Color Palettes: Atmospheric Interiors Using the Donald Kaufman Color Collection

For those who wrote reviews complaining of boring or limited color palettes in this book, you are not understanding the concept behind pigment color and the underlying potential dangers. Paint stores mute colors with black instead of the complement. Traditional paint stores also use just a few pigments in each color. This “easy formuating” by paint stores and muting with black gives you muddied and problem colors. Kaufman mixes with 10-15 colors in his paint and they are magical to see in person. (All mail orderable from L.A. or New Jersey, you can order a trial pint, too).

Kaufman paints are as he says, full of depth mixed with many pigments (instead of the 3-4 in paint stores). The results are astounding and almost intimidating when you see the colors on your walls. Reflected light changes the paint color in a fascinating way every 15 minutes.

I painted last night a troublesome northern room with an early morning east and early morning southern exposure. They room has vaulted ceilings and shadows. Usually ALL colors greyout with cold, then green reflected color. Yesterday this room was painted with DKC #3 and this morning I woke up to a prism on my wall on the new Kaufman color. Was there a mirror or glass to reflect this? No, I never saw it with former colors on the wall. Kaufman demystifies why wall colors are flat and uninteresting and makes them live by infusing them with many pigments.

He also tells you that you can mix your own colors as well. Using white base paint and using universal tints. This way, as he directs, you can mute with the color’s complementary color and NOT black and have intriguing walls. Just write down the recipe.

This book needed more statements telling people how to correct for troubling light exposures and troubling rooms. The public is thirsty for this. But, alas, perhaps his latest books covers this area, I haven’t been able to find it in a bookstore yet. Alaways sold out.

My only wish is that Kaufman is not my best friend. I have plenty of questions for him about nuances of color!
Rating: 5 / 5

Although I am an Architect, I find choosing and using colors still confusing, though I roughly know red from green. I have read some color books and am still confused. When I picked up this book, I thought, “Oh, another color book. Won’t help me much.” On reading it, I found the DK concept, that colors should reflect the real richness of color mixes found in the natural world, to be an eye-opener. The book goes on to give examples with explanations. The concept is refreshing, but the examples and explanations is quite conceptual, and not as specific as I would have liked, on choosing the actual colors. Still, I find my eyes slowly opening more and more as I read and reread the book. I intend to get the other two related books.
Rating: 3 / 5

I bought 4 books on color, and this is my favorite. I just bought a new house, and I had to choose a color scheme for the entire house. This is the book that de-mystified colors for me, and helped me through the entire process. The best part of this book for me is the “Forward”. I could read it again and again. Another valuable thing about this book is the emphasis throughout on the surrounding environment of each room, and how this environment impacts the color choice. Wow! Thanks to this book I considered the view from each window and doorway when I chose my colors. I came up with an entirely different scheme than I would have had I not read the book.
Rating: 4 / 5

Any serious interior designer who does not have this wonderful volume in his or her reference library is missing an important and invaluable design resource. Color Palettes is succinct and well written with wonderful color plates of imaginative yet subtle color palettes. It is a “must” for anyone who needs a creative approach to for his or her “high end” client. I am delighted that my own clients have not , as yet , had access to Color Palettes, as this book has made me look very good, indeed. Virginia H.Cohen ASID Interiors
Rating: 5 / 5

I found this book to be quite lovely, much like flipping through an Architectural Digest Magazine. However, it didn’t help me at all in determining appropriate paint colors for my home. The text was a bit arduous to get through and more descriptive than instructive. Overall I was disappointed because I got no help at all with specifics on selecting color palettes. With a title like “Color Palettes”, one would expect otherwise.
Rating: 2 / 5