Color Me Beach-House Blue

I'm so excited about today's Color Me! If you haven't seen these before, I will be bringing you these "Color Me" posts, a couple times a month. The goal here, is to show you helpful ways to incorporate color into your house, with paint and decor. Color can be scary for some, others just need some tips on refreshing what they already have. There will be all sorts of color palettes, so if this one isn't for you, check out the others Here, and be sure to follow along for all the upcoming palettes.

  I love blue, and love all things beach, so this is my kinda house! This beautiful model home, was of course designed, and decorated by the awesome ladies over at Dy Lynne Decor. I know you hear their name all the time you guys, but this is what they do, every month, of the whole year....how awesome is that, dream job!

Beach themes seem to be really popular right now. You can search it on Pinterest, and be there for hours, getting lost in the worm hole. So lets dissect this room, and this color palette, and see why it's so popular?

All colors by Sherwin Williams

I think one of the main reasons that people decorate with a beachy theme, even those far away from the water (like me), is for it's calming nature. This color palette isn't loud, and it isn't overwhelming. Even if your not a big fan of the beach, this set of colors can work well with all sorts of decor styles. 

For the base paint in this living room, something like "Rhinestone", by Sherwin Williams, is a good starting point. This is a light grey color, with a warm undertone. Keeping the base light, lets you build brighter, and darker colors on top of it. White, is also a good fresh base, but to break away from the super simple, try and slight change in tone. Grey's can be a tough one, like white, they tend to lean towards another color. Like a green-grey, or blue-grey. So when your picking your grey, place it next to your other room color swatches, and see which way it pulls. If your room has more blue, go with a bluer-grey, or a white-grey.

The sofa, being the biggest piece in the room, is kept a light color, similar to the wall. Keeping all of the big pieces in the same range, ensures the room will be soft, and flow. A darker piece would have been to heavy in this room.

For all of your colors in a palette like this, warm undertones are best, these are colors with a yellow base and not blue. If that sounds confusing, check out my post, 6 Tips For Picking the Perfect Paint Color, I dive into cool and warm colors there.  When your working with the blues, a cool undertone color, can really take on a pastel look, and wont look as soft when finished.

The next two colors in the palette, "Folkstone", and "Burlap", are good for grounding pieces. For instance, a rug, curtains, smaller furniture pieces, and medium sized fabric choices (like chairs and large pillows). Since both of these colors are earthy, and neutral, it will be easy to find things with texture and patterns in these tones.  A large woven area rug, helps to ground this space, and brings in good texture. The coffee table and side tables are just a shade darker. Going to dark here, will make the room look uneven, and piecey. 

The last three colors in the palette, "Rainstorm", "Rain", and "Tame Teal", are the accent colors. These colors are used in the art, pillows, chairs, and accent pieces. For the pillows, they used several patterns, and and pulled in all the tones from the color palette.

 Simple, white coral shaped lamps adorn each side table, and a collection of ocean inspired decor is grouped on the coffee table. Keeping just the accent pieces in the colorful tones, makes it easy to change colors, and styles as you like. 

This piece, in a niche across the room, brings in more texture and pattern. 

This kitchen and dining space, are open to the living room, so the color is carried through here as well. Kitchens can be a tough place to add lots of color. There are many big grounding pieces, that you can't change, like the cabinets, back splash, and counters. Adding color in seating, and accents, is a simple way to give that pop of color you may need. 

Using colorful plates and napkins, against your neutral colored surfaces, can really add a punch of color. These plates, and simple pieces, can be switched out as your taste changes, or with the season. Decorating for fall, or Christmas would be such an easy transition here, as none of the accent colors are used on large pieces. 

There is also alot of texture in these rooms, which softens all of the hard surfaces. Natural fiber rugs, linen curtains, rope accents, greenery, and textural wood pieces, all pull this space together for a cozy look.

 I love this art piece, it has so much texture, and it works perfectly with the color palette.

Here is another space in the house, that follows the same rules. The walls are in the same base paint (Rhinestone), and are broken up with a white bead board accent on the bottom. Since this room is alot smaller, it can tend to get dark, even with a light color on the walls. Using a white on the bottom half, helps to make it look larger and brighter. You could use also use a ship lap, a board and batten, or stop the wall color with a piece of molding just above the chair rail height.

