#ColorTheory | Valentina Expressions

Colors and the Moon Phases

28 Jul 2022 4 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #ColorEnergy, #ColorTheory, #ColorVibrations, #MoonandColors, #MoonPhases, #WhiteandGoldColors

I talk a lot about colors, I wake up and see colors, I feel colors like no others, I live in colors and think in colors. I follow the moon phases and combine colors to them. We know the Moon affects everything on Earth, people, animals, cultivations, the movement of the waters, the shifting of the Earth and births.
The planets and their colors revolving around our birth moment determine our lives. Usually people don’t regards colors as something very important, not me.

This week we are under the influence of the Waning Crescent Moon. In this phase, the Moon is less than 50% illuminated. To get the light into our spirit and balance the darkness this kind of moon brings, I suggest wearing or be surrounded with something white and gold. I explain the reasons in my short video.

As I said the color white brings light and reflects light back. The color gold besides that shimmering infusion of wealth that makes us feel luxurious, is very beneficial to the solar plexus chakra (Manipura) located in the stomach area. That’s the area where all our feelings reside and where we manifest our dreams and goals. The Waning Crescent Moon will last this current week until the next phase when it will change to Waxing Crescent Moon, Aug.1.

Let’s find some inspiration for this week for white and gold. Ciao,
Valentina
Fashion Services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion-Interior Designer and author, born in Italy in a family of artists. Style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. She is passionate about colors and encourages her clients to express their individual styles in their homes and with the clothes they wear. Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble

Positivity Weekly Color Challenge: Light Green | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

29 Jun 2020 7 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #BenefitOfColors, #ChakraColors., #ColorAtmosphere, #ColorEmotions, #ColorsandPlanets, #ColorTheory

The color challenge I developed for my Facebook group this past week was light blue, with light green, gold, or silver. Getting dressed to me is a ritual, I just don’t put on anything that comes along. I follow the color theory. Colors are my lifeblood and have a reason to exist. They help me go through challenges, I use them to set goals, I manifest things I want; with colors, I find my harmony, adjust my mood, or I get my energy.
I use colors that reflect the colors of the planets I was born under, it’s all about being in tune with Nature. I use my power colors to balance mind and spirit; my archetype colors relate to my origin, they make things easier when I use them. Colors are so very powerful, however, some people think it is a frilly subject and don’t take it seriously. 😀

Valentina-Green Hat

According to one healer and astrologer in my circle, the entire world at the moment is under a transmutation and rebirth period. The Merriam-Webster dictionary explains the word transmute: “to change or alter in form, appearance, or nature, and especially to a higher form.” This period is not a simple transition.

A transformational two-year journey began in early 2019. Saturn and Pluto aligned at the beginning of 2020. We have seen what happened to the world as a result of that, a very powerful force buzzed around us that magnified with the alignment of Jupiter and Pluto around March and April. It didn’t stop there, we had the Solar Eclipse on the day of the Summer Solstice June 21st and Jupiter-Pluto aligning again at the end of June. Their energy is powerfully feisty and affects humans on Earth. Most people out there don’t give a flying fig about the alignment and the revolution of planets over our heads, the meaning of it, how it affects us, and what color to wear or be surrounded to counterbalance the fighting effect. Just like the Moon phases affects the movement of the seas, the crops and vegetation, the same way all planets affect the behavior of humans on Earth.

That’s the reason I am helping myself and challenged the group with light blue, light green, gold or silver.
Ligh Blue is for communicating and creating the new person we are going to become; Light Green is to calm down the emotional heart; Yellow or Gold is for setting goals and manifesting the new transformation on all levels, which some people might not even perceive, but it is happening and silver in place of gold, if you feel the Moon movement with the feminine power attached to it. This past week, these colors have illuminated me.

