TheDesignFile

I'm still in love with yellow and gray

After posting earlier this week about “lemon sorbet” – the shade Benjamin Moore says is the 2013 color of the year – I’ve been looking for some yellow and gray inspiration.

I posted in July about this fabulous color combination.

But I was inspired by the pretty dining room in the Benjamin Moore post to look for more.

One of the most interesting rooms I found was the living room from the HGTV Green Home, shown at right and below.

I love the gray sofa and the pillows are just gorgeous.

I also like the art in the photo below and that warm rug. So pretty.

But – and this has nothing to do with gray and yellow – check out that terribly uncomfortable looking chair by the fireplace. I think I remember seeing that thing at Anthropologie. I didn’t like it then and don’t like it now!

The living area below – a photo from Benjamin Moore – is also striking.

In this case, the sofa is yellow – a bold yellow – with gray pillows. And I love the yellow tucked into the display boxes.

In the room below from Better Homes and Gardens, gray is by far the dominate color.

Find authentic industrial decor at IndySWAG

If you’re into the industrial chic look – and I know a lot of you are – you’ve got to check out a new salvage location in Indianapolis.

IndySWAG is the brainchild of sisters Sandra and Shelly Jarvis, who started the business after purchasing a huge lot of GM plant furnishings at an auction.

Since then, they’ve been buying up lots from medical facilities and other manufacturing plants and filling a warehouse on the southeast side of Indianapolis.

The warehouse is something to see – although a shopping experience is currently available only by appointment.

You can get a preview by going to Reclaimed! in the Fletcher Place neighborhood (across the street from a fantastic Mexican restaurant called Tortas). Click here to see a post I did about Reclaimed! earlier this year.

Soon, the sisters plan to open up their own retail location at Washington and Shelby streets on the east side of downtown. It will offer some of the IndySWAG inventory but much of it will remain at the warehouse and be rotated in and out.

I visited the warehouse as part of a group led by Shelly Leer, my upholstery teacher at the ModHomeEc studio. She wrote a great piece about IndySWAG in The Indianapolis Star. You can see the story online here.

As I mentioned at the start, most of the items here are industrial – or are office items used in industrial settings – or come from medical facilities. There are stools, chairs, desks and cabinets, many of them metal.

Benjamin Moore calls 'Lemon Sorbet' top shade

Does lemon sorbet look as great as it tastes?

The folks at Benjamin Moore think so.

The company’s senior interior designer - Sonu Mathew – said yellow has always represented a sense of optimism, “and as the world seems to be gradually turning the corner on recessionary times, this whispery tint of the color is timely and evocative of the uptick.”

Mathew has named a Benjamin Moore’s Lemon Sorbet (color #2019-60) as the 2013 color of the year.

“It’s the perfect partner for the emerging palette of freshened, polished pastels that promise to be favorites in the coming year,” she said. “Additionally, it’s the ideal transition color as we move from the more vibrant spectrum and mid-to-deep tone hues that we’ve been experiencing in home furnishings and fashions.”

Overall, Mathew said, colors are trending toward the pastels. “They convey innocence and typically have a calming influence,” she said.

Mathew’s comments came in a press release issued by Benjamin Moore. I love these color trend releases.

It’s so fun to see what the paint companies predict will be the next big thing, although we know they’re in part just trying to make us feel like our spaces are dated so we’ll buy new paint!

And yellow is one of my favorite paint colors, although I think it's nearly impossible to choose the right one. That's why I love when designers make a recommendation like this.

Benjamin Moore said Lemon Sorbet is the “common denominator” in a collection of color combinations it recommends for use on walls, trim and accents.

Here are the new combinations:

Mix-and-match pendants are so chic

One of my favorite trends these days is clustered lighting.

I love the pieces that are clustered by design, meaning the lighting fixture itself includes a whole bunch of small pendants.

But recently I’ve been more interested in groupings of pendants that don’t match and are created simply by hanging individual fixtures together.

The photo at right – which I found on Etsy at the Rough.South.Home. shop.

The shop was actually selling the metal backsplash pieces.

But I was drawn to those cool, industrial lights – and the way they’ve been hung in a group. And not only are the three pieces different but they’re hung at different heights, which makes the small cluster even more interesting.

Niche Lighting has some fantastic examples of this type of clustering. The photo below is an Aveda store with a beautiful selection of Niche lighting.

Obviously, the above is an example used in a business. But there’s no reason this couldn’t be done on a smaller scale across a dining room table. And it would look gorgeous!

Below left is another example from Niche Lighting – this one at a Hilton at the London Heathrow Airport.

Stainless: Is it still hot? Or not?

Take our poll below…

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting story last week about whether stainless steel is on its way out as the finish of choice for appliances.

The piece calls this “a pivotal moment in kitchen design” and describes how companies are searching for the next big finish for appliances. You can see a WSJ video about the issue above.

I love some of the quotes the story includes:

"White is the new stainless," the story quotes a Whirlpool news release saying. (See Whirlpool’s new Ice Collection below.)

"Black is the new stainless steel," the story quotes Wolf Appliance saying in a news release for black glass ovens introduced this spring.

