If I am understanding correctly, the rugs you mention are not being used in the bedroom space.

So, no need for connection or continuity. I think people forget that first and foremost, this is your HOME, and your spaces should reflect how YOU want them to feel, not some magazine layout idea.

Secondly, and just as important, the bedrooms are private spaces. If you feel a need to have connection in color between the public spaces, that is a bit more understandable.

But the private spaces are yours. It is kind of like wearing a blue and grey striped sweater and blue pants, and then thinking that you have to wear blue or grey underwear, rather than the pretty green pair that are calling your name that day when you get dressed. How you look on the outside (the public space) doesn't have to match how you look underneath (the private space).

I also think that color continuity often occurs simply because people are drawn to a certain color palette, so that is how they decorate all of their spaces.

So navy, while a favorite of mine, certainly doesn't have to appear in every room, and especially in the spaces that outsiders rarely see. Use the bosporus flax curtains and the wall color that calls to you, and love your rooms not because they all match, but because they are each a true expression of YOU.

I totally agree with Les,especially in the bedroom, that your private spaces can be totally different and unique. After all it's not visible to many people and it should give you comfort and a sense of peace. Go for it.

Hear, hear! Les nailed it. Wise words indeed. Couldn't agree more. Do what you feel. Feel what you do.

"I also think that color continuity often occurs simply because people are drawn to a certain color palette, so that is how they decorate all of their spaces."

Yes, I do this. That mineral/spa/dusty aqua blue has been my 'signature' accent color for a loooong time. It is quite ubiquitous now (thanks Ballard and Pottery Barn;) which means it will soon be going out of fashion and my color scheme will look terribly outdated. Oh well. I have touches of this blue (slight varying shades but all coordinating) in almost every room and will continue to do so.

As for the design concepts clashing- I am not an expert or designer, but I feel it is okay for each room to have its own personality...as long as the rooms are not adjoining and completely open to one another. My home office (which occupies the first floor space of our turret) is decorated with a bit of a eclectic/modern style, but my decor in other rooms tends toward the...I'm not sure what it would technically be called. Traditional, maybe? Definitely not modern. Point being, that office space is WAY more public than the Master Bedroom. So unless it's going to bother YOU for some reason, I wouldn't worry about this nonconforming room in your home:)

I will dissent here. I think color continuity is very pleasing. Sometimes it is not feasible, if you are doing different rooms over different times etc. I would not intentionally redecorate a room without trying for a common thread.

I appreciate both of you giving input and hope those thoughts can help me loosen up a bit on this. I guess I hadn't really thought of it in terms of private and public spaces. And had to chuckle over the green underwear, Les!

So when you have a hall bath in the private areas of your home that will be used by both the guest bedroom and possibly random guests..in a fairly open concept home, would you stick with the basic color plan in the open areas or consider that private space?

tinycastles--I dawdled too long over my earlier post (interrupted by long phone call) so missed your comments. Yes, as Les so accurately put it, I'm drawn to certain color palettes and that creates a certain continuity. But I'll admit that this is new to me to feel comfortable that I should do whatever I feel in the private spaces without considering the open spaces. And agree the office is more public than private. I would assume then that a hall bathroom is more public space since it's used by visitors?

Mtnrdredux--yes, the common thread. I think that says what I've been thinking. I've always liked the common thread!

I am trying to picture your spa blue/green and don't think it would clash horribly with navy, esp if it is not in the same room. I'd be more concerned if it were jarring from the hallway into the bedroom. I'd make sure the hallway works with the bedroom's interior as well as with the other rooms it connect to. The hallway is a perfect place for a neutral to be a bridge between room styles and colors.

Our new configuration is a fully open plan in our living spaces and those have differing vibes within the open plan. The kitchen and den are done in a retro modern look with clean lines and no wood furniture. The adjacent dining room will have our traditional 1930's Thomasville set but has a chrome chandelier to add some more modern freshness to it and that ties it in to the other rooms with the chrome/white lighting theme. I plan on painting the table's top and the shield part of the chair backs with glossy black paint to help it tie in to the black accents in the den and kitchen and to hide the poor refinishing job I attempted to do on the table's top years ago and have tried to hide ever since, lol. It will still be predominantly wood though.

