Recently we returned to a client's house to begin a long desired kitchen renovation. ILVE range, Quartzite countertops, moving walls...you know, the type of renovation where she intends to wait to get the items she really wanted as opposed to the type where we need to get it done yesterday from what is currently available.
As we are speaking about the color in an adjoining room she mentions how much meaning it holds for her. Her late husband had selected the color and she wanted to make sure to preserve it. Absolutely. As we continued to discuss we explained the benefit of using less of the color in order to increase the focus it draws in the room.
It may seem counter intuitive, but think about an accent wall. The ability of a color to draw our focus is often tied to what it stands out against. Pulling a few example wallpaper panels that featured his hue brought our point home. Perhaps in six or seven months if you look real hard you will see our point too.