bossy color blog

Bossy color's living room, Part 2: The rug

2009-12-07T00:01:00.002-05:00

I was so nervous about the whole holy-cow-I-can't-crack-the-code-on-my-own-living-room-and-people-pay-me-good-money-to-tell-them-what-to-do-with-THEIR-living-rooms thing that I jumped right into the saga.

Let me back up.

When I was feeling despondent about no longer having a living room sofa (and no rug), I stumbled across this picture from the fantastic blog Cote de Texas, and my life was changed forever. (Naturally I can't find this picture online anymore, so this is a fuzzy shot of the tattered printout that now lives in my bag.)

This room is so ME.

The cheerful yellow drapes and elegant robin's egg blue sofa, the mismatched prints on the chairs, the traditional yet lighthearted feel...the friendliness of it all. I just fell in love with it. And, unlike many of the pictures we see in magazines (or in blogs), I thought it looked accessible. I can replicate that, I thought.

Easier said than done, Gentle Readers. As many of you undoubtedly know.

I tried to follow my own excellent advice and start with the rug. When you have a room that's completely empty, this is the best way to begin.

But of course, in real life rooms are rarely completely empty.

In my case, I have a glossy greenish grey fireplace I wanted to work with. The green was actually very successful in balancing the green drapes that had been taunting me. Come to think of it, painting the fireplace green was the best thing I did to make those drapes work in this room...

But the room wasn't making me happy. It looked nice, but it wasn't me.

Within a matter of days, I took down the green drapes, got rid of the decrepit sofa, was forced to remove the rug, and stumbled across the Cote de Texas picture, which totally validated my desire to use the yellow drapes I already had (once that purple stripe was replaced).

Now on to the rug. I could still use the Flokati if I wanted to. It's ok now...it's happily ensconced in our bedroom.

But can you make out the rug in the Cote de Texas picture? It's predominantly a lighter shade of blue than the sofa...and at that point, I thought the blue was pretty important to making the whole room work. (Even though I was a little nervous about playing up the blue in this north-facing room.)

An Aubusson rug, with delicate pastel-y colors? Ultimately, I decided that an Aubusson rug would be too feminine.

For my own house, I tend to prefer older rugs - Persians, Orientals, etc. But my go-to resource for inexpensive Persian and Oriental rugs, Rugman.com, wasn't turning up anything in the right colors. I wanted medium blue or yellow, not red or navy. So I started looking at contemporary rugs.

Dash & Albert's Plain Tin Hooked Rug was the frontrunner for a while. But when it came time to pull the trigger, I just couldn't. I thought this particular blue would be awfully cold, and it's 8 x 10...we ideally need a 9 x 12.

Then Anthropologie's Vernal Cusp Rug seemed like the answer. It comes in a 9 x 12, has all of the colors I planned to use - even a green, which I thought would help tie in the fireplace. But I finally decided the rug would be TOO matchy matchy, and I would be forced to use a solid or really subtle fabric on the sofa and chairs. When you have a multicolored, busy rug, it really needs to be the star of the show.

This is a great example of a solution that could have been perfect for a client who DOESN'T want wacko chairs in their living room. But I do, I think. And I'm not willing to let the room be all about the rug. I'm also a little concerned that the art might be overshadowed. Mistake? We'll see.

Madeleine Weinrib - a fabulous resource for cotton flatweaves - didn't have the right answer, either. Close, but something held me back.

I love Galbraith & Paul, but they're out of my price range right now.

But you can see what was happening: the blue idea was falling by the wayside, and I was finding myself drawn more and more to gold and white rugs. I kept coming back to Anthropologie's Coqo rug in Goldenrod. The yellow looked like it would be strong enough for the drapes - which are quite rich.

It only came in an 8 x 10, but maybe that would be ok...

I pulled the trigger and placed the order. Curses! Backordered until early January! I took it as a sign: keep looking.

I went back to another of my go-to rug resources: RugsUSA.com. I narrowed it down to three, and finally chose this one, from Jaipur rugs:

Crazy? Quite possibly. And it's 8 x 11, not 9 x 12 (but also not 8 x 10). But the gold color is nice and strong, and the huge scale of the pattern is kind of liberating.

As I write this, I'm not 100% certain I've made the right decision. I still have a few days to return it, pain in the neck though that would be. But something tells me this one is going to work out in the end.

And if it doesn't, well, it would look great in the bedroom.

Bossy color's living room, Part I: The drapes

2009-12-03T22:30:00.021-05:00

This may be hard for you to hear. Believe me, it's hard for me to write.

Fair warning: any images you may have had of bossy color as the invincible, all-knowing superheroine of interior design-slash-decoration may be dashed.

Here we go. Ready? My living room is a freaking disaster. Not just a disaster, a DISASTER.

You already know that I've struggled with the living room wall color color since before we moved in. We've all learned that the paint color should always come last...

But as a normal human being moving into a new house, I felt the same pressure everyone else does to choose colors and get paint ON THE WALLS before moving in, so our tiny babies (and we) wouldn't have to live through the fumes and the dust associated with painting. (I know: dust? But yes: that spackling and sanding before you paint creates dust. Microscopic, gritty dust.)

Suffice it to say that I believe now more than ever that there are no shortcuts when it comes to choosing the paint last. It simply has to be that way. Choose paint earlier, and you'll pay to repaint. Again, and again...

But this post is about window treatments, not wall colors. Let's focus.

Here's the living room when we were considering buying the house:

And here was our living room recently, when I'd gotten the room to the point where I almost enjoyed spending time in it:

Not bad, right? So why couldn't I just stop there?

Changing circumstances were a big factor, Gentle Readers. To wit:

1. The sofa finally HAD TO GO. I woke up one day and simply couldn't take it anymore. The lowness, the shredded-ness, the smell...all that, and the empowering realization that "bulk trash" is a verb. As in, "I bulk trashed our sofa." (Similar to, "I Craig's Listed our cat." Oh, wait...that's another story.)

2. Those leather and teak Swedish safari chairs, cool as they may be, are not comfortable conversation chairs. You sliiiide back, and it's hard to lean forward and maintain eye contact with another person.

3. The cats and the Flokati rug...not a good combo after all. I'll leave it at that. (Nothing a few cycles in an industrial washing machine and a box of Arm & Hammer couldn't solve, but at the moment the transgressions were discovered, I couldn't think clearly enough to see solutions. All I could do was throw away the rug pad and stuff the Flokati into a lawn & leaf bag and hurl it into a dark corner of the basement, where it remained for several months.)

All this, and the gnawing feeling that as lovely as this room finally became, it just wasn't me. Overnight, we went from a perfectly lovely, functional living room to tragic emptiness.

When I finally picked myself up off the (newly rug-free) floor to begin anew, one thing was clear. I could not - WOULD not - try to work with the green damask drapes again. I still loved the fabric, but I simply could not make those drapes work in this room.

