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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

Working With a Burgundy Sofa

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013

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I am working on an online consultation with a young couple with two small children. They are looking for help in selecting a wall color for their home.

“We are looking to paint our living room and dining room – the rooms have stained trim. The rooms are connected and make up the whole front of the house. At the center of the rooms is the front door and staircase. We have a red couch which we feel is making it difficult to find the right paint color. The rooms have not been painted since we moved in currently it is a beige / peach type color. We would paint both rooms the same color.”

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When you walk into the living room, what is the first thing you notice?:

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The red in the sofa, right? I want to try to take some of the focus off of the sofa and have everything work together in the room. My suggestion is to find a rug that has some of the burgundy in it and also other colors that we might be able to pull a wall color from. This was my first suggestion:

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Then we can pull a blue from the rug or a khaki color. Because of budget restraints, other rug options we are looking at that are not quite as expensive:

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Or for a different look and feel for the room:

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Sisal rugs are a good option for a large area rug, they are contemporary and well priced. A black or wine red border would work well in this room.

If they choose the first rug, the wall color options can be grays, tans or medium to light blues. The second rug color options would be tans or a medium blue/greenish gray. I would stay away from dark greens because red and green remind me of Christmas or a hunter’s lodge.

The third, natural rug has many color options also. Maybe a darker gray? Then we could tie in woven shades for the window treatments. Did you know rose, pink and pinkish lilacs also work well with burgundy? Or for a very rich look, rusts and deep gold can be used as a wall color? Browns work lovely also, but is that a look that want for their living and dining room?

We have to wait and see which rug they choose before we go any further. Which is your favorite rug? Here are a couple design rooms that has worked with the red plaid sofa:

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