On my love of blue.

Atlanta Showhouse

It's no secret that I've been having an ongoing love affair with blue the past year or so -- in fact, my family room is practically a homage to the color. Perhaps it's attributable to living in Houston, where the heat and strong light make cool blues particularly refreshing and attractive: no need to worry about a room feeling too cold, after all! Or perhaps it's that I love the richness that can come with some of the more jewel-tone variations of blue: turquoises, teals and rich cobalts are all very appealing to me (and very of the moment). Or because blue and white is a classic and, like a good navy suit, will really never date. Or maybe, like love more generally, my love of blue is arbitrary and ultimately inexplicable.

Since I'm always on the look out for great and inspiring rooms to share with y'all -- and it's been quite a while since I featured a round-up of my favorite blue rooms -- I thought I'd see us through the weekend with some of my new blue favorites. I'm afraid I'm fresh out of my usual design blather this week, so for once I'll spare you my own opinion on these rooms and allow you to enjoy the eye candy free of distractions.

T. Keller Donovan

Waterleaf Interiors

Christina Murphy

Sara Gilbane Interiors

Tobi Fairley

Kim Coleman

Phoebe Howard

Phoebe Howard

Phoebe Howard

Lonny Magazine

Kelley Interior Design

Michael Partenio

Kendall Wilkinson

I'll be back next week with a very exciting progress report on some home design projects. Until then, have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Lacquered Walls: A Maximalist's Dream

Christina Murphy

Now that I've blogged for a while, I've started to see trends emerge in my tastes and interests that I don't think I would've noticed without the virtual paper trail. One of the biggest things that I've come to realize about myself is that I tend towards maximalism -- not just in design, but in life. I'm a big believer that bigger is often better, just as more is often more. I've long been a fan of lacquered furniture and accessories. The glossy, almost liquid-like sheen is such a wonderful counterpoint to wood, fabric and other earthier elements. It's also supremely glamorous, and I can't help but love a little bit of sparkle and sheen in just about any room.

So why not take this love of lacquer, that I can only assume many of my fellow design enthusiasts share as the trend seems to show no sign of slowing down, and take it one step further? Let's maximize it and lacquer the walls. Sure, a true lacquer finish on your walls is time and labor-intensive -- and expensive. But the look can be approximated with high gloss paint (though to get a truly smooth finish you'd be best advised to skim coat your walls first unless they're already in pristine condition). High gloss or lacquered walls are particularly appealing in darker, more intense colors, like this gorgeous cobalt blue, which is incredibly striking against the black and white fireplace.

Miles Redd

If there is a true king of lacquer (do you think he'd mind if I dubbed him the "King of Shellac"?), then it has to be Miles Redd, the designer whose maximalist take on traditional decor has been incredibly influential in the resurgence of high style, color and Chinoiserie in interior design. And I think this hallway is a tremendous example of that. All the individual elements of this entry are incredibly traditional, from the black and white marble floors, to the blue and white porcelain to the intricate moldings and yet it feels so modern because the volume on everything is turned way up. The bold blue lacquered walls pop against the graphic floor and the hits of red in the lampshades and door (oh that door!) are such a strong, primary contrast to the blue.

Miles Redd

This room is a quieter, softer version of Miles' style, but it illustrates how you don't need a really bold color to make lacquered walls feel like a statement. This medium blue-gray, taken all the way up to the ceiling, creates an underwater, lagoon-like effect in this salon, while the larger white double sofa floats softly in the center of the room, like a cloud. Miles' signature zebra rugs, however, keep this room from putting you to sleep.

Miles Redd

Another great living room from Miles. The sophisticated, rich color of Farrow & Ball's Hague Blue is really at its best in a high gloss. Where the light hits it, the color reads as a peacock blue, while in shadow the gray undertones give it a quieter elegance.

Nick Olsen

Decorator Nick Olsen has a very similar decorating style to his mentor Miles Redd, but with a bit of English granny thrown in for good measure. In the most recent issue of Lonny, Nick talks about wanting his small one-bedroom Nolita apartment to feel like an Opium den. Well, mission accomplished. The red glossy walls, black chintz sofa and bold painted floors are a wonderfully modern spin on a 19th century London opium den.

Melissa Rufty of MMR Interiors via Matters of Style

In my opinion, eclecticism (of the type heralded and popularized by domino) is just another type of maximalism, and this room does it beautifully. I adore all the colors, patterns and layers; it feels curated more than decorated.

Canadian House & Home, January 2010

When this house was featured in Canadian House & Home back in January, I had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it was colorful, original and had some very fun elements (like that wallpapered ceiling) on the other hand, it would date quickly and had a few tacky moments. But ultimately, I appreciate the risk taking of shellacking your walls in orange and papering your ceiling in metallic paper. It's bold and not to everyone's taste, but it's fun and I always respect a sense of humor in design.

