Touching Base

Once again, it has been a while since I posted on my blog. However, I recently posted a lengthy newsletter that includes a recent interior design project that I especially enjoyed working on since it was new construction for some color clients I’ve had for over a decade. Now that they both retired and all of their children are grown, they down-sized into a lovely town home in a private development in Baton Rouge. The Living Room shown below opens into both the Dining Area and Kitchen. To see more photos, check out my latest Living Well Newsletter. This project is towards the end.

It’s now been a couple of years since we’ve been using the new PPG Paints products and I can’t tell you how pleased with the feedback I’m getting. Both the Pure Performance and Manor Hall are premium products. The Pure Performance is VOC-free and covers exceptionally well. However, I’m thrilled to report that we’re now reformulating our really saturated Bright and Magical Gem colors into the Manor Hall product for these usually hard to cover colors. The “Hot Pink!” for instance, almost covers in one coat (in the old Lifemaster, it took 3-4 coats!). Now, we’re talking two coats, tops!

I’m also creating new colors almost weekly and there are some great ones so be sure to check the drop down color lists and if there are colors you don’t recognize that aren’t in your sets, please don’t hesitate to email me to find out more about them. Also, I usually post photos of the samples on my Facebook page. Two new ones you might like are full spectrum versions of Farrow & Ball colors I was asked to make: “Middleton Pink” (we kept the same name for now) and our “Verdant” is their discontinued “Chappell Green”. Both photos of the same sample below show how much the color shifts from green to blue.

The same “Verdant” sample above and below shifts with the light.

The samples below are of two new colors. The top one is “Kelly Green” and the bottom two are the same exact color sample (“Castle Piano Rm Green”) but with different lighting. These colors were created for artist Hunt Slonem’s 102,000 sq.ft. Castle in Scranton.

Although these colors were initially created for special clients, these paint colors may be ordered by anyone and we’re having one of our “Blog Sales” so be sure to input the word “blog” in the discount box at checkout when you order online.  While you’re there, check out the fabrics and wallpaper that can now be ordered online. There are always discounts, but you need to email me with the quantity so I can give you the secret discount code!

I hope you’re having a swell (not sweltering) Summer!

 

 

Well Priced But Not Cheap!

Let’s talk money. Not something I like to talk about unless I’m sharing “a good deal”.  And actually, that’s just what I’m going to do. The other day I was in Helm Paint in New Orleans working on a custom color for a client whose painter would only use Fine Paints of Europe’s Brilliant Gloss, which by the way, is going for $148 a gallon. But what was enlightening, was Helm Paint’s big price menu posted behind the counter: Ben Moore’s Aura @ $72.95 a gallon & Satin Impervo @ $69.95 a gallon. I’m often asked by designers to make full spectrum formulas of Farrow & Ball colors that sell for $95 a gallon – not because they love the product or because my paint is less expensive and easier to get, but because they want the full spectrum color without the black pigment.

When I started my line of Full Spectrum Paints back in June 2001, my original intent was to provide local customers with affordable, beautiful full spectrum color. At the time, there was only access to Donald Kaufman paints which were not only over $100 a gallon but also very hard to get down here in Louisiana. Since then, the company who manufactures my paints has been bought out twice, most recently by PPG Paints. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am with PPG Paints’ products and customer service. The price of my paints range from $58 – $69 a gallon and with the new formulas, contain up to 12 voc-free pigments. I’ve also created a few custom colors in PPG’s 7-Line Interior/Exterior Industrial Gloss which is every bit as beautiful as Fine Paints’ Brilliant Gloss. When I compared the samples we painted of each product, you could not tell the difference in finish and considering PPG Paints claims you can use 7-Line on floors and machinery, I’d say it’s just as durable, if not more durable!

For over a year now, we’ve been using Pure Performance ($58-63/gal.) interior and Manor Hall ($67-69/gal.) interior and exterior products and have been getting great reviews from customers AND their painters. Both have built in primers and the Manor Hall also has a stain repellent.

