Winter is almost here and all the activities are moving indoors. This always brings to mind concerns about our homes. Are they cozy, comfortable, and ready for people? Do the rooms invite us in after a day at work or running around? Do we look forward to our favorite chair at night or dread seeing a room that just doesn’t work for you?
Or maybe the questions should be:
Why does the room look tired and out of date?
Why does the area rug not coordinate with the sofa?
Why did I buy so many things I “liked” that don’t work together???
Don’t worry! There is a way to address all your concerns but you need to first decide what the troubled areas are and make a plan. Since color has such a drastic effect on our mood, let’s look at it and all the ways we can use it to bring comfort to our homes.
Decide on your main color, find another color that works well with it and then tie them together for a cohesive look. This is where you can add an accent color in a print for fun.
Gray
For example, are you a fan of gray? Gray has been used a great deal the last few years. Do you have another color in the room to play off it? Blue, yellow, rust and cognac are great color choices to accent the gray. You can accent with any of these colors but but not all of them at once.
Pictured are some great combinations of gray with a secondary color and an accent. These combinations show some of the warmer shades we saw at market. The print pictured above, pulls the two solids together.
Working with a neutral base of gray you can easily add the deep blue and tie your color story together with a pattern, like in the picture .
The home below is a good example of gray as the base color. The area rug, painting and pillows pickup the blue and warm the space with the rust tones.
Black and White
Another combination that has been very popular is black and white. This combination is so much fun because you have an endless variety of colors to use as an accent color. It looks great with many colors, but make sure your tones have enough weight to work with black and white. The contrast is strong!
Cognac Leather provides the warm base and the patterned fabric ties it together again.
The drapes and the pop of color from the warm green sofa play well with the black and white in this living room. The green is repeated in the pattern of the drapes.
If your home has lots of browns you may be looking to lighten it up. Depending on your shades of brown you could choose blue, teal, cream or green tones to give your room a cleaner newer look.
The rug in this photo blends the grays with the brown of the sofa. Bringing warm and cool tones together.
As you can see, all of these followed the same formula, main color, complimentary color and accent color in the third fabric that ties it all together. Often, this melding together is found in a rug, pillows or draperies. Have fun, consider the mood you want in your home and get started!
Nelson Designs offer consultations and we have over 6000 fabric swatches in our showroom to give you a good start on your updating. Next month starts the new year, isn't it time for a new room? We will look at some stunning before and afters.
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