Steven Gambrel

"But Averill," you say, "maximalism just isn't my speed. Can lacquered walls work in a more minimalist interior?" The answer is an resounding "yes!". In fact, just follow Steven Gambrel's lead (never a bad idea) and incorporate lacquered walls into quieter, more masculine interiors for an unexpected bit of shine and glamour.

Steven Gambrel

This kelly green feels like an unexpected choice for a hallway, but it's such a great contrast to the otherwise neutral palette and traditional architecture. It also creates a certain moodiness that Gambrel so often displays in his work that I find very appealing.

Steven Gambrel

I love a dark, cozy den and you can't get cozier than this one. The goldenrod colored ceiling is a great touch here. It's both dark and warm enough to keep the black walls from feeling too stark and it ties in beautifully with the carpet and leather sofa. While I like the chalkiness of a matte black wall (especially if you're using an off-black or deep charcoal instead of a true black), I really do love a glossy, true black wall. The sheen reflects so light while the dark walls recede into the background. It's a wonderful way to make a room feel larger and cozier at the same time.

Katie Ridder

Studies seem to be the frequent beneficiaries of lacquered walls. Perhaps it's because they're often smaller, less frequently used rooms that can handle the high sheen and bold color. This coral color is such an unusual choice for a study, but in high gloss it reads as more sophisticated than beachy. I particularly love how Katie picks up on the color in the suzani print throw pillows, which ties the white couch in with the chairs and walls.

Elle Decor

I love the raisin-colored walls in this study. It's the perfect backdrop for the salon-style art hanging and looks wonderfully fresh with the black and gold writing desk and the animal print fabrics.

Amanda Nisbet

I love the contrast of the shiny walls with the velvet upholstery. Textural juxtapositions are a great way to create interest without making bold color or pattern statements. The acrylic coffee table brings in the smooth, polished finish on the walls into the furniture grouping and helps tie everything together.

Rob Southern

While this Houston entryway (featured last year in House Beautiful) looks like it has black lacquered walls, it's actually a glossy vinyl wallpaper (Phillip Jeffries' "lacquered walls" wallcovering in eyeliner), which is a quicker (and cheaper) solution to a true lacquer finish. According to the designer, it's also more kid-friendly.

And finally, another photograph that I wish I could credit to the talented designer but can't (anyone? Bueller?..Bueller?). You don't frequently see white lacquered walls (furniture and accessories, yes, but not walls) but I think they really work well here in this more modern interior. And I absolutely love the finish allows the light from the wall sconces to positively glow. The touches of turquoise in the cushions on the dining chairs (which are a beautiful shape in their own right) and in the equine statue on the coffee table add a hit of fun and color to the otherwise neutral and more grown-up space.

Going Green

Christina Murphy

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I thought I'd be pretty uncreative and pull together some of my favorite green rooms. I'm always a fan of bright, monochromatic (or dichromatic) spaces and green is one of my favorite colors when you're trying to go bright and bold, but still have a "liveable" room. Unlike, say, orange or yellow, Green -- and even bold greens like kelly green -- read as a neutral when they stand alone or when only paired with true neutrals like white or black.

Amanda Nisbet

I've been coveting these Ava dining chairs from Annie Selke for months. I also love how Amanda carried the green onto the heavy beams, creating a real architectural feature out of what could otherwise best be described as bulkheads. I also love the soft brass fixtures with the green, the warmth lends a richness and depth to the room that I don't think nickel or silver could.

Jonathan Adler

With its cheerful color palette and midcentury touches, this room is classic Jonathan Adler.

Thomas Jayne

This room feels classic New England to me, with the roaring fire, heavy moldings and quilt on the bed. The color, however, really pulls it into the 21st century. I don't know if you'd call this color a blue-green or a green-blue, but I love it.

Lindsay Coral Harper

I typically try to avoid competing shades of a single color in a room, but the lime green walls and turquoise chairs really works together here. The overall effect is updated Palm Beach, without the hyper-coordination that can often make a room feel stuffy.

Phoebe Howard

Ah, another set of dining chairs that I'd love to own for myself -- anyone know the source on these? All the major elements in this room are neutral, but the room feels very colorful thanks to the green curtains, seat cushions and plates. In a few years the owner could easily switch these elements out with a different color for an entirely different look. It just goes to show you that you don't need a lot of color to make a big impact.

Jamie Drake

The mix of modern and traditional elements in this room is wonderful, but the best feature by far is all that gorgeous natural light streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling window.

