Decorating in Green - Spring Dreaming

Japanese Gardens - Delray Beach, FL

Living in the South, we should not be complaining about the winter weather - particularly after hearing from family and friends living in the Midwest or New England areas where they are overwhelmed by record snows and cold temperatures. Inevitably, however, the "spring bug" affects me as we get the warmer versions of this - lots of rain and gloomy skies. I thought I would evoke the feeling of spring by writing about the use of green in home decor - the natural spring dreaming choice.

I have just dropped off several pieces to be reupholstered and have included a number of green fabrics - as always, I cannot wait to see them transformed. I have several bright greens in my current inventory and looked back at my archival photos. Green IS a wonderful color and very versatile.

Here are several articles about using green in home decor - lots of creative suggestions:

link to House Beautiful article

link to Real Simple article

Here are some of my own green pieces - lots of styles and hues of this lovely color!

I just listed a lovely French chair newly upholstered with a green patterned linen fabric by Colefax and Fowler called "Snow Tree" - what a great name - just the right combo of emerging spring and leaving behind winter!

link to description

So - I hope that this posting inspires Spring Dreaming - it certainly helped me!

Summer Whites - Wine, Clothing, Decor and More!

See article about summer white wines - link

As we approach the dog days of summer, I am seeing more and more whites in my environment - from clothing to decor and even to wines - perhaps in that order. White is soothing and reflects rather than absorbs the sun making it an ideal choice this time of year in the sunny South.

The US Navy sports summer whites this time of year - I have often wondered how they keep these sparkling uniforms so pristine!

Website for summer whites - Navy Personnel Summer White Uniforms

White and its variations (snow-white, off-white, cream, chalk, blanc, ivory, bone) provide wonderful options for "reflective" summer clothing.

Pinterest Board for summer whites - link

Whites and their variations look great in home decor all year round but particularly sparkle this time of year. There are many ways in which white can be incorporated into decorating - all the way from an all-white motif to splashes throughout the space.

Love this "beachy" look with its textures - the slight addition of taupe also helps differentiate the whites. 

Check out various predominantly white settings here - Pinterest board 

I always have a fair amount of neutrals/whites in my refurbished furniture inventory. It is always good looking and remains the easiest items for me to sell. The colors (or lack thereof) can be incorporated into just about any decor.

ENJOY!

Yellow is the Color of Sunshine - Spring is Near

Daffodils at Gibbs Gardens website

Last Sunday, my husband and I traveled about an hour north of the Atlanta area to visit Gibbs Gardens and the first event of their season - acres and acres of daffodils. It was a beautiful day and a great outing. We became annual ticket-holders last year and are going to try to make all of their big events!

The fields of yellow just glowed in the sun and yellow is the color that most reminds me of spring and sunshine. We've have a harder-than-usual winter here in the South and spring is beckoning! Yellow is also my personal go-to color for decorating - at least 75% of my house has either some or a lot of yellow. Even on gloomy days, the rooms retain a certain amount of sunshine!

I just added a great little settee and chair (very nice Mitchell Gold products) reupholstered in a wonderful large pattern daffodil yellow and white and thought I'd use this posting to highlight it and other yellow favorites from my recent collections.

Here is the Mitchell Gold set - love this fabric!

The buffalo plaid has to be my all-time favorite bright yellow fabric - I had enough to do three pieces! 

Nice pieces from last year! I have some of the yellow and blue toile left over and am doing a bergere chair and ottoman right now - should be available soon!

Nice pieces as well - the two fabric on the lower-right chairs is actually brighter than it shows here!

Clearly, I need to keep the sunshine going with yellows and pale golds - more to come soon!

Radiant Orchid - 2014 Color of the Year!

Pantone's Color of the Year

Every year, Pantone selects a "color of the year" and this year, the company has selected RADIANT ORCHID.

So who are they and why should we care?

