09 mars 2009
The Met Home of the Year: And the Winner Is . . .Orange!
I'm so glad that the "Metropolitan Home of the Year" has nice touches of orange, together with gold and browns in it! This is final proof that orange can be a winner... ;-)
Read full story here. But don't forget your humour or you'll need a splash of red!
via Apartment Therapy.
enjoy!
-Beautymist.
Tags : bright, classy, color, contemporary, inspiration, orange17 février 2009
More About Orange
image: Jessica Jones logo
Hello!
As I said previously in this blog, I love a neutral palette enhanced by a little orange touch. Why? Because neutral colors help set a modern yet relaxing atmosphere while the red/orange/coral/yellow add inspiration, brighten, enliven, transform and elevate this calm setting. Pow! Just like that.
Orange is a quirky color, so don't overdo it, folks, don't go too wild! In my humble opinion...
Accessories
Here are a few accessories you can add in the orange color to add some wow! effect to your neutral room.
a doormat, a rug
a dog clock
books
oranges... of course!
image via decorology
flowers (esp. dahlias)
a wall or two painted in orange (like in the Apartment therapy book cover above) which is a detail view from this room photographed by Mark Lund :
Let's see... What else? Oh, yes!
an abstract painting (my fave way!) Or possibly a reproduction of a Rothko painting. Plus, orange paintings go well both on white or black walls! see http://sfgirlbybay.blogspot.com/2009/02/ode-to-my-deco-dine-one-one.html
Rooms
I love my orange in the living-room best, but it can a number of other rooms.
Bathroom : use orange towels.
Nursery : toys and furniture in bright orange are non gender specific and can fit a girl or a boy!
Bedroom : use with caution. You want to keep that space relaxing and calm. One pillow will do.
image via decorology
a zesty kitchen (image via decorology)
Kitchen : use a bowl of oranges, of course. Even the most modern and sleek interior needs a little pizzazz in the kitchen.
"orange inspiration" by desire to inspire
the "how about orange" blog by designer Jessica.
the matali crasset interview (below, in French).
and remember...
enjoy!
-Beautymist
notes: Design Solutions for Studio Apartments
Tags : bright, color, inspiration, orange
06 février 2009
My fave living-room color combo
A 2007 IKEA ad (above) told us to "Be Brave Not Beige". What so wrong with beige i ask? And what about other neutral colors? We need them. Here's why.
Here's a very brave Ekorre wallpaper pattern designed by Anna Werning. It's actually so bold that all you can do is place a white chair in front of it! So what are we dealing with today? I'd like to tell you about my taste in living-rooms. Here are the bare bones of a living room:
Nadia's place via AT
Let's see what neutral colors could fit a living-room:
Sam's place
Dominic's place
Dark brown as a neutral color
B/w, navy and grey as neutral colors.
Navy as neutral color
Beige and off-whites as neutral colors. There's even a "Brown & Beige" Flickr group!
Another beige setting.
In all the above examples, the rooms look bland and lack pizzazz. That's either because they only use neutral colors, with no hint of red or any other bright color for contrast...or that they're not deigners' rooms like the following...
...room designed by Betty Wasserman. The "wow" factor here are the unsual lamps.
...or this room designed by Amy Lau (Navy, dark wood and beige sofa). With the dark wook table being unusual here. and beautiful.
Lisa Wong Jackson's place. Sneak peek from d*s
Couch comes in neutral color. The beautiful pillows are from Hable Construction, Sharon Spain, and Area. The blanket is by bombdesign. Once again, I think a big bold painting would have been better here than small b/w photographs.
My fave living-room color combo : Orange and beige! Orange found in accessories...
or in the art hung on the walls...
or the more classical pop of red in a neutral environment! (NYC apartment)
here the principles are inverted and the couch is orange, while the art is B/w. Works for me!
here's a velvet dark brown couch (similar to the one i own) and an example of colorful art that works wonders with it.
enjoy!
-Beautymist.