Meg Braff

I think I'm increasingly obsessed with grass cloth -- if only I could find a place to use it in my own house! In any case, I love the mix of patterns in this room. The graphic rug, the cheetah print chairs and the grasscloth on the walls all lend different but subtle patterns, the combination of which is really greater than the sum of its parts.

Katie Ridder

Using a great print as a jumping off point for a room is a sure-fire way to achieve a cohesive design. The lavender and lime color palette is pulled from the fabric used on the ottoman and side chair in the foreground. The fabric is then repeated in the pillows on the sofa, ensuring a balance between both sides of the room (after all, it would feel a bit "off" if all the print were on one side of the coffee table and all the solid fabrics were on the other).

Miles Redd

These forest green leather doors with brass nailhead trim make me realize that my hollow-core doors are such a missed design opportunity. I also like how the hallway stands on its own design-wise, yet still works with the adjoining entry as it picks up on the greens in the wallcovering and generally harmonizes with the browns that dominate the adjoining space.

John Willey

I love the tight brown and lime color palette in this room -- it really enabled John to mix prints with abandon: plaid, Ikat, butterflies, geometrics...and yet it all harmonizes beautifully because all the prints contain the same colors (and when they don't, like in the plaid and Ikat prints, Willey added the missing color in as trim). I normally shy away from floral or butterfly prints as too girly, but the color palette and the great mix of other prints makes this room feel gender neutral to me. Also, did you notice the trim on the ceiling? What a great (and inexpensive) way to bring some interest to your fifth wall!

Hillary Thomas

Pink and green is such a classic, preppy color combination, but it's one that never fails to make me happy. It's even better when the colors are turned up a notch as with the hot pink drapes here. The softer neutrals in the rug and chairs help the room from feeling too much like the inside of a Lily Pulitzer store. I will say though that the composition feels a bit unbalanced to me, as all the saturated color in the green sofa and yellow pillows isn't set off by anything. I'd perhaps have included brighter pillows on the neutral side chairs and the white flokati pillows on the sofa...but that's just me.

Martha Angus

More fabulous pink and green, but this time both the pink and the green are in bold, saturated shades. I particularly love the contrast of the modern pop art with the very traditional handpainted wallpaper. Such a great contrast really makes this room stand out for me.

Sixx Designs

As much as I love a serene bathroom, I can't deny that this bright green bathroom from Sixx Designs is tons of fun. The salvaged pharmacy sign is a great touch and picks up on the retro black and white tiling. I really love the strong blue of the pendant light fixture. It's an unexpected, but brilliant touch in this room.

Tobi Fairley

Tobi is definitely a designer after my own heart. She's fundamentally traditional, but she's fond of bold color schemes, patterns and tightly edited spaces, all of which is perfectly exhibited in this green, white and gold living room. It's unusual to see two side tables that are actually taller than the sofa arms, but I like the built-in, cozy look that it lends the room....Oh and I would give my right arm for that coffee table. My only complaint? That Tobi karate-chopped the throw pillows. I hate that! Why do people do that?! Fluff, don't chop, I beg you.

Amanda Nisbet

I love the sophisticated, yet tropical feel of this bedroom. Again, I love the grasscloth wallpaper and its chartreuse hue is a very modern touch against the cottage-style bed as almost any other color green could have read as too country here.

Green is, ultimately, a natural color choice in interior design. It pairs well with both complimentary colors (like pink) and analogous colors (like yellow or blue) and is a great accent color for predominately neutral palettes. Green can read as energetic or calming, intense or calm, glamorous or laid back. Green also works in a variety of design styles, from traditional to modern. But whichever direction you choose to take green in your design, you can be assured that you'll be bringing in a little bit of Irish luck into your home.

May love and laughter light your days,

and warm your heart and home.

May good and faithful friends be yours,

wherever you may roam.

May peace and plenty bless your world

with joy that long endures.

May all life's passing seasons

bring the best to you and yours!

~ Traditional Irish Blessing

Formal Dining Rooms

Sherrill Canet

Earlier this week Cristin posted about decorating dining rooms over at Simplified Bee and it's gotten me itching to start decorating my own dining room (to get a feel for what I'm going for, see HERE). When we first moved in, we managed to paint out the trim on the lower third of the room to resemble wainscoting and paint the balance of the walls a deep blue (Farrow & Ball's Drawing Room Blue), but that's all the progress that's been made so far -- and unfortunately, until my budget recovers, that's all the progress that's going to be made for quite some time.

But that doesn't mean a girl can't day dream, right? In fact, I'd say a temporary cash crunch can be a good thing for designing a room as you're forced to window shop in favor of actually, well, shopping. This forced abstinence allows you the time to really get a feel for what you love most (rather than what you love today or what your budget allows you to buy today). And, when you finally do have the luxury of going out and buying new pieces, having curtains made, etc., you know the market, the trends and what it is you're really after.

