#ColorsandFood | Valentina Expressions

Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene

I met author Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene by chance while visiting writers and creative people in my blogosphere. Her unusual name attracted me, I thought she might have been French (I never did ask), and that wasn’t the only thing that jumped to my eyes. She posted on Google+ a beautiful cover of her coming book “The Delta Pearl”. I was in love with this picture, the sepia tone evokes travel by steamboat, elegant women, mystery, love intrigues, nostalgia, perhaps these are my dreams. I knew nothing about Teagan, I started to read her and share her work. We became friends.

“Teagan’s work is colored by her experiences from living in the southern states and the southwest (of the USA). Teagan most often writes in the fantasy genre, but she also writes cozy mysteries and steampunk. Whether it’s a 1920s mystery, a steampunk adventure, or an urban fantasy, her stories have a strong element of whimsy. There are no extremes in violence, sex, or profanity.” Take a look at her Author Page and her books on Amazon
The Three Things Serial Story, Murder at the Bijou, and A Ghost in the Kitchen

Her latest release is the third in a series of whimsical Roaring Twenties novels. She took us on “a wild ride on a magical trolley through haunted Savannah, Georgia.”

She writes blogs as well. Her blog “Teagan’s Books” contains serial stories written according to “things” from viewers. www.teagansbooks.com
She asks her audience to leave “words” in the blog comments, words that represent things and she will use them in her serial stories. This is a fun way to get the inspiration going.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

The Delta Pearl – Teagan Geneviene

3 Pip Ingredients covers – Teagan Geneviene

Someone in Kitchen Promo Ghost Kitchen – Teagan Geneviene

Teagan is participating in my new book launch and as a token of my gratitude, she is receiving information regarding her zodiac sign: Cancer or the Crab, June 21-July 21. She prefers to identify herself as the “Moon Girl” in fact, the ruler of Cancer is the Moon. Lunar power is feminine, I bet you, Teagan wears a lot of silver jewelry.

Image by 13smok from Pixabay – Moon Over The Crab

A person born under the Cancer sign likes to relax around the water, which is the element of the crab. If Teagan believes in the theory of Feng Shui as a way to harmonize her home and her personal image, then her water element calls for Lavender, Blue, Azure, and Black colors. It doesn’t mean a room and everything in it must be decorated rigorously in one of these colors only. It simply means that a room will have the dominant color of her personality and all the other colors in the room will create harmony and comfort the “Crab” person seeks. White is the dominant color of the person born under the Crab (Cancer) sign. This person is highly imaginative, loves the arts, lives in a mysterious aura, and the powerful lunar energy he/she lives under, impacts the creativity.

I would suggest for Teagan a mysterious and fantasy room. Let’s take a bedroom and let’s turn it into a “silvery” moon atmosphere her soul needs to restore her creativity with the perfect sleep.

Silvery Moon Atmosphere – Valentina Interiors & Designs

Open the photo and the mysterious silvery mood is quite perceptible. White dominates the character of the Cancer sign. White walls to me are very boring, thus I came up with a gradient paint that starts with a relaxing ocean color at the bottom ending in a shaded white color up above towards the ceiling. The floor is a very original blue distressed wood. Bedding is light grey with light yellow designs and a white headboard. I added one lavender velvet accent chair and a few blue chairs. Furniture, sheer window treatment, door frames, and moldings need to be white to echo her dominant zodiac color. I like to see a lot of crystal side lamps and crystal wall sconces to fill the room with beautiful sparkle reflections all over the walls. Crystal quartz scattered throughout the house, a water source, such as a table fountain and a fountain at the front door would be a nice addition. I hope she likes it.

I knew another woman born in the sign of Cancer. She liked only purple, she lived and dressed in purple. I never saw her in the color of her zodiac. She was a busy body woman, always agitated and always looking to grab the next thing. Perhaps she would have been calmer if she had worn colors suitable to her soul.

Now, a bit of shameless promotion for my new book release of ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors – Second Edition . It just happened and a lot of fine authors or artists are helping to take the book on tour.

Red-A Voyage Into Colors-Second Edition – Valentina Cirasola

The book is all about colors, color emotions, color vibrations, color atmospheres, color compositions, color analysis and any which way one wants to use them: in design the interior rooms of any space, in fashion, in food, and/or in more mystical ways. Just remember, colors speak a message, your message…
Visit me on Amazon Author’s Page.
Valentina

Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion designer, author of 5 published books so far, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. She has conceived a few new books of various subjects to which she is working simultaneously. Her books are non-fictional, practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking, and travel. She never gives up trying new things and doesn’t fear failure. A couple of years ago, Valentina became a TV producer/host. Valentina Design Universe is the label under which she produces her shows in the studio and online. The goal of her shows is to entertain, inspire and inform, while she is living her passion. Get a copy of her books on
Amazon and Barnes&Noble

Colors Around Food | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

Doing colors for a restaurant is not the same as doing colors for the home. A restaurant is a place people spend money to eat, want to be jovial, want to be treated right and feel good in the environment they are paying for.
Colors must be inviting, pleasant, easy on the eye and meet everybody’s taste. In the home we can get away with blue and grey, not in a restaurant, unless the décor of the restaurant is done purposely in high-tech, contemporary, with exposed steel beams, glass, then it calls for cool industrial colors. If that is the case, lighting will be extraordinary to counter balance the office-type colors.

If food is good but people leave reviews about the lack of ambience, most likely it has to do with colors and décor. It was the case of this restaurant. The owner painted walls/ceiling grey and black, added black tables and grey chairs thinking the modern, clean look, linear design would be suiting to people, but the space originally was not planned to be an industrial style. Apparently, their customers did not like it a bit, thus the owner called me, the Queen of colors, to find solutions for this place that looks more an office for geeks, than a restaurant.

The first thing I want to git rid of is the black fascia at the ceiling line, it makes the place really heavy like a hood. I substituted it with a view of a street lined up with restaurants scene. At least it is a colorful and happy scene, people sitting across from that wall, will have something interesting to look at, instead of a black wall.

Colors of the entire establishment will change to sunny colors. I think eating in a public place is an experience that engages all the senses, not just the papillæ buds. One wants to look at beautiful décor, soak in the ambience to feel relaxed, enjoy the fire if there is one, taste wines that will encourage conversation, be under a beautiful lighting that enhances the food and gives a glow to people’s faces. A successful restaurant must think of all these elements as one more thing to offer with good food. Why people would spend money to go out to eat, if the restaurant is less attractive than the ambience at home?

Below is the previous black wall, now decorated with a scene on panel printed digitally.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

This is the previous black wall and grey ceiling as it was.

These are the colors I have chosen, with other décor to beautify the place. The look I am trying to achieve is a shimmering effect of seeing and not seeing through mirrors and transparencies. I want mirrors on the walls with colorful mosaic frames. Illuminated glass turtle for a funky décor, will appear as if the turtles are walking the walls. Travertino stacked stones and glass blocks will decorate an area to hide workers in the kitchen. Wood panels (in my drawing) with mirror insets will divide a few areas in the dining room. The holes with the mirrors are large, medium, small for a playful game and will reflect various areas and not just faces.

The work will be done in stages, due to the foot traffic the restaurant has every day. I hope to see the work finished in no time. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola transforms and creates spaces realizing people’s dreams in homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. She infuses your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living. Valentina is well-known for bringing originality on any project and for thinking outside the box. Her interiors are not made with cookie cutters, only follow client’s inspiration, lifestyle and personality. She offers on-line design consultations through Skype and the traditional in-house consultations, helping people with their design challenge anywhere in the world. She is the author of three books, all-available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w