Denise I have always had white walls in the livingroom...but now I have a very pale lemon painted walls, with one opposite feature wall with deep red wallpaper... I have 2 claret /burgundy leather sofas..with a light beige carpet and Latte coloured drapes ...a large white fireplace and mantle with a large white framed mirror over it which opens up the room , and a lot of table lamps . When I last redecorated the room about 4 or 5 years ago first I chose table lamps with cream and burgundy shades...and cushions also in claret/burgundy and even ornaments in claret to match the leather sofas ..but I felt it made the room look too dark...so recently I've brought it to light more by exchanging the burgundy accessories.. for silver and crystal and glass ornaments...and the cushions for pale green...and the lamp shades for cream and pale green ..and also for Black and white...and it works really well. I'm not a minimalist as you can see ) LOL This is just a tiny corner (alcove area) in my livingroom where I've mixed and matched black and white with a little colour to warm it up However I know you said you have to have white walls, so all your colour will have to come from accessories and drapes ...remember if you have a small room to make good use of Mirrors..and remember blues and greens are cold colours so if you want a warm environment choose the opposite spectrum..and vice versa... If you want a cool feeling environment, you might look at black and white with a touch of colour in your accessories..to bring it to life...or simply leave it minimalist and have one sideboard shelving unit like this ( from google images) to add a little colour to the minimalist effect and warm the room up...
I think these are lovely, the colors are what I was searching for, the homes are neat, especially the "cabin" like, or sort of rustic designs in the one photos:
I love your taste Holly, and when you mentioned the lamps, I love the lighting I see when I'm searching, and lamps are so homey. I love the sound of light lemon color too. And Latte drapes!! Mirrors for a small place I know about, and I saw one in Tanya's apt I fell in love with, it looked something like this, although not the exact green, but on the white wall it was so pretty:
Oh, and @Holly Saunders fragrance is so important, not too strong, but my faves seem to be a lavendar/vanilla mix. I want candles mostly. I had a friend that always kept a bowl full of scented tea candles, and her small apartment smelled heavenly!!
Beautiful choices! I especially like the first blue, but even more, the purple/lilac/lavender... my all-time favorite! I say go with whatever makes you feel happy and at ease. Just don't do what I did a few years ago... I followed "the trend" that happened to be "bright and vivid" and now I have a hideous stairway (reddish/maroon, very popular at the time) AND spare room upstairs that's very bright blue... ugh! Haven't gotten around to changing it yet but it's NOT very pleasant.
I see as I check out the earthtones as well @Patsy Faye that my furniture will remain earthtones I'm sure. Most of my furniture will be second-hand too. But a few pieces I may refinish and paint a color, for contrast. But there are also colors considered earthtones I can use as well. Southwestern is a scheme I seem to be drawn to, but I am a bit eclectic too so I don't want all one scheme at all I love the taupes, and here are a few Southwestern color schemes I may include: Love the colors in this one, heck, love the house, but not likely I'll end up in a place like that
LOL, I hear you @Mari North and know I would tire of too bright. But hey, you tried it out!! I'd say that is better than not going for it, especially when you can change it later
Yep... problem is that going from gaggy dark to something much lighter isn't nearly as easy as the other way around.
Any of you ever look into a home and see amazing lighting that just warms your soul?? I see homes like that, especially if I am walking at dusk or so, and people have their shades open. I love lighting, and getting ideas from other's tastes in it. Let's see if I can find a photo of something I love. I have two, gigantic picture windows in my tiny place I can put up maybe beige curtains, but my bedroom window no one can see into, I'm on top floor, and I don't want to cover up the view, day or night:
No, it wouldn't be, didn't think of that. Well, there's always wallpaper And maybe you wouldn't even have to cover it all, just something lighter for contrast??
Good idea, yes. Thank you. The walls are... textured in that particular room... is that the term? So wallpaper is probably not a good choice, but I'm really not a handygal when it comes to things like that, so maybe there's an easy way to "un-texture" it. Hehe Denise, are you laughing at my incompetence???!!!!
Speak of trends, I really don't care for that "sort of" retro 70s look. All the stripes and polka dots?? Not sure if that considered 70s. Like this photo, I guess a lot of people love this, and I've seen The Property Brothers do a lot of it:
Mine is not this big, but Tanya gave me a Wandering Jew as I didn't have not one plant. I haven't kept them since the 80s/90s but would like just a few. I don't care for too many plants. Some of my faves are in the second and third photo Hmm, what does this tell you, I think I need more colors, LOL!! Expand my taste
Hey @Mari North here's a link that might help if/when you decide to change that dark. Notice the part of "textured" especially: http://homeguides.sfgate.com/paint-light-color-over-dark-color-35583.html this looks neat for one idea to lighten an area with too dark a wall and I'm looking mostly at the picture: