Artfully yours

From the Resene colour inspiration – latest looks gallery

One of the most notable American architects who made his mark on the world at the turn of the 20th century was Frank Lloyd Wright.

He specialised in what’s known as ‘craftsman style’ design, which is synonymous with the Arts and Crafts Movement – an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles before spreading across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. The movement flourished between 1880 and 1920 and had a major impact on both the Art Nouveau and Art Deco trends that immediately followed.

Something that made Frank Lloyd Wright stand out was his dissatisfaction with simply designing the structure of his buildings. He was only happy if his projects were complete packages – meaning he also designed every single thing that went inside them, right down to the cutlery that would be used for dining. He would also design artful stained glass windows for his projects, which were hugely popular at the time. While there are many stylistic similarities between his window designs, each was designed to be unique to the home it adorned.

This room makes many nods to Frank Lloyd Wright and the Arts and Crafts Movement in its colour palette and details, but none is more obvious than the DIY folding screen that we’ve painted to resemble one of his stained glass window designs. It was constructed out of three MDF shelf panels, which were first painted in two coats of Resene Tequila to look as through soft, warm light is flooding through them. Then, we used a ruler, pencil and high quality painter’s tape to mask off the ‘leading’, which we painted in two coats of Resene Midnight Moss. We then masked out smaller details and painted these in Resene Bandicoot, Resene Rob Roy and Resene Lightning Yellow. Once all the paint was dry and the masking removed, we connected the sides of the three panels together with brass hinges.

The overall colour scheme for this moody lounge is grounded with a wall and mantel in Resene Midnight Moss, a deep forest green hue that was hugely on trend at the turn of the 20th century and has become one of the hottest colours to decorate with today. The rest of the colours were matched to those in the vintage tennis poster that hangs above the mantel: Resene Half Fossil for the floor, Resene Leather for the door, as well as Resene Rob Roy, Resene Clover, Resene Sushi, Resene Lightning Yellow and Resene Bandicoot, which were used to paint the vases, bowls, books and other small accessories that characterise the space. The result is cohesive, as your eyes move about the room and make the connection between the accent hues which tie the whole space together.

One page we encourage you to take from Frank Lloyd Wright’s book is that your home should be unique. Don’t be afraid to add your own flourishes and details that reflect your taste and personality. And when you’re looking for a complete and cohesive look where everything appears like it was designed especially for the room you’ve put it in, paint is one of the most useful tools around. There is virtually nothing that can’t be painted – it all comes down to using the right Resene products and putting in the right prep work. If you’re unsure what to use, what to do with it or what colour it should be, talk to the helpful staff at your local Resene ColorShop. They can help get you sorted so that you too can have your space exactly as you envisaged it – in the same way Frank would have wanted.

Styling by Laura Lynn Johnston. Photography by Wendy Fenwick. 2021