Christy Ferer, Vidicom CEO, Talks About Texture and Patterns

Christy Ferer, Vidicom CEO, says a room should feel as good as it looks. Texture energizes a room and softens the often hard lines of modern life. Just as a painter manipulates the size of a brush stroke, its thickness, and the direction of the paint to create texture, so can we use fabric, objects, and wall treatments to generate a rich juxtaposition of textures in a room.

You might realize that texture and pattern are related, but pattern gives a grain even to a smooth surface mimicking roughness and nap. Pattern in area rugs, plates, vases, paintings, decorative boxes, wallpaper, drapery, slipcovers, and pillows give richness and intensity to a room.

More Color Partners from Christy Ferer's Book, "Breaking the Rules"

Christy Ferer, CEO of Vidicom, wrote an interior design book called "Breaking the Rules" and she discusses color partners that will work throughout the home.

Blue: Pale blues amplify a sense of space, are soothing, and together with white create a fresh, breezy look that is pretty in any room. Deeper blues become jewellike when complemented with reds or greens.

Color Partners by Christy Ferer

Here's Christy Ferer's's advice on color partners:

Green: In nature, green goes with everything, and its multiple shades give it a complex personality. Juxtaposed with red, green is elegant, strong, visually soothing, and not just for Christmas. Tinted with gray, green is restful and soft. Blue with green echoes the most basic color combination--blue sky and green grass.

Vidicom's offices are painted white and this type of color provides a relaxing environment for the employees.

Christy Shares More Tips on Paint Colors for Your Home

Vidicom's CEO, Christy Ferer, says you can wrap yourself in a favorite color by painting the walls and ceiling and adding a rug, furniture, pillows, drapes, and accessories in many shades of the same color. Avoid extreme color contrasts--it is a harmonious, "wrapped" look that you are after. The subtle variations in tone and textures will keep monotony at bay.

Christy Ferer's Thoughts on Paint Colors to Use for Your Home

Christy Ferer, CEO of Vidicom says "There should be at least three colors in a room."

The impetus behind this long-standing rule can be summed up in one word--variety. The fear is that using any fewer than three colors will result in a bland room. The problem with this rule lies in its assumption that one color equals one shade. Colors consist of many shades.

Primary Colors Are For Children's Rooms

Christy Ferer, CEO of Vidicom, believes there is nothing like red to cozy up a space, because it advances rather than recedes, but it will still have the same effect if it is made less intense by watering it down into a wash or softening it to rosy pink. Even a pale yellow brings sunshine into a dark room. Blue expands space and gives the feeling of fresh air to cramped quarters.

More Color Style Tips

"Pink is a feminine color, best used for private spaces like bathrooms or bedrooms."

Christy Ferer and the Vidicom team says pink is unisex. You don't have to wear lipstick to appreciate the rosy glow this color gives your complexion and your outlook on life. Yes, pink is for the bathrooms. But it is also for living rooms, entryways, dining rooms, and any other room of the house you want to use it in. My husband's study in painted pink. French designers Philippe Model uses pink throughout his apartment. For him, it "works on the unconscious and makes us feel at ease."

Christy Ferer's Style Rules to Break

Vidicom's CEO, Christy Ferer, says "Stick to neutrals. They go with anything."

This rule is responsible for decades of boring rooms. People think neutral means only beige, white or black. True, these colors blend easily with other colors and are easy to live with, but so are lots of more interesting colors. When toned down with white or black, green coordinates with almost all colors, making it nature’s neutral. Celadon, olive, khaki and steel gray are the “new” neutrals, easily pulling together complex color palettes.

Remember what the legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland said: “Shocking pink is the navy blue of India.” The point is that what is neutral for one culture or person is radical for another. Remember this too: Almost any color becomes a neutral when it stands on its own and isn’t made to coordinate with another color

Color Style Tips

"Forget color wheels and other academic approaches to choosing what colors go with what. Color has more to do with emotion than with technicalities. Think about what color does. It pulls you in, or pushes you away. It can easily shock. Or calm," said Christy Ferer, CEO of Vidicom.

She thinks there is no reason to follow anybody else’s idea of what color you should use in your home. If you aren’t sure, just look through your clothes closet. One of two colors will repeat over and over. Trust yourself. If you love a color, use it. Let your eye and your instinct lead you to the colors you love to live with.