I Get By With A Little Help From My Scans
Welcome to my brain. Here are some tear sheets from magazines and catalogs that have been bouncing around in my head lately. When it comes to brainstorming the new vibe for our new house, I love sifting through tons of ideas (online, in mags, in catalogs, in stores, in our friends’ houses, in houses we’ve crashed, and even in my favorite TV shows and movies) to see what gets me going and then adapting the most inspiring ideas for our home (see other ideas for pinning down your style here). You know I’m all about soaking things up like a sponge, right? I actually love this part of the process. It’s so fun and full of anticipation and possibility.
First there’s this happy and bright image from House Beautiful. I love the art, the pillows, and the pops of clementine and aqua.
Then there’s this beauty from Cottage Living. I love the breezy indoor/outdoor feeling and the white beamed ceiling with the dark floors.
This room’s patterned rug, colorful pillows, and sculptural light fixture make me smile (also from House Beautiful).
Here I liked the idea of interior doors that aren’t white (this pic’s also from House Beautiful). Maybe I’ll go with a smoky slate color like the ones in this picture?
Here’s another House Beautiful image with a shot of bold color on the walls (can you tell I went through my big stack of them on the side table in the den?). I’m digging deep teals and peacock blues in a major way. Who knows if I’ll have the guts to put something like that on the wall, but I’d definitely paint a piece of furniture that color…
I’ve also mentioned that I want to move away from breezy white curtains and go for shots of color, pattern, and texture when it comes to drapes (which I plan to DIY using this method). These simple greeny-yellow panels add so much fun to this white kitchen from Better Homes & Gardens. And everyone knows I’m dying to build an island for our new kitch, and this one is pretty sweet with those chunky legs and some storage on the side.
This sheet was actually torn from a West Elm catalog. I love that luxe geometric wallpaper – it just adds so much texture without feeling too feminine and flouncy (which is usually what the word wallpaper evokes to me). Plus John digs it too, which is obviously a large step in the making-it-happen process.
This white kitchen is anything but bland thanks to the fun patterned pendant and fabric on the stools (from Real Simple). And you know I love a white kitchen…
Here are more pops of color thanks to yet another House Beautiful scan. The plush striped headboard with those fun ottomans is so sweet for a guest room. And I think I would layer in another color for more excitement (just in a pillow on the bed and some art) like the first and the third scan above.
So those are the things that are marinating in my head these days. Who knows where the heck we’ll end up. Speaking of we, John and I have a “full agreement” agreement. Which basically means we agree that we both have to agree on everything that we do in our house or we don’t do it. It sounds kind of difficult but it’s not. It’s sort of like a built-in extra “qualification” to make sure we really love something and it’s worth the time/money/effort (so we don’t buy or do something we’re only feeling “meh” about). And it keeps us from feeling any resentment like “ugh, I hate that chair that John made me buy” which bodes well for future agreements and keeps things copacetic when it comes to both of us feeling at home in our home. After a few years of house sprucing we have a pretty good idea about what our better half likes or doesn’t like (for example, John hates microsuede because he thinks it leaves marks of peoples butts in it) so there aren’t too many fights over new pieces or paint colors since we’re both usually on the same page after a few years of practice.
Anyway back to the scans. Do you have any favorites among the group? Anyone else digging pops of color, painted doors, bold curtains, and wallpapered or saturated walls?
Psst- For more on the agreeing-with-your-better-half topic, check out this post on the subject.
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Loooove that you are digging pops of orange! I always wanted to use orange in a room, and we currently experimenting with that while designing our soon-to-be daughter’s nursery!
I’m loving this set of images from Mint Condition Homes–older homes, updated with breezy, beautiful colors and clean lines? Yes, please!
http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/greenbuild/mint-condition-homes-vintage-inspired-green-sensibilities-greenbuild-2010-133172?image_id=2000802
I love the room with the white ceiling and dark floors and the clean feeling it gives. I also love the coziness of the smoky slate palate. You cannot go wrong in the kitchen with whites, black stainless steel and a pop of green. Perfection.
Eek! This is one of my favorite things to do!…and just when I think I have our home looking just the way I want it, I flip through more magazines and want to change everything. My husband is over it. :D …keeps things fun and interesting, though! Great images!
Love the sky & clouds painting in the first picture!
Oh I am digging the wall paper too :)
I LOVE the first scan!! It gives me that vintage eclectic feel. I love to work things into my rooms that don’t seem like they would belong; but when you see that floral ottoman with the geometric pillows all together and looking cute… genius!