Since the Hunt Slonem Antebellum Pop exhibit opened, I’ve had a flurry of inquiries about his fabrics and wallpapers, so everything in his collection is now available for ordering on my online store in addition to some of my favorite fabrics that I often use in my decorating projects. I plan to continue adding more fabrics, wallpapers and eventually, upholstered furniture. I offer discounts on all fabrics and wallpaper, ranging from 10 – 20%, depending on quantity. Here’s the link:  Ellen’s Favorite Fabrics & Wallpaper

My favorite Hunt Slonem fabric is the “Hutch” linen which also comes in orange, pink, black, red & turquoise. Here the Navy is shown in this tablescape by David Duncan Antiques photographed by Marco Ricca, the photographer who photographed Hunt’s latest book, When Art Meets Design.

My favorite wallpaper?  The “Bunny Wall” that we used in the LSUMOA Hunt Slonem Antebellum Pop exhibit which is up through August 5th. I’ll be giving a Gallery Talk and Tour on Sunday, July 10th @ 2:00. If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll join us!

The “Bunny Wall” wallpaper comes in two sizes. This size is 54″ wide and comes in ivory or black backgrounds. There is a “Small Bunny Wall” for smaller spaces that is the normal 27″ wide paper and also comes in blue and and orange/red. (We hung bunny paintings on the bunny paper so it’s not 3-D!)

Antebellum Pop!

I’ve been having such a good time working with curator Dr. Sarah Clunis and the team at the LSU Museum of Art on the upcoming Hunt Slonem exhibit I just realized I haven’t posted in months! If you live in the area, you won’t want to miss this unique exhibit that’s already started getting quite the buzz. Here’s a link to a blurb in last Saturday’s Page Six of the NY Post:

http://pagesix.com/2016/04/01/louisiana-pop-show-features-hunt-slonem-work

The exhibit opens Thursday, April 21st with a talk by Hunt Slonem at 6:00 followed by a reception from 7:00 until 8:30. As you’ll note from a copy of the invitation below, you do not have to be a museum member to attend. In addition to the opening reception, there are several other programs and lectures over the course of the exhibit, including a Gallery Talk with me on July 10th.

Antebellum Pop! will intermix his paintings from the 1980s to the present with decorative art and furniture chosen by Slonem from the LSU Museum of Art’s permanent collection, M.S. Rau Antiques, and his two Louisiana Plantation homes. This exhibit will bring together his work in painting with his work in architecture, interior decor and decoration. Here’s a sneak peak:

“Bunny Wall” in foreground and “Hutch” wallpaper in what will become a dining room behind it. Images taken from Slonem’s paintings are now available in wallpaper and fabrics by Groundworks for Lee Jofa. Photo taken by paperhanger Clay Fairbanks.

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“Antebellum Violet” in the foreground was created especially for the exhibit. “Watermelon Red”, “Lakeside Napoleon” & “Juliet’s Potion” (L>R) are from my Full Spectrum Paints Brights Palette. Many thanks go to PPG Paints who donated all of the paint for the exhibit!

“Juliet’s Potion” in the foreground with my new “Sacre Blue” teal in the background.

Slonem’s “Hutch” wallpaper in what will be transformed into a dining room with that 30′ $448,500 dining table mentioned in the Page Six article! Photo taken by paperhanger Clay Fairbanks.

The exhibit stays up until August 5th. A trip to the LSU Museum of Art with its newly installed permanent collection is well worth a trip, no matter how far away!

The Hunt Slonem wallpaper, fabrics and rugs are available through Ellen Kennon Design, Furnishings & Full Spectrum Paints. Please email me directly for more information. ellen@ellenkennon.com.

Summer Sale!

I finally posted a Spring 2014 newsletter that announces that we are having a sale on all paint products through July 4th. 10% off on all paint ordered online. Simply use the code “summer” in the coupon box at checkout and it will give you the discount. Also, if you’re not a Louisiana resident, there’s no sales tax, so that’s another 8-10% in discounts!

By the way, did you know that our paints cover far more square footage than most other paint brands? Most brands only cover 300-350 square feet per gallon, but our Lifemaster eggshell covers 450-475 square feet per gallon which is only 13 cents per square foot! Considering what a difference paint makes in the overall project, it is by far the best deal around.