After that, it took about 15 seconds to decide to cut the drapes down and install them in my office, where I love them.

(This also afforded us the opportunity to trim out the pieces the cat - same cat - had damaged by play acting, "Sir Edmund Hillary and Mount Everest: The Triumph of Testosterone.")

Ok, fine. But what to do about the enormous living room window? You'll recall that the former owners had nothing on it at all, which worked for them. But we have fewer pieces of furniture and art...the window looked naked.

Then I remembered: the drapes from the spring Design House at the Washington Design Center. I still had those! The fabric on the Design House walls was largely unsalvageable, but there was no reason the drapes couldn't live to fight another day...

The deep purple stripe had been throwing me; that's one color I do NOT have in my house.

But guess what? That stripe could be replaced. All it took was one highly motivated window treatment fabricator (who was almost as sick of hearing about my living room as my husband was) and a few yards of fabric from Haute, a high-end overstock fabric place in the far reaches of Virginia.

I'd also decided to cut down the hardware and do a traditional drapery installation rather than the theatrical wall-to-wall setup we'd had before. (This decision was driven in part by the size of the Design House drapes - can always make them smaller; can't go larger - but in truth, I was sick of the wall-to-wall drama.)

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single drape - isn't that what they say? Stay tuned to see what other mountains I make out of molehills in my quest for the perfect living room.

Designer, heal thyself.

You asked...about rejuvenating wallpaper via the trim color

2009-11-29T22:40:00.009-05:00

Dear Annie,
I have a cream-background wallpaper in the dining room and have painted the trim with the same [cream]: Benjamin Moore Mystic Beige 2162-60. I painted the wall below the chair rail a deep red (Ralph Lauren's Nobleman VM74), which picks up color in the wallpaper and drapes.

The wallpaper is old, probably vintage 1967 from the year the house was built, but it's in great shape and my family all voted to keep it. I'm painting everything else around in an attempt to rejuvenate the room. The living room, visible in the cream molding photo, is painted Benjamin Moore Atrium white with bright white trim.

What do I do with the ceiling and the crown molding? They are both a bright white and it looks odd. Should I paint the crown the same creamy trim color and the ceiling white? Both the cream? All the rest of the ceilings, crown and trim in adjoining rooms are bright white. Thanks for the tips and I love the blog.
-Dale Glass, Potomac, MD

Dear Dale: Wallpaper is back in a big way - especially in dining rooms - so your question is quite timely.

The short, easy answer is CREAM: go with your instincts and paint the crown moulding the Mystic Beige in the semi-gloss finish, and paint the ceiling the same color in a flat finish.

But that's not a very bossy answer, is it? Tasteful, yes. Imaginative, not hardly.

Here's why I couldn't let go of your question. If you and your family are bold enough to keep wallpaper from 1967, I think you should set it off a bit more. The deep red wainscoting is perfectly nice, but paired with the wallpaper - and the alluded-to drapes - I'm getting an 80's vibe.

I don't think the wallpaper is kitschy enough go the ironic route...by, say, painting the wall below the chair rail an outrageous contrasty color like hot pink, or a bronze metallic. Judging from the sliver of living room we glimpse in one of your photographs, that's not how you roll anyway.

So a better route would be to channel our inner Brits and ask ourselves, WWF&BD? (What Would Farrow & Ball Do?)

What if we painted all of the trim a greyish blue (Oval Room Blue #85) and the wall below the chair rail a greenish grey (Pigeon #25)? Neither color would match the wallpaper exactly; these are intentionally more muted.

So what would happen? I'll tell you what would happen. Interesting but elegant gorgeousness, that's what would happen. (And you could keep the ceiling cream.)

I know you just finished washing the cranberry paint out of your brushes, but if the wallpaper survives another year, maybe you'll be ready for a new approach next Thanksgiving.

(Some people are weird that way, repainting their rooms all the time. No one *I* know, but I'm pretty sure I read it somewhere...)

The '80s living room photo is from Maria Killam's fantastic blog, Colour Me Happy.

Thanks, Washingtonian.com! Thanksgiving decorations

2009-11-23T20:33:00.003-05:00

Washingtonian.com featured My Notting Hill's Michele Ginnerty and me in their column today about decorating your Thanksgiving table. Thank you!

I think there were some good ideas in there, if I do say so myself :)

(No scatalogical conifer references, though...for that, you'll have to see bossy color's previous interview about Thanksgiving decorations.)

I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving, no matter what you put on your table :)

Thanks, Walla Walla!

2009-11-18T14:03:00.007-05:00

Thank you, Walla Walla Union Bulletin! They interviewed me for a story on inexpensive, accessible decorations for Thanksgiving.

So what were my bright ideas? Well, that sentence was a clue, and here's an equally subtle visual hint...

(Bonus points for identifying the quotation I wish I could take back. That's what happens when the reporter is super cool and you end up laughing really, really hard.)

It's come to this: pretty picture book

2009-11-17T10:06:00.023-05:00

I'm now entering the 3rd day of sitting at home with a sick kid, and let me tell you, the novelty has worn off.

It's not the pig plague (I don't think), and she's feeling much better today. Thank goodness for Netflix's "Watch Instantly" feature, which introduced us to Pingu, Milo & Otis, and the Angelina Ballerina cartoons.

Thing is, when you're watching new stuff, you never know when a scary part is going to come up. So any hope of sitting with her, laptops side by side, as I work and she watches are...how shall I say...

Unrealistic.

So starved was I for any modicum of adult entertainment (not that kind) that I was THRILLED when before naptime Ruthie produced the library book, The Princess and the Pea by Lauren Child.

You know Lauren Child. She the brilliant Brit responsible for the Charlie and Lola series. The series responsible for a camp counselor pulling me aside last summer and asking, sotto voce, "Do you know Georgie sometimes speaks with an English accent?"

She wasn't concerned so much as excited, so I didn't have the heart to tell her that while she does, in fact, have a British grandparent, the reason for the accent is more likely attributable to a tv show and a flair for the dramatic. (No idea where she gets THAT.)

But I digress. So we open the book, and imagine my delight and surprise when I saw how the book is illustrated.

Interiors! Beautiful ones! They're little dioramas, with 2-D cartoon people inserted into them.

I would TOTALLY live in this room:

I especially love that the scale is a little mixed up, which keeps the mood lighthearted. Check out the mattresses:

In the back of the book, it says that Lauren Child is influenced by Vermeer, at least for this project. I totally buy that.

Have to sign off..."Angelina's Big Day" is over. Sigh.

Sheers + drapes = modern and versatile window treatments

2009-11-10T23:25:00.006-05:00

Poor master bedroom. So often, so neglected.

And yet, it's important, isn't it? I mean, this is supposed to be our sanctuary. I have yet to have a client say to me, "Y'know, my bedroom's a little dead. Could we maybe take it up a notch? Make it a little more, I don't know, energizing?"

