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Showing posts with label color. Show all posts
Showing posts with label color. Show all posts

Going Green




In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I thought I'd be pretty uncreative and pull together some of my favorite green rooms. I'm always a fan of bright, monochromatic (or dichromatic) spaces and green is one of my favorite colors when you're trying to go bright and bold, but still have a "liveable" room. Unlike, say, orange or yellow, Green -- and even bold greens like kelly green -- read as a neutral when they stand alone or when only paired with true neutrals like white or black.

 
I've been coveting these Ava dining chairs from Annie Selke for months. I also love how Amanda carried the green onto the heavy beams, creating a real architectural feature out of what could otherwise best be described as bulkheads. I also love the soft brass fixtures with the green, the warmth lends a richness and depth to the room that I don't think nickel or silver could.



With its cheerful color palette and midcentury touches, this room is classic Jonathan Adler.






This room feels classic New England to me, with the roaring fire, heavy moldings and quilt on the bed. The color, however, really pulls it into the 21st century. I don't know if you'd call this color a blue-green or a green-blue, but I love it.





I typically try to avoid competing shades of a single color in a room, but the lime green walls and turquoise chairs really works together here. The overall effect is updated Palm Beach, without the hyper-coordination that can often make a room feel stuffy.


Ah, another set of dining chairs that I'd love to own for myself -- anyone know the source on these? All the major elements in this room are neutral, but the room feels very colorful thanks to the green curtains, seat cushions and plates. In a few years the owner could easily switch these elements out with a different color for an entirely different look. It just goes to show you that you don't need a lot of color to make a big impact.



The mix of modern and traditional elements in this room is wonderful, but the best feature by far is all that gorgeous natural light streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling window.





I think I'm increasingly obsessed with grass cloth -- if only I could find a place to use it in my own house! In any case, I love the mix of patterns in this room. The graphic rug, the cheetah print chairs and the grasscloth on the walls all lend different but subtle patterns, the combination of which is really greater than the sum of its parts.
Using a great print as a jumping off point for a room is a sure-fire way to achieve a cohesive design. The lavender and lime color palette is pulled from the fabric used on the ottoman and side chair in the foreground. The fabric is then repeated in the pillows on the sofa, ensuring a balance between both sides of the room (after all, it would feel a bit "off" if all the print were on one side of the coffee table and all the solid fabrics were on the other).
These forest green leather doors with brass nailhead trim make me realize that my hollow-core doors are such a missed design opportunity. I also like how the hallway stands on its own design-wise, yet still works with the adjoining entry as it picks up on the greens in the wallcovering and generally harmonizes with the browns that dominate the adjoining space.
I love the tight brown and lime color palette in this room -- it really enabled John to mix prints with abandon: plaid, Ikat, butterflies, geometrics...and yet it all harmonizes beautifully because all the prints contain the same colors (and when they don't, like in the plaid and Ikat prints, Willey added the missing color in as trim). I normally shy away from floral or butterfly prints as too girly, but the color palette and the great mix of other prints makes this room feel gender neutral to me. Also, did you notice the trim on the ceiling? What a great (and inexpensive) way to bring some interest to your fifth wall!
Pink and green is such a classic, preppy color combination, but it's one that never fails to make me happy. It's even better when the colors are turned up a notch as with the hot pink drapes here. The softer neutrals in the rug and chairs help the room from feeling too much like the inside of a Lily Pulitzer store. I will say though that the composition feels a bit unbalanced to me, as all the saturated color in the green sofa and yellow pillows isn't set off by anything. I'd perhaps have included brighter pillows on the neutral side chairs and the white flokati pillows on the sofa...but that's just me.
More fabulous pink and green, but this time both the pink and the green are in bold, saturated shades. I particularly love the contrast of the modern pop art with the very traditional handpainted wallpaper. Such a great contrast really makes this room stand out for me.
As much as I love a serene bathroom, I can't deny that this bright green bathroom from Sixx Designs is tons of fun. The salvaged pharmacy sign is a great touch and picks up on the retro black and white tiling. I really love the strong blue of the pendant light fixture. It's an unexpected, but brilliant touch in this room.
Tobi is definitely a designer after my own heart. She's fundamentally traditional, but she's fond of bold color schemes, patterns and tightly edited spaces, all of which is perfectly exhibited in this green, white and gold living room. It's unusual to see two side tables that are actually taller than the sofa arms, but I like the built-in, cozy look that it lends the room....Oh and I would give my right arm for that coffee table. My only complaint? That Tobi karate-chopped the throw pillows. I hate that! Why do people do that?! Fluff, don't chop, I beg you.

