2011 Pantone Color of the Year: Honeysuckle

I have to admit that when I first heard that Pantone chose Honeysuckle as its Color of the Year, I envisioned something in a yellow tone. In my neck of the woods, the incredibly fragrant bushes and hedgerows of honeysuckle bloom in white with a yellow center. But they were indeed talking about the even more lovely variety of pink honeysuckle, and there are few colors I love more than pink (and I don't mean that in an I feel pretty, I'm a girly-girl kind of way).

This pink is not a soft pastel pink, but a bold, powerful statement pink which is just the way I like my pinks. You'd be hard pressed to find a ballet pink in my house. The bolder the better in my opinion. Pantone says, "Energizing honeysuckle lifts spirits and imparts confidence to meet life's ongoing challenges." This is MY color, and I don't think there could be a better year for it as I feel like all signs are pointing to GO this year and I'm ready to meet every new challenge and opportunity.

Of course, if you live with any males, it's not always easy to find an acceptable spot in your house for pink, but if you can, I say go for it. Great spots are a dressing room, sitting area, powder room, office or even the inside of a closet (if you really have to hide it and HAVE to have it) or the back of cabinets with glass doors.

Of course, you can always be really bold like the folks who have this kitchen. High gloss bright pink cabinets are sure to put a smile on your face every day.

If you can't quite make the commitment to such a bold color as a wall color, there are plenty of other ways to incorporate it without having it be the focal point in a room. One easy way is with fabrics like the above Balinese Batik by China Seas. I want a chair or bench in this.

Another one of my just discovered favorites is Jackie Von Tobel's prints which include the above Circle Trellis in Candy.

Von Tobel's Paisley Pillow would also be a lovely addition and add a punch of honeysuckle.

And of course, I can't leave out my favorite lacquer trays by Jonathan Adler. Put this on an ottoman or bar cart and you're sure to attract the attention you're looking for.

It's going to be a very (good) pink year!


Image Credits:
Pantone, Gypsy Magic, FJ Design, Decorating Room, Quadrille Fabrics, Jackie Von Tobel, Jonathan Adler

Etsy Pick of the Week: Tray Chic

I always love to use chalkboard paint in fun ways, but it's true that while functional it isn't exactly chic in most cases. That is until now. Etsy seller Her Majesty's Pug transforms silver plate trays into magnetic chalkboards that are perfect for to use for both entertaining or to hang on a kicthen wall that's a little more glam.

The trays come in a round, rectangular and oval shapes and are a mere $10.50! I was going to suggest that these wouldn't be that difficult to make, but really at that price, I'm not sure it would be worth the trouble. I think these are a fabulous way to put the menu up on a buffet. I think I might take a look for some smaller silver plate dishes and make them place card holders, but any way you use them, I love this idea!

18th Century Colonial Renovation: Part VI

I can hardly believe that it's been over two months since my last update on the 18th Century Colonial Renovation we've been following! The good news is that progress has not stopped. The bad news is that it is moving a lot slower than expected, and that is largely due to the fact that this is the hard part, picking paint and tile. But since we've last checked in, all of the baseboard molding has been put in, light fixtures have been installed in several rooms, the kitchen cabinets have been assembled, but not installed, and the kitchen floor has been laid.

But, back to picking paint colors. We found some amazing grass cloth wallpaper (above) in cream for the living room and blue for a yet to be determined place at LooLoo Design for an equally amazing price. The cream will go above a chair rail in the living room and we've found a few shades of creamy white for the trim throughout the house that we think will work great with it. In the dining room (top) the color choices are in the colonial blue range which look really lovely with the grass cloth in the living room.

The 2nd bath which will be for a little boy and guests is going to be a soft, but rich blue. At the moment, we're leaning towards the one on the far left top.

The master bedroom is proving to be the most difficult at the moment. The goal is a gray with a hint of lavender, but at the moment everything is looking a little too lavender. Unfortunately, this picture doesn't quite do the colors justice.

And for the little boy's room, a fireman theme it is. There will be a chair rail in this room so that the entire room is not bright red. The debate is how red is too red and will it be over-stimulating. I say if you go red, go all the way and am pushing for the bottom one, a nice deep, rich red.

A few things that have worked well here for helping pick colors. Always write the name of the color in pencil on the wall next to its swatch. We found that the paint samples we put on the wall really dried to exactly the same color as the paint chip from the store so if you don't feel like you need to see it in a larger swatch, save the money and don't buy the sample paint.

Another thing that my sister has done is gone around and taken pictures of the items in her current house and started storyboards for each room so that she can look at the items with the paint chips. It doesn't have to be fancy. She just printed them out on copy paper and cut and pasted them onto another sheet of copy paper, but she has a sense of how all the primary pieces in the room are going to look tonally together and with the paint colors.

