Choosing A Unique Colour Story For Your House! For September 2020

Colour Stories

Thinking of what colour story to pick for your house? Read this guide to help you sail through the entire process.

When it comes to pulling your home together and making a colour story for it, a good place to start is by taking colour decisions. Once you have done that, you are one step closer to a well-designed home. Let’s get started.

Choose colours that inspire and comfort you

A quick way to discover colours that work for you can be figured out from your existing home environment or even your clothes closet, especially pieces that you have had for years. This will give you some insight into your personal “perfect” colour palette and your comfort zone.

Create a mood board of things you love

Once you know your go-to colours, you can create a pinboard on your laptop or on your wall with decor items in those colours. Save different textures, rooms, art and even outfits that inspire you and go with your style. Once you have them saved together, you can create a mood board.

Mood boards are helpful because you can see your overall style more easily at one go and it also lets you see what colour combinations work together.

Mix neutrals with fun pops of colour

Neutrals are a good way to balance intense colour and create a more timeless design. Add pops of colour without overusing it as even a little bit can go a long way.

Focus on paint and permanent pieces 

Paint colours are essential. Choose things you will keep and be happy with for a long time. Make sure not to compromise on paint quality while finalising for your walls.

If you do choose to go bold on paint colours or furniture, ensure it is timeless or a favourite - something that can sustain over seasons.  Once you are through with this, you can pick rugs, artwork and throw pillows to tie the whole look together.

Your chosen colour story can represent all the items in your home that you want to mix, match and last a long time.

Do note that this doesn’t have to become some sort of a rule book that you have to follow. Once you have established your basics, you can feel free to break out of your colour zone and experiment as much as you want!

Hope you find this exercise helpful in the initial, planning phases of your home makeover. All the best!

Colour Trivia

Colour Facts For September 2020

1. Most people only see coffee when it is dark brown, commonly seen in lattes, cappuccinos or even the humble filter coffee. However, the coffee beans, in its original form are red, yellow and green before they are roasted and become brown. At every stage of processing, coffee beans change colour, transforming to a darkly coloured brown beans. The longer they are roasted, the darker the coffee beans are likely to be. If you are looking for an unusual colour combination for your home, look for inspiration in different hues of coffee beans, from the original green bean to the darkest Italian roasts.
2. While bright coloured flowers make our gardens bright and beautiful, there is a scientific reason behind this colour significance. And a lot of it has to do with the process of pollination. Since most pollinators fly, the colours of the flower must attract them from a distant. The flower colour significance also depends on a specific pollinator, bees are attracted to bright blue and violet colours whereas butterflies enjoy bright colours like yellow, pink, red and orange.
3. If you’re thinking about designing a home office, remember to use colour theory to create a space that energises, sparks creativity and alerts the mind. Green is a fantastic colour for the home office to add a refreshing feel and keep the mind focused and alert. You can use a contrasting colour like violet in addition to green. Too much of purple can be overwhelming but when used in micro doses, it can help draw out creative thought and balance an overly analytic mind. Perhaps an accent wall in purple can have a similar effect. Remember to stay away from distracting colours like red and orange for this space.

Colour Quotes For September 2020

• Sometimes my quotes may be too colorful.

  - Earl Butz

• In nature, light creates the color. In the picture, color creates the light.

  - Hans Hofmann

• Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.

  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Colour Tips For September 2020