These clients had the sanctuary part down. Lovely wall color, neutral palette, nice comfy chair.

But they needed help on the practical side. Their window treatments just were not cutting it.

Too flimsy, too insubstantial, not enough privacy...you can't quite see it here, but too short...and the gromits were ill-advised.

They knew all of that. Which is why they called me :)

Here's where we ended up:

Oh-ho! Subtle, isn't it? We installed linen sheers underneath a heavier textured linen-y fabric. Both are from Robert Allen. The panels are Audrite in Ivory...

...and the sheers are Curtain Call in Pearl. They have a very faint, occasional, vertical stripe, which adds a bit of interest.

The new window treatments give them three degrees of light and privacy:
- Light but privacy (sheers only)
- Maximum privacy, no light (sheers and curtains)
- Maximum light and view, no privacy (everything open)

We looked at some edgier fabrics, including Stoney Path, at right. But there is a LOT of window action in this room, and ultimately, subtlety won out over potential seasickness. The clients also thought the solid linen would age better; less chance of them tiring of it. I thought that was a great point.

The hardware helps keep the overall look clean and contemporary. It's called Tribeca, also from Robert Allen.

When you're using a double rod, minimal, clean-lined hardware will make the overall effect modern, not stodgy. We took the modern one step further by using elbows to connect the rods in those soft bay corners. Now there's a sense of continuity rather than: curtain, wall, curtain, wall, etc.

The client had expressed concern about the number of rings involved in FOUR windows' worth of double-layered drapery. Totally valid.

But it doesn't look messy, in part because the rods are lined up one behind the other, at the same height. Often, the rod for the sheers is hung below the rod for the drapes.

From a practical standpoint, Tribeca rings slide really easily, so you're not dragging the drapes across the rods and putting pressure on the brackets. Old plaster walls don't take kindly to that kind of abuse.

The clients are delighted, and so am I. Score one for the sanctuary.

Office drapes are up, with Benjamin Moore's Ice Blue...AND tips for Aura paint

2009-11-08T22:42:00.019-05:00

It's official: I now love my office.

The Beacon Hill drapes of living room fame finally have been paired a wall color that does them justice: Benjamin Moore's 2052-70 Ice Blue. In bossy color's world headquarters, the drapes are slightly edgy, not frumpy. They look tall and proud, not puffy and excessive. They're fresh, not sickly.

Benjamin Moore was kind enough to mention my office painting project on its Facebook page. But the first several comments were along the lines of, "Brrr! Too cold!" Not an enthusiastic response to the wall color initally.

But I'm thrilled to report that in real life, the room is anything but cold. Counterintuitive, perhaps, because, the wall color is called Ice Blue, and we all know that green is a cool color...

But it's a yellowish green. And the walls have just enough turquoise in them - not grey - to make them just a teeny tiny bit tropical. And the floor is glowing orange heart of pine; very warm. AND the room faces south and gets so much sun that I sometimes had to wear sunglasses inside before the shades were installed. So, cold it is not.

The wall color was a bit of an experiment (better to goof around in my own house than in my clients'), but the delightful surprise is that it's kind of invigorating. I feel focused in this room.

A bluish grey - like that in my bedroom, Benjamin Moore's 1646 Lookout Point - would have been cooler, and more serene. Lovely for my bedroom, but not the effect I wanted in my office.

A side note to this project is that I used Benjamin Moore's Aura paint, as I did with my my daughters' bedroom in the spring...but as I mentioned earlier, this time I experienced an odd technical difficulty. As the day wore on, the roller seemed to pick up little "crumbs" of paint (for lack of a better word), and by the end, I had to smudge them off with my fingers as I went. It was really annoying.

But this didn't happen to me in the spring, so what gives?

Benjamin Moore's Jim Rayball was on the case immediately and invited me to tell him more about the problem so he could weigh in thoroughly and thoughtfully. But surprise surprise, I got sidetracked by my super fun client projects (that's not ironic; they ARE fun) and didn't get back to him.

I did, however, remember to ask my best painter about this when I saw him at a job site.

The bottom line: I was too slow.

Aura paint dries so fast that you need to move quickly and methodically so you don't roll over areas you just painted. In the spring, by myself, I was a madwoman: I had 2 days, and by God that room was going to be DONE.

But in my office, I had help in the form of my father and brother...we were a lot more leisurely. I'd pick up where someone left off...we'd take a little break...where did you finish, again? I'm just going to re-roll this right now...

To get the full benefit of Aura paint, my painter tells me, your technique has to be good. This doesn't mean that us mere mortals can't use it, it just means we should practice. Work quickly, get the right amount of paint on the roller, don't re-paint wet spots, let it dry completely before putting on another coat - if you even need another coat.

I'd been skeptical about that one-coat claim, but in my office, it held true. Ah, wait - I did lose my nerve and slap a primer coat on the grey wall, but everything else was one coat. And we used a single gallon for the whole room.

My painter says that only drawback to Aura paint is the price. But he said that if you're willing to pay a little extra, in his opinion it's the best paint out there. And he has no reason to fib.

As for my office's rapid decline into messiness, what can I say. I work in here.

My mind is tidy, I assure you.

Back story on the drapes from Wednesday's "You asked..."

2009-11-06T06:30:00.006-05:00

Gentle Readers: a story like this comes along but once a year. It would be cruel not to share it with you. Here it is, the back story on the drapes featured in Wednesday's post.

"Then came the curtains. I'm from no-where Illinois and my favorite aunt has made it big and bought an amazing $5 million house in North Atlanta that looks like a country french wonderland:

"When she moved in, her designer girlfriend immediately took down the custom window treatments in the kitchen and dining rooms. She left them on the floor in the three car garage next to the matching jaguars.

"Then my Beverly Hillbilly family came to visit the big house. Grandma Betty saw those fancy curtains on the floor and couldn't believe the girls were going to just throw them away. She threw them in the back of the 1983 Crown Vic they had driven down to Atlanta in and took those bad boys home.

"She thought she'd be able to use them at her place that my Grandpa built himself over 60 years ago. Unfortunately, the 12 foot high panels didn't really work in her little ranch house with 10 foot ceilings. She can't sew and they ended up in a cabinet above the closet in the extra bedroom that was originally the garage but converted when they had kids # 4,5, and six (the triplets).

"The curtains stayed in the unheated Illinois closet for the last 13 years-except for two panels that escaped when Grandma put them in a garage sale.

"In early January 2009, I went to visit Grandma Betty when she got out of the hospital just before she passed away. She had me rooting around in the closet looking for some old photo albums and I came across the curtains. I immediately knew they had come from my rich aunt's house and asked Grandma how they came to be stuffed up in the closet. She told me about the visit and the garage and the trunk.

