November 8, 2022
Six years ago Jan and I decided to fly the coop and sell our family home of 23 years. One of us just had the itch and couldn't stop scratching til she found the perfect home. Jan was a trooper, and realized sometimes change can be a good thing. We found our home in the quaint town of Wayne with a whopping population of 2700. My mom and her family lived in Wayne, and I was drawn to all the historic and sentimental elements of our new hometown. But that's another whole story (one that I can never tire of). The topic today is Color! Or more specifically my favorite neutral...BLACK!
I bring up our home in Wayne since oftentimes I get the urge to do something just a little bit different in a design sense and then whala....oftentimes it becomes a trend a few years later. Our home needed some major overhauling and we started in the kitchen. At the time, a clean stark white kitchen was all the rage. I went with my gut and landed on a black theme which started my personal journey into dark zone.
Since 2016 black has become more and more popular and the basis of many stunning interiors. As #Gira mentions in their 7/24/22 article "The times when designers shied away from dark surfaces are long gone" and they give some tips and tricks in creating the perfect "non-colour" interior.
Currently our team is working on numerous projects containing the color black. A new corporate interior will have black as the neutral with pops of their branding colors red and blue. In this case, we chose black for its simplicity and ability to work well with the subtle introduction of other colors. A car dealership whose corporate branding colors just happen to be black, silver and red is getting a refresh providing a great contrast. A major account has come around and now embraces their interiors and furnishings with a bold basic black and white theme.
And then there's KDI. When designing our own studio at the end of last year, we couldn't get enough of our black undertones throughout. Black walls, with white trim and doors, black and white backsplash, predominantly black flooring including a fire etched black porcelain wood work café floor all coexist beautifully, showcasing the essence of our favorite interior. Some call it sophisticated, some call it elegant, we refer to our dark interiors as Moody....what's your favorite descriptor?
- Kit DeWitt, Principal