Is It Time . . . to Color Things Up?

This was one of MY favorite posts from 2018, so am showing it off again 😀
When I pull out a flip chart of paint cards, sometimes the reactions are alarming.  So many people are intimidated … literally afraid of using color, and to them, thinking about all those choices is frightening.
Going to completely the opposite direction, let’s consider WHITE.  Take a look at this little post from Daily Dream Decor that I found over on Bloglovin.

7 All white spaces you will lust for

There are some great ideas here, but if that were the whole house, someone would have to lock me away in a private little white room!  😀
Rental apartments are notoriously painted in white or very light neutral colors.  That’s an easy way to ease into color.  The way to do that is with accessories.  Below, they’ve used naturals (dark wood & plants) and a trio of golds, oranges, browns and greens in the accessories.  So the “all white” room looks wonderful, not boring.
Decor gets braver in the living room below, where they’ve used color on the permanent pieces, i.e. couch and chair.  White remains predominant on the walls & ceilings, the rug, lampshades and even the plant and framed art.   But NOTE the window sheers are coupled with a slightly deeper neutral, a beige that works into the orange toss pillows.   Finishing touch is the deeper tones of the vase and flowers.  Everything inside also tends to play nicely with the outdoor view.
Dark floors give light neutrals life and ground the room.  Here other accessories in similar shades as the floor, help pull your eyes through the room.  Here again, a fun large plant adds additional color to the room, as well as texture and interest.
The living room below is much braver.  The dark floor color continues up the wall in the fireplace surround. The gorgeous green really livens up the room and is repeated in the area rug.   The third color orange is a great accent to all.  NOTE how wonderfully the art work and metals unite it all to produce a great look.
A totally different affect is seen in this final shot.  The ceiling has been painted in a dark color, and the majority of the floor is light, covered partially with the geometric rug.   Lively colors and textures add interest throughout, with the art, lamp and coffee table tones.  NOTE how the dark plant and white vase take your eye down to the black & white rug, which of course reminds you of that ceiling.  The green pieces add fun, with the turquoise and green glass the wow factor.

Black and white sprinkled through a room help give the eye a break, a resting spot.  This tip works in display too.

Whether you’re a “white wall” person or someone beginning to experiment with color, I hope you’ve enjoyed my post.  I love comments, so let me know what you think.

Until next time.

Cheryl


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Purple . . . for Autumn??

Each week things improve and recently a bit of ambition struck.  I decided to paint my dining room area.  It’s an open space between the living and family rooms.  There are two smaller walls and one large, and so far the large, accent wall and one small area are done.

Hubs was a wonderful assistant and made things easier.  Odd as it may sound, the most difficult part of the project was deciding what color to choose.   In fourteen years, these walls have gone from the builder beige, to a deep taupe, a warm burgundy, a deep blue/green and most recent, a deep, warm brown, seen below.

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Lighting gives photos glare, but you can see the brown.  The print is something my husband and I picked out for that wall when we first moved in to this home.  He is very patient with all of my changing and rearranging, but the one and only time I moved the print to a different room . . . well let’s just say, he nicely requested made it clear he wanted it to stay where it had been.  And I’ve been fine with that.

Adjusting to all the recent changes in our lives, I just needed a new look, something brighter to get me through the coming winter.  New colors were narrowed down to a mustard gold, or a blue tone from the water at the right of the print.  I’m not much of a blue gal, but all the gold samples seemed too harsh and we jokingly referred to them as looking like baby poop 😀 .  And I DID want a big change.

We brought home several samples and are very pleased with the results of our choice.  I don’t think I could have gotten any closer to the purplish blue of the print’s water.  It also works very well with the lamps in the adjoining family room.  Bringing in blues, glass items and adding plants, it was easy to pull the two spaces together.

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And of course, when you change one thing, there are always others that pop up.  The table cover and the chair seat covers were very (normal) Fall colors, with oranges, beiges and deep burgandy.  At the moment, we’re using mismatched chairs and covers.

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While healing, I’ve also been slowly chipping away at reorganizing my studio/office, and rounded up all my fabric samples.  While it isn’t perfect, I did have a large sample of a modern paisley print in many shades of blues, a light off-white and a touch of two shades of green.  It looks bright and fresh, so I covered my chair seats.

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Oh, nice.  I just noticed a touch of dark brown here and there, so that helps unite the woods in the furniture and the print frame.  This time I used the same fabric on both styles of chairs.

