“There’s no such thing as a bad color.
It just depends on what you use with it.”
said Dorothy Liebes, famed textile designer of the 1950s and 1960s.

It has been 44 years since I began my textile career in the Liebes Studio. Color was always synonymous with Dorothy Liebes Designs. I was lucky to learn from the master; color would be the keystone of my design career.

Seeing color is an art in itself as color inspiration is all around us. Filtering it is the key to creating memorable color palettes. Color is as personal as a fingerprint. Nothing will give you as much pleasure as finding the color palette that is you, or as a design professional, finding it for a client.

In nature, color combinations seem so wonderfully effortless. Can we bring home the freshness of a walk down a country road, the harmony of a meadow full of wildflowers, the beauty of a spectacular sunset or the easy elegance of shells scattered on a surf soaked beach?

I can’t explain why I love pink walls in a dining room or a dash of turquoise paired with red and nutmeg brown in our Montana cabin. Why the elegant accent of black in home decorating is as classic as a string of pearls. Why silver and metallics seem of-the-moment. Well-executed printed fabrics look fresh again, especially dazzling ikats paired with neat geometrics. Why splashy abstract art appeals to me after years of collecting traditional bucolic landscapes. What I “see” today will become a design, a room, a collectible in the days to come. Layering in new colors will make the old favorites seem new again.  Yet today, in my mind’s eye, what I “see” feels just right for the moment.

As Dorothy said, “There’s no such thing as a bad color.  It just depends on what you use with it.”

Meri Stevens, home furnishings industry executive, saw early on in her career the role of design as an intergral part of the sales and marketing function and has used design, presentation, strategic planning and selling skills to advance the ideas of “concept selling” and “brand building”.