Color Combinations - Working with Greens

Using green in home decor is a popular choice for many people - including me.  My bedroom is mostly an apple green (with deep rose accents) and my den where I am now working is a sage green (with burgundy sofa).  I looked at a couple of references on using greens and found the following that I thought were useful:

Sage (sold)

There are specific words that come to mind for the color green.  Words like nature, calm, serene, soothing and 'Spring'.  

Muted shades of green such as olive, moss, and sage are more at home in relaxed country decor homes. The darker, richer shades of forest green and bottle green are traditionally used in more formal style homes.

...the glory of green is that it is one of the easiest of colors to mix with itself: you can put any number of greens together and be confident that they will work.

Apple Green Set (sold)

Apple Green and White (sold)

The complementary color for the color green is red … an even balance of a shade of green and red with the addition of white makes a great color scheme.

Green with Red/Orange (sold)

Green with Cranberry (sold)

Green with Rose Wingback

Color Combinations - Working with Reds

Once we get past all the blues (with white, with yellow, with anything), I gravitate toward reds in my decor.  My living and dining rooms are predominantly reds - anchored by traditional Chinese rugs.

My  Dining Room

There are many shades of red depending on the blue or yellow added to the primary color.  One source I found suggests the following "best matches" - some very interesting ideas:

Tomato - with pale olive or creams or cerulean or cobalt blue

Fire engine  -  with grayish mauve or plum or dusty apple green or white

Cranberry - with moss or burnt orange or sage or silver gray

Brick - with cool pink or greenish brown or deep bruised purple

Strawberry - with mocha or caffe latte or pistachio or cream

Cherry - with funnel green, milky white or deep burgundy.

My Living Room (with Yellow, of course)

I have refurbished MANY wonderful pieces of furniture in reds and continue to buy great fabrics to use for the next rounds.  I have acquired some great ones that I will be using in the very near future.

Strawberry with Pistachio 

Lovely Tomato Ikat with Ecru and Cream

Cherry with Burgundy

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Color Combinations - Blue and Yellow

This is the second in this series and continues to discuss MY personal favorites - I have four rooms in my house in the blue and yellow color scheme.   The yellow adds warmth to the cooler blue.   According to the designer, Roger Banks-Pye of Colefax and Fowler, this color combination is a little trickier than just blue and white which can be used in a "free-handed way".

Yellow and blue together are technically trickier partners ... when placed in juxtaposition they should be of equal color saturation, or one will kill the other ...

Customer Placement of Wydeven Design Chairs 

Blue and Yellow Toile on Vintage Chair (SOLD)

My Own Blue and Yellow Sunroom in Late Day Sun

Weekend Update - Fabrics and other Buys

I am having another great weekend finding wonderful pieces of furniture begging to be refurbished and a great fabric sale at Fabric World in Stone Mountain (I keep sharing all my secrets - this one is a good one  for the Atlanta area locals).   Most of their fabrics are $3.00 a yard for an unspecified timeframe (at least they wouldn't tell me).  I stopped by Friday expecting not to be too impressed but ended up buying 150 yards!  Here's the scene and some of my buys:

Fabric World Fabrics on Sale

Some of my Purchases

I also bought the following furniture at various estate and garage sales (and have a bid in on two bergere chairs - probably won't get those since I bid fairly low):

• Two cane-sided wingback type chairs (3rd set like this I've redone - turn out beautifully - see similar long-sold one below)

• Straight Chippendale leg wingback chair (another Vicki Chair)
• Tight-back settee with rolled arms, single large cushion and carved front legs

I am still thinking about 10 or more fabrics that I really SHOULD have bought and may drag a friend who also loves fabrics with me on Monday to check them out!  

Color Combinations - Blue and White

This is the first in a series about colors and color combinations.  I LOVE blue and white together and judging from all the decorating magazines I get (and I think I get them all), it continues to be a perennial favorite for many people.  I have this combination throughout my home (reinforced by lots of blue and white Delftware and other porcelain pieces).

Blue and White Vintage Chair 

I just picked up a Colefax and Fowler (all things English)  "coffee-table" book illustrating the work of one of their premier designers of the 90's - Roger Banks-Pye.  He LOVES this color combination "happily admits to a passion bordering on fanaticism" and features it throughout the book which became the inspiration for this series.

Banks-Pye offers these cautions about the use of blue and white (after saying they fit any decor and any room and any period):

• dull northern light (exposure) will dull many blues - may need a red-blue
• blue dyes are unstable and will fade quicker than others when placed in direct sunlight

Blue Floral 

He does suggest adding blacks in small doses when using very pale blues.  He also believes you can just keep adding different shades of blue almost forever "there is a danger of disastrous clashes only when just two conflicting blues are used in juxtaposition" - in other words, the more the merrier!

Multiple Shades of Blue

Blue and blue and white pieces are and have always been my best sellers!  All chairs illustrated are sold.

Blue and White Slipper Chair

Buying Furniture Online - Seat Heights

This is the third installation in this series about buying furniture on-line and gaining a comfort level with a purchase that you cannot feel, touch, sit-in, etc.   I have discussed color selection/matching and seat cushion composition previously.  This blog is about seat cushion heights and a little about width and depth.  The standard height (measured from the floor to the top of the seat cushion) of club chairs is 15-16" and wing back and other more formal chairs tend to be 18-20" (some even higher).   The standard seat depth (measured from front of seat to back) is 20 - 21".

Wingback - 20" seat height

Tapered Chairs - 17" seat height

Blue and White Chair - 16" seat height

Before buying on-line, it is a good idea to experiment and conduct some research about comfort levels in seat heights.  Start by sitting in chairs already in your home or going to a furniture store and sitting in various chairs - make sure you take measurements to determine what height works best for you.  If seat depths are too deep, it is easy to adjust with a lumbar or other accent pillow.

Buying Furniture Online - Seat Cushion Composition

This is the second,  nonconsecutive installation of a series on buying furniture on-line.  This one deals with asking questions about and/or judging the comfort of seat cushions.  You want them to be of sufficient softness or hardness to be comfortable for you.  Not everyone has the same requirements.

Down Seat Cushion

The softest cushions are mostly or all down and feather (the usual mix is 10-20% down and balance feather).  The cushions are not firm and must be "fluffed" occasionally to hold their shape.  I have my upholsterer add a layer of dacron wrapping on all down cushions to add a little heft to them.

Down Back Cushion and Wrapped Spring Seat Cushion

The combination of an internal set of spring (much like a mattress spring) wrapped with either down or non-down is very comfortable and has more firmness than the all-down cushion.  It is probably the best possible combination and is the most expensive seat treatment.

Wrapped Foam Seat cushion

The most reasonable (and most common) seat cushion is a form of solid foam core.  It is moderately firm and always holds its shape - as long as the foam core is of high quality.  As with down, I have my upholsterer add a wrapping of dacron to make the edges a little softer and add comfort.  This is a fine cushion for most seating areas.