"Next thing you know, those curtains were rolled up, put in an old dehumidifier box I found in the basement, checked on Delta and flying back to Atlanta with me."
- Jenna

Now THAT, as they say in the art history world, is a heck of a provenance. Thanks so much for telling us about it, Jenna!

You asked...about a rug that works with dining room drapes

2009-11-04T00:15:00.007-05:00

Any Gentle Reader who sends me an e-mail saying, "I've had a glass of wine and am getting ready for Monday night football..." has a special place in my heart.

Here's some background information from her original e-mail, to which, tragically, I couldn't respond right away:

I just discovered your blog and LOVE IT. I'm hoping to write something witty or interesting enough to get your attention and advice. Tonight, I'm going to ask about the dining room.

Background: I live in a beautiful two story Victorian home built in the late 1880s in a historic neighborhood (Grant Park) near downtown Atlanta. There are only a few real two stories in the neighborhood (mostly bungalows) and I have one of the oldest houses in the neighborhood, so I feel like I need to respect the house and its history.

The house was renovated in the 80's ...The next owners did all kinds of unsexy but important work on the house like reinforcing the floor joists and replacing bad exterior boards and repainting...

And here's the next e-mail:

Hey Annie!
I've had a glass of wine and am getting ready for Monday night football, so I thought I'd try to narrow down the request for help in my previous email...

I'm working backwards, as I already have curtains and paint colors I love in my dining room.

The question: what to do for the rug and accessories? The pictures don't make the paint look great because it's so dark and I'm a bad photographer. Paint on walls is Restoration Hardware "Slate." Paint on ceiling is Duron Millenium Plantation Beige.

Floors 100+ year old 5" pine plank.

I've got a great old table with original chairs and my husband's mom's china and hutch:

Only other thing to consider is the green tiles in the fireplace:

I hate the fireplace surround, but that's a conversation for another day (I think). I'm all ears on ideas for rug color and accessories. Also, I could also use help in deciding which metalic collor to use (silver, gold, platinum, bronze, etc.) wherever possible.

Best, Jenna

Dear Jenna,

And this is why we always start with the rug :) No, no: I'm not here to chastise. My job is to help. Happily, we have options.

Your house is beautiful, and I absolutely love these wacky drapes! The back story is so great that I'm going to do a separate post about it, if it's ok with you.

I also like the wall color, and good for you for painting the ceiling a warm beige. (You know white ceilings aren't my fave, and they would have made this room feel very cold.)

That's our primary challenge here: warming up the room. The beige ceiling, gorgeous reddish floors, and wood furniture help a lot, but a rug will help, too. Think warm: camel, gold, orange, dark pink...red is going to be awfully traditional, which leads me to...

Our second challenge, which is adding a dash of modern. You could use a traditional deep red Oriental or Persian rug in here, and it would look lovely. But we don't want your house to feel like a museum. (Or maybe you do, but you shouldn't. You're too young and cool.)

CLASSIC UNSTODGY SOLUTION

A seagrass or sisal rug is a perfectly acceptable, no-risk solution. It's not thrilling, but it's fresh, contemporary without unwanted edginess, and visually if not physically warm.

Choose a herringbone pattern to offset the casual feel, and please do NOT add a contrasting binding (border, edging, etc.) - too beachy. Omit a binding altogether if you can, actually.

From a practical standpoint, it's easy to move dining room chairs over flatweave rugs. It's extremely important that you use a rug pad, though; over time, sisal and seagrass act like sandpaper on wooden floors.

A BIT MORE COLORFUL BUT STILL SAFE SOLUTION

A custom-cut carpet in an allover pattern is another option. It's no edgier than seagrass, but it's uncontroversial and effective. Robertex is terrific; I use them all the time for wall-to-wall wool carpeting and stair runners. Look at a pattern such as Maggie in the color Tuxedo Park:

A distinct advantage to this approach is that you can get exactly the size you need. Very important in a dining room: the chairs have to be able to slide away from the table without slipping off the rug.

BOSSY SOLUTION

Naturally, I'd love to see you go all out with a contrasting color to jazz things up. Madeleine Weinrib Atelier is the place to go for beautiful, colorful cotton flatweaves. (Dash & Albert is great for cotton stripes, but that's too beachy for you.)

Here is Madeliene Weinrib's Rose Mandala:

Coral Otto:

Orange Brooke, which would blend into the floor in a good way:

The Indigo Chi Chi Kari is subtle and elegant:

A bit more whimsical is the Stilton Jellybaby - the background color will NOT match the walls exactly, and that's ok:

And for the bossiest of all, the Celery Olivia. I actually love this color with grey, and remember, it will be underfoot, not right in your face:

Colorful art - watercolors, oils, pastels - will be critical in pulling the room together. I'm picturing contemporary but representational pieces in gilded frames. No mirror unless it's in a big fat gold frame...even then, though, mirrors can be cold.

Good luck, Jenna! Please let us know what you decide.

You asked...about a paint color for two-story living room

2009-10-28T22:11:00.032-04:00

Hi Annie-
I am thrilled to be writing to you because I LOVE your blog, and I finally have a BIG problem I would love your help on! We built our home two years ago, and painted our fairly large, two-story living room Ralph Lauren Reisling, and my husband and I both detest the color.

We are finally going to have the room re-painted, and would love your opinion on a color.

It looks into both our dining room...

...and kitchen, which are green, and nutmeg colored, respectfully.

I am thinking some sort of brown, and as you can tell from the pictures, my swatches are not helping me.

Can you suggest a great color that will help me tie in the dining room and living room together? We will be putting a leather sofa in the living room, and it gets bright morning light.

I would greatly appreciate your expert opinion!! Thank you so much!
- Stefanie Bradshaw, Louisville, KY

Dear Stephanie:
Ahhh, Louisville. A city that is near and dear to my heart...when my husband and I were engaged, I visited him in Louisville, where he was working on a campaign. We stayed at the utterly charming Seelbach Hotel,

and a big wedding was happening there...the lieutenant governor and Miss Kentucky? Something like that. Royalty. Anyway, it was one of my favorite weekends of all time. It was there that I also met my future right hand at the Smithsonian, who sealed his fate by saying, upon meeting me, "I love your shoes!" Awesome town.

But back to your living room. BROWN IS WRONG. I understand the impulse to go darker after that anemic yellow (Ralph, don't go screwing up my favorite color, ok?), but darker is simply not consistent with the architectural intent of this soaring space.

Light, airy, open...these are the effects you want to preserve. Especially because the side rooms (the dining room and kitchen) are rich in color, let's keep the living room light and neutral. I know it sounds like a cop-out, but it's the space, not the color, that needs to do the talking here.

Try to match the kitchen cabinets, but keep yellow out of it. This might mean you're looking at the very lightest taupes your paint manufacturer has to offer. In Benjamin Moore, take a look at Benjamin Moore's OC-35 Spanish White, shown on the innermost picture frame moulding below, or good old OC-17 White Dove, which is outside the picture frame moulding.