I love the sophisticated, yet tropical feel of this bedroom. Again, I love the grasscloth wallpaper and its chartreuse hue is a very modern touch against the cottage-style bed as almost any other color green could have read as too country here.
Green is, ultimately, a natural color choice in interior design. It pairs well with both complimentary colors (like pink) and analogous colors (like yellow or blue) and is a great accent color for predominately neutral palettes. Green can read as energetic or calming, intense or calm, glamorous or laid back. Green also works in a variety of design styles, from traditional to modern. But whichever direction you choose to take green in your design, you can be assured that you'll be bringing in a little bit of Irish luck into your home.

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Skirted Roundtable: Chatting with Suzanne Kasler and what is color sequencing anyway?

This week on The Skirted Roundtable, Megan, Joni and I chatted with the fabulous interior design Suzanne Kasler about her work, career and her newly released book "Inspired Interiors". During our discussion, Suzanne mentioned the concept of "color sequencing" or "progression", which raised some questions about what this meant and how it applied to interiors. I had specifically mentioned a section of the book - the chapter on "Color and Light" which had a series of images that very clearly showed this concept. And, even though these rooms were not actually related to each other (they weren't from the same homes), there was a clear relation that made reading that section of the book all the more interesting. Below are all the images that we discussed during this segment, plus the 2 minutes of conversation around it. Enjoy!






 

 



       

                          
  
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    And don't forget to listen to the entire conversation here.


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The Room that Launches a Color Craze

Every so often a singular room launches a color craze. You might think of it as the "tipping point room" - that one additional photo that makes you think, "I've got to have this color in my house!" In my opinion, Anna Beth Chao's bedroom, recently featured in All the Best's bedroom contest, is that tipping point room. Painted in Farrow & Ball's Down Pipe (26), it is modern, stately, chic and cozy all at once. I could be wrong, but I think the success of Anna Beth's room may inspire alot of people to try this gorgeous deep blue gray in their own homes. **Update - Anna Beth has a blog - www.hashai.com **Design by Anna Beth Chao, Reader's Choice Award and Honorable Mention - All the Best Bedroom Contest

Farrow & Ball's Down Pipe is used on the ceiling of this formal dining room with it's very hip gold chandelier. Designer Jessica Lagrange Interiors, image from Chicago Home, Sep - Oct 2009

Anna Beth said her choice of Down Pipe was inspired by the designs of Abigail Ahern. Here are two rooms from Ahern's own apartment.

A room featured in Ahern's book, A Girls Guide to Decorating, graces the November 2009 cover of Living etc.

In Canadian House & Home's Makeovers special edition they feature Down Pipe in their Most Wanted section, pg.24 (thank you Terri of Windlost). They also offer two alternative paints that are close in color: Brainchild CL3216A by General Paints and Knight's Armor 518-6 by Pittsburgh Paints.
I'm not sure if the wall in this interior by John Jacob Zwiegelaor is Down Pipe, but it's fairly close.
Back in the beginning of September, I painted the fake 50's stone hearth and surround of my fireplace with Down Pipe after I changed the wall color from a green yellow to a light blue gray.
At the time I was feeling quite pleased with myself because I only spent $14 to finish the project, $7 for each sample pot. But now it's all gone and I'm sitting around here conjuring up what other surfaces in my house I can paint Down Pipe!
I guess I should have forked up the $89 and bought a gallon...

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A Simple Gray & Yellow Table

This is my first time participating in Tablescape Thursday and I was inspired by my recent purchase of these two vintage tablecloths while on the Eddie Ross flea market tour. However, both were rectangular and neither one was the right size for my round table. Problem solved when they are layered, one crossing over the over and each one making up for the "short side" of the other. Yeah!
The top tablecloth is the Fantasia pattern from the 70's. To tie in with the gray in the pattern, I was able to use the light gray napkins my late elderly neighbor, Mrs. L, gave me. This table is set for three - I only wish I could run next door to invite Mr. and Mrs. L over for lunch. At first I tried a floral centerpiece, but instead settled on pears in a vintage aluminum footed bowl.
The glassware is from my Mom - purchase in Bermuda in 1961.
Here are the lovely Creative Candles that were a gift from Eddie and Jaithan. Two sets of matching candlesticks create four different heights with these 12" and 18" tapers. They're Paris Gray and are more gray than they appear in this photo.

