Virtually There - November 2008

Why do New Zealand women insist on covering their bodies in black and their interiors in white?  

You can dress it up as jet and ebony, or alabaster and 'Quarter Spanish White', but that fools no one. We are a sadly monochromatic bunch. Don't ask me why. After all, the world is full of people not afraid to use colour. The Spanish. The Chinese. Even the rather scary Trinny and Susannah love colour (take their colour test  - you will be amazed to find that, whatever colour type you turn out to be, black won't suit you).

 

Maybe you can draw inspiration from the kaleidoscope of colour ideas at Colourlovers , a blog-style site for colour professionals (artists, designers and architects) to post, view and discuss the latest colour trends, palettes and patterns. 

 

If this tempts you to brighten your walls, the next step is the fabulous Resene site . Resene have put a huge amount of work into updating this site since I last mentioned it several years ago and it will keep you occupied for hours. There is a mountain of technical information, as well as tests of your colour personality and colour-differentiating ability. The best feature is an upgraded version of Resene's colour visualisation software, EzyPaint. Many paint manufacturers offer online versions of this sort of thing - some free and some not so free - where you can try colour schemes on stock interiors or uploaded photos of your own home. However, I feel confident in saying that EzyPaint New Generation (download it for free or buy the CD from your local Resene store) is the best I've seen.

 

Colour is not just about surfaces, though. Once you fully embrace your inner rainbow you will want it everywhere. Today integrated dishwashers and stripey Smeg fridges are de rigueur, but have you thought about the rest of the appliance fleet? Samsung do a range of washing machines and dryers (sadly not available in New Zealand yet) in tango red and breakwater blue.

 

If Aga ranges are your thing, the lilac model is a stunner and how about the matching Aga fridges, ice machines, rangehoods and dishwashers?

 

Italian coffee legendsLa Pavoni make the pod-like red Cellini and grinder and, yes, they will ship to New Zealand.

 

But wait, there's more: the KitchenAid stand mixer comes in sixteen glorious colours; I chose tangerine. The colour choice is more limited for the blender, the mixer and the food processor, but still worlds away from white and chrome. The full range is available online from Milly's Kitchen also stock a colourful selection of Dualit toasters - not cheap, but oh so worth it to brighten up your breakfast. 

 

 

 

Site-seeing Does the climate change debate baffle you? Are you concerned that it's becoming impossible to tell good science from misguided propaganda? You are not alone. Dennis Dutton, sceptic, lecturer in philosophy at the University of Canterbury and creator of the famed Arts and Letters Daily  has created a new site called climatedebatedaily.com, where arguments for and against the concept of global warming are presented without editorial bias.   November is the time to commemorate the horrid death of Guy Fawkes, failed conspirator, by letting off explosives in our backyards to scare cats, start fires and blow the fingers off adolescents. Nice. Public displays are the way to go but, if you feel you have to participate privately, visit the site of the American National Fire Protection Association .You may never light another cracker again. If If you still persist, go to the Red Shed’s new site, thewarehouse.co.nz, for tips on how to stay safe this Guy Fawkes night.