BLOG - October 1, 2011 - October 31, 2011

Saturday was pretty bleak. Snow in October!!! I found myself missing the sun and dreading those long grey winter days. No color evokes happiness and sunshine quite like yellow.

Bored and stuck indoors I decided to organize some interior (and exterior shots) that show unique uses of the color yellow.  Directly below on the left is an image that shows grey upholstered walls with a yellow leather chair. I love how they covered the top of the desk in a coordinating yellow leather.  Below right is from Elle Decor. I have cropped it here to show the unexpected use of saffron yellow for the window treatments.

Above Clockwise From Top Left: Decor Pad, Elle Decor, Country Living, Decor Pad, Unknown

As you can see from the images above, yellow goes with practically any color. Red, black, blue, orange, and grey.

Above Clockwise from Top Left: Elle Decor, Unknown,

Above by Ann Nicholson from Country Living

If you are looking to add a little pop of yellow to your home, look no further. Here are some easy ways to brighten your abode.

And finally a few more yellow based inspirations....

Above: Clockwise from Top: Merriment Events, Favim.com, Danielle Nelson Mourning from here, Irving Penn's Gingkos.

Earlier this week in my kitchen post I included the above photograph of a Thomas Britt designed apartment from Harpers Bazaar and I have not been able to get that image out of my mind since.  I'm crazy for this color.  From the second I saw it in the magazine 2 months ago that color has been on my mind.  I typically don't gravitate to these colors, I'm more of an earth tone type.  I joke that I like ugly colors, deep oranges, moss green, browns etc.  For me this is a color that can go really wrong really fast.  Think bad florida condo kind of thing.   In searching around I actually found it quite difficult to find images where I thought the color really worked.  I did find quite a few that I loved though.  Below are my favorites! Enjoy xo

This is from House of Turquoise; room by Magnus Anesund.   

A bit preppier than I tend to like but I love the turquoise and chocolate together and can even get into this Toile.  I love the light though, some people may have shied away from using a turquoise light with that paper on the walls, but I like it.

Turquoise for outdoor furniture is a bit unexpected, I tend to love adding some color outside.  This is a house Lynn Morgan did in CT 

Not sure who took this picture but I love anything indian and am crazy for this photo.  The color combinations are always so vibrant, it makes me happy just looking at this.   

This is another image of a house India.  I don't know who its by, but its so simple and beautiful  Once again these unexpected colors work together.

This is Minnie Mortimer's closet from vogue.com.  Love adding a pop of color to a closet or bathroom if you don't want to commit to a big space.

The Avalon Hotel designed by Kelly Wearstler.  This goes a bit more green, but still in the same family.

The Viceroy Miami also designed by Kelly Wearstler

I died when I saw this bed in Vogue a few months ago have been dreaming of this bed since.  Never met a canopy I didn't like and the embroidery is just next level.  I LOVE it.

Crazy for the doors on this house in Turks and Caicos and love it with the black striped chairs.  Not sure I would have used that modern furniture, probably would just have kept it all in the style of the striped chairs, but either way it very pretty.  This is also from House of Turquoise.

This is Oscar De La Renta's house in the Domincan Republic.

I am contemplating a bit of a do-it-yourself project this weekend: painting wide horizontal stripes in my guest bedroom.  The goal here is to liven up the room without breaking the bank. A bit of inspiration before diving in....

The dress on the top left is by Minnie Mortimer, hat:unknown, interior shot unknown, dress on bottom left is by free people, paint swatches are Benjamin Moore Simply White on Left and Balboa Mist on right and the background is Farrow and Ball Wallpaper.

After doing quite a bit of research online and scouring inspiration images, I stumbled across Emily Clark's blog. She gives excellent instructions, including what not to do, and I am hopeful I will be able to pull this off! One of my concerns is that the bedroom in question has a narrow entry hall (corners!) and a sofit running across a long wall near the ceiling. This means that I am going to have to be very careful with the placement of the lines and really plan my strategy ahead of time.

The following two images are from Emily Clark's room before and after. Doesn't it make such a difference?! I love how such a simple technique adds a level of sophistication. This is exactly what I am hoping to achieve in my own home.

Another useful source was the blog Young House Love. If you are contemplating any do-it-yourself project, I highly recommend them as a great source.

 Below are a few great images of striped walls, both vertical and horizontal.  Elle Decor has a great gallery of images for striped walls. Some of them are shown below as well as some others I found along the way. Enjoy!

Elle Decor Above

Elle Decor.

Here the designer has used a gorgeous Black and White Clarence House silk stripe. I have long admired this fabric and think this is such a great application! I am glad to see that someone found a place for it!

The above image is from Elle Decor as well and is perhaps my very favorite of the bunch. This Pierre Frey fabric on the walls is to die for.

^{From Here}

^{Below Tori Mellot's Often Photographed Chic Manhattan Apartment}

And Jenna Lyon's nursery below.

An Eric Cohler designed shower above

From Shelter Pop

From Shelter Pop

From Here

Source Unknown