1. When painting your home, you don’t want to spoil your favourite chair or sofa, so empty the room of all the furniture. If you do not have enough space, push everything to the centre. Cover the furniture with a drop cloth or lightweight plastic sheeting. Don’t forget to cover the floor too. To save the headache of furniture and floor covering, contact Berger Express Painting. The painting experts use special furniture and floor cover to ensure paint spills do not ruin your favourite furniture, ensuring a dust-free and spill-free painting experience.
2. When deciding on a paint for your home walls, it is just not the colour but also the finish that will determine the end result of the paint job. Picking the right sheen level for your space is important. Not only will it impact how the colour looks during certain times of the day (that green might look more blue in certain lights!), but darker colours will have more sheen since they contain more colourant than lighter paints. If you want to hide the imperfections in a room, opt for less sheen paints. To give walls a rich and elegant finish with anti-pollution and bacteria-fighting properties, opt for Berger Silk Breathe Easy.
3. Painting the exteriors of your house requires time, patience and money. Since it is not an easy task, you want the exterior paint of your house to be durable and long-lasting. There are several things that can be done to increase the longevity of your exterior wall paint, one of them being choosing a weather-resistant, long-lasting paint. Berger WeatherCoat Long Life is designed using PU and Silicon technology, ideal for heavy rainfall areas. It also comes with a 10-year long performance warranty so once you get your walls painted, you don’t have to worry about any exterior wall issues for almost a decade!

World Of Colours

Colours & Emotion For September 2020

1. We are aware that one can imagine emotions as colours, brighter and darker. A dancer can symbolically embody the colours of emotions through dance by skillfully using the entire emotional palette, similar to a painter. Isn’t that fascinating? Let’s say you want to express ‘passion’. How about you find a conflict and opposition in the body or keep the tension in the body. Imagine a dark red movement colour now. Then shift towards ‘excitement’ and change the dynamics of movement by applying an orange movement colour. The colour of the costume will also greatly depend on the emotional message of the dance.
2. We believe that music and colour have common emotional qualities. Now imagine yourself as a graphic designer for a pop musician, tasked with creating his or her next album cover. Would you choose the same colours for a heavy metal band? Mostly probably not, right? This is because subconsciously we choose colours that match the emotional qualities of the artist's music as well. In fact, there is a term for people who can spontaneously "see" colours as they listen to music and they are known as chromesthetes. Fascinating, isn’t it?

Colours & Fashion For September 2020

Getting dressed has been pushed to the bottom of to-do lists amidst lockdown orders and social distancing norms. However, there has been a rise in the popularity of sweatpants over the past few months. It has transformed into a chic ensemble to make one feel their best even while binging on the couch or working from home. Thanks to laptop cameras that reveal only waist-up during video calls on Zoom, we are guessing you have kept it stylish and dressed up on the top and laidback on the bottom with sweatpants many times already! Doesn’t it paint a fun and quirky picture in your head?

Colours & Gems For September 2020

1. Leopardskin Jasper
   This beautiful gemstone that you are looking at is known as Leopardskin Jasper. It has many colours with distinct spotted patterns. It gets its name from the Greek word iaspi, which means "spotted stone." The other name of Leopardskin Jasper is Jaguar Jasper. It is closely associated with the root chakra. It is interesting to note that most people consider this a protective stone against wild animals and creatures. This gem gets to work while a person sleeps, shielding him/her from negative energies so that he/she can have a peaceful sleep. This gemstone is also believed to be a powerful protector and is considered one of the best gemstones for insomnia. It is fascinating to know that one tiny piece of a gemstone can possess such powers, isn’t it?
2. Bloodstone
   This gemstone that you are looking at is known as Bloodstone. The ancient Greeks used to call it the Sun stone. It has a fascinating colour combination and could work as a gemstone-inspired wall colour on an accent wall, owing to its solid green shade and splatter of bright red! This gemstone has been popular for at least two thousand years and has served as the modern birthstone for the month of March since 1912. Apart from how striking it looks, it is also believed to be an excellent blood cleanser and considered a powerful healing stone. It is believed to enhance creativity and heightens intuition. Wearing this stone is known to be highly comforting as well, especially in times of intense situations and struggles such as the death of a dear one.

Colours & Fashion For September 2020

Getting dressed has been pushed to the bottom of to-do lists amidst lockdown orders and social distancing norms. However, there has been a rise in the popularity of sweatpants over the past few months. It has transformed into a chic ensemble to make one feel their best even while binging on the couch or working from home. Thanks to laptop cameras that reveal only waist-up during video calls on Zoom, we are guessing you have kept it stylish and dressed up on the top and laidback on the bottom with sweatpants many times already! Doesn’t it paint a fun and quirky picture in your head?

