The Colorful Interior Design Inspriations of Artist Susan Seegert

  In a sea of beige/neutral interiors, it's exciting to see bright, Technicolor exceptions. You can always count on the artists of the world to color their own worlds unique and bold.

My mother-in-law, Susan, is one such lady. She's an artist and expert in many different mediums, a lover of all things San Francisco (her hometown) and grandma extraordinaire to my kids. Down to her red hair and fun loving personality, she is anything but boring!

Susan, her husband, Bob and my kids, hanging out at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI)

My family had a chance to visit her recently at her townhome in Vancouver, Washington. We hadn't visited for a couple of years and I was eager to see if she had added more colors and details. Sure enough, there were even more bold touches and color.  I think one of the reasons that we have clicked for the 25 years I've been in the family is our unique, "color outside the lines" approach to life.

The living room was a cheerful mix of oranges, reds, greens and yellows.  All kept within relatively the same values with touches of white for visual relief are what make these colors sing for me. The artwork on the back wall were both painted by Susan:

Each day we came back, I noticed new, fun details I had not noticed before.  The curio cabinet had been around for years, but she switched it up by painting it a bold, glossy red.

 Susan has many fascinating collections which she switches out. A somewhat newer one is vintage, metal dollhouses displayed in her family room on glass shelving salvaged from a local Mervyn's after the company went out of business:

Wall of Mirrors-Using stairway walls are a great way to capture often ignored display space:

Desk area with vintage typewriter and Hummel collection:

Downstairs, her art room is brimming with creative supplies and energy.  I was in awe of how organized she is:

I left Vancouver and Susan's townhome with so many different creative ideas for my own home.  Maybe this will be the kick-start to get my home office in better shape? What a treat to see bold color embraced and used so well!

Guest Post: Amazing Outdoor Color and Ideas From Susi at DesignShuffle.com

I'm one of those firm believers that summer is NOT over until I put on my Halloween costume in October.....OK, maybe just a little earlier. Those of us in California are lucky enough to enjoy our outdoor spaces well into late October. In fact, here in the San Francisco area, September and October is when we get our best weather! I am excited to introduce a guest blogger for this post. These photos really capture the kind of outdoor color I LOVE! A big welcome to Susi from DesignShuffle.com! OK Susi, take it away:

Hi all! I’m Susi and I write as a guest blogger for DesignShuffle.com, a fabulous social media site that promotes interior designers from around the world and their work. My writing focuses on things I'm passionate about: interior design, decorating ideas, home furnishings, gardening, travel and art. I get to look at gorgeous things all day and write about them—I'm a very lucky girl.

I was excited when I saw Marie's topic for me to write about. Let's Go Outside and Color sounds like so much fun! We're not talking sidewalk paint or chalk, but colorful outdoor living spaces. Inspired by the riot of colors in a perennial garden or even kitchen garden, these colorful outdoor living spaces are bursting with color and interesting. I hope you are inspired to go outside and add color to your outdoor living areas. Thanks to Marie for letting me guest blog at Color Marie!

House of Turquoise (via)

Outdoor fabrics have come a long way in the past few years. Great patterns and bold colors in upholstery and pillows add color to outdoor living spaces.

Coolest Gadgets (via)

Not only is this outdoor furniture colorful, it glows! So even at night you can have a colorful outdoor living space or personal outdoor movie theater. Very cool.

Plain Air (via)

Fantastic, colorful outdoor furniture from Plain Air that looks more like mid century modern living room furniture than patio furniture. I'm thinking this might inspire some decorating ideas for living rooms inside. I do love the colorful planters too.

Pinterest (via)

Bright, bold colors cover the walls of this porch. Love the blue, green and rose pinks. They feel so tropical.

Pinterest (via)

What a glorious riot of color! This outdoor bed and yellow mosquito netting would liven up any garden or outdoor living space.

Pinterest (via)

Even an urban roof top living space benefits from bursts of color in aquas and greens. Rich green plantings create a living wall and help soften the city view.

Design Sponge (via)

A single bold color, like this apple green, can make a strong design statement outdoors. Break up the bold color with accessories and plants to add more punch.

Maison Marigold (via)

A colorful outdoor living space can be created with textiles, an colorful outdoor rug and even colorful lanterns. It does not have to cost a lot to make an outdoor space colorful and interesting. Think about taking some of your favorite living room design ideas outside.

This post comes courtesy of Design Shuffle, where you can find top tier interior designs from around the world – from New York interior designers, Los Angeles interior designers, and more, check out the latest at Design Shuffle.

Color "Assignment" from Huntington Beach

 My toes getting friendly with the beach

Our trip to Huntington Beach is over and I have colorful results to report back from my “assignment”. My biggest failure is not getting in a surf lesson which feels like blasphemy when you are visiting “Surf City”.  Also a word of advice; Make sure when you rent a vacation home that it's not next door to one of these guys! 

 Yes, it's an oil well.  There are many in HB but this was the only one in this particular area of homes. Yes, they smell like oil, and sometimes people show up to loudly work on them at 7am.