Either of them should look soft but NOT yellow; if it does, reject it. (Its feelings won't be hurt, I promise.)

In any other paint line, pick up swatches that look like your kitchen cabinets and see what works.

If it were me, and I had a free weekend (or a free few hundred bucks to pay someone else to do it), I'd also paint my banister and newel posts high-gloss black to emphasize the contrast between them and the walls. (Aren't the balusters black wrought iron?) But that's me.

I'd probably also change the ceiling fan to something white or silver so it doesn't draw attention to itself. But spend your time - and your money - on the walls first, and then see how you feel.

Thanks for the great question, Stephanie. This may not sound like an inspiring solution, but I guarantee you'll love the space when you banish the yellow. Keep us posted!

"Whites" photo from decorati.com, courtesy of xJavierx's photostream on Flickr.

Color camp debrief

2009-10-26T10:35:00.007-04:00

First of all, the term "color camp" was totally misleading. Sorry about that. "Color BOOT Camp," possibly, or "Color College," "Hue University..."

In an ongoing effort to bring gravitas and respect to the field of color science, the IACCNA (International Association of Color Consultants North America) offers an intensive series of seminars to professionals in the field. If you complete them - over the course of a few years, since they're not offered all the time - complete the home assignments, take a test, and write a thesis (I doubt bossy blog will exempt me from that), you may then become an accredited member of this elite group.

The lecturer is Frank Mahnke, who has written several authoritative books about color, including Color, Environment, and Human Response. I'm looking forward to reading them, actually.

I didn't really know what to expect of the seminar, to be honest. Rachel of Hue had sung its praises, and Maria of Colour Me Happy is an IACC member. Kelly of Arte Styling is deep into the program, too.

In retrospect, I probably wanted the "argumentation" (as Frank would say) to back up the color decisions I make already, in the course of my work. I know I'm instinctively good with color, but I wanted more information about why color X looks good with color Y, etc.

I didn't quite get that. But I will. Seminar 1 was an overview of the psychological effects of color: the neuro-psychological aspects, emotional effects, and visual ergonomics...

You can maybe see how a non-professional might be disappointed.

Of the approximately 20 of us, one woman was understandably miffed that she wasn't getting the kind of information she wanted...let's just say that the "miffing" took place publicly, and loudly, and involved the slamming of a door. It was bizarre, actually. (Good thesis in there for someone interested in group dynamics.)

Anyway, despite the use of an overhead projector - remember those? - and a slide projector - remember THOSE? - there's no question that I learned quite a bit about the effects that color and light have on us.

And, almost more important, I connected with some amazing women - yep, we were all women this go-round - with whom I look forward to staying in touch. Most attendees are involved in interior design in one way or another, but there was also an expert in personal styling, an author, an automotive industry color designer, a faux painter, a floral designer, a fellow member of the national museum-recovery program...a really cool group of people.

Which was important, considering that the after-hours activity centered on dodging the ladies of the night who hang out in the Mission Valley Resort parking lot. Thankfully, not a single one of us was mistaken for one of them. I think it might have been the name tags.

They're calling my flight (THANK YOU, San Diego airport, for wireless internet), but more later -

Covering the spectrum with "Color Confidential" Guest blog post from Hue

2009-10-23T20:16:00.014-04:00

I recently wrote a guest blog post for Hue, one of my favorite color blogs. Color consultant, muralist, and blogger Rachel Perls was kind enough to return the favor while I'm at the IACC Seminar...Rachel is associated with IACC and speaks very highly of the organization; she confirmed my decision to fly all the way across the country to attend. In any event, thank you for the post, Rachel, and Gentle Readers, I hope you enjoy it!

Covering the spectrum with "Color Confidential"
by Rachel Perls, Hue

On a recent trip abroad, I was enthralled by the personal television screen installed in the seat back in front of me.

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Forget my new juicy novel, I was now held captive by a plethora of movies and tv shows at my fingertips for the next 6 hours. One show I had never seen was Color Confidential, filmed up in Canada. This syndicated program is called “Get Color” on HGTV in the US. Claiming to utilizes color theory to educate homeowners and viewers about how color interact, Color Confidential has been dubbed the “thinking person’s décor show”. Intrigued, I wanted to see how much of an educated, multi-disciplinary approach to color would be involved in a show completely dedicated to the topic.

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Jane Lockhart, the show’s host and designer, is a charismatic, friendly, fast-talking woman. Her show “hook” is a large circular color wheel with little wooden boxes to fill with goodies for each hue.

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Unique to this show is the fact that existing furniture pieces are not thrown out with the bathwater. Instead, they are painted, slip-covered, or reupholstered to change the character of the make-over space. Although, many before and after shots I’ve viewed were almost all entirely new pieces, which is great for tv impact, but not so practical for the rest of us living in reality.

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She does slip in some great suggestions, like sharing my distaste for white ceilings.
"Nothing says 'builder' like a painted, white, stippled ceiling," Jane declares, as though all developers were in cahoots to irritate her. "Ceilings add a lot of dimension."

So how does the show work? Jane waltzes into a house, gathers some info on the homeowners’ interests (ie their color “story”), and returns with an elaborate display of colorful, themed items set up around the wheel.

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Her wheels are always themed, like this one created for budding photographer Brad who was afraid of color. In an attempt to ease this homeowner into more colorful options, filters, matte board, film canisters, and camera accessories are selected for their sense of familiarity.

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This display takes the place of paint chips, fan decks, and fabric swatches. Instead of a small brown paint chip, homeowners might select a box of coffee beans or chocolate chips. From that, she asks homeowners which colors appeal to them, then explains how that color will relate to the floor color and the space as a whole. Jane backs up her approach by rationalizing that “if you pick things that you love, you’re more likely to create a space that you’re much happier with, because your personal associations are positive.”

A bit over-simplified, given how many other issues there are to consider when selecting colors for a space. But for a ½ hour television series, I can understand why it must be boiled down into sound bytes. Won’t someone provide a comprehensive show that goes deeper than inspiration pieces?

Color camp, here I come!

2009-10-22T10:20:00.005-04:00

I could have sworn BWI Airport had wireless internet access.

Which is why I scrambled this morning to tie up all my client projects, bid my family a fond farewell, and get myself to the airport way early: for several hours of uninterrupted airport time to catch up on blogs and blogging.

Tragically, I was mistaken. I thought I could get a little message up via my iPhone, but YOU try posting something from an iPhone and let me know how it goes.

So yet another day went by without a word from bossy color. I do apologize.

I hope to make up for it in the next few days, though: I'm at color camp!

Well, it's a conference of the International Association of Color Consultants North America. In San Diego. But I like calling it color camp. I hope to emerge inspired and re-energized...and I aim to post an entry or two while I'm here. I mean, come on. If color camp doesn't yield some good subject matter, well, that would be lame. On my part, not theirs.

