Monday, May 4, 2009
Design Inspiration
I'm toying with the idea of using this Annie Selke fabric as the spring board for designing our new house. I got a swatch from Calico Corners over the weekend and I really like the large-scale of the pattern and the variety of colors: celadon and kelly green mix with navy blue, periwinkle and a soft blue-gray on a background of mahogany (which would play well with our dark wood furniture). In person it's really quite lovely.
Since each room on the first floor opens onto one another, the idea would be to use these basic colors throughout the downstairs, but in varying quantities and degrees so that, while each room would tie in with the next, they would not all be identical (I'm going for something more subtle than that). For example, in the dining room, I think this fabric would translate to navy blue walls with a soft white trim. In the large two-story family room, I would keep the gray paint I selected through the builder (which is a great cost-saving measure giving the cost to repaint that amount of square footage), and bring color in with furnishings (like the navy Crate&Barrel couch I've been eyeing) and accessories (like this green throw). In the bedroom, we could go lighter with a soft blue-gray on the walls, incorporate some purples for interest and depth, and reuse much of the existing accessories in our current master bedroom.
Of course, while I would probably incorporate the 100% cotton fabric in the family room as pillows or even an accent chair, I would not be using it in other rooms downstairs. I also think that I'd temper the feminine, and slightly exotic, floral print with more geometric and clean-lined fabrics like a stripe or even a subtle zig zag, like the Indra Citrus print, also from Annie Selke for Calico Corners:
[Editor's Note: This fabric is a bit greener, and a lot less brown, in person.] As for the upstairs, I plan on reusing our existing living room furniture and accessories. I think the apple green touches that are in my rug and pillows would help relate the largely cream, brown and gold palette to the downstairs' color scheme.
Altogether, the color combination (pulled from various Behr paint colors) for the house would look something like this:
So what do you think of this palette? Also, what colors define your house/apartment? Any colors you're particularly drawn to recently?
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4 comments:
Really like both fabrics. The faint zig-zag is terrific at tempering the floral. The colors you've chosen will be cheerful & crisp. Navy blue walls, gray walls, love it! Not too bright for our hot Houston days.
A+++ from me!
Ohhhh I want to see a pic of this Navy couch in person, sounds awesome. I cant WAIT to see what you do! Its going to be fab!
Dear Averill,
Thought you might be interested to see how Annie Selke herself used this print (Shalini in Bluemarine) in a house on Cape Cod, featured in the February issue of HOUSE BEAUTIFUL. Since the magazine is no longer on the newsstands, there is a link to the whole feature from the Calico Corners' website: http://www.calicocorners.com/text/content/e_catalogs/PR_HOUSEB_FEB09.htm
You also might like the stripe Bala Ticking in color Multi to use for an accent chair and/or pillows. it's also part of the Annie Selke Home collection and here's a link to that:
http://www.calicocorners.com/product/designer+fabrics+for+the+home/annie+selke+fabrics+furniture+and+trim/annie+selke+fabrics/bala+ticking+multi.do
Finally, for your navy sofa, please do consider the sofa frames at Calico--they have a new line of less expensive Classic Home frames that can probably be upholstered for about the same price as the other sofa you're considering. The advantage is that you would have a much wider selection of fabrics from which to choose--and you could customize pillows and welting details. You would also have a frame made with eight-way hand-tied springs that may be much higher in construction quality.
Happy decorating--you've put together a great palette that's very au courant!
Best,
Jan Jessup, Calico Corners (as you've probably guessed)
Your color palette reminded me of the kitchen and bath Carol Schalla designed for the Meredith Design Idea Center at K/BIS last year. Check out this video: http://tinyurl.com/ced47d Maybe a bit brighter and bolder than you want to go, but you might get some ideas. Good luck, can't wait to see the finished project!
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