I love the white kitchen with pops of green. And the citrus accents remind me of this wall clock i saw! It makes me think of you and your fun wedding, what do you think about it?
http://www.dezignwithaz.com/wall-clocks-wall-decals/lemon-clock-outs-mechanism-included-p-1560.html
So fun!
xo,
s
Right now, i’m really loving sunny yellows and blues combined with white…
You had me at teal accent wall…. GORGEOUS! I love the silvery mirror on the dark wall with the white bench tucked up into it — freaking fabulous
xoXOxo
Jenn L @ Peas & Crayons</a
Sorry, John. I LOVE microsuede. Luckily, my husband does too!!
I love how you are still keeping it light and airy, but with some moody colors added. Can’t wait to see what you do with your new home. Lovin that white kitchen with the island and bright green curtains. I bought a lighter green then that one just a few weeks ago at IKEA. We have to hang them up still. ;)
I have always loved that first image… the blue is really fresh and lovely- and I have a thing for orange- this space is clean, but with a bit of glam (b/c of the tufting and mirror!)
You two must be in inspiration overload… there are so many options- and it looks like you guys are headed in a great direction- these images are to die for! I love all of the pops of pattern and color! Looking forward to seeing the new house in action!
abodelove.blogspot.com
you should absolutely paint your doors something fun!
we experimented by painting our bathroom door (on both sides) with this stuff: http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=79 (in the bleached stone color) and then using a clear gloss spray over it, to make the door a little bit shiny, a little bit less rough, and a little bit more protected.
it came out great and we’re going to do it to more of our doors!
I love the white kitchen with the pops of green. The great thing about how that is done is that if you get sick of the green, all of the pieces are easy changes. It’s not like the cabinets are green or anything!
My husband and I strangely agree on most things. Sometimes I’ll blurt out an idea and he’s like uhhh that sounds awful. But generally once I show him things, he gets it. So I’ve learned he’s visual and if I say I want to paint a wall purple, I’m pretty sure he imagines Barney the dinosaur and not a purple gray I’m thinking of.
ps- When I sit on our microsuede couch with my sweats that have writing on the butt, the embroidery leaves an imprint…
Love these! I am digging some bold colors. We have eggplant and a “happy” bold green color (as I like to call it) in our kitchen/living room area. I am looking to do pops of teal/turquoise and orange in our loft area soon!
Question – I am looking to get a home decorish/DIY magazine subscription for ideas and such and I have been debating over BHG or House Beautiful… thoughts?
http://www.laforcebewithyou.com
That’s so tough. As you can see from this roundup I love them both. It’s really a subjective thing. Maybe go to Barnes & Noble and flip through both of them for free and see which one you like more?
xo,
s
I love the second one. I love pops of color!
I’m with John on the microfiber couches. I don’t like how messy it looks with hand prints and the like.
Yep, we’ve lived too long with the colors “builder’s beige” and “swine” (that infamous beige with the pink tint) for too long. We’re digging orange and yellow and chocolate and slate blue right now and our son wants his room grass-green.
Color-starved, anybody? *LOL*
I love how you’re consistent about crisp contract in all of tthe looks you chose. It definitely floats my boat as well!
I have hundreds of pictures like this saved on my computer. My problem is that I don’t know how to reproduce things in my style/with what I have/etc. I look at a picture and think I need that exact rug, those exact chairs, that exact color, and so on. You obviously don’t have that problem, because you wrote, “Who knows if I’ll have the guts to put something like that on the wall, but I’d definitely paint a piece of furniture that color.” I wish I could figure out how to think outside the picture. Any advice for that? I mean, can you really just take a color you like and paint a piece of furniture that color rather than a wall (and do that with each item in the room) and it will turn out looking great?
And I can’t wait to see you tackle and change your new house, by the way!
Good question! We just believe in trial and error and learning as we go. I guess we know that doing nothing for fear of doing the wrong thing gets you nowhere, so we just dive in and try things and see where we end up. Especially when it comes to working with what we have (it’s so easy to paint something for a totally new look, whether it’s a wall or a piece of furniture). And you can always paint it again if you hate where you end up. But studying inspiration images and tossing down a few different pillows that you already have to see what color combos you like is a start. You can even take a picture of a piece of furniture and change the color in photoshop (or even use a marker to color it by hand in a printout) to try to picture things. Good luck!
xo,
s
I’m loving the 3rd picture! The pops of color in the light filled room…beautiful!
love all the above. That first image is my fav though :)
A friend of mine painted all of the interior doors in her house that dark gray-ish color and it looks beautiful. Her husband suggested it and she thought he was crazy but it looks amazing. This is in a fairly modest home too without the grand ceilings. Also, the doors aren’t even heavy wood, they are the standard builder-grade interior doors you see everywhere. Still looks fantastic!
