Wife Sublime always got annoyed when we would buy furniture, and they always wanted her approval; more than once she snapped at them “ASK HIM! He’s the one who knows.”
It is well known that males are, generally, not as well disposed to to color considerations, even beyond the ‘not caring’ aspect. But there is apparently a real reason for that, in that when our genetics develop, they short-sheet the color receptors.
But somehow, they never did that for me. Early in our relationship, it became apparent that I had better color perception than WS. She responded by going to a predominantly black fashion. I have gone the other way- I am exploring many ways of color display.
I was sent in this direction by a colleague, who encouraged me to do projects with brightly colored doors, which is very traditional extending back to the English Mews, where they painted the doors brightly for individuality (and so drunk husbands could stumble into the right home).
People love it. Your entry door is an opportunity for expression and personality. Hell, I directed the painters of my house to do a three color scheme that included stripes, and when the original yellows were NOT RIGHT made them adjust in mid painting to get it right.
BUT here’s the thing. I love color in the built environment. While I am basically a modernist (with much side appreciation of modernism and others) I refuse the monochromatic idea. Antonio Guadi did too. So did Frank Lloyd Wright. Colors are delightful.
And I have done several projects with contrast color doors. They are most universally accepted; people want their house to have personality.
So, when I am working in design mode, I always try to find places to add that kind of color personality to the project I am working on. And, over time, I have discovered that when I talk colors, the males I work with either don’t care or don’t see a difference, but the women I work with are on the same wavelength.
Back when I first went to land-grant college, I started in engineering school, because that is what my Dad wanted. When I figured out that was not for me, he was very disappointed, but I took one of those tests that gave back results in how you correlated with various disciplines. My first correlation was with Female Architect. The second one was Male Architect. The third was Female Engineer. The fourth was Male Engineer. I guess I have a feminine aspect.
During quarantine, I have been spending my time mostly at the dining room table on my laptop, doing drawings and documents and powering them back out through what Hunter called the Mojo Wire, but I miss the big screen at my office workstation, as well as my old 17 inch MacBooks which were a good stopgap.
Normally, when I am working on an historic project, I recommend removing paint from the exterior to reveal the lovely masonry beneath. In one particular case, the local Historic Preservation Officer said we shouldn’t (the current direction from the NPS is to not remove paint, because most of the removal techniques tend to damage the underlying masonry) but I pointed out that under the paint, you could see there was different masonry at various levels under the paint, so we utilized proper removal techniques and revealed a lovely pattern of masonry: 
And yep, I selected this colors to complement the masonry.
This project had an unpainted masonry in a lovely orange color, So I augmented it by painting the wood and using deep yellow doors and black windows. The interior halls are accented by an orange similar to the masonry color.
The problem with paint on a factory or warehouse building being converted to offices or residential is that the conversion VASTLY increases the moisture content inside the building; this moisture then wants to migrate to the exterior through the exterior walls which were mostly porous until now, and new windows are very much tighter. Sealing those walls by painting them will result in degradation and spalling of the masonry, because of the action of water within the wall during the freeze-thaw cycle. Water vapor migration will peel the exterior paint.
On our current project, the Owner wanted to not spend on paint removal, and since we don’t have any idea what the masonry or stone looks like, I see no reason to push for it. We are planning on using a breathable elastomeric coating; most of the products have pretty good color selection.
I always start color schema based on the building element with the fewest color choices; in this case it is the windows. In this case, since the building will be painted, the color choices are nearly limitless. So I slapped together several alternatives.
Obviously, although the new color scheme will be lively, it stays within the historic paint palettes, nothing except the doors going in a bright color. No purples or chartreuse. The exception is the rooftop deck addition, which is inspired but the colors of Italy.
The building is now painted flat white overall, and is located in an industrial district (currently becoming one of the most active redevelopment neighborhoods in the City). When we get this done, It will be transformed into a little spot of color.
Empire Of The Senseless 