Singing the blues. And browns. And neutrals.

PSSSST...I'm no longer blogging here!

You can now find me at

www.acottagegirl.com

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I painted my bedroom blue today.  Yes I did.  Now I'm on the hunt, I'm like a wolf.  (more sneaky song lyrics....I crack myself up).  I'm digging into my inspiration files on the 'puter and in my binder, and re-checking all those sticky-wickie notes in my stash of library decor books 'cause now it's time to accessorize!  The trick is doing it as much as possible with the crap lovely pieces I already have horded saved for a raining day.

 I'll be using the bedding and fabric in the above picture.  That's the lid of the paint color I used.  Before I get a million emails asking what color it is,  I'll tell you.  It's called 'Reflection' by Devine Paints (sold in my neck of the woods where Benjamin Moore paint is sold).  I had it color matched in a Behr eggshell paint from Home Depot.  Martha Stewart had a scrumptions color called 'Atlantic' when K-Mart was selling her paints way back when....this is a dead ringer for it.  A blue-gray-green.  It's also what's currently in my kitchen.

Everybody knows blue and brown is like the trend of the decade.  I hear tell turquoise is the color of 2010.  Well, duh.  As if we bloggy women didn't know that already. *rolling eyes*

Geez, did someone get paid to tell us that?

But what I love about blues and browns is how many shades there are of each, and how well any of them go with the other.  Grey-blue and warm beige.  Aqua and taupe.  Baby blue or even periwinkle and medium brown. Robin's Egg and chocolate. The combo lends itself to all manner of decorating styles from modern country to the shabbiest of chic rooms:

bhg

country living

From beachy keen to kiddo rooms, and  from sleek elegance to cluttered cottage to country farmhouse.  It soothes our nerves, makes us feel swoon-y and relaxed.  I LOVES me some blues and browns.  Have you seen my new blog header???  Mmmmmm good.

My job now is to go find MY LOVES in the blue and pale brown realm and begin incorporating them into my bedroom.  Because of the flow of my house, all guests must walk right by the master bedroom if they need to use the ta.  For the last 18 months since moving in, they were treated to a mild form of 'early century pig sty' with a nod to 'plain old mess'.  Or I just shut the dang door.

Behold.  Remember this post?

Don't ask what that is crumpled up on the floor..  Let's pretend it's a t-shirt and not my uni-boob workout bra, shall we?

It's important that my bedroom's decor 'fit' not only my style, but the flow of the house....so here's some inspiration I've snatched from around the web.  Let's do some analyzing, sorting out the Likes from the Loves.

This room is just lovely, and how I'd love to decorate in my someday home.  I can't pull this off with the furniture I currently have, though, and I it's a mite too feminine for honey.  I LOVE how it 'feels', though.

bhg

This room has one pop of brown in the lamp base, in a sea of soothing blues and neutrals. Lovely, but I think I need a bit more color, and less formality.  A definite like, not a Love.

bhg

No brown, but isn't the pink lovely with the blue?  I'd categorize this as a crush.

Maybe for a someday granddaughter's room???

bhg

This picture has been saved in my files both in hard copy and on the 'puter for some time.  It's a bit more  beachy-casual than what I'm going for, but it has a beautiful balance of my LOVES: pale blues, browns and neutrals, natural textures, cottage-y mismatched furniture.  Not digging the orange, and I'd need some faded florals thrown in there somewhere.  Still, getting closer.

source unknown, but prolly bhg

Here's a bedroom that's actually sage green with no true browns, but I love how this 'feels'.

This one especially evokes the mood I'm striving for.  Vintage-y, with a hint of faded elegance, not too girly, with touch of farmhouse simplicity.  I really LOVE this room. 

country living

Here's some non-bedroom shots of blue and brown combos that make me feel happy:

Pale blue on a deep taupe wall...

bhg

Aqua blue and brown elements on a white wall...

 bhg

Whites, browns and blues on a blue-gray wall....

bhg

So many combinations!  In fact, all the walls in my house will be painted either white, shades of warm taupe or shades of grey-blue or grey-green.  My pale aqua accessories can easily move from room to room without much hassle when I need a switch up....which happens about every month.  My furniture is mostly deep wood tones (antiques) or painted white.....with a few 'statement' pieces in deep turquoise or greens.  Faded rosey florals tossed hither and nigh.  Here's my basic colors again in vignette form, and with paint swatches:

The darkest blue-grey on the left will be used on a couple pieces of furniture.  With a brown glaze over the top.  I used it on my IKEA shelves (tutorial HERE):

By the way, this is the living room with the drop cloth drapes that I painted a mistinted 'drop cloth drape' grey-beige a couple months ago.  It might be changing to the color of my dining room soon....deep taupe.  I need more drama in here, methinks.  I'm letting that thought percolate for now....It's that shutter's fault.

I'm really working on making my home flow from tiny room to tiny room.  There are 9 rooms on the first floor, and I don't want them all the same color......but I *do* want them to compliment each other....and the way to do that is making sure the bulk of my accessories will play nice in each room if need be.  That gives the house a cohesive look.  I have 2 different floral fabrics I've made into pillows:

 

....one is on a pale aqua blue background, the other is on a deep brown.....but each have that grey-blue somewhere in it.  Each look great on my aqua couch, my brown bedding or my white/natural couches.  Each go with all my wall colors above.  I carry swatches of each of these in my purse at all times.  Any other fabric, paint or accessory I see out shopping must blend nicely with the colors in these two florals.

They're my litmus tests. And both will go beautifully with the fabrics I'm using for my bedroom WAAAY up there at the beginning of the post. Remember?

I can't tell ya how excited I am to finally feel like I'm getting somewhere with this house.  I finally have some direction!  Again, I hope walking thru this process here on the blog helps you guys as much as it's helping me forge ahead with decorating projects that have either intimidated and/or overwhelmed me in the past.

I'll show y'all my bedroom in the next couple weeks as we put it back together. I have some other projects to do before it'll be 'reveal ready'.  I'll be sure to kick the t-shirt/uni-boob bra under the bed before you visit again.  Promise.

Ignore the cottage cheese ceiling.  Nasty stuff.