Ooh, go for a dark color on a wall or two! It’s worth it!
I used one of the colors you recommended in this post as simply for accessories (Benjamin Moore Spellbound) on three walls in my tv room. The inky navy makes an incredible impact that everyone who comes to my house comments on. It also works fabulously with my bright red hand-me-down couches; it actually tones them down. The third wall is a light blue-gray (Behr Light French Gray) that balances the deep color.
The color quality of these scans are amazing….do you mind if I ask what kind of scanner you use? Thanks!
We have an HP Photosmart C4780 (printer/scanner/copier). Love it!
xo,
s
We have a teal feature wall in a bedroom. I am queen of Magnolia so this was a massive step for me and it looks amazing!!!
I love all of these pops of color!
I actually did a post last month where I took my own spin on that gorgeous navy-walled House Beautiful dining room image. I actually attempted to create the look for less with a little mood board action.
http://10junem.blogspot.com/2010/11/look-for-less.html
Anyways, lovely inspiration photos. Can’t wait to see how they manifest in your new house! :)
Oooh, I LOVE the doors painted a different color from the trim! I never would have thought to do that. My friend has some unsightly closet doors in her kitchen and she painted both the doors and the trim the same color as the wall to make them disappear. It helps but flat paint on a door just seems wrong. I think she should have used a fun accent color on the doors. Thanks for the idea!
I love pops of color! My husband and I just moved into a new loft and have a lot of neutral tones (blacks, browns, whites) and pops of red – like a giant red china cabinet from Ikea that I love so much. I want to add in another color pop, but not sure what to do – it’s always a work in progress!
Love the images. Any idea what the dark teal color on the wall in the 5th image is? I have been looking for a color for an accent wall in our loft, and that could be perfect, since the rest of our place has a lot of gray, metallics and more muted blues and greens.
Hey Maria,
We have no idea what that color is unfortunately. Anyone have a good color match to that?
xo,
s
After reading your last paragraph I’m curious. Is there anything you have in your current house that you both didn’t agree on?
Nope. That would break the full agreement agreement.
xo,
s
We just painted our living room the same deep teal from the House Beautiful picture, and it looks amazing! It works because we have a LOT of white trim that just pops against the dark walls and a jute rug from West Elm to help lighten things up. Go for it!
Hey YHL! I’m loving the deep teal shot of color too! I reeeally like it paired up with with neutrals and a touch of taxi cab yellow!
We are finishing 1 room at a time & the spare room has been sitting on the backburner. It’s boring black and white spare bedroom. I’m begining to chip away at it. I just bought a couple of yellow toss pillows for the bed, but I want to add that dark teal without painting the walls again.
http://fisilis.wordpress.com/big-mamas-house/
I think I’m going to pick up a few huge stretched canvases at Michaels Crafts and paint them with a sample of Benjamin Moore’s “Slate Teal”. The room needs some life! This might be a way for you guys to add the color without having a entirely teal room. Plus it’s removable if you change your mind after a few months.
Good Luck!
xo
Mindy
Of all those photos, I love most all of them! But especially I dig the idea of deep teal or peacock blue mixed with cozy neutrals.
I just found a tan velvet Rowe sofa on Craiglist for only $225. Quite a steal for a nearly new stylish sofa with nice modern lines! So now my brain is churning with ideas. I’m especially digging that first recent mood board that y’all did that wasn’t commissioned – with the tan sofa, branchy rug, pops of teal and chocolate brown. I’m going in a slightly different direction, but I’m definitely inspired a lot by that mood board. So thanks!! The only thing I’m stuck on is the wall color. Maybe I’ll post some pictures to your FB page and see if anyone has an idea?
Sounds like a plan!
xo,
s
I’ve been obsessed with that first room from House Beautiful since it was on the cover the other month! Love it!
Nice inspiration images. FYI – we painted our dining room teal and absolutely love it. And, when it comes to decorating for the holidays, it’s always the best looking room in the house. So many colors look great with it. In terms of the black doors – I recently saw a photo of a kitchen with black trim around the windows and black doors. I’ve been thinking of where I might use the idea in our house. Love the look.
Thanks for sharing! The planning/dreaming stage is always SO much fun! I too have been loving deep teal & peacock. I’ve been toying with the idea of painting my farm house table that color. It is currently hunter green with a light pine top & matching chairs. I remember in one of your posts someone had a table like that & painted it black (do to your recommendation I believe) & the chairs white. I also have a white open kitchen. Our home is a farmhouse in the country, but I’m definitely not doing for the typical “Country-fied” look. What are your thoughts? And, should I paint the chairs the same color?
