Bonnie Rosser Krims wrote The Perfect Palette for those brave souls ready to try something that has daunted many an interior designer: painting the walls something besides white. Even though paint is one of the least expensive ways to change the look of a room, most people find those little cards of color chips too intimidating. Krims's 50 color plans are foolproof combinations based on the aesthetics of certain places and familiar objects, with very specific details to help you plan which palette to use with your furnishings. Each page describes a palette of three Benjamin Moore paint colors, though Krims provides a cross-reference to two other brands and urges readers not to feel limited to a particular brand. Accent and trim colors are suggested, and three adjectives are used to describe the mood of the palette. "Meet Me in Miami," a soft orange/blue/green palette, is "fun, easygoing, peaceful" and "works well in ranch houses, deck houses, and 1950s contemporary houses;" Krims suggests it specifically for brightening a basement or family room. "The Emerald Isle," a green/yellow/violet combination with accents of dark orange and white trim, is "sassy, lush, luminous," and will make darker wood furniture "look lovely." Color Palettes is both intensely practical and utterly lovely, and will almost certainly inspire some brave experimentation. No more boring white rooms!


The Boston Globe, July 16, 1998
While the book's precepts may sound ambitious, its format, instructions, and photographs will be a valuable aid to even the most inept decorator.


Christy Ferer, author of Decorating on a Dime
This color bible...does the thinking and experimenting for you.


San Diego Union Tribune
The folks who work with paint colors for a living have written some informative new books that can help you move from inspiration to execution. The two books with the most distinctive color philosophies are The Perfect Palette by Bonnie Rosser Krims and Color Palettes by Suzanne Butterfield.


Country Home & Gardens Book Club, June 1998
The only paint selection and color compatibility guide, The Perfect Palette will help you bring fabulous style and atmosphere to your home with ease. [Editors choice]


Christian Science Monitor, August 5, 1998
About The Perfect Palette: Most of us can never expect to achieve the color coordinating skills of the master artists but getting one step closer to that Architectural Digest dream home isn't as tough as it may seem.


From the Inside Flap
There's nothing like a fresh coat of paint and a well-chosen color scheme to make interiors not only original and attractive, but places that make us feel good. Picking and combining colors usually means hours agonizing over a pile of paint chips. No more! Talented artist Bonnie Krims has done it for you, and here is her unique approach to making your home lovelier through color. There is no other decorating book quite like this one. Each of its fifty exquisitely illustrated recipes offers a perfectly matched set of five colors--three main colors for use on walls, furniture, and accessories; an accent color to use on pillows, flowers, and lamps; and the recommended trim color. Paint rerference numbers from the major manufacturers are included--so you'll never stand glassy-eyed in front of a paint chip display or make a mess trying to mix paint color again. From the indigo Grape Basket to the red Iceland Poppy, The Perfect Palette's color schemes were inspired by art and nature and were chosen to evoke tranquillity, excitement, and pleasure--all the many moods that color can express. Over fifty beautiful four-color illustrations, glorious color photos of interiors, and quotations from the arts allow the reader to visualize each suggested color combination and reveal how important color can be. And you'll find indispensable guidance on choosing furnishings, fixtures, and accessories to go with your new walls...and make your room work as a uniform whole. With practical advice on how to paint a room, a cross-reference color chart to three major paint brands, and a special section on "tuning in" to color, this book is an effortless guide to selecting the Perfect Palette: your key to a visually splendid home.


Excerpted from The Perfect Palette : Fifty Inspired Color Plans for Painting Every Room in Your Home by Bonnie Rosser Krims. Copyright © 1998. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
All my life, I have been a painter. For years I painted furniture and brilliant colored canvases, but surrounded myself with white walls. Why? Because white was easy. It was safe and risk free. It required nothing from me. Besides, my efforts were going into my furniture and paintings. Was I satisfied with these living spaces? Not really. Not until I found that colored walls were a means of creating a greater sense of well-being. You have heard of comfort food? This book is based on the notion of comfort color. Paint colors powerfully influence our emotions and attitudes. Walls make up the largest area in our rooms, so wall color plays an important role, perhaps even the leading role, in improving the aesthetics of our homes and how we feel in them. I wanted my home to look great, be comfortable, and reflect my personal taste. I didn't want to invest a lot of time, effort, or money. For me, paint was the solution. It is easy to use, it's the least expensive wall covering you can buy, and it instantly creates atmosphere even without expensive furniture and accessories. This is the beauty of paint. Now, years later, I still love working with color as a paint color consultant. but I can see that, when it comes to wall colors, people are often just plain stumped. With thousands of paint colors available, it is easy to understand why narrowing down the choices and making good decisions seems like a daunting task. Even if you decide on a color, every paint strip includes similar colors with only subtle differences between them. These subtle differences can be significant and can distinguish a "good" paint color choice from a "bad" one. There are no guidebooks out there for selecting and combining uniform paint color, though there are lots of books about interior decorating and decorative paint treatments. To solve this problem, I came up with a fail-proof formula that gives answers but also allows a certain amount of creativity and choice. I have created a simple guide to help make the sometimes confusing and overwhelming task of choosing paint colors not only easy, but fun! The Perfect Palette is comprised of three sections. it begins with introductory material for getting tuned in to color and for combining color in your home. This section also includes information on how to paint a room and a list of the necessary materials. The main body of text is comprised of color recipes, ready-made color combinations that have been tried and used successfully in my home and in the homes of my clients. The recipes are divided into seven sections: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet--one for each of the spectral colors. Each recipe contains three main colors, accent color(s), and seperate trim colors. If you are in the Yellow Section, for instance, and you want to duplicate Yellow Recipe #3 in your living room, you will use the yellow paint color on the wall. Use the other two main colors, green and violet, on furniture and accessories, and add the suggested accent and trim colors that are indicated for that recipe. You may, however, prefer the second or the third main color in the recipe for your wall, and not the yellow. In this case, choose it instead. All three of the main colors are good wall color choices. I am suggesting as a guideline that you use the first color on the wall, but you decide. Throughout the text there are illustrations and quotations. These should help to convey the mood that the colors express, and provoke a stronger sense of the color scheme. In addition, most recipes offer simple ideas and furnishing tips. The three main colors in each recipe are represented by Benjamin Moore paint colors with their corresponding numbers. I have provided Benjamin Moore paint colors throughout this book because these are the paints that I have used and prefer, and because they are also very affordable. Do not feel limited to using Benjamin Moore paints, however. (The Paint Index provides a cross-reference for colors [with their paint numbers] from two other paint manufacturers, which correspond to all of the recipes in this book.) The third section consists of two Appendices. The first one outlines relevant ideas and tips for painting. The second one provides background information on color theory. This is followed by the Paint Index. Until now, choosing paint colors meant going to the paint store and looking through hundreds of paint chips. I have tried to make it easy for you by sifting through all of the colors and carefully selecting and combining them to ensure that you will create a winning color scheme in your home. The Perfect Palette allows you to make color choices while avoiding most of the hassle associated with choosing paint color. It also eliminates the chances of falling into some of the most common paint color pitfalls. All of these features make The Perfect Palette unique.

FROM THE PUBLISHER