Once these paint colors are finalized, things should start moving a bit faster.

Message Center

I still have some touching up to do, but I wanted to share my new kitchen message center with you all. This is another one of those vast walls like the one where I just did the Family Photo Gallery Wall which I've had a hard time figuring out what to put here. I wanted to do a giant chalkboard, but because it's such a large space I thought it might look like a black hole. I also knew that I wanted to have my wooden whale that my husband had a woodworker friend of ours make for me years ago hang on this wall. So I decided that I would do a series of frames with a variety surfaces in them that we could use to keep our family organized and then hang them like a gallery wall.
I had been looking for inexpensive frames for a while and finally found some that I could use at a tag sale a few weeks ago. I think the 4 frames cost me all of $6 plus the cans of spray primer and paint I bought to paint them. I went to Home Depot to buy chalkboard paint and was pleasantly surprised to find that you can now get Rustoleum Chalkboard Paint tinted to 12 different colors. It seemed wrong to not take advantage of this and so I had mine tinted to chocolate brown which works nicely with the barn red color of my kitchen. I was also going to pick up a can of magnetic primer so that I could make the chalkboard magnetic when I saw that they had Rustoleum Dry Erase Paint! The man told me it was a brand new item and seeing as I had just done a post on IdeaPaint last week, I couldn't help myself and had to try it. And since both the magnetic primer and the dry erase paint were about $20 per can, and I was trying to keep it inexpensive I nixed the magnetic primer. I bought a piece of MDF that my husband cut to fit each frame and painted onto those instead of directly onto the wall. This worked fine for the chalkboard paint and the dry erase paint took fine to it, but I think the next time I would use a piece of plexiglass or something smoother for a better finish for the dry erase paint. The cork came from an old corkboard that my husband cut down to fit the frame, but you can also buy sheets of it at most superstores. I may end up rearranging it a little bit. I feel like it's a little crowded and maybe a little too low, but I also wanted my kids to be able to reach it so for now I'm going to live with it like this for a while. Overall, I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

IdeaPaint

We've all seen the many wonderful uses of chalkboard paint, but now you can do similar things with dry erase board paint by IdeaPaint. I think this is a fabulous product because, while I love chalkboard paint, sometimes we don't want a big black mass on one of our walls, especially if our space is already dimly lit. The IdeaPaint is white so you can create a nice bright space and if you don't have anything written on it, your walls still look nice and fresh and bright. And you can do cool things like the the tree featured above and it looks hip and modern. Don't give up completely on chalkboard paint. It still has it's purpose (and I'm actually working on a project with it at the moment), but now you have even more options when developing a creative space whether it be at work, home or school.

Image: IdeaPaint

D.I.Y.: Colorful Pots

All spring I have been looking for great cobalt blue pots for my front steps. It's not that they are so hard to find. It's just that they don't seem to ever run less than $60 per pot and that was a lot more than I wanted to spend. Then I finally had an aha moment this week while making placecard holders for a party last night in which we spray painted miniature pots to use as the stands for the placecards. Why not just buy terracotta pots and spray paint them cobalt blue? I went to a few places before I finally found the right size and shape for what I was looking for, but I found them. Step two was to lay them out on newspaper on the grass.

Step 3 was to paint them. I used Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Gloss Paint in Regal Blue. I first painted them upside down and then flipped them to do the rims and upper part of the interior. This paint dries super fast so it only took a few minutes before I could flip them. I could have gotten away with just one coat, but I wanted them to look as good up close as they did from afar so I did two coats. You can also do a spray primer first, but I wanted them to be a little more rustic looking with some of the terracotta showing through.

And voila, here is the finished product with plants. The color is a close match to my front door and shutters, and it is amazing how cohesive the front of the house now looks. I do like terracotta pots, but I just wanted something a little more special for my front steps (even though the rest of the front entry needs a LOT of work still) and I like how it came out so much that I'm thinking I might do the ones on my back steps too. The total cost for 2 pots (not including plants) was about $33 so a pretty significant savings compared to the colored ones you find in most garden centers. Of course, now I think I need new house numbers and a new light fixture never mind the woodwork that needs to be repaired and the steps that need to be replaced.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend!

Serena & Lily: Not Just Kid Stuff Anymore

Throw Pillows

Many of us who are moms are already familiar with the fabulous nursery and children's bedding designs of Serena & Lily. The company launched their first line in 2004 with bedding and added upholstered furniture such as gliders and headboards as well as lighting, rugs and custom paint colors to match their fabrics, but always a bit more geared towards chidren.

Tess Bedding
But over the past year, I've noticed that they have started adding more home decor that isn't baby or kid oriented, and I must say they are doing a spectacular job at it.