 The chairs and table, use the same mid-tones from the palette (Folkstone, and Burlap), and the accent colors (Rainstorn, Rain, and Tame Teal) are also scattered around the table, and in art on the walls.

I just love this house!!

 I hope you loved it too, and that it gave you lots of inspiration, and ideas about how to use color. Don't forget to check out my other Color Me palettes.  Be sure to stop by Facebook, and check out Dy Lynne Decor!

Until next time.....

Color Me- Lucky

For this weeks installment of "Color Me", we are going green. In light of tomorrows holiday, and with spring in sight, I thought this was the perfect color to focus on. 

Green is all about bringing the out doors in. It doesn't have to be super literal with tons of plants and botanical prints. With just a few simple tricks you can bring green into any room.

So lets look at green. 

A muted green can be soft, warm and inviting. It can be more on the lime side, and have a cool eclectic tone. Or you can go bold with it, getting into the richer colors, like an emerald green. 

Depending on the space, and the mood your going for, you can start with a neutral palette, adding in pops of green as you go, or you can start with a green base, and add in you more neutral palette in the decor. 

First lets start with the decor...By keeping the base of a room neutral, you have more opportunities to bring in different shades of green, and to alter your decor as time goes on.

 In this living room, the curtains set the stage. They are a fun green and white pattern, which is also mimicked in the sitting chair. Having these two larger pieces be a light pattern, opens up the room for more color. If you go with a solid here, you have less opportunity bring in your pattern else where. The color is also scattered around the room in the art, pillows, and glass. Remember it doesn't have to be everywhere, but as long as you bring bits of it, to each area of the room, it will feel balanced. 

One of the most important elements in any room, of any color, is always adding in greenery. Here, a set of topiary plants flank the fireplace, and several other faux plants are scattered throughout. This room has a nice warm feel, because no one thing is overpowering, but its also not matchy-matchy. 

Bringing in patterns, and several tones of the green palette helps achieve this.

In kitchens, you obliviously have less space to add color. Here, the same patterned curtain panels were used, and soft artwork helps carry the color around the room. The chairs at the end of table have a bold print, which you can pull off in a room where there aren't alot of soft spaces.   

"Dy Lynne Decor"

The second way to bring in the green, is to put it directly on the walls. 

The right color can make a space calm and inviting. Using a "cool" color on large walls like this, can tend to look pastel, so keeping in the warmer palettes is best for a bedroom space. 

The less light your room gets the lighter your wall color should be. Unless your going for a bold dramatic look, then the darker the better.

Mixing in other colors that are softer than the wall, and in a neutral palette, will help to balance out the deeper color.  You could also swap the color palette here by doing a softer wall color, and heavier prints and pops of color in the room. 

Here, the linen bed-skirt, quilted white coverlet, grass-cloth rug, and the linen headboard all give the space the perfect amount of texture and warmth to balance out the heavier wall color. 

The amount of pattern in this room is minimal, so not to busy up the room, you can find it in the pillows and in the two sitting chairs. Notice the curtains are a solid cream color, and not in a pattern, as this would be to much for the room. 

Besides the striped bedspread and pillows, very little green was used in the decor in this bedroom. 

"Dy Lynne Decor"

The rest of the room maintains the neutral color pallet, keeping it simple and soothing.

The same wall color was used in the large bathroom space, keeping the rest of the colors very simple and neutral.

Need more inspiration...

"Tom McWilliam"

"Diane James Home"

If your going for a more dramatic feel for a space...

Start with a larger separation between palettes, like seen in both of these photos, with the white, black, and  green. Also sticking to just one tone of green, will make a space much more dramatic, even if the decor is very simple.

"Adore Your Place"

Going for an eclectic look....

If you love green, and you have to with a space like this, bringing in several different heavy patterns, and keeping with the same tone of green, will give you a very bold space.

"Fargerike"

Want a more simple eclectic look...

Keeping a room in a very basic palette, and adding lots of pops of color, allows you to add in heavy bits of green, like on these footstools.