I read a quote by an anonymous: “You are the painter of your own mood. Your days are only as grey as you allow them to be.” Well said. Ciao,
Valentina
Amazon Author’s Page

It’s my hope that through my writing and my stories I am enriching your aesthetic sensibility towards design, style, and inspiring you to live in beauty. I love to encourage my clients to show their personality through their home décor, or the clothes they wear. I have loved my profession as an interior-fashion designer since 1990. I am here ready to offer consultations on-line if you need it. Check out one of my books on the subject of colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors, Second Edition.

Amazon and Barnes&Noble

Autumn Leaves Inspiration | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

21 Oct 2013 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #AutumnColors, #ColorTheory, #LivingRoomColors, #MyPersonalAToZChallenge, #NatureInspiration, #OnLineDesignServices, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home. The goal, in a year time, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind, and heart.
I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of home and sometimes technical information.

**********

A new on-line client from France hired me to compose a warm color scheme complete with furniture suggestions that is in tune with her Autumn archetype. I went to my nearby park to get inspiration. The leaves are yellowish, brown, burgundy and if I stand in the right light I can see undertone colors like lavender, grey or chocolate. The jewel tones of the Autumn are amazing and really suit me. Fortunately, this new client likes them too.
I took many pictures of the leaves fallen on the ground and studied them in-depth. The yellow color in the Autumn leaves, although beautiful, indicates that the chlorophyll and oxygen are gone, therefore the leaves are lifeless and fall to the ground. The yellow has many undertones, from sandy color to golden beige and brown. Some grayish leaves with lilac tones spotted with burgundy really intrigued me. Amazing how something lifeless as these leaves still retains an attractive beauty!

The palettes for my French client contains all the colors I saw in dead leaves transferred in the furnishing and accessories suggestion. I gave her two solutions, one with walls in Grey and the other with walls in Chocolate Brown as shown in my video. Each background color sets a different mood.

Autumn Leaves

Autumn Leaves Color Chips

Autumn Inspiration with Brown Walls

Autumn Inspiration with Gray Walls

Burgundy Inspiration with Sky Blue Walls

Of course, I can go with a hotter color scheme in burgundy, light brown, beige and Sky Blue on the walls. With this third color scheme, I will substitute the silver console with a piece of furniture in brown or sand color.

While I am waiting for the client’s response, I would like to know which of these color schemes is your preference?
Designing on-line is not any difficult than designing in loco. The challenges and the energy are the same, except that I am not physically on the project and a lot of things I do, become the client’s work, like overseeing the project development and managing contractors.

Sharing is caring. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

It’s my hope that through my writing I am enriching your aesthetic sensibility towards design, style and inspire you to live in beauty. I have loved my profession as an interior designer since 1990. I am here ready to offer consultations on-line if you need it. Check out my latest book on colors
©RED-A Voyage Into Colors, available on

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

There Is No Blue Without Yellow | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

04 Aug 2013 6 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ColorTheory, #DesigningWithColors, #HowToDecorateTips, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #YellowandBlue, #YellowColor, #YellowColorForInteriors

One of my friends, who grows food so beautifully, gave me a young pumpkin. Attracted by the round shape, I photographed it and played with Photoshop magic manipulations. So many new versions came out that inspired me to create some new home décor concept boards.

I like very much the first color board I created in yellow tones. Yellow represents the sun in all its energy, it’s optimistic and cheerful. Some people feel annoyed around yellow, some people feel anxious and babies cry more in a yellow room. For these people, muted colors must be mixed with yellow to accommodate the negative effect yellow has on their mind and soul.
Solution: tone down with grayish tones and some light brown, introduce light by adding bluish and pale yellow hues, harmonize it with any hue of light and dark green and punch it up with a small percentage of yellow.

For the rest of us, yellow represents life and happiness. What is the solution? Go for the high tones of vibrant blue, green and purple, mix in the warm golden-yellow and feel kissed by the summer.

There is no blue without yellow and without orange ~ Vincent Van Gogh

Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun ~ Pablo Picasso

I told my dentist my teeth are going yellow. He told me to wear a brown tie ~ Rodney Dangerfield.

When in doubt about the colors of your décor, add a little touch of brown. It’s safe and classy. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer since 1990, specializing in kitchen, bath, wine cellar, and outdoor kitchen designs. Often people describe her as “the colorist” as she loves to color her clients’ world and loves to create the unusual. “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California featured Valentina’s work. She also has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15. Author of three published books, the latest ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors is on the subject of colors.
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Candlelight Magic Pollution | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

05 Mar 2013 15 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #CandlesEnergy, #ColorTheory, #EcoFriendlyCandles, #HowToChoseCandles, #HowToMakeCandles, #NaturalCandles, #SimonCanada, #WhatToKnowAboutCandles

This article was written for http://www.simons.ca (Canada)

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

(As seen on Palo Alto Weekly)

Only 100 years ago candles represented the light bulb that illuminated the world through centuries. Today we use candles to create an atmosphere, not save on electricity. With candles human beings beat the dark of darkness and once they understood that the light of the flame had magical powers, they used candles for spiritual or religious rituals. First with animal fat, then with paraffin and with further addition of colors and scents, human being invented candles for any commercial use. One must keep in mind that candles keep the energy of all the people who collaborated in the making, therefore it is imperative to purify candles before using them. One way to purify a candle is to immerge it in a container full of rock salt keeping it in vertical position, otherwise a simple cloth will suffice to rub all strangers’ energies from the candle.

If you are health conscious as I am, you should care about the air you breathe as well. Breathing the fumes from a commercial candle made with paraffin is not the greatest thing you could do. Paraffin derives from crude oil, the same crude oil that is refined to obtain petrol and petroleum-based products. Burning paraffin candles means you will breathe substances that may be carcinogenic, such as formaldehyde, acrolein (from propylene), benzene, toluene (type of solvent) and acetaldehyde. All of these products contained in commercial paraffin candles will contribute to air pollution in your home and aggravate any possible allergy you might already have.

Candles made from bees’ wax are the best, they are natural, save your health, the air you breathe in your home and burn sweet like honey. Bees have a life span of 12-17 days, during this short time they produce a waxy substance in their stomach and with that they build their cells to store honey. After the honey production is all done, beekeepers scrape the honey and discard the wax, or often sell it to candle makers. Bees’ wax is more expensive than the paraffin, is very yellow and compact, made into square shape cakes, or rolled out in a cylinder shape and that’s how it is sold.

Our beautiful nature offers additional natural solutions for candle making art. Soybeans and palm trees are excellent sources for a natural wax, their juices are biodegradable, no fossil fuels are needed to produce this type of wax and candles made with plants products burn slower than the paraffin candles.

If you are into candle art, you might want to consider colors that are suitable for your spirit and personality. Colors affect us in a positive or negative ways. Color will help us creating a message, a mood, a feeling, a character, or harmony. Just like everything else, colors play a large role in candles, it all depends if you want to attract some energy to you or take it away from you. Check out home accessories at http://www.simons.ca/fre/categories/maison/cuisine-et-salle-a-manger/accessoires-de-table/chandelles

I deal with colors for the beauty and benefits they bring to our person, perhaps coloring a candle to your advantage will be the topic of my next article. Love and light, ciao,
Valentina
http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian interior designer in business since 1990. She is passionate about colors and all expressive arts. She is a “colorist”. Valentina was featured in Italy on “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California. She also has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15. She is the author of her book #3 on the subject of colors: Red-A Voyage Into Colors, available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Marrying Painted Furniture | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

12 Feb 2013 8 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ColoredFurniture, #ColorTheory, #DecoratingTips, #EcoFriendlyDesigns, #FurnitureCoordination, #FurnitureDesigns, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #ValentinaBookOnColors

You have a tired piece of furniture, you like it so much, perhaps it has been in the family for a long time or you just care for the environment and don’t want to dispose of it. The solution is to repaint it.

It is fun to let the imagination run free when repainting furniture. You are imagining the new piece in a particular corner, you found the right color or pattern you like so much and get equipped with all that is needed to do the paint job, but then you might realize that particular color or pattern will not fit with the décor of your room. Before you get innamorate of a certain design, the first think to do is to ask yourself if color and pattern will go with your room décor. When you are absolutely sure, purchase all the material needed. A couple of times it happened to me. I was totally taken by a certain design that I ended up changing the rest of the room to fit the painted piece.

