Color Style: How to Identify the Colors That Are Right for Your Home

White walls and neutral furnishings are safe, popular--and incredibly boring. When you really understand color, its powers to transform your home are virtually unlimited, not just with paint but through fabrics, wallpapers, furnishings, and accessories too. From vivid reds to subtle neutrals, color can work magic in our lives. Based on a system called "Living with Color," this vivid volume divides the spectrum into seven distinct natural-element palettes-- Air, Wind, Water, Fire, Earth, and Minerals, plus Naturals--and explains how to choose the one that best suits your own style. A questionnaire helps you determine which element is the real you, and a room-by-room analysis demonstrates how color can enhance different aspects to achieve a particular atmosphere. If you like pastels, for example, you'll probably feel most comfortable with the Air palette's whispery shades, which work especially well in rooms with a lot of natural light. If, on the other hand, you're drawn to jewel tones, then the Fire palette will let you make a dramatic statement. With practical advice as well as eight step-by-step projects (including faux stonework, dividing wall space with simple trompe l'oeil panels, and making an easy fake Roman shade to turn a window into a focal point), Color Style simplifies the process of finding--and using--the colors that will make your home a true reflection of yourself. --Amy Handy