A Quilter's Home of Simple Pleasures

Handcrafted quilts and shots of color add personality to a New England home

Written by Phyllis Schiller • Styled by Lynda Sutton
Photographed by Chris Vaccaro

Elaine Barron's love of color infuses not only the wonderful prize-winning quilts she creates but every room in her house.

Here are some of her tips for using color in the home:

• Inject color with art and other accents. Rugs, in particular, can be filled with color.

• Create harmony with a palette of colors with similar tonal values. "Once you learn about colors, you realize they all go together if they're the same tone," says Elaine.

• Be aware of the effect of different colors on each other. "Colors change when you put them together with different colors," Elaine says. "If a green has a lot of yellow in it, for example, and you put it next to a purple with yellow in it, the juxtaposition will change its look."

• Remember that the brightness of the colors in one room has to be the same. "I would not make a quilt with bright jewel tones and then stick in some matte-looking colors or muted colors," she says. The same holds for elements in a room. "If you start with jewel tones, keep along that line, either light or dark."

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