Green Tones with a touch of Wine

Mixed Tones

Golden Tones with a touch of Brown

Tropical

Mixed Colors

Black & White with a touch of RED

If you are restyling a room based on the new color of your painted furniture, remember that nothing transforms a room better than colors do. Colors in nature work just as you see them, bring them in the room, they will work just as good. A room exposed to South can take bold and rich colors on walls, furniture and accessories. For rooms exposed to North, you might want to use bold colors only in accessories.
Take one or two colors from your painted furniture and use them as your color scheme for the room. Then the fun part comes. Select one color that doesn’t even exist in your painted furniture piece and make it the accent color to help the room stand out. Note what I did in my color schemes:

First colors scheme: The green tones came from the green lines of the dresser, by introducing a raspberry color the room become vibrant. Although green is a calming color, it might not be suitable for everyone, especially for those people who have a low value skin tone.

Second colors scheme: the grounding color is black found in the chair legs, coffee table and credenza top. In the next slide, notice how the same piece of furniture looks so different with different colors around.

Third color scheme: I picked up the brownish tones from the same credenza with diamond designs, changing the feeling of the room completely. Have you noticed the rug has the same diamond pattern of the credenza? It just happened by chance.

Fourth color scheme: I chose to play with the brown tone of the colorful chest of drawers. The yellow in the drawers was my inspiration for a yellow tone floral chair. Floral chairs offer many colors to mix and match other chairs in solid colors.

Fifth color scheme: painted golden and silver stripes characterize this dresser drawer, to which anything can be matched. I chose the golden tones, bright, warm colors and added texture with the accessories. The feel is sunny and natural.

Sixth color scheme: In alternative to paint a piece of furniture, you might want to consider covering that piece with faux leather, or wallpaper. Color black grounds a room, but also, as a graphic color, lends itself to many color combinations from classical to modern.

Today’ s wise designer must know how to romance a room and how to dance around client’s budget.

If a client needs guidance in painting a piece of furniture that can say “I am an original” , I will gladly do that, it is part of my services and color is my expertise. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer and former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe since 1990. She blends well fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients. She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual. She is the author of three books, the latest is a book on colors RED-A Voyage Into Colors. Find them on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Decorating With Pink Flambe’ | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

18 Dec 2012 8 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #2013ColorTrend, #BohemianStyle, #ColorTheory, #DecorantingWithPinkFlambe', #DesigningWithColors, #PinkFlmbe'

Pink Flambe' Color Board by ©Valentina Cirasola

Pink Flambe’ and Orange- from https://wanelo.co

Pantone Colors 2013

You might be wondering how top industries come up every year with different colors that will more or less dictate our choices of items we want to include in our life. The answer is simple.
The industry spy do exist, they are people with a fun job. They are among us, they sit in restaurants, café’ and any public places to observe and record how we dress, what colors we wear, how we combine our clothes, what new expressions we use, they follow food and wine trends and anything that goes on in the street. Then they report their findings to the decision makers and from there they elaborate our taste. Fun is it not? I wished I had that job. What’s up with the colors in 2013?

Funky and strong colors have dominated this new millennium so far, 2013 will continue in that path with a new hot color: Pink Flambé.
Flambé is a French word that means flamed. It is a cooking procedure in which alcohol is added to a hot pan to create a burst of flames. The color flambé is just as flamed and hot.
Flambe’ a bit hard color to work with, but when combined with other decisive colors, it can be striking and tasty just like a flambé dessert.

We can mix it in our clothes and our homes indifferently. The new Pink Flambé likes Chartreuse green, golden-yellow, white, grey, orange, or black. Fabrics will be natural and man-made even for apparel, animal prints, stripes and floral, much dyed denim, crocheted and embroidered fabrics, as well as a broad selection of trims and accessories. Take out all your knitting and crochet equipment and let your fantasy go wild.

