The Colors and Designs of Mexico!

Earlier this month, we went to San Luis Potosí, México.  (My husband finished his final doctoral project there.)  When I travel, I enjoy observing the trends of a city, especially from a design and color perspective.  Since I am Hispanic, French and Irish, I felt like I had come full circle with some of the design preferences I have had all of my life.  The colors of México are vibrant throughout the city.  The people are very passionate and colorful as well.  We saw several buildings and homes painted in orange, red-orange, red and gold colors.  Some of their buildings even included bright indigo blue and bright green colors.  Yes, they still had the off-white and brown tone colors.  Nevertheless, you would see contrasts of those brighter colors sprinkled throughout the region.

        

The most prominent thing about the architecture is that most of the buildings are built vertically.  They line up side by side.  We did not see any yards, lawns or empty spaces between homes and commercial buildings like we have here in the United States.  The commercial buildings and residential homes have indoor patios or yards usually walled off with wrought iron gates or solid metal doors.  The wrought iron gates are either contemporary or in a traditional scroll style.

        

Historically, Latin countries create and use a variety of tile throughtout their designs.  However, we were surprised to see how often they used tile on entire walls in their bathrooms, dining rooms and kitchens.  They believe tile creates cleaner spaces.

When we visited the downtown historical section, it was like we were walking back in time.  It looked very European.  There were several amazing old and newer contemporary buildings mixed together.  It was refreshing to see a few parks interspersed in between the buildings.  Throughout history no matter how poor this city was, most of the money went into the local churches.  The greatest architectural detail was usually displayed in a very dramatic fashion in these churches.

       

In summary, the colors and designs throughout San Luis Potosí, México were very bold, striking and distinct.  Traveling gives you an opportunity to enrich your life, discover how others live and create memories that stay will with you forever!

~ Have a Colorful Day!