"Kyle Knight Designs"

Miss any of the other "Color Me" series? Not to worry, check them out on the Color Me tab at the top.

All paint colors are Sherwin Williams

Check out more work from Dy Lynne Decor on her website, and on the Decor tab.

Color Me- BOLD

So I'm staring a new series here on The Ragged Wren, called "COLOR ME".  The plan is to bring you helpful ways to incorporate color into your house, with paint, and decor. You should see these color me posts, a couple times a month. Now I know that some of you are scared of color, and that's ok. Others prefer the more neutral palette, and that's ok too. For everyone though, there will be inspiration, which you can apply to everything in you home, from bathrooms, to kitchens. 

Keep in mind that most of the homes I will be showcasing on here are model homes, done by my gals over at Dy Lynne Decor. I know your home may not look anything like these perfectly presented homes, and you may not be able to afford half the stuff in it (heck I can't), but you can pick up tips and tricks, to pulling in a little bit of color, or a whole lot!! 

Keep an eye for these posts, I'm sure to get to a palette that you will be wild about. 

Not sure what your looking for quite yet? "Pin" these photos, and start your own color inspiration board on Pinterest. Be sure you check out my Pinterest boards as well, for all sort of ideas.  

Now onto some color!!!

Color Me Bold

Bold, can include a lot of different color palettes, but this week I'm looking at mixing oranges and blue together. Now for all my family and friends back in Colorado, don't get to excited here...we aren't talking Broncos, and no horse heads will make an appearance.

Design by- Dy Lynne Decor 

In this room, you will notice that while there are lots of pops of color, they all flow well, and create a cohesive look.  When going for a bold color palette like this, there are a couple of things to remember...
1. Start with a neutral base paint. Here a soft tan color was used, like "Alchemy" by Sherwin Williams. You don't want your walls to be the center of attention, you want them to flow with the rest of your space. 
2. Scatter around the colors. You'll notice in this room, you don't see just one color in any large area. Using a bold fabric color on individual chairs, and not on the large couch, brings in the deeper blue, without it being overpowering. Bringing in blue and orange pillows throughout the space (including on the fireplace), also helps break up the color, and carries it around the room, giving it a comfortable look. Notice that no space in the room is completely filled with color, but all the areas have a bit of one or both of the colors, even the fireplace.
3. Change up the tones of the color. When shopping for decor and furniture, look at all ranges of blues and oranges, you shouldn't be buying just one tone. Using only one tone, will make the room seem harsh with color. In this room, you will see that the large armoire piece that is against the wall, is substantially lighter than the chairs. If this piece were dark, the room would feel weighted to that side. The rug is also a brighter and bolder shade of blue than anything else in the room. Notice that the art above the fireplace, carries in a very soft, warm shade of blue and orange. Even the neutral part of this palette, is in a range, a creamy colored sofa, white upholstered ottoman, and tan walls. The rock also helps carry on some darker parts of the neutral palette.
4. Mix in patterns and textures. Iv'e said this before, and you'll probably hear me say it a hundred more times, but its is so important! This is what really make any space fell warm and cohesive, even with cool colors. Having different textures throughout this room, like in the rock, grass cloth rug, nubby linen blue chairs, antiqued blue armoire, embroidered pillows, and wool blanket, all make this room feel softer, no matter their color. Having different types of patterns, will give you an eclectic look, like something that was found over time, and pieced together. They don't all have to match any specific style, unless your going for a super themed type of room. 

Here is another space that brings in this same concept, but using more of a coral-orange, and a navy. This space is in more of the warmer fall tones. 

Design By- Dy Lynne Decor

Maybe you already have the base for a room like this? 

Adding in some easily changeable items, like rugs, pillows, and table decor, make it a quick change space. Decorate with the seasons, or as you sway between color palettes. It's easy to do, if your bigger pieces stay in a simple, neutral palette. 

If you are addicted to decorating like me, this is the perfect solution! 

All the colors shown here are Sherwin Williams colors.

Need more inspiration?

Check out these other Blue & Orange decorated rooms...

Better Homes and Gardens

Tracery Interiors

Angie Hranowski

Palmer Weiss

Jessica Kelly Design