So wish me luck.

I'm not optimistic about a campfire sing-along, but it would be awesome if they serve bug juice.

Guest blog post on Hue: In praise of yellow

2009-10-15T08:21:00.005-04:00

Fellow color blogger Rachel Perls of Hue went on vacation recently (lucky duck!) and had the incredible foresight to line up guest bloggers in her absence.

Here's bossy color's contribution, about yellow.

Enjoy!

The Pottery Barn catalogue makes me sad

2009-10-14T07:00:00.007-04:00

Well, whew.

Pottery Barn had debuted so many adorable sheets and rugs in the past few years that I felt my "Pottery Barn only as a last resort, please" stance starting to weaken.

But today I received my "Thanksgiving" Pottery Barn catalog.

It could have been sent 3 years ago. Or even 4. It is so uncreative, so unimaginative, so bland, and so sad that I feel my core anti-PB values returning.

The case goods are generally oversized, clumsy, and dark. I cannot in good conscience let this slide: the Markham Console Bar is an absurd piece of furniture. Ridiculous and absurd.

The club chairs are gargantuan. The tree ornaments are gold or glass.The chandeliers are made of wine bottles.

(News flash, PB: you're not Ingo Maurer. People know that. They love you anyway. Your wine bottle chandelier has neither the charm nor the whimsy of the Campari pendant light. You know better than that.)

Where are the Anthropologie-aspirational linens and floorcoverings you'd been playing with, PB? That was working for me. (And you didn't have to pay ridiculously clad, gamine, vacant-eyed supermodels to pose with them, either.)

No, the subtitle of the Thanksgiving Pottery Barn catalog should be, "safety first." The walls are beige, the sofas are tan...

...and anything that could be classified as "accent" or "accessory" is red. Benjamin Moore's Million Dollar Red, according to the PB fan deck. (Which, funnily enough, I do NOT have a problem with.)

Times are tough, I know. People are nesting. I know. But give your public a little credit. Just because they/we want comfort doesn't mean we want the comfort of yesteryear.

Pottery Barn, may I remind you that with great power comes great responsibility. You have the power. Man up; evolve, for crying out loud; and bring the well-meaning consumers of America with you.

Gentle Readers: you know that I try to be positive in this blog. The last thing the blogosphere needs is more design snarkiness. It's like what Jenji Kohan, creator of Weeds, said about fart jokes: they're funny, but they're too easy. Same thing here. But I was so bummed out by this catalogue that I couldn't remain silent. This isn't one earnest Etsy pillow maker we're talking about; it's a giant corporate entity that has unlimited design, research, and advertising resources. I figure they can handle a little constructive criticism from bossy color. I still don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but you know what? They hurt mine today. So it's only fair.

Dear Gentle Readers - and Writers,

2009-10-13T23:40:00.001-04:00

Have I told you lately how much I appreciate you?

Your readership, your loyalty, your thoughtful comments, and your good looks. (Not that I've seen you, but one has a sense about these things.)

There must be something in the air, because I have received many, MANY excellent questions and photographs from you recently. About crown moulding, about wallpaper, of course about paint colors...and I hope I have the opportunity to answer each and every one of them.

But there's a chance I may not.

The good news is that this season finds business booming for bossy color. (No extra charge by blogger.com for lame alliteration.) It's going to take a Herculean effort to attend to my clients AND to you, Gentle Readers.

If you've written me with a design dilemma recently, I will try my very best to address it. But in the event that I simply cannot tackle all of your worthy design challenges, please accept my apologies in advance. I am flattered - nay, humbled - that you place your design faith in me, and I never want you to feel that I take that for granted.

Please stay tuned, and thank you again for reading. And for writing.

Love,
Annie

I painted my office this weekend! Benjamin Moore's Ice Blue

2009-10-12T21:00:00.007-04:00

A three-day weekend loomed, and bossy color's world headquarters was in desperate need of an overhaul. This may be hard to follow, but stay with me...

It all started with the living room drapes. Sigh.

There they are, on the left. I've had a love/hate relationship with these drapes ever since I bought them 4 years ago. Objectively, I love them. In this room, I never really made them work.

But that's another story.

Right now, all you need to know is that I finally decided to have these lovely, oversized drapes cut down into into two pairs for my office. It's happening as we speak. I'm really excited about it.

For those to work, though, I needed a new wall color. Here's where we started:

(Oh my gosh - here's a BEFORE before picture, from right when we moved in, I'd forgotten about that oranger-than-thou accent wall. It didn't last long.)

Back to the recent before -

Hard to believe this is where the magic happens, isn't it? Embarrassing.

I wanted a paint color that would make that wonderful light green fabric - Beacon Hill's Florian, color Ming - look a little edgy. I've been loving the whole Robin's egg blue color craze, so I tested some of those.

Benjamin Moore's 2052-70 Ice blue won out. It was between that and 2051-60 Bird's Egg, but I thought the lighter color ultimately would be better with the drapes. Let's hope.

Anyway, no need to depend on the kindness of strangers when family's coming into town :) Here's my dad, handy with the tape...

...and my brother James (er, Jimmy Riot)...

And me, of course...

Yeah, yeah. Just get me another Diet Coke, wouldja?

Aaaaannnnd the reveal. The close-to-finished product, bossy color's new and improved world headquarters, which willl be even MORE improved by the installation of the drapes in a few weeks.

Aahh. The office will never be this tidy again, so please take a good long look.

And stay tuned.

Note, added 10/14/09: I used Aura paint for this project and had, for the first time, an odd experience with little paint "crumbs" - dried flecks of paint getting caught in the roller and making it onto the walls. Odd. I asked about it on Benjamin Moore's Facebook page, so I'll see what they say...

Movies: Lucky Number Slevin's awesome interiors

2009-10-07T20:00:00.002-04:00

Tragically, it's rare that I see a hot movie in the theater anymore. That whole work-kids-life combo leaves precious little time for tracking the careers of super-beauties like, say, Josh Hartnett. Or Lucy Liu. It's sad.

But what's downright disturbing is the fact that I miss aforementioned hot movies on Netflix. I mean, I'm the reason Netflix was invented.

No, it took one long vacation with no babysitter and no TV for Lucky Number Slevin to drop into my lap...courtesy of one seriously neglected husband and the St. Michael's, Maryland library. Excuse me, that's the "Talbot Country Free Library." Whatev.

This movie is AWESOME. And it's not just because of Josh Hartnett. Or Lucy Liu. Or Morgan Freeman, or Bruce Willis, or Ben Kingsley...

No, it's the amazing, irreverent, vaguely psychadelic interiors. I mean, who DESIGNED this sh*t? Whoever it was, I want to work for you. Right. Now. (Exaggerated gesture, hand to ear: call me!)

There seems to be no picture online - legal or illegal (and sorry about the illegal ones; please don't sue me) - of the best shot, which is of Josh Hartnett coming down a hallway with amazing, zany, graphic wallpaper.