Colours & Nature For September 2020

1. Betta Fish
   The beauty of the Betta fish is well-known. The flowing fins in vibrant colour combination make it a sight to behold. This fish is also called the Siamese fighting fish. It is a tropical fish native to Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand. The fish has a labyrinth organ that gives it the ability to obtain some oxygen from the air as well as water. It can be kept with other fish in your fish tank despite being aggressive in nature. The trick is to avoid keeping the Betta fish with the same kind to avoid having an Armageddon battle in the fish tank!
2. Aconitum
   What you are looking at is probably the most poisonous plant that people will have in their garden! Yes, you read that right. Aconitum, part of the buttercup family, goes by various names depending on the exact species - the Queen of Poisons, Devil's Helmet, Monkshood and Wolfsbane. It has an infamous reputation for death that goes all the way back to the mythical Greek dog Cerberus, from whose saliva the plant is believed to have grown. The roots are its most poisonous part. If consumed, the toxicity acts fast, causing violent vomiting and diarrhoea, leading to quick death due to heart failure.

Decor

How To Waterproof Your Home

Areas of the home you need to look out for when waterproofing

Waterproofing of walls is an important step to make your home water-resistant. It can help prevent a lot of damage, first aesthetically and then structurally. So, how do you create a waterproofed home? Here are four key areas that are most prone to water damage and you need to take care of when waterproofing your home:

Exterior walls

The external walls are exposed to harsh sun rays and heavy rains. If the walls are not waterproofed, to begin with, it is easy for leakages and dampness to seep in and damage both exterior and interior walls. It is important to understand the root cause of dampness on exterior walls. Berger Home Shield Waterproofing experts use Moisture Meter to find the cause of water damage and fix it with customised waterproofing solutions.

Interior walls

The most common sign of water damage is damp patches on the internal walls. If left untreated, they can cause harm to the main structure of the house. Use Home Shield interior waterproofing products and wall treatment to treat mild to severe damage caused by moisture.

Bathroom

Bathrooms are major wet areas in the house and experience water ingress throughout the year. If the tiling is not done carefully, the dampness and moisture found in most bathrooms can slowly damage your walls. Moreover, it can also deteriorate the walls in adjacent rooms. Berger Home Shield waterproofing products come with a performance warranty, ensuring that your bathroom walls remain leakage-free for years!

Roof And Terrace

The chances of leakage from the roof of the terrace are high if it is not waterproofed. There are plenty of make-do waterproofing solutions available in the market today and some have quick fixes and old methods of terrace waterproofing like brickbat coba. While it might offer temporary solutions, but with temperature fluctuations and heavy rains, it is very likely to result in cracks and seepage soon after. Opt for professional waterproofing solutions like Berger Home Shield for long term results and performance.

Colours & Ancient Sciences

Feng Shui For September 2020

Thinking of redoing your home? Explore the 5 elements in Feng Shui decorating for a beautiful home makeover.

Feng Shui To Nourish Your Living Space!

Feng Shui has evolved in Chinese culture for over a thousand years. It is a great idea to subtly incorporate the five Feng Shui elements in your living space for peace and harmony. Without any further delay, let’s dive right in to learn how.

To begin with, is the Feng Shui Water element. As the symbol of abundance, prosperity and income, the water element is extremely important when it comes to Feng Shui. Incorporate it in areas such as East, Southeast and North. It can be expressed in colours blue and black through water fountain, images of water, mirrors, and decor items in shades of ocean blue.

Next, let’s look at the Feng Shui Earth Element. You can create more calm in your home using motifs from Feng Shui Earth element using crystals and stones, pottery, as well as images of earthy landscapes, placing them in Southwest and Northeast areas of the house.