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To finish things, there is just enough fabric left to make a table runner.  Until I get to that, I’m using a square scarf that plays well with everything.

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Regarding the work in the office, well it’s at the “it has to get worse before it gets better” stage!  I DO have all the shelves and cabinets in the closet done.  Now it’s a matter of seeing what I can donate, sell or throw.

I had one wall in the office repainted, before I went into hospital.  There’s one big and one small wall left to fill, sand and paint.  I’m REALLY trying to cut back on furniture pieces and all my craft stuff in there.

Luckily for me, I have two neighbors who are 3rd grade teachers and I think they may like quite a few of my supplies.

A quick health update.  I have two more surgeries coming up, and hopefully both can be done by end of year.  I want to think of it as 2018 – the year of the knife, but hoping that 2019 is the year of a new life!

Finally, before closing, I am noticing that several people are sharing my posts on facebook, 22 the last post.  That is all fine AS LONG AS YOU ARE CREDITING ME FOR MY POSTS AND PHOTOS.  I ask that you please leave a comment on my posts that you share.  That will mention your site as well, and give us BOTH exposure, and me, the credit due me.  Thank you for your understanding.

As I’ve noticeably skipped Halloween topics this year. just go to the search window and put in Halloween, Fall, Autumn and like terms to see my many previous posts.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope to post again before Thanksgiving, but if not, enjoy your holidays.  Stay safe and stay positive.

– Cheryl _

 

Colors, Whites and What’s Right for You

This was one of MY favorite posts from 2018, so am showing it off again 😀
When I pull out a flip chart of paint cards, sometimes the reactions are alarming.  So many people are intimidated … literally afraid of using color, and to them, thinking about all those choices is frightening.
Going to completely the opposite direction, let’s consider WHITE.  Take a look at this little post from Daily Dream Decor that I found over on Bloglovin.

7 All white spaces you will lust for

There are some great ideas here, but if that were the whole house, someone would have to lock me away in a private little white room!  😀
Rental apartments are notoriously painted in white or very light neutral colors.  That’s an easy way to ease into color.  The way to do that is with accessories.  Below, they’ve used naturals (dark wood & plants) and a trio of golds, oranges, browns and greens in the accessories.  So the “all white” room looks wonderful, not boring.
Decor gets braver in the living room below, where they’ve used color on the permanent pieces, i.e. couch and chair.  White remains predominant on the walls & ceilings, the rug, lampshades and even the plant and framed art.   But NOTE the window sheers are coupled with a slightly deeper neutral, a beige that works into the orange toss pillows.   Finishing touch is the deeper tones of the vase and flowers.  Everything inside also tends to play nicely with the outdoor view.
Dark floors give light neutrals life and ground the room.  Here other accessories in similar shades as the floor, help pull your eyes through the room.  Here again, a fun large plant adds additional color to the room, as well as texture and interest.
The living room below is much braver.  The dark floor color continues up the wall in the fireplace surround. The gorgeous green really livens up the room and is repeated in the area rug.   The third color orange is a great accent to all.  NOTE how wonderfully the art work and metals unite it all to produce a great look.
A totally different affect is seen in this final shot.  The ceiling has been painted in a dark color, and the majority of the floor is light, covered partially with the geometric rug.   Lively colors and textures add interest throughout, with the art, lamp and coffee table tones.  NOTE how the dark plant and white vase take your eye down to the black & white rug, which of course reminds you of that ceiling.  The green pieces add fun, with the turquoise and green glass the wow factor.

Black and white sprinkled through a room help give the eye a break, a resting spot.  This tip works in display too.

Whether you’re a “white wall” person or someone beginning to experiment with color, I hope you’ve enjoyed my post.  I love comments, so let me know what you think.

Until next time.

Cheryl


Continue reading

Happy HOUZZ Patterns & Textures

Everyone knows how I love MY house.  Today, I’m sharing another one I enjoy … HOUZZ.

Here is a board from my Houzz site.  I was perusing all my colorful collections over there and thought I’d post a favorite on this gorgeous Sunday.

Always stressing to you, the importance of using patterns and textures when decorating your spaces, I thought you’d like looking at these lovelies.

Just sit back and click the little arrows on the bottom right, to soak it all in.

If you need/want more inspiration … take a look at this past post.

The Blues

 

And have a wonderful Sunday afternoon.  Hope your weather today is as beautiful as ours.

Later – Cheryl