“Color is the foundation of great design. It can settle a building into its landscape. It can make an unattractive structural detail just disappear, and it can change your mood in a room instantly.
Welcome to Let's Talk Color. I'm Amy Krane, architectural color consultant at Amy Krane Color. I'm a color expert and use color to transform spaces and products from the ordinary to the sublime.
As a paint color specialist, realtor and design writer, I've got my finger on the pulse of what's happening in the world of color. In each episode, I'll reveal best practices for choosing color by introducing you to masters of color for the built world. So throw out those paint chips taped to your walls and let's get started.
Today, we'll be discussing a truly amazing place. It's called Olana, and it's a New York state historic site, as well as a national historic landmark. In fact, it's the most intact historic artist environment in the United States, and it's the home of the acclaimed Hudson River School painter, Frederic Church.
In the 1860s, Church bought land located in Columbia County, New York, above the Hudson River with his wife, Isabel. Work began”
From Let's Talk (paint) Color: The Colors of Olana, Feb 26, 2025
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-talk-paint-color/id1566645089?i=1000696420223&r=13
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The Colors of Olana
Episode description
If you've never walked into an interior which caused your jaw to drop then you haven't witnessed the overwhelming effect a built environment can have. There are few of these places extant and even fewer here in the United States. I'm lucky to live just a few miles from one - the hilltop home of the Hudson River School painter Frederic Church, Olana. Perched on a mountaintop overlooking the Hudson River, it's sited facing southwest to take in the views of the Catskill Mountains to the west and the winding path of the river down towards NYC. Olana is a sight to behold. Church was the most famous painter in America in the late 19th century. His massive paintings of the natural world wooed critics and the masses alike. Olana was his masterpiece. 250 acres of woodlands, lakes and carriage roads with a house unlike any built before. Its design was wrested from his imagination after trips to the Middle East. Exotic doesn't even begin to describe it. Its architecture and interior colors are unique. You've never seen a home as colorful as this. It shouldn't work, yet it does. Until you get the opportunity to visit Olana listen in. It's the next best thing.