Color Pops! From bland to bold

When we moved into our house, we inherited a recently wallpapered living room. Lucky for us, the previous owners chose a lovely herringbone grasscloth.  The grasscloth is left in its natural color of warm beige–very pretty and goes with everything, but totally against my nature! I love color, color, COLOR! I rarely wear clothing in neutral, muted colors, and never shy away from bold patterns.  This post contains affiliate links. Click here to read our full disclosure policy.

You’ll frequently find me in lively pink, blue, and green prints, and I have a penchant for bright orange accessories. Exhibit A: two of my favorite pairs of shoes–a recent pair of Tory Burch espadrilles, and an oldie-but-goodie pair of Kate Spade wedges.

In my younger days, I would often rock cerulean eye liner or vibrant coral lip gloss (in a tasteful way, of course! But for real, don’t underestimate the brightening power of a pop of color on the face!). While I no longer can pull off that makeup spending afternoons at the playground, I still sport shiny neon mani/pedis in all colors of the rainbow to get my cosmetics color fix. But I digress.

So, needless to say, a neutral, natural grasscloth left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. However, I couldn’t bring myself to take it down because I could appreciate the quality and versatility of the grasscloth and really liked the texture of it. But how could I fix my color conundrum?

I should start by explaining that our living room is also our family room. We have a den/small family room off of the living room which we chose to use as a playroom instead. Eventually we will turn the basement into a playroom and repurpose the den into a children’s office of sorts–someplace where they can do homework or art projects or read a book (more on that project in the coming months…stay tuned!!!). But since we don’t have separate family and living rooms, that means our living room has to serve two purposes.

To be totally honest, having one room to serve as our formal living room and casual family room makes me very happy. I know that must sound surprising to many, but I absolutely love my living room! It’s the first room you walk into from the front door, and it sold us on the house from the moment we entered it. It’s a beautifully proportioned and spacious room with tons of charming architectural details original to the house, like a medallion on the ceiling, a pretty embellished staircase with high wainscoting, arched entryways, a fireplace, and crown moldings. When we first walked into that room at the open house, my husband Stew and I looked at each other and read each other’s identical thoughts: Yaaaaaas! I want to live HERE!

For so many, the formal living room is somewhat museum-like–beautiful and preciously decorated, but rarely used and off limits for children. Well, we wanted to LIVE in our living room, and since we use it as a family room too, now we can! But I had to find a way to strike a balance of making it formal enough to serve as a living room–a stylish and beautiful space in which we could entertain guests–while making it comfortable enough to kick up our feet at the end of the day and watch TV, and functional enough that I wouldn’t worry about the kids, well, being kids in it.

I equate it to when my children were toddlers and I had to choose whether or not to wear my beloved cashmere sweaters, white jeans, or dry-clean-only items. Sometimes, against my better judgement, I chose to wear those clothes because they were just too tempting for me to resist. But then I was stressed out by every spill, sticky-fingered hug, or runny nose, and inevitably ended up regretting my choice of attire. As a mom, I simply cannot live like that! I want my kids to know that they can run into my arms whenever they want. But that doesn’t mean I could only wear sweatpants and an old t-shirt! I just had to find clothes that were still stylish, but low maintenance.

The same thought process went into my choices for my living/family room decor. Practicality came first. Exit my visions of tufted linen couches and expensive rugs. Enter the tan performance fabric sectional and neutral carpet that would hide wear and tear well (though I did find one with a pattern I love at least). I took one look at my beige walls, tan couch, and neutral rug and felt deflated.

This is not to say I don’t appreciate the calming beauty of a neutral, monochromatic room…in somebody else’s house. But this was MY house and it didn’t represent me or my family. So I knew I had to bring in some serious color pops.

The first thing I did was find some bright artwork for the walls. Lucky for me, Jillian’s mother in law, Jean Jusko, is a wonderful artist and had some pieces available for purchase. I bought four that spoke to me, had them framed, put them up, and felt better instantly. They are contemporary style paintings with mostly abstract subjects. I personally love the contrast of old and new, and think it looks fabulous when contemporary art is displayed in spaces with traditional architectural details. It looks so fresh, and the old and the new really highlight each other! Here are my two favorites:

These pack a punch, right?! I bought an additional piece in a bold, saturated palette by a different artist for above the fireplace. I intentionally chose something oversized for maximum impact. The artworks all have an array of beautiful, bright colors, but I chose a couple colors that really inspired me (warm coral and cobalt blue) and let those serve as a guide for my other decor choices.

Next, I knew I had to add some color to my tan couch. I am a crazy throw pillow lady and believe that throw pillows can have a huge impact on a room. Despite trial and error, I persevered, and kept mixing and matching and buying and returning until I found a combination that satisfied me (more on that process in an upcoming blog post…stay tuned!). I started first with some pillows in toned down versions of my inspiration colors, muted shades of dusty peach and slate blue, and the result was just meh. I realized that I had to boldly go where Rainbow Brite would go and embrace my affinity for punchy colors. I am not quiet, and neither would my color choices be! So I went with vibrant, saturated hues of coral and blue in fun patterns instead. Now my pillows pop and make me smile!

     

One small change that made a big difference was bringing in white. I chose fabrics for my pillows that all have white in the patterns, put a small white mat around most of the artwork, bought a couple white ceramic accent tables (the one pictured below, as well as this whimsical elephant table), and when I get around to the window treatments (future blog post…stay tuned!), I will most certainly have them be primarily white (with color in the trim, naturally). Using ivory and cream in a room already full of neutrals just felt tired to me and didn’t do the accent colors any justice. Those white elements really give the room a clean and crisp feel, and the coral and blue really stand out against it.

I finished up by bringing in a blue velvet tufted ottoman and bench, as well as a few more neutral chairs, and then added some super vibrant accessories.

Now my living room makes me feel energized, and people always comment that they love how colorful it is. But in truth, the major components of the room are actually not colorful at all. The bonus is that because those components are neutral, someday when my eyes get tired of the bright blues and corals, I can spin the color wheel and change it all up without a total overhaul. Color me happy!