrepreneur. She started her company in 1991 after creating her own mosaic tile designs and realizing there had to be a market for them. She moved into her parents home with her young son and started her company. Today she employees over 100 people and is one of the largest employers in Northampton County, Virginia. Her mosaics are sold through nearly 200 exclusive designer showrooms across the country and internationally.

Their products are handcrafted from stone & glass then made into decorative borders, murals, fields

and medallions. The sky is the limit with this company! They create many custom pieces. By just changing the stone or glass color in a field design you can create a completely different look. This is one of the reasons most people would need a designer or architect to assist them! Most home owners can't envision a pattern repeat let alone changing the colors within the pattern.

It's too bad not every pattern could be made into sample boards this big because you begin to get the full effect and beauty in each of the pieces.

Seeing them in person is really the only way to truly appreciate the intricate detail, colors and design.

New Ravenna has created a collection for Ann Sacks called Beau Monde. This collection is a fresh and updated graphic interpretation. Expressing timeless glamour of Old Hollywood.

close up of Pembroke...one of the patterns in the Beau Monde collection for Ann Sacks

Montgomery 1, another Beau Monde pattern in Calacatta Tia & Emperador Dark marbles....can't go wrong

with this combo!

close up detail

BATHROOMS

Galaxy Floor

close up of Galaxy

Path is made with Thassos honed & polished chips of Calacatta placed as grout lines. Beautiful in person!

A bathroom in Gracie Mansion in New York.

Sara Baldwin's personal bathroom. Floor (above) and shower (below) both done is Mist which is made of handchopped & tumbled stones in multiple colors.