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.....