A weekly blog series exploring different creatives view on color and its use in interiors, art and design. We will dive deep into their obsessions with color. How and why they use color. You will get to know their stories and you may even gather some tips for using color in your own home. What is better than learning from the experts!
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Hue Are You?
Designer Spotlight: Mary Douglas Drysdale
We are honored to have as our first guest Washington DC interior designer Mary Douglas Drysdale. One of America's top interior designers with more than 60 magazine covers, Mary's classic style bridges traditional with modern. Known for her architectural interiors, it is her bold use of color that makes her the perfect choice for our series plus she's a fabulous friend!
Susan Jamieson: What One Color Represents Your Design Style?
Mary Douglas Drysdale; Yellow, but not because it is my favorite color, it isn't. I think yellow represents my design style because it is to me a color of optimism and warmth, it is bold and works around the clock and from season to season. It is based in history, and one of Thomas Jefferson's favorite colors, being a Charlottesville girl, the Jefferson connection makes it in my mind perfectly classical.
Photo: Gordon Beall
" I OFTEN EXPERIMENT ON MY OWN HOUSE BEFORE USING AN IDEA OR COLOR IN A CLIENT'S HOME "
- MARY DOUGLAS DRYSDALE
Photo: Gordon Beall
SJ: Do You Use Color as a Dominant Role in Your Designs or as an Accent?
MDM: I think that I would have to say that I use it as an accent. I start my projects always by planning the spaces and developing the elevations. It is the architecture that always comes first for me. I really work hard on creating the balance and emphasis points via the architecture and I have always felt that it was a careful eye to the architectural aspects of a room that made the use of most any color easy. I think that the architecture supports the personality of any color.
SJ: How Do You Feel about Matching Colors in a Room?
MDM: I never use a lot of different colors in a room. I like to use different values of two or three hues in the same room and bring in accents via highly decorative elements and most often via the use of bold and colorful art.
SJ: What Color Represents Your Personality?
MDM: I think that I would have to say deep grey because there is depth to the color, a certain elegance with a calming steady sort of effect. I guess I would also say reliable and just a bit reserved.
" IN THE WAY I WORK, THE ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS OFTEN TAKE ON THE MOST IMPORTANT ROLE "
- MARY DOUGLAS DRYSDALE
Photo: Peter Vitale
SJ: What Color Comes to Mind When You Talk About.....
MDM:
Paris ......Hermes Orange
The House You Grew Up In..... Oxford Road house in Charlottesville. My childhood bedroom was pink.
Last Fabulous Dinner You Had ..... The spring green found in blue hydrangeas
Your Favorite Flower.....white roses
Your Favorite Season ...... Fall, the color of leaves that turn red in the hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Your Favorite Piece of Art .... Art by Lyn Meyers, a deep cobalt blue
Your Favorite Beauty Product ... Channel nail polish/color du jour is 570 Androgyne
Your Favorite Article of Clothing .... A wonderful coat I own made by Oscar de la Renta. It is muted bronze toned leather on the outside with applied beaded detail and lambs wool on the inside.
SJ: Name a Color You Never Use?
MDM: Purple
SJ: Name a Color You Use Frequently?
MDM: Sherwin Williams custom mixed blue which is mid-toned and lively, while feeling classical and beautiful.
SJ: Do you have a pet?
MDM: Black and White. He is a Harlequin Great Dane and his name is Clifford.
SJ: What is the Now Color Trend in your Opinion?
MDM: I think rich brown is going to make a come back.
SJ: What are the best color combinations?
MDM: Black and white is such a classic and America's favorite. I also like black and tan, brown and black and green and blue.
Photo: Ron Blunt
" I LIKE TO BRING IN THE UNEXPECTED "
- MARY DOUGLAS DRYSDALE
Photo: Ron Blunt
SJ: Best Advise When It Comes to Picking Paint Colors?
MDM: Don't follow trends, make sure that you sample every color you are going to consider selecting in big 3 foot by 3 foot swatches, and look at those colors, in the morning and in the evening carefully 24 hours after drying. Make sure that you look good in your room colors, and make sure that you look at a paint color with the textiles and surfaces that will be in the room.
SJ: Where Do You Draw Inspiration?
MDM: Walking in the city, books on architectural history, design, and travel.
SJ: Do you have a Signature Touch?
MDM: Finding an extraordinary table or desk in the classic style and placing a surprising modern art work above.
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