Get the KHS Look: Design featuring C2 Paint "Magnet" color

If you’re a frequent House Enthusiast reader, then you’ve heard me sing the praises of C2 Paint before. Their “Magnet” color is one of my favorites. Depending where and how you use it, it can be deep and striking, liquid and soft, or stony and subtle. On the fireplace surround above at the KHS Harvard Shaker House renovation/addition, it tends toward the deep and striking, boldly contrasting the putty grey (C2 “Pavement”) floor.

“Magnet” on the floor of the KHS Shaker House renovation/addition

Elsewhere, in the same KHS project, C2 “Magnet” makes an appearance as a floor paint. Here, it comes across as more liquid and soft, especially where it juxtaposes the C2 “Sheer” cabinetry and trim. Using a limited palette of colors — sometimes in different applications — can help rooms of a smaller home flow one into the other to create an overall more spacious effect (as I mention in The New Small House and The New Cottage).

At our own cottage, C2 “Magnet” on the screen door and Dutch door (which I had modified from an existing stored door) takes on yet another tone. It has more of a stony subtle flavor in an exterior application. I wrote about this Dutch door in an earlier House Enthusiast post.

As with any paint color you’re considering, you’ll want to look at a sample of it in different qualities of light and in different orientations (vertical or horizontal) to get an idea of how it will look in relation to the other surfaces where you plan to feature it. Fortunately, C2 offers poster-board-size samples to help you make a decision.

Now, go forth with color confidence. You’ll be glad you did.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

Web tour: edibleBoston: Candy-colored palette

photo by Michael Piazza, courtesy of edibleBoston (rotated by KHS)In the spring 2012 issue of edibleBoston, I stumbled upon a mouth-watering photo (by Michael Piazza) of Necco Wafers. The very thought of Necco Wafers may be enough to transport you back to a simpler time. Seeing them, nearly life-size on the page, is sure to trigger your inner time machine. Somehow, I’d forgotten -- or never known – that NECCO stands for New England Confectionary Company. So, today, I write about an inspirational New England treasure of a different sort – not an antique building, a hardy pocket-garden, or a copse of crooked scrub oaks. No, today, I sing the praises of artificial food coloring.

Yup, those Necco Wafer colors are fantastic. I’d love to see them transformed into a paint palette of rich brown and stark white with accents of faux licorice and purple-blue. Or, maybe, tempting orange and stark white with accents of faux licorice and refreshing green. Or, perhaps, tangy yellow and stark white with accents of girlie pink and tempting orange.

In the edibleBoston article, Irene Costello writes that in 2009, NECCO “replaced the artificial colorings in the classic Necco Wafer with natural dyes. Their loyal customers hated the muted colors and vehemently demanded the vibrant albeit fake colored wafers back.” Sounds like the New Coke/Classic Coke debacle. Classic is generally best; it just depends what you mean by classic. I’m with the loyal customers. You?

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast