Mixing with Color.

Create custom color schemes and color effects in your home or office. Learn how to use the best base color, create a glaze, mixing colors, and more. Using color at home or in the office - for paintings, furniture or any artistic challenge - takes a good eye, a little know how, and a creative imagination.

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Georgian interiors, in keeping with the architecture, emphasize an elegant sense of proportion. Rooms are airy and light, color schemes pale, and classical symmetry is paramount. The furniture is delicate -- Queen Anne wing chairs upholstered in pale cream damask, a carved Chippendale highboy. The fireplace is the heart of the room, and should be fully outfitted with cast iron, carved pillars and medallions, and a fire screen.

The contemporary decorator can choose among austere and intricate Georgian design elements. Baroque decoration was commonly used atop the style's neoclassical, rectilinear foundations. Plaster walls, paneled halfway up (called a "dado") and painted cream or sage, might be adorned with elaborate crown molding. Ceilings were commonly festooned with decorative plaster: ribbons, swags, classical urns and even figural sculpture. Bolder decorators can use faux marble or gold on wall paneling, and even scenic or historical murals are not out of place.

Decorative objects, particularly Chinoiserie, add color and authenticity to a Georgian room: everything from knick-knacks to wallpaper was being imported from the Far East during the period. Ming-style blue and white porcelain and celadon table lamps, lacquer work, and bronze ornaments are good places to start. Wooden picture frames should be heavy and elaborately carved. Items with a British feeling, like Silver tea services, are also appropriate.

Walls:

Wood paneling, stained or painted, up to dado height; crown and baseboard molding; chair rails. Plain plaster walls with molding will also do. Wall colors are generally pale: cream, dusky rose, sage or pea green, powder blue, gray-beige. Florals are fine, particularly Chinese motifs like peonies and chrysanthemums. In grander houses, antiqued wall finishes, gold, and murals can be used.

Furniture:

Delicately carved, graceful furniture in walnut, mahogany. Hepplewhite, Queen Anne, Sheraton, and Chippendale style furniture are all appropriate in a Georgian room. Fabrics should be luxurious -- brocade, damask, and tapestry -- and colors and patterns subtle. Polished cotton and chintz, perhaps with a small flower pattern, will work nicely. Georgian upholstery and curtains often had matching fabric.

Windows:

Dramatic draperies: swag, rope tassels, fringe, backed with sheers, wood blinds or shades.

Floors:

Wood floors covered with oriental rugs are best. Plush carpet, perhaps floral, is fine also. In grand houses, marble floors were used.

Lighting:

Chandeliers in brass or crystal; Chinese motif table lamps. Wall sconces in Silver or brass.

Accessories:

Chinese porcelain, lacquer ware, Silver tea services, linens, carved picture frames. Small sculptures, busts. Fans, bronze, snuff bottles.

Gold Leaf Kits - Oil based

Professional Gilding Kit - 23kt Gold Leaf. Each kit contains: Basic step-by-step instructions, one book 23kt Gold Leaf book (Patent leaf) one 4 oz. bottle of yellow/ochre oil based Gilding Primer, natural hair brush, one 4 oz jar of oil based gilding size, one 4 oz Acrylic Top Coat Sealer, cotton and mixing sticks, wet/dry paper and book of leaf. Solvent-based. Each Gold leaf book contains 25 leaves. Each leaf is 3 3/8" x 3 3/8" square. Approx coverage is 1.7 sqft.

UPS Ground shipment only.

Learn more and purchase sealers for gold leaf now.