I am falling for monochromatic color blocking and you should too.
I'll admit it, I was a skeptics when it came to monotone colorblocking. It just didn't seem like something that would work in any room, let alone my own home. But I'm slowly coming around to the idea. And I have to say, I'm surprised at how well it can work in any space.
Twenty years ago, at Diamond Baratta, the company I first worked for in New York City, they were known for their use of color blocking. It was quite the spectacle. As the design team behind these visionaries, we would create moodboards out of blues, greens, and the brightest reds you had ever seen. One of the projects we worked on together even became Amanda Priestly's "home" in "The Devil Wears Prada." I remember when Bill Diamond self described the room color as “Cereleuan”, the movie writers started salivating and made sure to write that into the script.
But I will be honest, I wasn’t the biggest fan. It felt cartoonish. Something just didn’t feel right.
Well, recently that has all changed. After a Summer trip to Copenhagen, I started seeing color a bit differently. Rooms there may have a moss color green wall that had a aloe vera color chair in front of it with an acid green modern art painting accenting the entire space. The simplicity of the color organization was truly quite breathtaking.
A series of monochromatic shades of blue to color block with
So I have started playing with it in my own studio after the last couple of months, and I will be honest…color blocking is slowly winning mover.
Whether you're working with neutral tones or more saturated hues, monotone colorblocking can add interest and depth to a room. The key is to find your grounding color—the color that you'll base everything else off of. From there, you can build and build until you have the perfect space. This approach works especially well in contemporary rooms, but I've been surprised to see how well it can energize a traditional space.
If you're thinking about trying monotone colorblocking in your own home, I say go for it! You might be surprised at how much you love the look. And who knows? You might even find yourself being asked to design a movie set one day.