Here is the description of the company and their "color of the year process" from wiklipedia (See full description:

Pantone Inc. is a corporation headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color space used in a variety of industries, primarily printing, though sometimes in the manufacture of colored paint, fabric, and plastics…. Annually Pantone declares a particular color "Color of the Year". Twice a year the company hosts, in a European capital, a secret meeting of representatives from various nations' color standards groups. After two days of presentations and debate, they choose a color for the following year.

Radiant Orchid blooms with confidence and magical warmth that intrigues the eye and sparks the imagination. It is an expressive, creative and embracing purple—one that draws you in with its beguiling charm. A captivating harmony of fuchsia, purple and pink undertones. 

There is a lot of publicity about the "new color" and I was able to find many articles including renditions/photos of how to incorporate this color into everything from grocery store products to fashion to, of course, home design.

Here are some samples:

Chicago TribuneThe color purple would like to thank the global color authority Pantone for crowning it the color of the year for 2014. But it’s a color — Pantone 18-3224 Radiant Orchid, to be precise — so it can’t exactly talk. This blend of fuchsia, purple and pink undertones does, however, speak in murmurs of exoticism and enigma.Read more and see a video: see full story 

Wall Street JournalMove over, emerald. The color watchers at Pantone say the “It” color of 2014 is a pinky purple known as “radiant orchid.”Expect to see the peppy shade on everything from cardigans to coffee makers next year. Vibrant and inviting, it has enough warm tones to look good on most skin types, which makes it a natural for nail polish and lipstick. Pantone executives say that because it is nuanced and bold, the color suggests creativity and ingenuity, which may appeal to fashion-minded, tech-savvy customers in their 20s and 30s. The hue also offers a sharp contrast with emerald, Pantone’s color of 2013. Read more and see a video: See full story

Well, obviously this is a big deal for designers and manufacturers so they can get on board. For home design, however, it still looks to me like another strong push to support the use of "purple" in the home - a color that I like but just have not successfully integrated into my own decor and have not used in any of my refurbished pieces. I will try to change that this year.

I did pick up some lovely images of the use of radiant orchid in home decor:

Love these chairs and like the combo of this color with low-key metallics.  

Some of these images do appear a little more "fuchsia" than "radiant orchid" but they do come close to the color - at least to me.  We will see how much of this color I can use this year!

The Power of Red

Love these chairs - the best red color - see my pinterest board referenced below.

I don't know if the fact that I have started wrapping holiday gifts and thinking about holiday decorations has me fixated on the color "red" or whether it was my recent burst of activity with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint's (ASCP) Emperor Silk link to recent posting. It may also be the reds (and oranges and yellows) that I am seeing everywhere in our Atlanta area fall. Nevertheless, I am seeing "red" all over and loving it!

I have been saving images of red used as a primary or just a "pop" color on my pinterest board - link to board. Red is bold and passionate and I love it! I have reds in my living and dining rooms (a LOT) and as a pop of color in several other rooms. Over the holidays, of course, it will be a major focus of attention!

Here are some of my favorite images - all from my pinterest board.

This is an amazing sofa - see pinterest board referenced above.

I wish this chair were mine - see pinterest board above. 

This sofa just pops - see pinterest board above. 

Definitely a statement chair and statement color - see pinterest board above.

I reviewed my current Wydeven Design listings (eBay, Etsy, Chairish) and found I only had two pieces that were squarely in the red family - beside the wood finishes of the pieces just completed in ASCP Emperor's Silk.

Here is a set of oval French style chairs not included in recent posting - love how these turned out.

Well, clearly, I need to go out and find more red fabrics and add to this collection - particularly in advance of the holiday season!  I enjoy the power of red!

Pinterest Dreaming - My Beautiful Pieces in Well Designed Settings

Every now and then, I "combine" some of the photos of well designed settings that i have saved on my pinterest boards with my fine refurbished furniture to visually depict how well the pieces complement the space. It helps me picture the various combinations possible and confirms the fine fabrics selected for the pieces. For this session, I only pulled photos from my "Decorating with Yellow" pinterest board link to my board and source of all setting photos below.

Yellow is one of my favorite colors - it is always cheerful and surprisingly versatile as demonstrated in these settings. Most of my house is yellow - all major walls (except bedrooms) are yellow and I have not grown tired of this color.

Here are some of the nice combinations - all my items are available on Ebay or Etsy - my website is, unfortunately broken and I need to just take it down - it is totally out-of-date. Some of my pieces are available through the premium, curated site "Charish" (but more expensive on that site).

I love the combination of black and white and this nice antique settee is fully brought up-to-date in this color combination. The woodwork was redone in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint graphite. I can easily see this with all the bright colors of the rainbow or in a more subdued grey/black/neutral setting- link to Etsy listing

This sophisticated setting highlighted a bright Palm Springs, CA, home. The blue is the most eye-catching feature in the room and my chair and ottoman would complement it beautifully - link to eBay listing.

I love this yellow with a slight hint of green color. The tailored slipper chair and ottoman would work well in the setting. 

Ahhh, what a soothing combination! I love the green and yellow look! These great chairs are upholstered in the best ultrasuede money can buy (retailed at over $100 per yard at Calico Corners) - the chair itself is a Woormark - very fine USA-made furniture link to Charish listing.

I love this tall and graceful chairs with their Annie Sloan Chalk Paint finish (graphite) and grey linen outlined in cream. They would work so well in this and other settings.

These stylish chairs would work well with yellow walls and also would coordinate nicely with wood-tone pieces. It is hard to see but there is a dark taupe/brown in the pattern as well as black and cream.

One of my favorite pieces - it has a wingback chair that matches. It may not be ideal for a bedroom setting but if there is space for it (it is tall but not deep), it might be a delightful surprise in a room like this!

I love houndstooth fabric and particularly in this popular color. With a footstool, this becomes a very comfortable reading and snoozing chair!

Finally, yellow with yellow - bright sunshine all around!

I love all of these combinations and bet I could go to one of my other color boards on Pinterest and find another set of images that would work as well!

Pretty in Pink - In Honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Images of "pink" items used in home decor - courtesy House Beautiful - link to my pinterest board for source information - all images in this posting are found here.

Chair I wish I had in inventory

It is October - Breast Cancer Awareness Month - and each year I do a posting on "pink" used in decorating. I am sure there is a story behind the symbolic use of pink for this campaign but don't know what that story is. It is very gratifying to see the kind of progress that has been made on this horrible set of diseases and I know many breast cancer survivors personally - a wonderful cause!

I do not have any "pink" items in my own Wydeven Designs inventory and must admit that I am a little nervous about having a too "girly" look. I did just sell my last pink-like (raspberry) chair - a wonderful cut-velvet wingback - to a college student (and mother of college student) in Austin, TX. Looking at the images I found for this posting and the articles - outlined below - encourages me to go out and find more usable pink-red fabrics.  They truly are beautiful!

Some colors relax, others excite; pink does both. It provokes romance and glamour, and it is the color of love's first blush. Pink delivers feel-good emotion in the same way that a ranunculus blooms, one layer at a time. Give in to pink's pretty power. link to article

House Beautiful's article about how to use pink in decorating has some great suggestions - here is a sample:

• Use Pink as a Surprise
• Choose a Pink with Purple Tones
• Try Deep Pink in the Dining Room
• Add Pink to Energize a Space
• Pair Pink with a Metallic link to article

Love this low-key light pink and neutrals combination! 

My kind of sofa!

This room setting shows how well pinks work with black and white (and of course, green)!

Sweet setting - I would definitely want that pink settee in my inventory!

I don't know about the mix of orange and pink here although I do love the cool grey tones.

Love this!

This photo reminds me of my family room in our last home which was painted a deep pink color - my favorite room in that house!

Another wonderful visit to the world of "pink" in decorating.  Here are some other articles that I found - some very interesting ideas here! ENJOY!

link to article about using pink in Christmas holiday decorating

link to living room ideas

link to article about pink accessories