Designer Inspiration - Color Blocking by Elaine Griffin

Elaine Griffin Room Showing Principles of Color Blocking

In a recent issue of Better Homes and Garden Magazine, New York designer Elaine Griffin website discusses "color blocking" to achieve a fresh, clean look in the home.   She sees this as one of the season's biggest trend and defines it as using different solid colors together in a space.  I looked up "color blocking" and found several definitions - most having to do with using paint to achieve a multi-colored palette but I also found, as Elaine discusses in this article, the use of "punches of color" in furniture and accessories to achieve the look against a more neutral background.  Elaine proclaims:  "In a room that's a sea of beige, there's nothing to excite the eye ... every room needs a bit of contrasting color for visual success."  I found the following insightful comments when searching for definitions/examples of color blocking.

Color blocking is fun and sure way to refresh your home and bring more energy and color to it. So how does it work? Pretty much the same as with your wardrobe. You study the color wheel and pick the colors that go well together. They contrast in a nice jazzy way with each other without going gray or looking too garish.

If you don’t want to paint your walls eight shades of fuchsia and lime green, you can use your furnishings to do the color blocking work for you.  In the bedroom, for instance, upholstered headboards could add the initial boost of color and contrast to the neutral wall, and you could follow that up with prints or smaller squares of color.  You could also find accessories, like throws, pillows, vases, etc., that come in color blocked patterns.  You simply add these to your room to achieve a crisp, colorful effect.

Here are some of my pieces of refurbished furniture, upholstered in strong solid colors, that could be incorporated into a color blocking decorating scheme.