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"If the thought of decorating with hues wilder than beige makes you quake, reach for The Color Palette Primer by interior designer Joann Eckstut. She's developed a painless way to see which shades work well together. Just flip to your favorite color for a variety of others that go with it. With dozens of combinations and helpful illustrations, her book will guide you through any color conundrum. And all hues correspond to paints from national brands, making it easier than ever to brighten your world."
Home, March 2005

THE CURE FOR COLOR BLOCK

Sooner or later, every designer hits a wall - that elusive color combo they can't seem to find or that conservative client they just can't crack. To overcome the worst cases of color block, color expert Joann Eckstut has developed "The Color Palette Primer" (Broadway Books, 2005), the latest must-have book to help you introduce and sell color to clients.

Featuring more than 800 foolproof palettes from across the spectrum, Eckstut's "Primer" uses eight iconic interior illustrations to show colors in combination, eliminating the differences in lighting, flooring, architecture and other details that photos can contain. She also includes sections on understanding color and our eyes' response to it, color testing tips, painting pointers and manufacturer reference sections.

The result is a teaching tool, workbook and reference guide for design professionals, color customers and do-it-yourselfers alike.

Sherwin-Williams Stir, Volume 2. Issue 2. 2005

PERFECT PALETTES: EXPERT JOANN ECKSTUT MAKES DECORATING WITH COLOR EASY

Intimidated by brighter colors, we often revert to a neutral decor in safe palettes of white, cream and beige. Award-winning designer Joann Eckstut's latest book, The Color Palette Primer (Broadway, 2005), offers simple advice and more than 800 sample color combinations to help you choose the perfect hues for your home.

Woman's Day, Budget Decorating Ideas, Volume XV, No. 1. 20051

"Practical and thoughtful, The Color Palette Primer is a guide to achieving lively, livable, and colorful rooms."
Margaret Walch, Director, Color Association of the United States

"This book is the perfect tool for choosing colors for any home decorating project."
Mark Montano, Author of Super Suite and Dollar Store Decorating and Designer on While You Were Out

Sunny yellows, vibrant blues, scarlet reds. We all love color, but when it comes to our own homes and offices, we often play it safe by sticking to boring shades of white and beige. Home decorating shows such as Trading Spaces, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy all have something in common: the designers on these programs are unafraid to use beautiful, vivid colors on walls, fixtures, and furniture. Yet the truth is that even trained designers tend to fall back on whites because they're intimidated by the overwhelming world of color.

Now we can use color with confidence and without risking expensive color disasters. Joann Eckstut, one of America's foremost experts on color, has devised a system of choosing the most harmonious color combinations and presents it in The Color Palette Primer: A Guide to Choosing Ideal Color Combinations for Your Home (Broadway Books; June 14, 2005; $24.95; Trade Paperback), featuring more than 750 error-proof palettes. Now, everyone from first-time home owners to professional decorators and architects have a resource to help them achieve balance and style throughout the home.

Each page of The Color Palette Primer is made up of three color palettes that contain the same dominant color with varying secondary and accent colors. All secondary colors are a neutral shade because almost all environments contain neutral colors, whether in floors, cabinets, or furniture. The color palette at the top of each page is monochromatic, the middle color scheme is analogous, and the bottom color scheme complementary:

Monochromatic   Composed of a single hue
Example: pale yellow, golden yellow, and lemon yellow

Analogous   Colors that are adjacent on a color wheel
Example: green, blue-green, and yellow-green

Complimentary   Contrasting colors that sit opposite on a color wheel
Example: red with green, blue with orange, and yellow with violet

This system is basic and easy-to-use, yet it allows amateur home decorators access to the kind of design schemes that would normally demand hefty consultation fees. The Color Palette Primer gives readers the freedom to match the color they love (or that they're stuck with!) and see three very different possibilities for this color.

Instead of relying on photographs, which can be dated or distracting, the book contains eight iconic illustrations that show a different piece of the decorating puzzle, such as wall and trim, window treatments, upholstery, to show how the given palettes look in these contexts. With an introduction that details basic color theory and 272 pages of color palettes, The Color Palette Primer is a useful and lasting guide that will help Do-It-Yourselfers, graphic designers, design students, and professional decorators alike live in living color.



 
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