So I guess you'll just have to see it for yourself.

Trust me. Would bossy color steer you wrong?

You asked...about so-hideous-it's-almost-great metallic bathroom wallpaper

2009-10-04T20:00:00.006-04:00

Hi Annie,
I have just moved into a room in a rented townhouse. The good news is that the room is quite large at 19’ by 12’ and has three nice-sized windows.

The bad news (part 1) is that the bath is wallpapered in this so-hideous-it’s-almost-great wallpaper, which has a silver geometric pattern with a light blue, sage green and pale pink floral pattern over the top of it.

The bad news (part 2) is that I can’t take it down and I can’t paint so the walls will stay apartment white, but I have lots of art so it’s not that bad....

My dilemma is that I’m not quite sure how to construct a color palette that I can live with (I’m so not a pink person) or what scale of pattern will work for the bedding, rug and windows given how busy that wallpaper is...

I forgot to mention that I’m a total mid-century fanatic and constantly have to pull myself back from the brink of way-too-period in order to keep it contemporary. So looking forward to your reply -

All the best, Alison

Dear Alison: Until I read the "mid-century fanatic" part, I'll admit I was getting a little panicky. But now I have a plan. (Why can't you paint, exactly? Because you'll have to re-paint before you leave? It's still worth considering, chickie...it's amazing what a bunch of friends can accomplish in a weekend when plied with pizza and beer.)

But assuming there's a really good reason you can't paint :) , let's do this:

Ignore the wallpaper.

I appreciate that the hideousness of the wallpaper has sent you into a tailspin. It's pretty bad. Not old enough to be kitschy, not new enough to be cheeky. It's just bad. BUT it's in your bathroom/dressing area, not your bedroom. And although you can glimpse it from your bedroom, it won't dominate the space unless you let it.

And we won't let it.

Our new palette is brought to you courtesy of this inspiration picture:

Love the green for you. The painting is blue-green, the painting on the left has yellow-green in it, the chairs are yellow, your furniture can take care of the orangey color...

...and your walls provide the wide expanses of white. Think big blocks of color; I wouldn't do pattern at all since you have a lot of art.

You know I usually suggest starting with the rug. That's especially true if the rug has a pattern with more than one color in it. For your bedroom, I suggest a BIG, solid color shag or Flokati rug in a yellow-green or a real blue-green. (Not sage or mint).

I wish your 3 windows had a single bar going across the top, but you're not willing to change that in a rental, are you? Shoot. Well, it was worth asking.

Let's hang floor-to-ceiling drapes (or in this case, floor-to-curtain-rod-that's-already-there drapes) in solid yellow. I say this partially because an off-the-shelf solid color is going to be easier to find than a good pattern. (Now, if you're handy with a sewing machine and see a fabulous HUGE SCALE patterned fabric in yellow, green, and other gutsy colors, then go for it.)

Barring that, let's just do yellow drapes however we can find them: cotton, linen, velvet...I don't care. Hello - a pair from Ikea just waltzed in.

What was your name, dear? Aina? Aina, meet Alison. You two are going to be very happy together.

After that, I suggest buying white bedding, hanging your art, and then filling in color gaps - orange, brown - with pillows on your bed. The nubby fabric on these Modern Materials Design pillows has a mid-century feel...and naturally I love the bold colors:

And these are from InMod.com:

Good luck, Alison! Please keep us posted.

Inspiration picture taken from Coco+Kelley's photostream on Flickr. Green shag rug from RugsUSA.com. First pillow picture through Grassroots Modern.

Vastu, Vastu, we love you

2009-09-30T22:22:00.004-04:00

Did I just read something about DC being the "next hot youth magnet city?"

Uhhhhh, ok. That's nice. But I'm more interested in this:
D.C. is ratcheting up its interior design game.

Where'dja read THAT?

Right here, Gentle Readers. You read it right here.

Look no further than 14th Street. I swear, why would anyone drive to the 'burbs when you can roll on over to 14th Street, park anywhere, and hit Mitchell Gold, GoodWood, Miss Pixie's, and Vastu, and then saunter over to Cork - a personal favorite of mine - and have a leisurely glass of wine and dinner?

Vastu is gaining momentum. I love it. It's locally owned and eminently cool, and Jason and Eric truly understand how to outfit urban spaces stylishly. (Urban= hip, but it also can = smaller scale.) They're filling a void.

The upholstery selection is fantastic. Colorful, textured, edgy, modern...

They customize sizes. That's their thing. Some clients of mine loved the Capri sofa, but it was a little too deep for them. So Vastu, being all custom and service oriented and stuff, had it made 3" shallower. Perfect. We paired it with the Serengeti chair and called it a day.

Did I mention that they're an authorized Knoll dealer? Total bonus. And their blog, Design Clique, is excellent. (They post really, really often. Bastards :) )

So stop reading this and just go. Tell them bossy color sent you. And have a fabulous time.

You asked...about banishing the red

2009-09-29T22:30:00.003-04:00

Dear Annie:
I need help with my living room. It's time for the red to go away.

I want something more sophisticated. We have a "great room" layout with a vaulted ceiling that attaches to the dining area and kitchen. I'd like to use one color for both rooms. I'm thinking of a pale bluish-gray. Or maybe Wedgewood Gray. I hate tan, but I could live with something closer to taupe. The room doesn't get a ton of light.

I'm confused. Please help! - Lynda

Lynda, you poor dear. Do you ever dream that you're in Hell? As in, the place?

Let me hastily say that I'm not being snarky, because I know whereof I speak. I myself once had a red living room that led into a gold dining room. I thought it looked fabulous for about 10 minutes. Then I felt like I'd joined the circus.

Here's what I love:

That you love color. Hooray!

Here's what I don't:

The red is too dark
The contrast with the gold is too stark
The overlap of the colors in the dining room looks odd to me

So where does that leave us?

I agree that painting both parts of the great room the same color is the solution. Good for you for coming up with that.

You say the room doesn't get much light, so let's stick with a lighter color. Alas, much as I love Wedgewood Gray (and you know I love it), it's just too dark for your space.

Go for a light, warm neutral on the walls and - here's the kicker - wrap that color up the vaulted ceiling and onto any horizontal ceiling above. One light color, everywhere. Including on the natural wood baseboard I see peeking out in your pictures.

So what color? I'd love to see you test Benjamin Moore's HC-172 Revere Pewter, because it (like all colors) behaves so differently in different settings. At its best, it's a soft, warm, sophisticated, contemporary-but-not-frighteningly-edgy gray.

(Gentle Readers, let's just consider this post the Best of Bossy's Colors for Revere Pewter, shall we? I haven't gotten around to writing a special entry about it, but it really is an all-star color.)

