choosing colors

When people see the many bright colors in my home, they often ask me how I choose what colors to use.  There are many factors:

1. What I like
2. What looks good together
3. What goes well with the fabrics or furniture I have chosen
4. What doesn’t get vetoed by my husband (he’s a brave soul and actually helped convince me to try to purple–gotta love it!)

For my house remodel, I started with the family room.  I knew I wanted a black and white kitchen as a base for all my bright colors, so I shopped and shopped for premade curtains or for a fabric that could be sewn into curtains.  I hoped for something bright and cheerful, but with some white and/or black in it as well.  It seems I always want the impossible.  There was nothing that fit the bill in readymades, so I shopped fabric.  I found the brightest palettes in outdoor fabric.  That’s where I found this beauty: in the home decorators section, outdoor fabrics at fabric.com (great site!).

I ordered a sample of this along with many other options of fabrics for other rooms in my house (or for throw pillows in addition to this one).  The fabric in real life lived up to my expectations (really, it seemed designed specifically for me!), so I ordered enough yards for all my potential projects.  Anyway, with that decision made, I had a place from which to draw color choices.  I opted for the red and green.

I wasn’t sure I wanted the red-based curtains hanging on a red wall, but when I placed the fabric sample against a red wall that I had in my house before the remodel, I fell in love!  I used the red on the walls in the family room with windows, and then used the green in the kitchen and the wall transitioning into the hall/entryway.  I also knew I wanted to hang my favorite lemon painting on the main wall in the entrance, so I needed to make sure I had a color that would show it off well.  The green worked nicely here as well.

For the living room I needed something that would work well with the green, as well as with the yellow I had chosen for the hallway (same color I used in the master suite).  I also knew that I was going to have a black grand piano in the room.  But what I really wanted was a pair of chairs, once again something fun and colorful.  When I found those, I knew I could make my final color decision.  The chairs I ultimately chose came from Pier1 Imports: the Liliana Armchair (Bold Floral).  Love them!  They also offered a host of color choices, and I debated them all most carefully.

I decided to try the purple, thinking that at the very least I would do a feature wall in that color.  But as soon as I started painting it, I knew I had to have it all over.  It is such a rich and fabulous color!  One of my favorite color choices EVER!

I also appreciate that all my color choices work well with both the fabrics in the chair (in one room) and the inspirational curtain fabric (in the other room).  It makes the public spaces in my home feel more cohesive.  I know that not everyone feels like they could live in a home with such bright colors, but they make me so happy!  A colorful house is the right choice for me.

narrow sofa table

I needed a sofa table.  In order to center my seating arrangement on the fireplace and not have the chairs and couch too far apart from each other, I have to have the couch sitting away from the wall.  Besides my funky mirror sticks out pretty far and I didn’t want anyone to bump their head on it.  I knew that a sofa table would be the perfect solution, but I also knew that it had to be a narrow sofa table, only 12″ deep maximum (preferably narrower).  Such things are hard to find, at least on the cheap.  Bigger sofa tables actually cost less.  Go figure.

I was complaining to my mother about my inability to find a narrow sofa table that suited both my needs and my budget, and one day she called back and said that she had this table that her father had made back in the day.  She had a few knick-knacks on it, but she didnt’ really need it, and maybe it would serve my purpose (Grandma recently moved into assisted living, so my Mom has pieces of furniture from their home that I guess I haven’t noticed yet).  Of course I was delighted.  Not only is the table only 11″ inches deep, but it’s something my Grandfather built himself (cool!)–and I could use it for FREE (always my favorite price tag).

It’s just perfect!!  The size and scale really work.  I couldn’t be happier.  It is one of those fortuitous situations–everything works out right.

Now everything is nicely centered.  I have balance in my room, and all is right with world.  Happy sofa table!  Happy me!

new life for a big box

When my brand new grand piano was delivered last week, it came in this large, strong box.  My youngest son, who is 5, has been reading “The Birthday Box” by Leslie Patricelli (one of our most favoritest picture book authors) and has been begging me for his own box to play with.  I asked him if he thought this piano box was big enough for his purposes.  His eyes got big and he started dancing around singing “yes” “yes” “yes.”

So the very nice movers kindly put the box back together after they took the piano out, and my kids had themselves a big box fort.  My hubbie cut a door, and the kids (including many of the neighbor kids) have spent hours and hours having fun, imaginative play in their big box.

My husband was hesitant to keep the box at first, seeing only a large object that will be difficult to dispose of at some future point (when the movers would have hauled it off for free); but I saw weeks worth of entertainment and so did the kids.  So the box has a new life.  And my kids have a new clubhouse.  And they have even started putting on “shows,” basically popping out of the box and dancing around.  But it makes them happy, so it makes me happy too.