The story includes some fantastic photos of old appliance promotions, which really bring to life how many shades have been used over the years. It’s much broader than just white, black and harvest gold.

The story also describes some of the newest appliance offerings, including Whirlpool’s new glossy white “Ice Collection” and GE’s new “slate” finish (see below).

“Introducing a new finish is a gamble,” the WSJ story says. “Development takes a year or more. Stores sometimes grant extra space to new ideas, but typically manufacturers have to work within an allotted number of slots, so an unsuccessful product can put the company's overall sales at risk.”

What do you think? Is stainless on its way out?

 

Blue cabinets make for a colorful kitchen

Maybe it’s because I now get Coastal Living magazine, but I seem to be noticing blue painted cabinets in kitchens.

Typically, I’m not a huge fan of blue – particularly not where I’m preparing food.

Still, I kind of like some of these kitchens.

Check the Southern Living kitchen at right (which I saw at MyHomeIdeas.com).

I like the black countertops with the soft blue color, although the floor seems a bit busy for me.

I think the blue kitchens I like best are the ones that are bluish-gray or a sort of aqua color.

I’m particularly drawn to the quaint kitchen below, which I found at Better Homes and Gardens.

I think the pale aqua cabinets with the yellow walls is so happy, especially in a small kitchen.

And although the kitchen below is a little too country-ish for me, I do think the pale blue on the cabinets is pretty. It’s another kitchen from BHG.

I think the blue may be prettiest – to me – when it’s on the lower cabinets only. The helps keep from the color from becoming too much.

Modern beach house has trendy color scheme

I caught a great slideshow of a modern beach house on the Better Homes and Gardens website today and wanted to share a few of the photos with you.

I absolutely love the color scheme – the pinks, aquas, greens and soft blues.

It’s so beautiful.

In this living room, the pale walls and sofa serve as the backdrop for beautiful accessories.

The vibrant art sets the tone for the gorgeous color scheme and the soft pillows.

I love the pink pillow with the design in the corner. Very inspiring.

The colors remain incredibly soft and pretty in the dining room and kitchen as well.

The colors on the wall provide just enough contrast to help the white trim stand out but they remain neutrals.

And I like the way the tone for the room is set as soon as visitors walk through the door.

The rustic, aqua colored bench – accented with matching pillows and a pink throw – makes a pretty vignette.

Want to see more?

Check out the complete beach cottage slideshow at the BHG website.

Yellow and gray continues to be a beautiful trend

A good friend showed me a chair this weekend he’d like to have reupholstered and he’s contemplating a gray and yellow fabric.

That instantly made me think of my last visit to Calico Corners where I saw some absolutely gorgeous gray and yellow combinations.

I didn’t take photos that day but it wasn’t hard to track down some inspiration from Calico Corners and several other places.

Check out the Dwell Studio for Robert Allen collection at right, which includes several grays and celadon colors.

I love these yellow and gray combinations. I think it’s because the fabrics still make wonderful neutral but offer some punch of color.

Below are other Calico Corners collections. At left is what the retailer calls a Mellow Yellow collection, a nice modern look. Below right is the Fioretto Fabric Collection, which is a much more subtle, traditional look.

It’s not just Calico Corners that has embraced the yellow and gray trend.

Check out this beautiful, sophisticated space featured at Better Homes and Gardens. The yellows and grays here are so incredibly soft.

As pretty as the above photo is, you can go so much bolder with both the grays and yellows.

Lean and hang art for an interesting combo

Regular readers know I’m fascinated by well-designed art walls and shelves with frames. And one of the things I’ve discovered makes them interesting is when the art is both leaning and hanging, much like the small vignette below from Better Homes and Gardens.

This technique works great for displaying family photos and Pottery Barn is great at it.

Check out the example below:

By hanging art to the left of the credenza below, Room & Board expanded the art collage that starts with the mirror and frames that are leaning.

Hanging and leaning art means it’s easier to create different levels and tuck in smaller pieces.

Pretty tufted ottomans in all styles

I’ve been recovering a small, simple footstool, which means that ottomans are on my mind.

My project – which I’ll show you in a few days – won’t be tufted.

But I have to admit, I’m wishing now I had tackled a tufted ottoman project.

They are just so beautiful and it’s a skill I have yet to master.

So today, I thought I’d share a few beautiful tufted ottomans. Maybe these will get me all enthused about trying my own!

The striped ottoman at right is such a key piece in this space because the prints pulls the color scheme together.

This is a photo I saw at Better Homes and Gardens.

I love the brown and pink round ottoman below. I saw it at MyHomeIdeas.com and think it’s so pretty. What a great piece to have in a bedroom!

What’s great about the tufted ottoman/bench below is that it includes storage. You can’t beat that!

I saw it at MyHomeIdeas.com as well.

I like the way a tufted ottoman can add just a formal touch to an otherwise casual room.

In the pretty Better Homes and Gardens room below, the blue and white color scheme and slipcovered furniture makes for a beachy feel. But the more formal fabric and the tufting on the coffee table/ottoman keep things from getting too relaxed.