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