Paint the chairs a different color! Have some fun! Maybe teal/peacock for the table and white or black for the chairs…
xo,
s
The first one is my favorite. We have a print that has light green, pink, navy and yellow in it and some small bits of tangerine. That pic is a perfect starting point for our living room. Thanks!
Hahaha! John cracks me up (sorry, couldn’t resist)! We have a microsuede, and it doesn’t, but I can see why he would be afraid that it would. With two kids and a dog, it cleans up perfectly; it’s great. Recommended by the sales lady, and I’m glad I went with it. But John is still funny!
Thanks for sharing! Quick question: Before the “full agreement” agreement, have either of you purchased/DIYed something the other hates (and just had to put up with it)?
Last summer I bought two flowery chairs from PierOne to balance our very-manly leather couch. Initially the husband wasn’t too excited, but after one month or two he loves my choice as it adds character to the living room (his words, not mine!).
Hey Melo,
We moved to Richmond in a tiny minivan (with basically just a few bags of clothes) and then slowly started making our house a home with free hand-me-down things (that we both liked enough to take, because they were free) so we didn’t really come into the relationship with big items of furniture (or a lot of art & accessories) that we disagreed about. Pretty much from the beginning we’d see something at a garage or thrift store, but if one of us liked it and the other one didn’t we’d walk away. It seemed really intuitive to us (we actually thought everyone had the same sort of “full agreement” agreement) but later we came to learn that some people don’t really have veto power in their house, so sometimes one member of the household has more “say” when it comes to decor. Thankfully for us, our agree-or-don’t-get-it method has totally worked. Although I definitely have had to walk away from things that I’ve loved (which I can’t say isn’t a little heartbreaking) in hindsight I didn’t really need them at all. And having something around that John loathes isn’t worth it anyway.
So glad your hubby came around on the chairs!
xo,
s
Haha, I hate the microsuede “butt marks” too!
Loving all the pops of colour in your inspiration pics, I can’t wait to see what you do in your new place!
Images 4 & 5 are both in my inspiration folder too! I want to paint our interior doors a nice slate gray in high gloss to get away from the builder feeling that the current white is vibin’. And the ENTIRE home from #5 is embedded forever in my brain…I loooooove that house’s palette and soothing feeling. Thanks for sharing your inspiration!
We LOVE color on the walls. In our last house we had a library red in the living room, aqua in the master, avocado in the bathroom, a grayish green in the office, a seafoam green in the dining room, and a sunflower yellow in the laundry room. The only room that was white was the kitchen! Sometimes I see beautiful rooms like the ones you’ve shown and think maybe we should tone down the walls and stick to colorful accents but that turns into a fleeting thought. In the house we recently bought, we are painting the living room a teal that we know will look great with the pops of white trim, white brick fireplace and dark floor. We are painting our office that deep peacock blue!
My point was the same as Melo’s. Thanks for answering it more throughly here …
I love the scan with the peacock blue wall. It’s adventuresome but not overwheling. A bit unexpected (you can tell I really like it ;)).
I love love LOVE the last kitchen… I’m a sucker for anything lime green :)
I’m loving seeing the new direction your tastes are heading. So excited to see how it works out in the new house.
I watched an episode of Divine Design over the weekend where Candace did a kitchen in a loft. She brought in the most amazing vintage cabinet/dresser thingamajig and then built legs to match and create a countertop overhang, similar to the photo you show. It was full of great sized drawers for a ton of storage and brought in a really cool vintage vibe to an otherwise very modern kitchen. If you have time, check it out online … I think it’s totally up your alley.
Love that first scan!
XOXO,
http://outfitidentifier.com/
I’m curious to see how these pics translate into rooms of your own.
I’m partial towards the table photo with the blue wall (and I love that curtain divider!) and the pic with the geometric wallpaper. I would totally do something like that in my house, and am thinking about an accent wall with wallpaper for the bedroom, or perhaps stenciling something to get that effect.
Luckily, my boyfriend and I don’t even have furniture conversations, since he has no interest in anything related to interior decorating or home improvement. I just stick some inspiration photos in front of him and ask which room he’d like to spend time in. He points, and that is that flavor of the room I try to capture in our house. The rest is all up to me to decide.
We painted one wall in our living room a deep, bold peacock like that about a year ago and love it. It really makes our white furniture pop. Go bold!
Maria – the color we used is Blue Danube by Benjamin Moore – although it is more blue than the teal in the photo, it is a beautiful color!
i was also obsessed with that apartment featured in your first picture. it made me really, really want a grey zebra-print wing chair and furniture with skirts. also, those judy ross pillows are completely wonderful and completely out of my budget.