A quick change of textiles is the fastest way to brighten up your home for spring and summer. Just swap out the rich dark colours of cosy nesting season for light and lively prints in clear pastels. I like this selection of coodinating prints, new at IKEA, for the clarity of the colours — these cushions and drapes are printed in pale pastels, yes, but there’s nothing of the baby about the bold nature-inspired prints in clear tones of rose and soft sage green on a crisp white ground.

If you’ve been following along with “Educator” Dan’s home renovation adventures, you’ll know why I keep threatening to drag him out east here and put him to work at my house: This man knows his way around a sheet of drywall — and now, as it turns out, he’s got a bit of a decorating streak in him too! But we’ll let Dan tell the story. Enjoy! ~ Jen

Colour Coordination – Enter The Rug

How important is a rug on top of wood flooring? Does it really make a difference in the ambiance and aesthetics of the room? Is beauty really in the eye of the beholder?

During the summer of 2007, we purchased a 20-year-old house with the intention of undergoing major renovations in every part of the home, family room included. We previously wrote an article entitled Home Renovation Tip – Color / Colour Coordination – Critical in which we described the renovation of our family room, as well as providing before and after pictures of the renovation.

The renovation saw the replacement of old light blue carpet with dark hardwood flooring, installation of recessed lighting in the ceiling, covering of the top portion of the floor to ceiling fireplace with fire-retardant drywall, the painting of the fireplace’s remaining brick with a medium beige to complement the cabinetry in the adjoining kitchen, and a complete repainting of the room in an earth forest green.

These colours brought the forest adjacent to the back of the home into the house, visually speaking of course, through the 5-foot-tall windows on the south wall of the family room.

Here is a picture of the renovated family room.

But, what about the flooring?

For some people’s tastes, so much dark hardwood is too much without a rug somewhere on the floor to break up and even enhance the look of the flooring.

For us, the issue was more about the television.

My wife goes to bed much earlier than I. During those times when I am not on the computer writing on our blog about our continuing home renovation experiences I am likely to be in the family room watching a comedy or action movie, both of which can get pretty loud. So, placing a rug somewhere on the hardwood floor would, in theory, act as a noise dampener.

But, what about the aesthetics? What type of rug would one acquire? Should it be complementary or contrasting to the existing colours in the room? And, what about the price?

Below is what the renovated family room now looks like with the rug.

We went with a complementary colour scheme for the rug. Notice how it appears to be the same or very similar shade to the paint used on the remaining brick of the fireplace with hints of darker brown to complement the hardwood flooring.

As well, it looks like the rug is centered in the room, right? Nope. Actually, it is placed 4 to 5 inches more to the left of the fireplace than to its right. However, by placing the run under the front of the couch and having the coffee table on top of the rug corner beside the couch, it gives the appearance that the rug is actually centered.

Which appearance to you prefer? Why? Would you have gone with the same or similar complementary colour or would you have gone with a contrasting colour?

As far as the price? Well, the rug’s dimensions approximate 10 feet by 6 ½ feet. Would you believe all of $89.99. From where? Would you believe….Costco! And, would you believe that it is an indoor / outdoor rug! Talk about bringing the outside into the house.

For more of Dan’s ongoing home renovation experiences, including the increasing efforts to reduce his home’s consumption of non-renewable resources as part of our home renovation efforts, simply visit Dan’s web site, Daily Home Renovation Tips.

This beautifully retro Prisma Stripe in Moss Green is the signature design for Bemz’s new Metropolis collection of slipcovers designed to breathe a whole new life into your old IKEA furniture — or to give your personal touch to out-of-the-box new IKEA.

Warm, luminous gold tones and cool, winter hues of blue and green are paired with earth neutral colours to evoke memories of classic Scandinavian design during the 1950/60´s.

“Metropolis lets you add warm, stimulating colors that sooth emotions and satisfy our craving for warmth and security,” says Bemz founder Lesley Pennington. “Of course, we don’t all have the luxury of curling up and hibernating the winter away, so you can inject some cool colors in those rooms where you want to project a tranquil tone to focus your thoughts. Meanwhile, our beautiful Zinc Grey, fabulous Sybary-Espresso and textured Sprezzatura in Old Gold/Brown are just the ticket for a cozy look.”

I’ve written about Bemz before, I know, but it bears repeating — how iconic can frugal home fashion get? Start with IKEA and update it with stylish (and washable) custom slipcovers. These guys even do slipcovers to fit most models of IKEA chairs and sofas, and even some of IKEA’s more popular discontinued styles.

Technorati Tags: IKEA, furniture, slipcovers

Holiday entertaining can get a tad complicated, when you’re rushing about to find chairs for all the drop-in guests.

I say, just park all the young’uns on a cluster of happy-coloured floor cushions, and let them sprawl in comfort!

Auto has a great selection of cubes and poufs and floor cushions and beanbags — lots to mix and match — including my favourites, these Dahlia Rainbow floor cushions from the Missoni Garden Collection.

Is it just me, or do these remind you of a 1960s hatbox?

The 100% acrylic covers are removable for cleaning, which I think you’ll agree is pretty much essential in fabric furnishing that you put on the floor!

What I like best about these, however — besides the fab mod prints — is a structured shape that means tidy stacking for storage when the cushions aren’t in use, and that handy patent leather handle for toting them about as needed.

If you’re in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Greece, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden or the United Kingdom, you’re in luck: all the luxe textures and subtle warm gold tones of Zara Home‘s “ethnic” linens and accessories could be yours.

For the rest of us, it’s pure decor inspiration with a hint of Sheik of Araby fantasy-romance.

Craft projects or decor, wardrobe planning, website design, or even landscape and garden planning — whatever you create, much of your success will depend on an attractive colour palette that has balance and harmony.

There are lots of fun colour scheme tools online, but only one that I count as an essential colour planning utility, coming back to it time and time again for design inspiration — Pic2Color.

Go on…. give it a try!
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What makes Pic2Color different from most color-picking tools is one simple trick. You give it the URL of a picture, or browse your computer for a saved photo, or just let the tool pick one at random and see what happens…. Pic2Color will create a colour scheme for you, using the hues of that image.

It can be all too easy to get stuck in a “decorating rut” and do the same old comfortable thing each time you redecorate a room… or in any other visually creative activity, for that matter.

The best way I’ve found to jolt yourself out of that comfort zone, to open up to new ideas and new looks? Play with colours!

More specifically, put together an idea board of images in a colour (or group of colours) that you don’t see very much, when you look around your home or into your closet…

Chocolate and lime, for example, is not a colour combination you’ll find in my old house.

But today — inspired by the cover of John Loecke’s new book on Grosgrain Style — I’m going for it, seeking out inspiring images in that trendy chocolate brown and lime green combo, and putting them up on my idea board to see how it feels…

One interesting thing you’ll notice is highlighted by this little creative exercise — “lime green” can be interpreted in a great many different ways.

From an eye-popping bright fluorescent green…

To a pleasant mid-range green with a yellow tint…

To the colour of the striking Gia lime table lamp (with chocolate brown lampshade, above) — now, what do you say? Maybe more of a Benjamin Moore key lime colour there, almost a celadon?

We can all agree on the particular deep rich brown that’s reminiscent of a dark true chocolate — more or less — but what colour do you see in your mind’s eye, when someone says “lime green”?

Technorati Tags: colors, decorating, ideas

Two of the hottest trends for a modern kitchen makeover are continuing to gain ground, partly because a sleek techno-industrial style is the perfect place to splash out with those vibrant high-fashion colours that give such life to a decorating scheme — lime green, cobalt blue, burnt orange — without taking it over the top…

And what are those must-have items for a contemporary kitchen? Stainless steel — think commercial-style appliances in a brushed metal finish — and a crisp tile backsplash or accent strip, preferably in a horizontal subway tile rather than the traditional squares.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to take that urban-contemporary kitchen decor to the ultimate conclusion, with a backsplash made of stainless steel subway tiles?

In a small space, the look would be clean and cool with an emphasis on pure function, very hip, but you’d definitely want to go with stainless steel appliances.

In a larger kitchen, where an unbroken line of sight is less critical, you could stick with the traditional white appliances or do a custom colour, then use the stainless steel subway tiles on the walls all the way around. The metal tiles can quickly and easily update the decor as they serve to bring the different elements of the kitchen together.

You could even think about siding an island or wheeled butcher-block utility cart with stainless steel, either in a flat brushed-metal laminate (Formica makes a nice version) or in the stainless steel tiles.

And what about the rest of the kitchen decor?

Some of the modern-style kitchens that we’re seeing the North American builders installing in new homes, by default, seem to be more conservative — a tinted white paint on the walls, for example — which may appeal to the masses but doesn’t do justice to the full beauty of stainless steel.

Stainless steel almost begs for eye-popping bright colours to set it off in proper style, or else for the interesting contrast of warm traditional wood cabinetry, sparked with just a touch of accent colour that’s brought into the decor with a selection of easy-to-change accessories and kitchen linens.

European Decor Style meets the Virtual Kitchen —
I won’t waste your time describing all the kitchen planning goodies to be found at ALNO (UK branch), and the slightly different tools at ALNO USA… you’ll want to go play around with them yourself. Some are available for download, so you can plan your kitchen offline, too.

Myself, I just had loads of fun with selecting a kitchen layout and cabinet style, then changing the colors and finishes with the Kitchen Planning Colour Configurator. See, here’s a pretty picture —