It flopped almost from the get go. When we bought the house, I took one look at the kitchen cabinets and knew I would paint them. White. Well, one thing led to another, and I ended up with very deep chocolate brown maple cabinetry--the polar opposite of white-- and I love them.
My living room started out neutral enough. I had an old white Ikea Klippan loveseat standing in for awhile. I had my black and white chair. I had my vintage slipper chair reupholstered in taupe linen.
Then ... well I couldn't walk away from this lovely...like a tall glass of green limeaid....my new sofa and chair from Lazyboy. I did have some buyers remorse at first. I thought I'd made a mistake, because I realized after it was delivered, that my neutral scheme was gone gone gone! But after living with it now, 4 months or so, I love it and am looking at more possibilities for color.
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| Here you see I couldn't help myself adding in green... |
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| the Green Hornet arrives.... |
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| My original color scheme |
I learned one thing: It's easy to love a picture of a room, but less easy to live in it. This rooms we swoon over have to be lived in, eaten in, host parties, and most of all, they need to provide some sense of the people living there. That vase my aunt left me? Its not white. The painting I bought because it reminded me of my honeymoon? Not white. Most of my art pottery collection? Not white.That antique desk I have lugged to twenty-odd apartments, rented homes, and 3 states? Not white. Never to be white. I have accepted that most of the material things I love are just not white.
An epiphany: I need color! Crave it! Flavor! Something to make my eyes happy.
I am now working on a new color-story: Lime green, plum accents, touch of gray, mustard, ivory and chocolate brown. Maybe some ice blue. But the walls (most of them anyway) are staying white. For now.
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| Color story |
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| From The Lennox website |
Here are some great color resource blogs I found:
Make it a Great Day!
Ann
Check out the home of KellyRaeRoberts(Kellyraeroberts.com) and click on the home tour tab. Her home is a fun,eclectic mix and its colorful but not overdone. Its my new inspiration:)
ReplyDeleteOh she's Great!Thanx for the link!
ReplyDeleteI hear ya! I love the way white looks in magazines, but with two kids, it's not gonna happen in MY home. I read that if you have white kitchen cabinets, you have to wipe them down daily. HA! I don't want to spend a lifetime wiping down cabinets so that my dream of a white kitchen can turn into a nightmare. Noooo thank you. :)
ReplyDeleteI think you may have read my mind on the white! I looove white, really realy love it. Sooo we remodeled our kitchen with white cabinets and though I love the look of them (from afar), getting up close reveals the spaghetti sauce we had for dinner last night. Now I am a magic eraser addict.
ReplyDeleteAll that though doesn't keep me from wanting the white ektorp furniture from Ikea in my livingroom. My two messy boys would have a field day with them. I digress:)
Thanks for visiting my blog=) I can tell you like green=))
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for visiting my blog. (Had fun poking around yours too) :) Keep up the great work, you have done an awesome job with your blog and around your house!
ReplyDeleteI am with you on the white. In theory, it looks absolutely gorgeous. I just don't know how doable it would be. I have color committment issues. So, I really can be of no use. Thanks for dropping by my blog.
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more. White looks great in magazines, but in the real world it is so tricky. Too white and it looks stale. And then when kids are in the mix, nothing is going to stay white for too long. I say bring on the color!
ReplyDelete