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Thursday, 28 April 2011

Livingroom colour scheme

I feel like I should do the one room remedy from the Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan's book Apartment Therapy, the eight-step home cure for all the rooms in our home after this hybrid cure. I have so many big changes planned for each room. I'd like to paint walls, ceilings, shelves, tables, change wallpapers, fabrics, few furniture. I never thought that this cure would bring up that many needs for more change. And it is weird, because all in all I'm happy about my home, but still there are many things that need some attention. I'm not sure if I'm truly dissatisfied with the things I have, I think it's more that  I'm inspired when I see what everyone else is doing and it brings new ideas for my home too and I see that things could be better.


For the livingroom I've been thinking about colours lately. As Alana suggested I went to Flikr to check on rooms with white an brown decor and to se what other colours are used in those rooms. To tell you the truth I was very much drawn to images with very little colour, like this danish arrangement,  also this mostly white room1 and this mostly white room2.

I had to really push myself to open up images with more colour. But I did find some nice pictures, for instance this is quite nice, light and cheery, it has way too much stuff but the colours are good. Here is one photo of a room that is totally not my style but it has fresh yellow accent. I also fell in love with this picture, it is so crazy. I have no idea why I like it. The carpet is hideous, it's like grass, I don't like the chairs and it's way too bohemic, and I certainly don't like to look at tits all day long. But I love it still, it's so humorous. It has lovely accents of orange.

So can there be made any conclusions from the pictures? I seem to like yellow and orange, but in quite small amounts. Even in the mostly white room 2 is some orange colour. Perhaps orange is the way to go then. Now I only need to deside where to have that colour, pillows are a obvious choise. Curtains could be another, but that's way too much colour at one go. Paintings or art could also work. I also started to look for items in orange that we allready have in our home and I noticed that there is very little. These were all I could find, I'm sure there is more, I did not open every drawer.


It's said that textiles are the easiest way to add colour to home and I agree. That's why I immediately went to Etsy to find some fabric for pillow covers. Would you enjoy frogs or how about something more graphical or then beautiful birds or the classic elephant? Any other suggestions for colour placement, something that is easy to remove when I get tired of orange?

2 comments:

  1. I love the birds: that's my favourite. Perhaps you should start with eithrer a solid--or a very tiny stripe of orange? It's like boiling a frog: you want to make the changes slowly, in small increments so it isn't too much of a shock. --If that's you. How do you like your change? Sudden and dramatic and all encompassing? Or, bit by bit?

    Let's see, the standard advice is: rugs and curtains (both can be pricey, though, so it is totally up to you), pillows, artwork (especially fabric on canvass, or something you do yourself), lampshades (again, something you would normally have to do yourself), or simply a store bought lampshade with trim you put on yourself, and bits and blobs--vases, candlesticks, trays, totchkes.

    I know exactly what you mean by fixing up things here and there: I have exactly the same reaction! I'll encourage you!

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  2. Good question, I am not sure how I like change. I love change, to the right direction ofcourse, and A would probably say that I like constant change so change is not even change, it's just movement. I like to think that I want sudden change, but I don't know if that's true. If there is a big change I would assume that one then has to stay still for a while before another change and staying still is not me. Bit by bit might go better with my personality, my target is the big thing but I take steps to get there.
    Does this make any sence to you...

    Rugs or curtains is a definite no no, love my white curtains at the moment and carpet is just too expensive. Pillows yes, artwork yes, trim on lampshade YES! bits and blobs yes.

    Thanks for the encouragement Alana!

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