Love small bouquets - this one is made from last Friday's white flowers w/cuttings from a butterfly bush and a shrub.
After setting this table and lighting the candles, I thought to myself, "I should do this more often!" For links to more tablescapes, be sure to head over to Between Naps on the Porch for the 57th Tablescape Thursday!

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Making Orange Work with Sherwin-Williams

The following is an article I was interviewed for in this month's issue of Sherwin-Williams Stir
on how to successfully incorporate orange walls in your home.


Making Orange Work
By Holly O’Dell Sherwin-Williams

You can successfully incorporate orange walls in your design by choosing the right rooms, complementary colors and accessories.

Orange is a vibrant, happy, social color. An orange wall can bring a dynamic energy to any room. It can simultaneously brighten a space while warming it up. Paired with the right colors and accessories, a large swath of orange can make a room really shine. But orange walls haven’t always been an easy sell to homeowners.

An orange wall need not look like a giant homage to the citrus fruit; many different hues of this inviting, invigorating color exist in the paint world. Patricia Gray of Patricia Gray Interior Design in Vancouver, British Columbia, has selected three Sherwin-Williams paint colors that she feels illustrate the diversity of orange:

  • Husky Orange (Sherwin-Williams 6636): "Husky Orange features rusty tones with more brown in it, and I find that this color is a lot more acceptable to a broader range of people. It is one of my favorite colors for using in living rooms, libraries and family rooms."
  • Tango (Sherwin-Williams 6649): "Tango Orange is what I would call more of a mid-range orange, a current and hip color. I would use it for a focal wall in the living room or dining room; it would also be fun for an entryway."
  • Kumquat (Sherwin-Williams 6648): "Kumquat is beautiful because it tends to go into the peach tones, but it’s an upbeat and livelier tone than what we were inundated with in the ’80s. I find that Kumquat is very relaxing and soothing, which makes it ideal for a bedroom, sitting room or anyplace where you want a quieter mood."

Like any dramatic color used abundantly, orange needs its counterparts.
"White or cream help balance the heat of the color," Gray says.
"Chocolate browns and charcoal grays are also accents that balance and coordinate nicely."

Jeffery Bilhuber

An example of what Sherwin-Williams Husky Orange might look like on a wall in a living room or family room.
Photo Jeffery Bilhuber

Antonia Hutt

An example of what Sherwin-Williams Tango Orange might look like on a wall in a dining room. in a dining room.
Photo Antonia Hutt

Jennifer Gilmer orange backpainted glass Sherwin Williams Orange

An example of what Sherwin-Williams Kumquat Orange might look like
in a kitchen on a backsplash of back painted glass. The glass gives this color more vibrancy.
Photo Jennifer Gilmer

** Colors may show differently on computer monitors than in real life.
I always recommend painting a sample test.

Have you used orange paint in your home?
Do you think that you are likely to use orange in your home in the near future?
If so please let me know about it by leaving a comment.


Read full article at Sherwin-Williams Stir
Read another article on The Color Orange where I give examples of Benjamin Moore Colors.
The Color Orange

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15 Top Posts on Color Trends

Hover mouse over picture to see title.
Click on picture to go to post.

Turquoise Aquamarine     Farrow & Ball Launch 18 New Colors      Beige IS Magic 

The Color Purple     The Best Yellows      Think Pink

Color of the Year - Mimosa     Blue the new Black     The Color Orange

 Turquoise Bliss     Back to Black     White Bedrooms 
 
Beautiful Brown      Benjamin Moore Virtual Fan Deck     Green Chic





Patricia Gray writes about 'WHAT'S HOT 'in the world of Interior Design, new and emerging trends, modern design,
architecture, and travel, as well as how your surroundings can influence the world around you.
© Patricia Gray Interior Design Blog, 2009

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