Nature's neutral: the color of the year

You may have already seen Pantone's choice of the color of the year for 2017. Although I'm not much on decorating trends, I was thrilled to see this color highlighted:

I've found that many people are a bit scared at the thought of using such a vibrant color in their decorating, though. For years we've been inundated with neutral colors such as white, grey, beige, tan, and taupe. Finding just the right neutral can seem like the Holy Grail of decorating.

A few years ago I became fascinated by something I noticed after I hosted a birthday party for my youngest son. I found these great napkins to use at his party:

The napkins were a perfect fit and match for a green napkin holder I owned. Here's the holder with no napkins in it. (It's not exactly the same color as Pantone's Greenery, of course. It's about the color of a Granny Smith apple.)

As I was putting the napkin holder away after the party, I noticed how well it would go with these striped napkins:

But then again, these soft flowered napkins looked good, too:

So then I started experimenting with the napkins in my drawer. (I have a thing for napkins--have you seen my napkin drawer?) Imagine how great these would be for a Cinco de Mayo party!

And these would be wonderfully refreshing for summertime, don't you think?

But my green napkin holder could go more fallish, too, like with this leaf print:

Or with these autumn fruits:

You could use this green napkin holder with more than just springy, summery, or fallish colors, though. Look how well it pairs with this cool paisley print:

Or with these feathers:

Or with these printed beauties that Melissa gave me:

Can you believe that every single one of these photos features the same green napkin holder?  Even though it's a bold, vibrant green color, it pairs well with all these different napkins.

I think it's fascinating that this bright green napkin holder--an item that doesn't seem at all "neutral"--functions just the way a good neutral should function. It mixes well with many different colors, allowing those colors to take center stage. Green may not be a "neutral" color, but it is a wonderful background color.

I think I know why this is true. What color do you see throughout the natural landscape? Green, green, and more green--all different shades and tints of greens, serving as a beautiful backdrop for the vibrant hues of flowers. The natural landscape includes an amazingly diverse palette of colors, and all of them pair beautifully with various shades of green.

And of course, the backdrop for all the colors of the earth is the beautiful blue of the sky. I don't have a blue napkin holder to demonstrate this, but the same principle is true for blue as for green.

Pantone called its 2017 Color of the Year "Nature's Neutral." I think they're spot on with that description. 

Isn't it amazing the lessons we can learn from the Master Designer?

Guest room re-do (If You Give a Blogger a Cookie. . . )

. . . she's going to want a glass of milk.As I was finishing up my guest room this past week, I was reminded of reading my boys If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Remember that story of one thing leading to the next and the next?

Last fall I found some wonderful fabric and made new draperies, bedskirts, Euro shams, and bolster pillows for my guest room. And I loved the new look. But then I noticed that the walls sorely needed painting. The fresh new fabrics just emphasized the dirty old paint. So I chose a lovely light green for the walls ("Limesickle" color by Benjamin Moore; my paint is actually Duration paint by Sherwin Williams).

I was so happy to get the walls all nice and clean and fresh! But then I noticed that the new wall color didn't quite work with the old green headboards as I had hoped. (Confession: I don't ever do samples. Maybe I should start?) And the fresh walls and the new curtains and bedskirts and pillows emphasized that the finish on the nightstand really needed some work. And I didn't really like the frames around the reproduction posters above the beds. And I wasn't thrilled with the lamp I had painted blue last year. So. . . one thing led to another, truly. Here's the result.



This long, narrow room is hard to photograph, but here are some views around the room.







I'm so happy with it.  I used to think of this room as the place where old furniture went to die.  Now, with a little elbow grease, it's become a place where old furniture goes to shine!

A few little details:

I made the upholstered headboards years ago (click here for tutorial). Changing them was super-easy--I just ripped off the trim and the last fabric, stapled new raw silk ($7.99 per yard at Not Just Linens in Durham) in place, then re-attached the same trim. Each headboard required 1 1/2 yards of fabric, so brand new headboards cost me just $24. By the way, I love twin beds in a guest room. I find they make the room more versatile than a double or queen. We often have two college students visiting at the same time, and they can share the room easily since they don't have to share a bed. Married couples don't seem to mind sleeping separately when they visit; I tell them they can pretend they're on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

I painted my old Bombay Company chest with a homemade chalky paint mixture. You can click here to read about that project. I love the look of my nightstand now.

I added scrapbook paper to the back of the open shelves in the secretary. The paper was on sale at Michael's for 25 cents per piece, so this update cost only $1.50.

I found these cool finials on clearance at Target for $5.48 each.

I didn't like the frames that were previously on the reproduction posters above the beds. I was poking around my attic and found some more substantial frames that just happened to be the perfect size! I just spray-painted them black.

I use antique hatboxes as a side table beside the chair. At some point I'll have this chair re-upholstered, but for now it still works.

In this corner, I updated the look simply by painting my lamp a rust color to coordinate with the new headboards. Free and fast. This photo gives you a glimpse of the bath beyond; click here to read how I made the shower curtain.  The black dresser on which the lamp and TV sit was an unfinished oak piece that my parents bought back in the 1960's.  It was their bedroom dresser for awhile, then it was my bedroom dresser.  Then when I had my first baby in 1991, my parents painted it white and gave it to me to serve as a changing table.  There's a lot of mileage on this little dresser!

You can see the lamp a little better when it's turned off. The spray painted finish was a little bright, so I rubbed it with a bit of stain to darken it. Not bad for a free update!

A few elements stayed the same:

DIY "antique" shutters ($3.00)

DIY decorative plate (free)

Old prints and Haviland plates from Goodwill (68 cents each)

So my guest room has gone from this:

To this:

With that, I think I'm done. For now.

Does one thing lead to another at your house?

I'm joining these wonderful parties:

Tutorials and Tips at Home Stories A to Z

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage

Inspiration Friday, At the Picket Fence

Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest

DIY Talent Parade at Pretty Handy Girl

Show and Tell Saturday at Be Different, Act Normal

Best DIY Projects of April at Beneath My Heart

Show Us Your Life at Kelly's Korner

Show Us Your Home at Thrifty Decor Chick

Best DIY Project of 2012 Contest at Not Just a Housewife

Old color habits die hard

I first painted my dining room red back in 1991.

Yes, you read that right. 1991. 20 years ago. I was on the cutting edge of home decor back then. People thought I was crazy to think of putting such a dark color on my dining room walls, but I knew it would work.

And it did work. It worked in that house, and in my next house, and in my next house, and finally in this house. The red has changed a bit over the years, of course. Here it was Ralph Lauren's Balmoral Red:

I loved the subtle striping on these walls. I achieved that look by painting the whole wall in the flat color, taping off stripes with painter's tape (using a level to make sure they were straight), and painting over every other stripe with high-gloss in the same color.

In this house I used Sherwin-Williams Roycroft Copper Red. It's a deep brick red with brown tones.

I've especially loved decorating for Christmas with my red dining rooms.

But the time has come. After 20 years of having a red dining room, I'm ready to change. My color inspiration came from my dining room rug. It's the Floral Kirman rug from the original Karastan collection, and I love it just as much today as when I bought it years ago.

After 20 years, it's time for a change. Can you guess what color I chose?