Custom Upholstered Furniture
In addition to their fabulous bedding, you can now get custom upholstered furniture for your bedroom, living room or dining room using the fabulous Serena & Lily fabrics. Whether you are looking for something calm and traditional or bold and modern, they have something for you.

Lucky Lacquered Table
Plus, they have added unique pieces to add that pop of color or eclectic feel to your home.

Greek Key Lamp

Their lighting selections have always been great, but now they have more sophistacated offerings.

Navy Deco Frame Rug

And the Serena & Lily rugs are simple but still make a statement.

Leaf Diamond Fabric

You can also buy the Serena & Lily fabrics by the yard to add coordinating curtains or to reupholster an existing piece of furniture.

Punch Paint

And of course, the Serena & Lily paint ties it all together. Whether you are a design diva or design challenged, Serena & Lily couldn't make it any easier to create a beautiful room for yourself or the kids.

Floored

I am completely in love with painted wood floors, however I find it so difficult to paint a perfectly good wood floor so I haven't done one yet. I hope one of these days I'll get up the nerve to just go for it, but until then I have fun just looking at some of the amazing designs other people have done. The diagonal design above is fabulous juxtaposed against all the straight lines of the furniture.

The herringbone pattern makes this entryway much more intimate, and gives the appearance of a rug in a high traffic area where you don't necessarily want one.

This kitchen looks like it's straight out of the French countryside with the painted diamond pattern.

This diamond pattern successfully combines the look of tile and wood together, but could easily done with two paint colors as well. To find out how, click here.

Brighten up a room and add to a theme with a pop of color and cute motif....

or go bold with dark stripes and a large motif.
And this is a great way to spruce up some well worn floors without having to paint the entire room.

Photos: Mark Cutler Design, House Beautiful, Coastal Living, Design Sponge

Turquoise Rocks 2010

Pantone, the world renowned authority on color, has named Turquoise THE color of 2010. Turquoise always reminds me of my grandmother's living room when I was very little. When you opened the french doors into the room, it was like entering the turquoise abyss. Everything from the walls, the fabric and the oversized ceramic shells (0ne of which I have now) by the fireplace were turquoise. I always laughed about that room, but it really did work...in a very bold way. Here is a little inspiration in how to use it as a bold statement or just to add a splash of color to your existing rooms. Clearly, balance is key when using such a bright color so go for it, but don't overdo it.

The retro appliances and backsplash aren't overwhelming here because they aren't competing with any other colors. When committing to a bright color on your investment pieces for the room, this is the way to go. (Coastal Living)

Not only do I love the color of these benches, but I love the idea of the sqaure table with benches on each side. (Homes & Gardens)

Turquoise and fuschia go great together, and they are really well balanced with each other in this bedroom. (Better Homes & Gardens)

Many of you know how much I love a bright painted floor. Once again, it works because it's not competing against any other colors. (Coastal Living)

If you aren't ready to commit to the color on your walls or flooring, you can still make a splash with pops of turqoise paired with classic white plates, silver and clear glasses in a table setting. (Homes & Gardens)

To add turquoise to your own bedroom, check out the new Lilly Pulitzer home line which incluses this Treasure Chest Quilt, available exclusively at Garnet Hill.

You can't go wrong with Fiesta Dinnerware so add that splash of color to your table with all new dinnerware or just a few accent pieces.

If you really aren't ready to commit, but like the color, this turquoise frame by Jonathan Adler is perfect. He has loads of other turquois items as well.

And if you want it as an accent, but not the main focus, I love the Palm Beach Rug by Dash and Albert. Available in sizes from 2' x 3' to 9' x 12'.

Photos: Coastal Living,

L-O-V-E Lacquer

I was flipping through the pages of Elle magazine at the gym when suddenly the elliptical came to a screaching halt when this lime green lacquer floor appeared in an article about the inside of Tory Burch's house. L-O-V-E this! While I am partial to all things lacquer, this may be the best use of it I've ever seen. Not everyone may want a lime green floor, but the possibilities are endless as to what color and patterns you could do, and as someone who has a textured tile floor (installed by the previous owners) in my kitchen that I hate because every spec of dirt gets trapped in it and it's impossible to clean, the smoothness of it is incredibly appealing to me. It is officially part of my kitchen re-model (that is only happening in my head right now until I hit the lottery).

Photo by Paul Costello for Elle.

Chalk It Up To Good Style

Chalkboards are no longer just for the classroom. They are a great way to keep tabs on all the happenings about the house and can be a fabulous addition to the kitchen, home office or playroom. While I love chalkboard paint , it's difficult to frame out so unless you're going to paint the entire wall with it, it's not always the best option. This chalkboard is one of the first I've found that makes a utilitarian object so attractive you can use it any room of the house. First on my list of things to do: Order one.