Next is the Feng Shui Wood element. It is best expressed in colours green and brown and rectangular shapes. One of the easiest ways to bring the Wood Feng Shui element into your home is with lush, healthy plants. Nourish and strengthen your Wood Feng Shui element in the East, Southeast and South direction of the house.

Moving on, let’s look at the Feng Shui Fire element. You can easily bring a strong Feng Shui Fire element presence into your home in the South, Southwest, Northeast direction. It is best expressed in colours red, orange, purple, yellow, pink and magenta. Ideas for home decor are star and triangular-shaped items and actual fire decor items like candles skillfully placed.

Finally, let’s look at the most overused or misused element of Feng Shui, which is the Feng Shui Metal element. It is needed in the West, Northwest and North area of the house. Implement it in colours white and grey and through a variety of metallic finishes in round shapes, made of metal, of course.

Do try these in your living space to feel the difference!

Reiki For September 2020

If you have neck pain or neck stiffness, how about trying Reiki for relief? Read on to know all about it.

Relieve Neck Pain With Reiki!

Too much screen time and poor work setups can create neck tension. You can try Reiki at the home to get relief from pain. But before that, let us first understand what Reiki is.

Reiki comes from the Japanese word ‘Rei’, which means ‘universal life energy’. It is a hands-on and spiritual practice that helps heal the body and mind through gentle, non-intrusive touch and compassionate intention.

You can use Reiki as a complementary therapy to accelerate the healing process. If you think of the pathways of energy flowing in your body as rivers, Reiki is like sending a rush of water through and allowing it to flow wherever it is needed. The effect is believed to be profound.

Follow these steps to get relief from neck pain:

1. Place your hands on the sides of the neck with the fingers wrapping around to the back of the neck, fingers touching.

2. You can mentally draw the CKR symbol over the painful area, accompanied by hands-on therapy.

3. Treat for 5-10 minutes or as long as you feel the energy flowing.

4. Treat yourself by crossing your arms over your chest and placing your right hand on the left side of your neck and your left hand on the right with thumbs in front of the ears and fingers touching in back of the neck.

It is believed to reduce pain and tension, as well as leave one feeling relaxed and rejuvenated. Unlike most other treatments, Reiki is a multi-purposed method that can heal both physical as well as emotional ailments.

Reiki energy healing complements self-care practices and supports healing in the deepest sense. You don’t have to be naturally-gifted at birth or trained from a young age for Reiki.

Reiki is great for creating a foundation into any energy healing practices you might be interested in at a later stage. Try it today and see its power unfold!

Vaastu For September 2020

Wish to give your home a warm and welcoming vibe? Read on for some Vaastu-compliant colours for your walls.

Vaastu-friendly Colours For Your Home!

According to Vaastu, colour is believed to bring in waves of required enthusiasm and increase positive vibes required for a particular environment. Every direction has elemental energy relating to a specific colour tone so make sure to focus on the direction and colours properly.

Pick colours in line with Vaastu to attract healing energy into your living space.

Living room

The living room should be built facing the north, east or north-east direction. Since it is a room that creates the first impression when guests arrive, make sure you use the right colours in this area. You can choose home wall paint according to Vaastu such as beige, cream and pink for your living room.

Bedroom

The bedroom should be located in the south-west direction as it is peaceful, perfect for rest and relaxation. For this corner of your home, you can opt for purple, mauve or brown wall shades.

Kids room

Any room for kids should be ideally constructed in the west. A kid’s room should always be bright as it not only helps enhance personality but also improves focus in academics. It is recommended that you go with light green or light yellow in this room as both colours are nurturing.

Kitchen

The kitchen should always be built in the south-east direction, which is considered to be the fire corner of the house. As per Vaastu, specific colours can help increase metabolism and improve digestion, leading to good health and prosperity. Best colours that can be used here are brick orange, brown, woody green and peach for the walls.

Dining room

The dining room is one of the most integral parts of the house. The best direction for the dining area to be situated in is the east or south-east. Colours that work well on the walls in the dining room according to Vaastu are peach, light orange and yellow.

Hope you find this article handy. All the best!