Our living room up front will have very traditional wood antiques, some over 250 years old, but the walls are painted in a fresh bright green (BM's Wales Green), to give it a pop/twist from the expected as well. The furnishings will be traditional in all regards but in an eclectic setting. I think the juxtaposition will be what makes it fun.

All the rooms have bright white wts in differing styles. The kitchen and den wts are on one wall and all match. The dining room wt is on another wall by itself and is different. The living room wt is yet another style up in the front of our house. The trim in the whole house is white too.

It would be boring to me to have everything along a single theme or tone. Our master bedroom in particular looks like no other room in our house and is our retreat. It and the master bath are done in a more sophisticated/fancy way. It has the only colored ceiling in the house and while some of the colors or tones are similar in a sense, the look and feel are entirely different. Our master bath has marble in both white and black and is much more dressed up than the rest of the house. I don't think the master bedroom or master bath have to please anyone but the owners of the house.

If you do your whole house entirely one way, then there is more chance that if it becomes dated or tiring to you someday later on, then you have so much more work to do to undo the unified look.

It is the difference between wearing a matching suit or wearing separates.

dianalo--I like the sound of how you're incorporating both traditional and modern...love to see pics of that! Maybe that's what I need to do more of since I'm fairly traditional overall (though things are accumulated over time), but I seem to be leaning more toward more modern lines in some ways now especially with the spa-color idea. I like the sound of that mix.

Blue-green clashes with navy? Ooooh no, no, no - I must protest. lol! :)

In fact, in December '10 I blogged about how navy was on the horizon with a purpose. I saw navy as being THE thread that would transition the very prevelent greens and turquoises into the next color phase.

Now, navy is everywhere. Looking back, and reading this thread, it struck me as kinda funny because my primary reasoning for the re-emergence of navy was those flavors of greens and blue-greens that had previously been paired with chocolate brown. Navy was destined to take the place of chocolate brown because I was certain the captivating grues (green-blues) and bleens (blue-greens) weren't going anywhere.

Further, your rugs have a dark red backgroung. The spa-like greens you're talking about and red is a fabulous color combination.

With the colors you've listed, I can think of multiple, viable, pleasing color combinations that would absolutely *qualify* as being cohesive.

I'd say go for it and I think you will be pleasantly pleased.

Here is a link that might be useful: My take on navy from December 2010

Funcolors I agree, Navy can be beautiful with, well, almost anything. Certainly against blue-greens.

As for the continuity thing, plenty of homes have rooms that stand alone color wise. It's easiest if you have a hallway that can work as a transition to the individual rooms, but either way it can be done.

Yes, it looks nice to have everything centered around a single palett. But the price of that cohesive look, is a self imposed limit to the colors you can use. I don't love any single palett enough, to limit myself in that way. Color is a very personal thing though and if you love a single palett, by all means stick to it!

Wow, you've got me looking at this in a whole new way! Funcolors--loved your article (your analysis certainly proving true!) and it's nice to see my old favorite classic as likeable to others as it has been to me. I'm jazzed to think now I can actually have this work and relieved as I try to picture it now.

Yes, cindyloo and dianalo, good point that the hall can be a transition if I feel like it needs that. I admit I do kind of like a single palette, (or common thread like mtnrdredux mentioned earlier, since I'm kind of anal that way), but now it's a different one than I imagined. And if it isn't totally continuous in some areas, that's not a crisis.

You guys have given me great hope! I'm thinking I'll look for a great neutral English roll-arm sofa, and then look for some new accents to bring in the blue-green even in there. Any more ideas are definitely welcome--especially specific items you think would help.

I'm with les on this one.

My living and dining rooms and study are tan, brown and dark red, with some bits of sage green. Nice colors, doesn't show dirt and pet hair much and I've like the colors for a long time. The rooms speak to me as warm and welcoming and homey.

My bedroom on the other hand, is white and pale green--and not a sage green, either, but much more of blue-green--with lots of what I call "sparkle," mirrors and silver and glass and crystal. Completely different feel from the rest of the house, because this is *my* room.

While all the rooms reflect something of my personality, I don't do the same things in all the rooms. My bedroom is for quiet, calm, reflective things, and the living rooms are for having guests and watching tv and having snacks and playing games with the nieces and nephews and using the Wii and craft projects.

Now, while the colors of the rooms don't match, the style of the furniture and accessories does, so if someone is looking for continuity, there's that to point to.

camlan--interesting thought about the furniture being more the common thread than the decor per se... Thanks!