Color is Therapeutic

As an intern architect, I spend a lot of my time finding inspiration from new building materials and stimulating images. Having just recently purchased a rowhome in Philadelphia, I was already looking forward to redesigning it–even though we don’t move in until February. It was as I eagerly searched the Web that I stumbled across a Web site called ApartmentTherapy.com. I was instantly in love with the amount of exciting, and often unconventional, home design ideas in a format that’s a how-to, classifieds, blog and forum all rolled into one.

Shortly after my discovery, Apartment Therapy called for entries to their Room for Color Contest 2009, a contest designed to ‘inspire confidence and improve homes’ by celebrating the bold use of color. Our current 950 sf rented Philadelphia studio has a wall that we brazenly decided to paint “Apple Green.” When we painted it, we were hopeful that the color would provide a visual bookend to our long and narrow studio and change the atmosphere of the room from day to night. Juxtaposed against the exposed brick wall and original wood floors, the color recedes with the bright backlight from the windows during the day and turns the living room into a cozy nook by night.

We went up against hundreds of colorful rooms across the country and won the East Division!

Thank you to my KSS colleagues all those who helped us take the East division. Unfortunately, we lost to the winner of the West division in the final face-off. Our new home (and all subsequent projects!!) will undoubtedly reflect not only our current design style, but also the fantastic designs we’ve admired from all the other homes in the color contest.