The themes for next year are quite characteristic. They embrace minimalist shapes, collection of botanical fabric prints, reminiscent of Victorian naturalist collections, tribal influences from all over the world mixing together mismatching floral prints, geometrics, block prints and a lot of Bohemian retro style.
The new philosophy is not about saving as much money as possible on home décor and get it done on a shoe string budget, as it has been for the last four-year of economy in recession, but it is about the day-to-day reflection of their life and personality, as it should be not matter what. I am happy people are coming around to please their needs.

Have fun next year. The “anything goes” philosophy has been a long time trend already, just a different twist every year. We can still have a flicker of luxury with various finishes if we want. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer and former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe since 1990. She blends well fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients. She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual. Check out her latest book on the subject of colors: ©Red-A Voyage Into Colors, available on

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

An Incredulous Vision | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

27 Oct 2012 32 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #BlogAward, #ColorTheory, #Inspirational, #LovelyBlogAward, #RedVoyageIntoColors, Dreams, Self-Improvement

An incredulous thing happened to me yesterday afternoon around 6:00 pm, I just want to know if any of you have ever experienced anything similar. I am still thinking about it and what is the meaning of it.

I was driving on a super busy freeway, when all of a sudden, the town I was approaching, but not yet my exit, all the lights of that town, the freeway landscape, the shape of the winding road, all reminded me of another place in Europe.
In my over imposed view, I could not recognize this place in my déjà vu, but I was sure I had been there sometimes in my previous life. It was very clear in my mind, it was very familiar, I know I had been there in that cozy place, but where was it?
Then, as in any dream, I had an abrupt awakening, the view disappeared and returned to the dreadful, super busy freeway.

This morning, I drove 45 miles to return to the same spot on purpose, but the view I had seen yesterday didn’t come back. Perhaps the view of that beautiful place in Europe appeared because I was hungry and the emptiness of my stomach played a trick on me, or I was wishing in that moment to go somewhere unknown. Perhaps, the strange lights of a freeway in the early evening distort images, or the stress of my work is taking a toll. I think the latter is more real and not an excuse.
What do you guys think and what does it mean? Why this view appeared yesterday and not any other day, since that is an area I drive through often?
I will remain puzzled.

On the note of my stress, a few days have passed since I wrote my last blog, I am feeling withdraws as if I have a blog vise and a few days have passed by without thanking Jamie at http://grandmothermusings.com for nominating me with two awards:
The Reality Blog and One Lovely Blog Award. I appreciate your wisdom Jamie and I appreciate all the bloggers’ talents, information, photos, fun and personal dilemmas. That’s is what a community supposed to be. It is not always possible to answer all of you, but I do see and read you all everyday.

These are five questions for both Awards.
I will only answer one, my eye lids are falling off at the moment:
1) What is the one thing really scares you?

Being left completely by myself on this world, no people, no animals, no books, nothing.
2) If you could change something, what would you change?
3) If you could repeat an age, what age would it be?
4) What one dream have you not completed yet and do you think you will be able to complete it.
5) If you could be someone else for the day, who would you be?

(Photo above http://www.delish.com/food-news/a44086/champagne-water-cooler)

I am thinking that perhaps I need something as joyful as this in my photo above, chilled and refreshing, in any corner of my house. I might be able to find another meaning of life, or will cure my stress.
I am also thinking that some of my clients will appreciate having one of this in convenient places, especially when we are in the remodeling process.

I will nominate five bloggers and there is no specific rule to these awards. Each nominee is free to accept and do what he or she will with his or her award.

http://tresorsdeluxe.wordpress.com

http://passport.laurenoliviaco.com

http://astronomybythecosmos.com

http://katrinaperkins.wordpress.com

http://fueledbyvegetables.com

Create a great weekend. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer and former Fashion Designer, working in the USA and Europe since 1990. She blends well fashion with interior and colors the world of her clients. She has been described as “the colorist” and loves to create the unusual. Her latest book ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors is published. Check out her books on:
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w