aeri_choi's ideas
Yellow-leaning spring greens are among my favorite colors to decorate with. You can go bold with chartreuse hues or keep it soft with grape or pear greens. The latter shades are so common in nature that they tend to work almost as neutrals when used indoors. They give a space a boost of color while remaining soothing and organic.
Designer Steve Justrich's renovated 1912 kitchen was carefully designed to make the most of its 90 square feet. Justrich relied on simple tricks — placing the refrigerator flush to the wall in an old doorway and purchasing small European appliances — to save on space. Open shelving instead of upper cabinetry and a turquoise Venetian plaster ceiling create the illusion of more space. (I like the ceiling)
Another way to distract the eye from a low or broken-up ceiling is to use bold furniture pieces that draw the attention. This weighty blue sofa is likely the first thing you notice when you enter the room, and the colorful rug, chair and gleaming side table keep the focus on the ground. Adding this weight draws the eye down, effectively making the ceiling feel higher.
Full draperies. Draperies are not essential to every room. In fact, there’s a certain modernist charm to leaving windows completely unadorned. But when used, draperies should be in sufficient fullness and height to look like a celebration rather than a functional afterthought. Three-foot-wide curtain panels may cover a window, but for designer fullness the material should be 2½ to three times wider than the window, and start at either the ceiling or a good 12 to 18 inches above the window line. I designed the room shown here. The window behind the draperies is actually rather small and off-center. With the wall-to-wall drapery, you’d never know it.
Large area rugs. Even when you have beautiful floors, an area rug makes a perfect anchor to a seating area for that layered, photo-shoot-ready look — but only if the rug is large enough. If it merely floats between the seating pieces instead of tucking fully under, it’s usually better to go without one. Try a custom-cut plain Berber carpet to get a perfectly sized rug without spending thousands of dollars.
(illusion of room height) Chandeliers. When hanging a chandelier on lower ceilings, try to choose a light fixture that you can see through and that isn’t too dense. Hang it at least 36 inches above your dining room table to create space between your table and the light fixture, making the ceiling feel farther away.
(illusion of room height) Paint. By painting your walls, baseboards and ceilings the same color, you blur the lines of where your walls end and where your ceilings begin. If you think your wall color is too dark for the ceiling, then dilute the wall color with 50 percent white and try that on the ceiling instead
Mixed door styles. If you’re stuck between two cabinet door styles, don’t be afraid to use both. Complementary styles can strengthen your kitchen’s overall look, while opposites can produce an attractive transitional design. This kitchen shakes it up with a mix of modern slab door fronts and Shaker-style cabinets.
The Candice Olson wallpaper in this Memphis, Tennessee, powder room served as inspiration for Lindsey Black Interiors. “I selected the wallpaper first and then built the rest of the design details around it,” Lindsey Black says. The custom-designed cabinet, built by a local cabinetmaker and painted in Benjamin Moore’s Stratton Blue, was left open at the base of its tapered legs to reveal the marble hexagon tile underneath.
doorway wall storage; i like the dark paint
gray wall paint: Repose Gray (Sherwin Williams)
gray wall paint: Revere Pewter HC-172 (Benjamin Moore)
blue cabinet color
half wall to open wall but still definie space
cabinet color
sandy yellow walls and dark brown/black & white
color palette for bedroom?
soft turquoise ceiling
Turquoise accent wall, like combo w/ dark wood and cream
round table for small space
frame pressed flowers/plants; paint old chairs
shoe baskets
Ceiling paint tinted to coordinate w/ walls: The better option is to choose a pale color from the same family, often the palest option on the same paint chip. If you choose what’s essentially just a much lighter shade of your wall hue, you’ll be virtually guaranteed to get a coordinated look
Q