We also have a couple of new types of paint samples! One is an 11″x17″ color chart poster of all 100 of our stock colors, as well as a smaller 8″x11″ color chart of our 10 whites and 20 magical gems and brights. Especially helpful when putting together color palettes,  the 11″x17″ chart features 100 fail-safe colors that compliment each other flawlessly in any setting, be it an ultra modern office or a historic plantation home. These nature-inspired colors have proven themselves consistently beautiful and therapeutic no matter how they are paired or lit, so seasoned designers and amateur homemakers alike can benefit from using this simple yet broad and effective palette.

Hand-painted 11″x17″ Color Charts feature all 100 stock colors.

 Our 8″x11″ Whites & Brights Color Charts feature 10 Ethereal Whites and 20 Magical Gems and Summer Brights, the colors featured in House Beautiful Magazine as “Colors from the Deep South”. The whites include several new ones that we recreated full spectrum formulas for of some of  Benjamin Moore’s most popular whites: “Barry’s White” is our version of “Dove White”, “Pottery White” is our version of “China White”, “Nautical White” is our version of “Maritime White” and “Designer White” is our version of “Decorator White”. Did you know that our “White Opal” is whiter than Ben Moore’s “Super White”? What makes our whites so much better? No black and seven pigments in each one makes a huge difference!

Ethereal Whites, Magical Gems & Brights

Many clients use the more saturated colors to create jewel box spaces out of closets, bookcase and cabinet interiors, powder rooms and other spaces where you want to add pops of therapeutic color. Artist Hunt Slonem, who inspired many of our brights, often uses these colors for his plantation homes which surprisingly can easily handle these more saturated colors.

“Albania Mango” walls in the Parlor at Albania Plantation

Throwback Thursdays

I love Throwback Thursdays because I always post a photo of my daughter who has had so many different looks over the years, it’s hard to believe it’s the same person. Also, I always tag her so that it appears on her Facebook page and try and post early in the morning before she has a chance to delete it off of her page. It has become a little game we play. She did tell me that in one of her theatre classes at Loyola, that my Throwback Thursday photos of her were quite the topic of conversation with everyone, including her professor, saying how much they looked forward to seeing them.

This got me thinking that I should start recycling old color and design projects on Thursdays for my blog. This might be a good way to inspire me to post more often. So, hopefully, this will be the first of many!

I’ll start with one of my first color consultation projects. Shortly after I started my line of Full Spectrum Paints in 2001, Mercedes Whitecloud asked me to meet her at the Pitot House Museum in New Orleans because they were doing some repainting. I didn’t have nearly as many stock colors to choose from back then (now we have over 100), so what was surprising to me, was that many of my colors were actually dead ringers for the historical colors original to the circa 1799 plantation. The interior millwork was all “Edgewood Green” and three of the rooms were the equivalent of our “Wedgewood”, “Citrine” and “Ruby” which is from our Magical Gems Palette. I was floored to discover that this saturated, bright red was used back then!

“Ruby” walls with “Edgewood Green” trim recreated from the original colors used in this bedroom. Photo from the book Creole Houses.

Today the Pitot House is home to the Louisiana Landmarks Society who saved it, moving it about two hundred feet in the mid-1960s to prevent its demolition for the construction of a school. The Landmarks Society focused its restoration during the period of 1810-19 when it was occupied by Jacques-Francois Pitot, a native of France who became the second mayor of New Orleans. Pitot previously spent time in Saint Domingue, now Haiti, hence the Creole architectural and colorful influences.

We created our full spectrum formula for the shutters and named the color “Pitot Shutter Green”.

Although I had already created several of the colors used in the Pitot House, I was so taken with the unusual colors of the shutters and the mango-colored parlor, I later created full spectrum formulas for those colors for colorful artist Hunt Slonem, who used them at both Albania and Lakeside Plantations.

Our version of the Pitot Parlor wall color was used in the parlor of Albania Plantation so we renamed it “Albania Mango”. “Edgewood Green” is on all millwork including the ceiling. Note how the trim is so neutral it goes with every color in the house!

“Citrine” walls with “Edgewood Green” trim used in one of the bedrooms. Citrine is a color we use often to brighten an otherwise dark space. Works every time!

“Wedgewood” walls with “Edgewood Green” trim used in this bedroom is probably the most subdued color in the whole house and still one of our most popular bedroom colors. To get samples of these colors, visit: Full Spectrum Paints