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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.

diningroom

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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

Bedroom Redesign Inspired by Art

Saturday, May 4th, 2013

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Isn’t this artwork beautiful? A perfect way to start a color scheme in a room. Here is the other piece of the set:

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I am helping an online client with her bedroom and I thought these prints would be a gorgeous inspiration. We talked about paint colors also and since I have been obsessing over this bedroom photo:

bedroom love!

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I suggested she leave her white walls as is and just paint the ceiling in this Ben Moore Porcelain Glaze CSP-550:

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Paint Color- Benjamin Moore Porcelain Glaze CSP-550

That would look beautiful don’t you think? I recommended all white bedding with these blue shams and a duvet folded on the end of bed (in water):

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And here is our design board:

bedroom redesign

Just lovely! What do you think of painting the ceiling of the bedroom instead of the walls in the blue?

My client does not mind that I share these pictures with you, but asked that I not give out all of our resources. Thanks for understanding!

If you would like a custom online design plan recommended for your home, contact me today!

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Posted in Bedrooms, ben moore, color, Dear Kelly, Design Boards, Interior Decorating | 3 Responses »
Tags: artwork, bedroom, bedroom redesign, ben moore, Benjamin Moore Porcelain Glaze CSP-550, blue, color, contemporary, mirrors, paint selection, painting, update, using art as inspiration

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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I had this blue left over from painting the guest room a few years ago:

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I did not sand or prime, just wiped out the drawer clean before painting:

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Now I have pretty, fresh smelling drawers!

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That was my fun and easy project for this past weekend. Did you work on any projects?

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Posted in Bedrooms, Before & After Pictures, ben moore, color, Decorating Hints & Tips, DIY Projects, Interior Decorating, Painted Furniture | 4 Responses »
Tags: bedroom, ben moore, blue, color, decorating, Decorating ideas, painting, painting furniture, painting inside drawers, Riviera Azure, update

A Well Dressed Bed

Saturday, April 6th, 2013

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Today I worked on a design plan for a client that recently purchased a new upholstered headboard. The color she chose was Flax Boucle:

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The challenge was trying to work the flax color in with all of the white in the room. She did not want to change anything else in the room (paint color, window treatments, etc.). She just needed help selecting bedding:

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Here is the headboard with the existing blue bed linens:

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I feel the existing blue linens are too light/clean to work with the beige of the headboard. I suggested trying white bed linens as our base:

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Which I think is a good starting point to tie everything in the room together. See the artwork above the bed?:

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It works perfect because it has the white, the flax color and different blues. (I did suggest to change to a darker frame closer to the flax color.) The existing wall color is Ben Moore Steel Blue 823. I did not want to try to match exactly, but find a stronger blue color to bring in pillows and a throw. Next, I gave her a few accent pillows to choose from:

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pillow2

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Which one she chooses will give us a color direction for the pillows and throw. Against the flax headboard, I suggested a layer of three white euro shams, then two king shams ( in a darker blue) and then accent pillows. Normally for a king bed, I suggest a layer of two standard shams over the king shams, but she did not want so many pillows. A boudoir pillow would be nice, but that would have to be custom made.

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Here is the design board so far until she chooses which accent pillow to use:

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Which pillow is your favorite? I would have a hard time choosing! All three would work beautifully in her room and will tie the new headboard in with the rest of the room. I will share the completed design board when we are finished!

If you need help decorating your home, contact me today.

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Posted in ben moore, color, Dear Kelly, Design Boards, Interior Decorating | 1 Response »
Tags: bedroom, ben moore, blue, BM Steel Blue, decorating, Decorating ideas, euro shams, king shams, making a king bed, update