  

We tried to visit a few cities in SoCal that we've never been too. That's getting to be a challenge. Having been to San Diego and LA so often and appreciating the generous use of color, I guess I was expecting the same throughout all of SoCal.

Biggest joy at HB was riding bikes along the Strand during the day and to dinner in the evening. 

  

The immense beaches such as Bolsa Chica were sparsely populated. The water was warmish and the waves were the best ever for boogie boarding. Lovely! Also there are fire pits to use at night which is a rarity in California.

 I really appreciated the creative touches of color I saw in unexpected places. 

Half wall by parking lot at Bolsa Chica Beach 

 The disappointment was the lack of architectural color near the beach. Taupes, beiges and pale terra cottas abound with only occasional glimpses of anything else. Granted, the homes near the beach are newer, larger homes.  

You are not likely to see wild, colorful palattes on homes of this size but some contrasts would be nice.  This IS possible using only neutrals. Yikes, what they must cost!

 

The homes like we were staying in further away from the beach were older and smaller.  Occasionally, you'd see a little pop of color, but not often.

Although neutral, I enjoyed riding by this home everyday because it had some style and flair! (Sorry for the picture quality as these were "drive by" shots from my bike) 

We spent a day in Newport Beach.  I was amazed at the tiny ferries carrying cars over to Balboa Island!

Waterfront ferris wheel.  Too bad I'm too afraid to ride them!

Newport Beach was a pleasant surprise with some nice drive-bys of great architectural color more in line for what I was expecting to see. 

My poor family endured another long ride around the area so I could go back and take a pic of this intriguing blue home with a pale lavender door and rocking chair.  It fits in perfectly here! 

Lovely.......

While this would look strange or tacky in the wrong setting, it's small size and location near the ocean made it appealing to me.  In this situation, it looked hip and fun. I think there was a small business located inside:

Interesting garage door: 

This colorful clothing store was exactly the sort of retail I was hoping the run across. I'll take this over a chain store any day! The owner is studying to be a stylist.

 Bohemia

San Juan Capistrano was also a colorful adventure on another day. Thumbs up from the whole family for great vibe, loads of flowers and a great Round Table Pizza (we seem to seek out Round Table Pizza Parlors in our travels.) The mission had some walls with incredible, rich patina.

Gorgeous fountain and Koi fish.

Nature always provides us with the best palettes!

And finally, there was some of this:

As you can tell from the pained look on my son's face, one was all I was going to get that day.  I guess his root beer just wasn't as exciting. .....and let's face it, watching your parents have a beer is taking away from possible other fun kid stuff.

Since we had the dubious luck of heading out of LA on the much televised "Carmegeddon" (the weekend much of Highway 405 was to be shut down) we headed out early, and to the relief of light traffic through LA on Highway 5, to hit one more stop for our kids.  Galco Soda Pop Stop was a colorful surprise set in a once old grocery store in LA.  Here is a sample of some beautiful colors from our stash:

Now that we've got the beach covered.  We're soon heading up into the Sierra's to log in some time in the mountains and lakes.  Vacations are always a great opportunity to notice and enjoy colors, palettes and regional outside your area and comfort zone. I know it gives  me a playful push in appreciation and application of color.

Southern Califonia Vacation Assignment

 Kern Erikson

 I'm heading off for a few days of R&R in Southern California, specifically Huntington Beach, aka Surf City.  I always appreciate the different palettes seen down south in comparison to Northern California.  I'll have my camera at the ready to capture local architecture and color inspirations. I've also given myself the following assignments:

..........visiting the International Surf Museum:

..........doing a little surfing (well, perhaps not looking like this!)

.........riding bikes on The Strand........

......watching some of this.......

........drinking a few of these........

........shopping for some color to wear..........

........eating this.........

.......looking at this.........

 Forget Me Not Photography

...........but mainly doing this.........

C.Curtiz Photography

I look forward to "working" and reporting on this colorful assignment here soon!!

The Colors of Dad

Do you ever find that you associate certain colors or palettes with a special person in your life?  I identify strongly with certain color combinations in association with my parents.  With my late mother, it was always hot pink and gold.  She was quite fond of this flashy, yet feminine combination and I'll forever think of those as "her colors".

Sadly, my father passed away last week after many years of poor health.  In honor of Father's Day, I put together a palette that reminded me of him.  It's always interesting to think of what makes us associate colors with a certain person.  Is it their clothing choices, personality or hobbies that make us see certain colors in relation to them?

My dad was part of the small generation sandwiched between the World War II generation (nicknamed the Greatest Generation) and the Baby Boomers.  I like to call it the Mad Men generation after the hit show that takes place in the early 1960's. 

They were too young to fight in WWII but too old for Vietnam. True to form in alliance with the TV show, my dad remembers that his years working for the Federal Reserve Bank in the early 60's were filled with 3 hour, 5 martini lunches!

 My dad had that Mad Men look and I think I associate his colors with some of the business shirts he wore during his working years. He never gave up the formal attire, music and sensibilities of that generation for the more casual styles and tastes later adopted by the Boomer Generation.

Dad in the late 1960's:

Dad's Colors:

So here's to all dad's out there and my dad in particular.  Their colors will always live on.