I've been mildly obsesssing on emerald green lately. (Ikea sofa, anyone?)
Since my budget is limited to a can of paint, I bought a can of paint. Benjamin Moore's Clover green.
I didn't test any swatches before buying, because I was READY TO PAINT! It was....a little too kelly green.
I brought it back to the store and had them add more color to the can. And then more color again, until they said "this is at saturation, we can't add any more. And the can is full."
I took one of the living room white diptych paintings and painted over it with green.
I also painted the dresser in the foyer, which is impossible to get a good picture of.
So! I love the green dresser, and I love the green painting.
I do not love the green in my living room. It looks very Christmas carnival with all the red and green.
Too many colors! I can't tell you how many times in the past decade I have regretted buying a red leather chair. It has dictated the design choices in every room it has ever been in. If only I had bought it in a nice neutral brown leather. One of the design lessons I have learned is that colorful curtains and pillows are much easier to replace than expensive upholstered furniture.
I exhausted my burst of decorating energy with all that painting. Christmas stays for a few days (only three months till Christmas!), or until I can figure out something else.
Since my budget is limited to a can of paint, I bought a can of paint. Benjamin Moore's Clover green.
I didn't test any swatches before buying, because I was READY TO PAINT! It was....a little too kelly green.
I brought it back to the store and had them add more color to the can. And then more color again, until they said "this is at saturation, we can't add any more. And the can is full."
I took one of the living room white diptych paintings and painted over it with green.
I also painted the dresser in the foyer, which is impossible to get a good picture of.
So! I love the green dresser, and I love the green painting.
I do not love the green in my living room. It looks very Christmas carnival with all the red and green.
Too many colors! I can't tell you how many times in the past decade I have regretted buying a red leather chair. It has dictated the design choices in every room it has ever been in. If only I had bought it in a nice neutral brown leather. One of the design lessons I have learned is that colorful curtains and pillows are much easier to replace than expensive upholstered furniture.
I exhausted my burst of decorating energy with all that painting. Christmas stays for a few days (only three months till Christmas!), or until I can figure out something else.
They seem far enough away from each other--it doesn't scream Christmas to me. I know your not spending money--but more saturated colour in the living room might help? Go look at Jenny Komenda's New York apartment. She was amazing with colour, there. (She still is, it is just that I can't relate to her budget at the house she's living in now.)
ReplyDeleteJenny does use a ton of color, that is for sure.
DeleteI am also loving green at the moment . I saw a painting that was not as busy as yours. it was a white canvas and someone had use a dish mop soaked in green paint to make an interesting a green squiggle on the canvas. It looked fantastic . A lot artier than I would have thought Maybe you could try something similar next time. It added such a great pop of color to the area and also blocked out the beige wall. Have you thought of making a washable slip cover for the chair. I do love the red color, but agree that maybe sometimes a neutral would be nice ( but not brown ever ), I think it just makes the beige more beige.
ReplyDeleteKind Regards
Cathy
I have thought of a slipcover! I don't know that my sewing skills are up to the challenge, and the chair is sort of skinny, not the sort of poufy stuffed chair that tightly holds a slipcover....but it is an option!
DeleteI like the green too- and I bet you could make a slipcover. I have made a slipcover for my couch, and dresses for my kid's American Girl- and the slipcover was easier. The Nester once featured a blogger who wrote an e book about making them and she made it really do-able (though I do love the red chair too, and don't find it too Christmas-y)
DeleteI may give it a whirl, if I can find a pattern.
DeleteLove the green! I once had a dark cobalt blue leather chair to work around, so I understand about your red chair. In the beginning, my blue chair went well with a blue and cream striped sofa, but the sofa was fabric and older, so of course, it didn't last as long as the chair. Blue pillows and other blue touches were my go-to for a while.
ReplyDeleteBlogless Peggy
I would kill for a cobalt blue chair--that must have been lovely!
DeleteWell, I professed my love for the red chair just yesterday, I think. I bought some red shoes last spring. I thought they were totally impractical at the time, but I bought them because I loved them and I wanted some shoes I loved more than shoes that were versatile or practical or sensible. But it is limiting. I'm moving toward being an owner of fewer things I love more. Not sure where I'm going with this comment, just--I'm sure that having things you love is the path. You love color. Keep that green. Not to sound too KonMari, but if the red chair isn't doing it for you any more, maybe let it go? Letting go is the best thing I've learned to do. (You don't have to thank it first when your'e doing it KonRita style.)
ReplyDeleteI answered your second comment on the other post, and yes, I'll be keeping the green, it is pretty. I realized last night that I was shopping new rugs and pillows and neutral chairs as if I were going to have a whole new room, and thought whoa nelly, you just need a chair slipcover (as Peggy suggested above).
DeleteI find that having things I love generally makes them into a neutral--or just that I'm willing to pair them with more things out of my comfort zone? I have a pair of orange and gold and purply-brown earrings that I wear with lots of things that you might not think match. But I like them so much I feel like I'm willing to pretend they work with everything.