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A Rug Sets the Color Stage

Thursday, May 16th, 2013

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A reader recently wrote and asked if I would help choose a paint color for her new living room redesign. This is the rug she recently purchased to work with her tan sofa:

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She wondered if she should use a tan/beige color on the walls or not. I told her to visualize what it would be like to see your tan sofa up against a tan wall. I think that it might end up making the room look a little boring and not offer any contrast:

Classic style kitchen and dining room interior in beige pastoral colors

Also, think of how dark the rug will stand out in your room. Optimally, all your furnishing should work ‘together’ to make the room cohesive including your walls, floors and large furnishings.

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Imagine how bottom heavy this room above would be with a dark rug on the floor. So what colors should we look at for the walls?

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I would not suggest black for the walls, so that leaves us with blues and purples and/or grays. Here were a couple of my suggestions to get samples of to see how well it works with the rug:

Benjamin Moore Montpelier AF- 555:

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Kelly Bernier Design

Benjamin Moore Luxe AF-580:

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Kelly Bernier Design

And one more color suggestion is Storm AF-700 which is a beautiful gray which depending on the light, can also look like a pretty blue or a soft lilac-blue color:

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I have used all three colors and they are beautiful wall colors. We will have to wait and see which color works best with her new rug and tan sofa. Then she has to paint a large sample board to see how it looks with her different lighting. We do not want the walls to look too purple. Do you have any other color suggestions? Love to hear them! I will be sure to post which color was the winner.

If you need help selecting paint colors for your home, contact me today.

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Posted in ben moore, Dear Kelly, Decorating Hints & Tips, Interior Decorating, Kelly's Best Colors, Living Rooms, Paint Color Selection Help | 4 Responses »
Tags: ben moore, Ben Moore Luxe, Ben Moore Montpelier, Ben Moore Storm, blue, color, help selecting paint colors, paint selection, update

Stained Trim Color Consultation

Monday, April 29th, 2013

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I know that I have used this picture above before, but I just love this room with the stained trim, wall color, Chesterfield sofa and that fabulous rug!

I went on a local color consultation today to an older home with dark stained trim. Beautiful home, it just needs a little color love and updating:

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The furniture is staying so we have to work with it. The homeowner thought the only color that would work was maroon or burgundy:

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I did show her a color sample how the burgundy would look and she was not happy with it. I pulled out a medium blue gray, Benjamin Moore Stillwater, 1650:

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She loved it! She never even noticed the blue in the sofa before.What I really loved was how well it looked against the dark trim:

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Beautiful! She loves it and I think it will make a huge difference in the room with the furniture and trim. Whenever I am consulting with stained trim, I always start with the mid-tone colors, which you can read about more here. I hope she will invite me to come back for after pictures.

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Another recent consultation was for a kitchen with oak cabinets:

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Ben Moore Agave AF-420 was chosen and it looks great! Agave has just the right amount of yellow in it that really works well with the oak cabinets. She also has dark woodworking and look at how pretty it is with the Agave:

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I hope I have shown you how unlimited your color choices can be when you are working with stained trim. Keep in the mid-to deeper range of colors and I think that will help you find that perfect wall color.

If you need help choosing colors for your home, contact me today.

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Posted in Interior Decorating, Kelly's Best Colors, Living Rooms, Paint Color Selection Help | 6 Responses »
Tags: ben moore, Ben Moore Agave, Ben Moore Stillwater, blue, color, colors for stained trim, living room, paint selection, painting, update

New Navy Blue Sofa!

Monday, April 22nd, 2013

Like many of us, my budget for home beautification only allows me to afford one big purchase at a time:

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Ever since I started our living room project, I have been dreaming of a navy blue sofa since I saw this beauty:

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A very beautiful and very expensive sofa. But I want it and the color navy fits right into my color scheme! What to do? The sofa I have now is only about five years old. It is still in great shape and I have always loved its Chesterfield look:

I love the rolled arms and it is so comfortable with the ottoman. I wanted to keep it but the fabric was not working anymore. Since the fabric is the most expensive part of having anything reupholstered, I have kept my eye out for a good price on fabric. I found this navy blue velvet on sale:

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To have a couch reupholstered, a sofa this size takes about 16 yards of fabric. The price was $14.00 a yard, plus 2 extra yards for the ottoman. 18 yards x $14.00 = $252.00 for fabric. That is a pretty good price! A reupholster price for labor on both the sofa and ottoman should cost you around $500.00. Not too bad for a ‘new’ sofa!

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Next step is finding a great, affordable rug to go with my new sofa. I ordered rug samples from Ballards in Natural that I think will work great in the room and is pretty reasonable in price:

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I need to balance the white over to the other side of the room and the rug will do just that:

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But wait!! I just found the perfect rug! Love, love, love:

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Well, perfect except for the price (sad face). I am still going to order a sample ($10.00) to be sure it will work. I noticed Company C does have an online design program where I might be able to get a designer discount. When you find ‘the’ perfect item to work in your design plan, you have to decide if you want to wait and save up for it or find something comparable that will work but not be so costly.

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I am not a very patient person when I get a great idea! I just want to keep moving forward to get the project completed. But, because of the budget, I am going to have to wait a bit to make another large purchase. Does this happen to you too? Isn’t it frustrating?

Well, it is another step toward my design goal. I love my new navy sofa and am very grateful! On to the next step!

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Here is a helpful link to an upholstery guide here that helps you determined how much fabric you will need for your upholstery project.

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Posted in Interior Decorating, Living Rooms, Reduce Recycle Reuse | 10 Responses »
Tags: blue, color, decorating, Decorating ideas, living room, navy blue sofa, sofa and chairs

Fresh New Drawers

Monday, April 15th, 2013

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Over the years, we have accumulated a few old dressers along the way:

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I have thought about painting, but I really like their history and character. Do you see the keyholes in the drawers? Pretty cool and unique:

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Remember the post I wrote here wondering if I should paint or not paint this piece? I decided not to paint over. Once it is done, there is no going back and it really is unique and beautiful:

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But one thing I do not like about the old chests is the old, musty smell in the drawers. I might care about the history of the outside of the dressers, but I do not want to know the history of what was in those drawers before:

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I tried drawer sachets and pretty lined paper:

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But that does not work. And since I have been going through paint withdrawals(no painting projects lately!), I decided one way to get rid of that musty smell would be to paint the inside of the drawers. Yay paint project!

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Using a pretty paint color leftover from another painting project, I choose the color Ben Moore Riviera Azure for a beautiful surprise every time I opened up the drawer:

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