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Spring Style: 5 Ways to Freshen With Pastels
Add a splash of soft, airy color to rooms with a pastel palette for furniture, walls and accessories
Houzz Contributor. You can also find me on Lolalina (http://www.lolalina.com/), my blog devoted to all of the things that make a house a home - decorating from the heart, living with intention, and savoring life's simple pleasures.
Houzz Contributor. You can also find me on Lolalina (http://www.lolalina.com/),... More »
Pastels are showing up everywhere this spring, from the garden to the runways and everywhere in between. The new looks use pastels in unexpected pairings that feel fresh, current and fun. From pale mint and aqua to lemon chiffon, these five ways use a delightful palette of pastels at home.
by Design House
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1. Lighten up a traditional space. Classic furnishings make great investment pieces, but we all get the urge to shake things up now and then. For a quick color makeover, repaint the interior of a bookcase or china cabinet and swap out linens, lampshades and pillows for a new look using your existing pieces. Choose one or two pastel hues (say, pale blue and lilac) to keep things sophisticated.
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2. Punch up gray. If you want to use pastels but worry about veering into saccharine territory, keep things grounded with warm gray walls. Warm gray, or greige, is an extremely versatile foil for just about any other color and makes artwork look amazing.
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| 3. Use pastel accents with loads of white. For a cheerful look that feels modern and fresh, go all out with the pastels — pink, soft blue, mint green, buttercup — but temper them with a healthy dose of white. White furniture, white walls (except for the odd accent wall) and even white floors help the pastels pop and enhance natural light. |
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by SFGIRLBYBAY
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| White walls and furniture provide a refreshing palette cleanser between layers of vintage finds and pastel accents in Victoria Smith's San Francisco apartment. Bring this look home by using pale aqua and pink in artwork, light fixtures and textiles. Flea markets and thrift shops can be great sources for vintage aqua glassware and affordable finds that can always get a quick update with a coat of pastel paint. See the rest of this home |
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If you are lucky enough to own a claw-foot tub, make it the focal point of the room by giving the outside a coat of color, maybe chalky blue for a classic, serene look or soft petal pink for a romantic choice. If you plan to remodel your bathroom anytime soon, you may be able to hunt down a vintage claw-foot tub (try searching online for "salvage yard" plus your city for good sources) with a less-than-perfect finish and spruce it up with your choice of color.
by Fabric.com
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4. Start with a print. Feeling a little overwhelmed about where to start your new decorating scheme? Borrow a page from the decorators' playbook and start with a fabric or rug that you love. Use the print (take a swatch or photo with you when you're out shopping) as a starting point, repeating the colors elsewhere in the room.
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5. Start with art. Another great way to pull a room together is with a piece of art you love. The gorgeous pastel shades in your chosen painting or print can provide inspiration for picking pillows, rugs and more. Repeating the least used color in a piece of art somewhere else in the space is a tip pros often use to create a pulled-together look.
Tell us: Would you try this at home? Which is your favorite look?
More:
From the Runways Home: Pastels Spring Back
Mint Green Is Fresh Again
Inspired by Peeps: A Sliding Scale of Pastel
Tell us: Would you try this at home? Which is your favorite look?
More:
From the Runways Home: Pastels Spring Back
Mint Green Is Fresh Again
Inspired by Peeps: A Sliding Scale of Pastel
Ideabook published on April 23, 2012.
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