Thursday, February 28, 2013

How to Bring Color to a White Room

When I took over decorating my friend Connie's beach house,
 all the upholstery in the living room was white.
The Previous Designer (TPD) 
had chosen a screaming coral for the kitchen cabinets.
Soooooo.....
I used that as the accent color for the whole downstairs living area.
Here's a shot into the kitchen....
So you can see the color.....
Connie wanted the flavor of shells and fun Florida stuff to be a decorating jumping off point, 
so we chose this shell fabric as the patterned fabric for the space, 
since it had touches of the coral we were highlighting.
Connie and Chris have grandchildren...... 
Lots and lots of grandchildren.....
So the white fabric that was selected (by TPC) was  Sunbrella out door fabric 
that would be somewhat impervious
 to the perils of little bodies, fingers and feet.....
Then I lucked out!!!!!
I wanted to bring splashes of the coral color around the room.....
but I wanted a fabric that would hold up.....
SUNBRELLA HAD A CORAL 
JUST THE RIGHT SHADE!!!!!
Sooooo.....
I covered the dining chairs in it.....
These are the host and hostess chairs.....
the side chairs have the coral on the seats....
I was able to find a beachy feeling awning stripe with the right tones for some toss pillows.

Along with some embroidered branch coral ones we found at a local store.
It's like
 they knew we were coming
and made these babies up for us!!!!!
Connie was going for a little more contemporary feel in this house than the one I did for her in Vermont, 
sooooooo.....
The art work was by contemporary artists.
I know folks claim that good art doesn't need to match the sofa.....
BUT I SAY, SAY I.....
"Why the #$% not?????!!!!!"
I liked this painting because it picked up the rooms colors and had an ocean vibe to it.
This painting is actually 
two!!!!!
They are horizontal rectangles that I hung one over the other to create one image.
This is probably not what the artist had in mind.....
but what the hell!!!!!
Betsy's proverb #152....
"A sold painting is a good painting"!!
I wasn't thrilled with the finish on the game table that TPD had chosen.
Soooooo.....
like a ton of other pieces that I inherited in this design,
 I had it painted white.
Then I flanked it with a pair of chairs from Milling Road, and had a really funky fun fabric cover the seat cushions.....

I continued the coral shell vibe into the entry......
These chairs were originally natural wicker,
 but I was trying to unify the design.
TPD had had a field day with using different finishes and styles of furniture.
Now, I love eclectic as much as the next guy.....
maybe even a little more.....
but throwing in every thing but the kitchen sink, 
is not necessarily a good eclectic look,
 there has to be some unifying feel to the furniture.
Soooooo.....
I ended up needing to replace some pieces already chosen,
and as previously stated ad nauseum....
   I had other pieces painted white for a more cohesive feel.
(I couldn't figure out how to spell ad nauseum, and google kept telling me I was spelling it wrong....so I went to dictionary.com, and they couldn't even tell what I was trying to spell, so I had to call my sister.....
who knew it was two words???????OY!!!!!)
Soooooo.....
the chairs above were painted, and then I added the fabric cushions.
These go on either side of the entry table.
I showed that to you in this post.....
but I still need to go into more detail.
I am jumping all over the place in showing off this house.........
Another punch of pinky coral color comes from the seashell mirror that hangs in the entry across from the white wicker chairs.
Now, to give credit where credit is due.....
This mirror was purchased by TPD.....
She used the color of the shells to inspire the pink of the downstairs.
As I showed you guys last week....
(or the week before that.....)
I also brought the coral color into the room with the pottery and shell collection I arranged in the hutch.....
Which was another piece that I had painted white to work with the scheme.....
OK, so now, I am exhausted.....
I hope this has helped someone out in blog land understand a little more about how to add a lot of color to a room while still keeping the main upholstery pieces and draperies white.
Jeesh.....
Later, Gator
Photobucket

10 comments:

Debra@CommonGround said...

This is such a wonderful mix, you did a great job of bringing it all together. LOVE that fabulous shell fabric!

At Rivercrest Cottage said...

love those curvy armed black chairs with the white table, in fact, love everything mixed together.

Shirley@Housepitality Designs said...

Gorgeous, just gorgeous...love all of the fabrics and the shell decor is so beautiful...the shell mirror is exquisite!!

Anonymous said...

Love it! And everything you do, ad nauseum! Makes me think that I can get away with painting some odd furniture choices of the past white, and end up with a look that won't be too early married/Salvation Army. Not a good look when one is, let's say, over 39.

Anonymous said...

This is probably my favorite design you've shown us...I like white :-) The coral color is a very nice compliment for this setting. Of course you know that already...

Unknown said...

Oh my gosh, Im usually not one for shells but I gotta admit this would have won me over! Im LOVING the pillows and the whale on the table sold it to me! :) Lovely!

Hugs,

Victoria said...

two thumbs up Betsy...it's like you took a B grade
film and threw some action and depth into the plot
bravo.

Virginia said...

Hi Betsy! Could you give us an update on how your dining room table turned out with the Luckett's green milk paint? Thanks!

Classof65 said...

What a lucky person Connie is to have you to decorate her rooms! The colors are lively and bright and open and sunny and fresh -- and I love the whale, too. Is there any way you could pop over next week to work a little magic on my living area? No, I just know that someone with your eye and talent is probably booked for the next couple of decades...

Lisa said...

As a new reader, am still discovering older posts. LOVE this room! And the challenges you had taking over from TPD ... all the color you brought into a room where there was so much white upholstery, and you even added more white on other pieces...but still made a colorful cheery room! Great!

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