Happy Halloween!

My favorite Halloween picture.
I'd go out and buy a bushel of pumpkins if I owned that staircase!

In Living (Room) Color

Get ready. Things are about to get a little more colorful. After a few years of no-color or mostly gray rooms, we are seeing a trend of lots more color.
This living room is a good example of bringing color into what started as a very neutral room. It is actually a good idea to keep you larger pieces of furniture and maybe your window treatments neutral so you can add color - and change it up - with smaller less expensive things.
The wall color in this room was a peachy beige - nice and warm but not so much personality that it is overpowering. The sofa is a classic style in a neutral gold. We added some pizazz with the red velvet pillows that are the same velvet as the gorgeous chairs.
The dining room chairs were upholstered in a muted geometric print.

Since the dining room and living room are across the foyer from each other, it was better if the window treatments were all the same. We kept those in a subtle tone since there were so many windows in the two rooms. But we added some texture by having the same silk of the draperies pleated into a basketweave pattern for the cornices.

My client has a lot of beautiful, colorful objects on her display shelf. And she plans to add a colorful rug when she finds the perfect one.
One other way to make a room interesting besides adding a lot of color is to vary the textures and shapes. For texture we had the pleated vs. plain silk, the red velvet, the matelasse and nailheads on the sofa, and the shiny brass lamps. The glossy marble foyer was also added midway through the project. But the most texture of all was in the wonderful print over the sofa. Look at the variety of shapes we used: most noticeable are the backs of the red chairs, the arms of the sofa and the bottom of the cornices which not only echo the shape of some arch doorways in the home, but the stairstep detail is a reference to the Asian display case.

Sofa and red chairs by Duralee Fine Furniture. Fabrics on sofa and chairs by Duralee. Dining room chair fabric by Chelsea Frank. Drapery fabrics by Libas Ltd. Pillow trim by Kasmir.