I don't want you to go too cool, though. I see some country stuff in your home...the American flag, the quilt, the Windsor chairs...so also test some warm off-whites, such as Benjamin Moore's OC-91 (or 2153-70) Ivory Tusk.

Ivory Tusk veers yellow, so as long as you're at the Benjamin Moore store, also pick up a sample of OC-1 Natural Wicker. Slightly darker and beige-er, but not boring. Give it a shot.

Then, THEN, you must promise me that you won't lose your color mojo just because you've gone all upscale with your wall color :) Please promise me that you'll splurge on some fun throw pillows for your sofa and chairs in red, orange and pink. Yes, they clash. Yes, you can do it.

I have faith in you. Good luck, and keep me posted, Lynda!

Those three adorable, affordable throw pillows are by color maven Susan Sargent.

Seeing purple! Kitchen before & after

2009-09-26T11:08:00.019-04:00

The challenge: update a tired kitchen without breaking the bank.

The solution: paint - rather than replace - the cabinetry and enliven the space with a bold countertop.

Let's hear it for Formica Microdot! It has a tiny pattern of dots that gives the material a contemporary, almost tech-y feel. This is #6903 Cassis.

I've found that countertops generally fall into two price groups: there's laminate and butcherblock at the low end of the scale (around $40/sf), and then there's everything else - granite Caesarstone, Silestone - at double the price. Lucky for me I didn't have to talk the client into Formica; she's as much a fan as I am.

My client also knew that replacing her cabinets would be prohibitively expensive - and even though they were old, they were in great shape. So we painted them Benjamin Moore's AF-405 Thicket in a semi-gloss finish - that's from their new Affinity Series, which I've been using more and more.

To make the small space feel larger, we used a similar, lighter shade on the walls and ceiling: Benjamin Moore's HC-99 Abington Putty.

We wanted to use Marmoleum on the floor, but for some reason we had a devil of a time finding it in the color we wanted. In the end, we went with regular vinyl tile.

Because my client was ready to buy new appliances, we had an issue over the refrigerator. The new one was taller than the old, so the cabinet had to come out. I've encountered this problem before...my solution is to have the contractor build in some deep, open shelves for platters and low dishes. They're painted the same color as the cabinetry.

In my old condo, we did the same thing when we jammed the fridge into the closet where the washer and dryer used to be. It was really handy, actually.

The client's happy, I'm happy...the kitchen seems pretty happy, too.

Mitchell Gold: some favorites - especially sectionals - and prices

2009-09-21T20:46:00.026-04:00

Happy last day of summer.

I had the pleasure - nay, the privilege - of spending some extra special time with one of my daughters recently, because her school started, get this: two and a half weeks after her sister's. Unfortunately, our babysitter's school started when daughter #1's did.

We read books. We went to Costco. We baked things. We also burned things. And, when I just needed a sneak peek of the grownup life that awaited me in 5...4...3...days, I took her to work.

We went to Mitchell Gold.

About Mitchell Gold, let me say this: I'm a fan. There are several reasons:

Their furniture is well made and well priced
Given the right nudge, it can swing traditional or contemporary
There is a store right here in D.C., about 9 minutes from my house, so I can send my clients here to look at the things I recommend
The people who work there are wicked nice and helpful. Don't underestimate that.

So, off Ruthie and I go, to check out the new stuff, the old stuff, and the sofa I'm eyeing for our own living room. Behold, the Liam:

But if I'm to adhere to my own rules, I'll start with the rug, and the sofa will have to wait...

Generally speaking, I'm always on the lookout for for elegant, non-gargantuan sectionals for clients. The Charlotte sectional is great for traditional settings. Like when you secretly want a sectional but worry - with good reason - that it won't look right with your traditional architecture. This one will. They don't list prices on their website, so let me help you out: as shown, the Charlotte retails for $3070:

I also was impressed with the Clifton sectional, which Ruthie was kind enough to test-sit. My picture shows the wood trim at the bottom in a darker stain than on the website...I think it would be a nice complement to Asian pieces. The stock price is $3640:

The Clifton floor model is upholstered in Soft Suede - Honey, which I've used on not one but two Dr. Pitt sectionals:

That fabric is bulletproof. One of my favorite clients took a swatch of it and, as I watched in horror, dumped a glass of orange juice on it. It beaded up and rolled away. It was awesome.

Moving into the bedroom, I liked the Yates bed. (The yellow bedding on the website is horrifying, though.) With the nailheads, it's kind of a cousin of the Liam sofa. We're all headboard crazy these days (including me), but the wings are a nice twist. Great in front of a window, if that's your room's best option. The Yates as shown is $2495:

The Byron leather chair has lovely , small proportions. Perfect for a small study or a man's dressing room. The Byron's stock price is $1695:

And the Brooke could go in a woman's study. Or library, but I love the subtle, graceful curves. It's also very comfortable for someone of, ah, smaller stature. This one is $1275, which I think is a very good price:

At this point, I think Ruthie's getting a little antsy...oh, but wait. Check out these Mason leather arm chairs. Each one is $1295:

You really can't tell from the picture, but the upholstery is really beautiful. It's kind of pearly, kind of metallic -

Oh, all right...we can go. But wait! These lamps are really great. The Ferris table lamp's stock price is $295 -

- and the Rubix is $250 -

Huh? Did you say something?

Oh, for Pete's sake! I get it. Vamonos. Thanks for being so patient, bub.

Where do I start? The living room checklist

2009-09-17T23:15:00.007-04:00

Gentle Readers, have you ever walked into an ugly room, looked around, thrown up your hands and asked aloud, to no one in particular, "Where do I begin?"

Well, wonder no more. Sidle on over here. Closer...

Start with the rug.

That's right: start with the rug. Whether you're working with the one you have or it's on your wish list, START WITH THE RUG.
Here's the ideal order of things:

1. Rug

2. Window treatments if they're going to involve fabric.

3. Sofa

4. Upholstered chair(s)

5. Coffee table

6. Other non-upholstered chairs, other tables

7. Then, and ONLY then, paint colors.

That's the list if you have a completely blank slate and an equally blank check. Never happens. And I'm not factoring in things like wallpaper, art, lighting, your great-auntie's hot pink vase...all things that could throw a wrench into the works.

But if you're floundering, this should help you get started. I hate inertia.

Finally, regarding the "paint color last" thing...obviously you'll be thinking "yellow," or "light green" as you put the room together, but don't choose the exact shade until the other things are chosen and you've had a chance to put those swatches on the walls.

So, in sum, let me hear you say it, loud and proud: Where do you start?

With the RUG!

Nice work, people. Nice work.

Mila rug from Anthropologie. 2. Prada-inspired drapes from Domino (may it rest in peace.) 3. No attribution - sorry about that. 4. Designersguild.com 5. Decorpad.com 6. Livingetc.com 7. House Beautiful. Photos 2-7 have been compiled by the fabulous XJavierX on Flickr. I don't know who this guy is, but he is a genius.