Monday, March 11, 2013

COLOR MY WORLD



Picking out the perfect color is challenging at best.
The Money Pit walls are currently covered with squares of different options.
And I fear that our Pratt & Lambert dealer may run out of quarts.

One of my most favorite scenes in any film is from
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House.
Muriel Blandings is meeting with the painters.
She has laboriously gathered samples and ideas related to color.
Following is an excerpt of that dialogue and
some of my favorite rooms in the colors Muriel wants...

"Now first the living room.
 I want it to be
 a soft green, 
 not as blue as a robin's egg,
 But not a yellow-green
 as dafodil buds.
 Now, the only sample
 I could get
 is a little too yellow,
 but don't let
 whoever does it
 go to the other extreme
 and get it too blue.
 It should just be a sort of
 grayish-yellow-green."

"Now, the dining room.
 I'd like yellow.
 Not just yellow,
 a very gay yellow.
 something bright
 and sunshiney.
 I tell you Mr PeDelford,
 if you'll send one of your men
 to the grocer for a pound
 of their best butter,
 and match that exactly,
 you can't go wrong!."

"Now this is the paper
 we're going to use in the Hall.
 There's some little dots
 I want you to match.
 Not the greenish dot, but the
 little bluish dot 
 between the rosebud
 and the delphinium blossom.
 Is that clear?"

"Now the Kitchen
 is to be white. 
 Not a cold,
 antiseptic hospital white.
 A little warmer,
 but still,
 not to suggest
 any other color but white."

"Now the Powder Room -
 in here -
 I want you to match this thread,
 and don't lose it.
 It's the only spool I have
 and I had an awful time finding it!
 As you can see,
 it's practically
 an apple red. 
 Somewhere between
 a healthy Winesap
 and an unripened Jonathan."

When Muriel excuses herself to deal with another problem,
Mr. PeDelford turns to the painter and says
"You got that Charlie?" To which the painter responds...
"Red, green, blue, yellow,  white."

Click here for the actual scene and enjoy!