So here are a few of my absolute favorite dining rooms, collected over the past few months as I continue to contemplate the transformation of my small dining room into something truly spectacular.

Kara Mann

For me, a formal dining space should be exactly that: formal. It should also be luxurious, dramatic and special. After all, these rooms are for special occasions, most of them occurring at night. So I say work with that and go for lots of drama: crystal, gilt, mirrors, silks, velvets, dramatic colors, hand painted wallpapers...you get the idea. If you're looking for a good guide on how to incorporate all that and more without making the room feel overdone or too stuffy, you need look no further than Kara Mann's gorgeous gray dining room (above) that was featured in last month's Traditional Home. I particularly love the silver-leaf finish on the mantle against the Carrera marble surround.

Hillary Thomas Designs

There are those that argue that formal dining rooms are dinosaurs; that the modern family does not need to distinguish between public and private rooms, formal and informal settings. And that's certainly true to an extent, but at the same time I love the idea of the luxury of having a formal dining room. The luxury of having a place at home to celebrate truly special occasions. The type of room that is filled with memories yearound, even if it is only "used" a few times a year (though certainly there is nothing stopping you from using your formal dining room -- and your formal china -- on a regular basis, and I completely encourage this!).

In this dining room designed by Hillary Thomas, I love how the trim and wainscoting is painted out in a high gloss sage green. It's such a great way to modernize very traditional architecture (and the very traditional wallpaper). The glossy green also works well with the dining chairs, which are done in a high glass black with a sage green seat.

Ruthie Sommers

Wainscoting and wallpaper (especially handpainted wallpaper) are two of my favorite design elements for a formal dining room. The sea grass rug and lack of window treatments make this room feel much lighter than many of the others -- and also more approachable. For me, this room is the perfect balance between formality and luxury, on the one hand, and practicality and comfort, on the other.

Christina Murphy

A simple formula for high drama in a dining room is dark bare wood floors, metallic wallpaper and a crystal chandelier. The mirrored insets into the paneled doors is a simple and inexpensive way to add a little extra sparkle and to dress up an otherwise standard feature. I also love the Kartell Mademoiselle Chairs, with their lucite legs and low backs.

Katie Ridder

Here, I love how the dark slate walls contrast with the high impact turquoise chandelier and hot pink upholstered dining chairs. I think my first inclination would be to pair colors like this with a predominately white backdrop, but Katie demonstrates here how success dark walls with bright furnishings can be. I also like how she kept it from feeling too cave-like by having a lighter colored rug on the floor. This lightness is similarly reflected on the ceiling, which appears to be papered in a subtle tonal damask.

Thad Hayes

Pastoral murals in dining rooms are very, very traditional. In fact, you can see many fine examples of them in homes in Pompeii. Here though, the brighter colors in the mural and in the fabrics lend a rather whimsical quality to Thad Hayes' space. So much so that it feels almost cartoon-like.

Ondine Karady

Anyone else remember Ondine from the second season of Design Star? [By the way, is that show ever coming back? I loved it!] In any case, Ondine is back and in the running for Traditional Home's Young Traditional Designer of the Year. Flipping through her portfolio, I fell in love with this dining room. I love the juxtaposition of the almost Medieval architecture with the vibrant pinks. In fact, I'd happily steal that set of Ikat chairs and the hot pink buffet for myself. How fabulous would that look against navy walls?

Nathan Egan

Nathan Egan is one of my favorite designers for subtle drama. Rooms like the dining room above show that you don't need bold colors or expensive, embroidered wallpaper to make a big impact. I also love how the oversized photograph is hung between the wall and wainscoting. The gesture feels almost haphazard, but the effect is incredibly striking. I also love the large wine barrel chandelier -- sure, it's been trendy, but there's also a nice rusticity about it that works so well with more traditional interiors.

Suzanne Kasler

One of my all-time favorite dining rooms, by the near-faultless Suzanne Kasler. While I usually prefer trim painted-out white, the blue lacquer that Suzanne applied to both the walls and trim here is incredibly striking. I also tend to prefer matching chairs (or at least matching side chairs with a pair of larger chairs for the ends), but yet again Suzanne proves here there's no "rule" that I can come up with that can't be successfully broken.

Annie Selke

This dining room was featured in a spread House Beautiful did last year on a beach house Annie Selke decorated and I absolutely fell in love with all of it. I love the mix of patterns here as well as the mix of blues. A deft hand is needed for this type of mixing, but Selke is skilled at mixing both patterns and colors in a way that feels very modern, without any of the eclectic-bohemian element that I'm admittedly not a huge fan of.