HUEmor me: decorating with green

Folks are buzzing about green home products and green decorating these days. This is all good stuff, but this post is about the COLOR green. Green is always a fresh color and ranges from pale sage greens to vibrant, lime green. Look around outside and you'll see every shade of green imaginable. The combination possibilities are unlimited and that's good because I'd hate to see you limit yourself!

The yellow green on the walls of this living room are balanced by the white wood work and furnishings and the beautiful wood floors and rug. Notice that they varied the value (lightness and darkness) of the green in the room by adding darker plants. The pops of orange keep the space interesting. Lovely! (Tuck the rug under the sofa and the room is complete.)

You don't have to paint your walls to bring color into your room. The lamp and accessories on this table are a great way to introduce a little bit of a color. Grouping the green items together provides a greater impact. Yellow, orange and brown pair nicely with the green.

This photo is from a spread from the June '09 issue of Living magazine (it was also the cover image). It's been sitting on my desk for months just waiting for this green post! I pieced it together on the scanner, hence the seam down the middle. Why the love? The mix of greens against the wood paneled walls and white furnishings is striking. The green on the skateboard and the green view from outside complete the space. Notice the pillows on the sofa? Varying values of green! Large-scaled patterns on the pillows and a smaller-scale pattern on the rug help create a great mix all around—all without paint.

If this soft green kitchen doesn't make you want to cook, what would? The light hued cabinets, the herbs and plants and the green cafe curtains all bring peace and calm to this space. Green doesn't have to be bold to be inviting!

This bold, green bed frame is balanced nicely by the brown bed linens, lamp and rolled towels. The striped bench compliments the green and the bedding pattern. The soft green walls provide high contrast to the room, which adds visual interest. There are two things I would change in this room. I would hang larger art or more smaller art over the bed and add fabric window panels to the windows. These would complete this traditional room with a green twist!

Here's a room you won't soon forget! Like the room or not, the color values are right on and the pop of orange with the green and violet creates a lovely triad color combination. The walls and other details could use some finessing, but we'll focus on the color.

Are you seeing a pattern yet? Green with orange, brown and white/cream are popular with me! This room adds color through paint, but without painting the entire room. The paneling on the lower portion of the walls add architectural interest to the room. The varying wood textures are great and the art is a nice size. My only wish is that they painted the ceiling one shade lighter than the walls. A girl can dream, right?

A few of my favorite green color pairings
(aside from what's shown here)
Green & yellow * Light green & light blue * Green, white & black * Green & red (they are complimentary colors, keep the values similar and it'll look great) * Green & pink and brown

Ballard Designs' Devon lamp
Shiny, happy & green lamp with textured lamp shade

Are you green with envy? Don't be! Add some green to your rooms in a small way (a grouping of accessories, art or a lamp) or, in a big way (paint all walls & ceiling) and sit back and enjoy the view!

What are you favorite green pairings? Leave a comment. It'll make me happy!

reduce + reuse + recycle = redesign!

I'm not one to jump on the bandwagon, so the fact that I provide redesign services and redesign is GREEN, does not mean I'm going green to be cool. Really. It's just a lovely coincidence that redesign is green and green is overly hip (and important) right now. Yipee for redesign!

On that note, I'd love to share my first redesign of the year. For this wonderful client, we used only what the family had in the house to recreate their best space. Take a peek.

family room before
(note the great built ins and window seat!)
family room after
(we created a conversation area, better showcased her treasures on the bookcases,
opened up the doorway, and added a hidden storage area behind the sofa!)
front corner before
(nobody sat in this chair because it was separate from the main seating area)

front corner after
(the tele is visible from all seating and doesn't block the door anymore)

fireplace before
(great focal point, but it needed some color and jazz)

fireplace after

(now with colorful art and visual interest)

a few more afters...

A few ideas for future updates include painting the walls a warmer, slightly darker yellow, adding new throw pillows and a blanket for an instant update, maybe adding a very large piece of art behind the sofa, replacing lampshades with colorful shades and adding a round coffee table to the room.

I always offer these suggestions with the note that rooms evolve over time and if you like your foundation and know what to look for in future purchases, you are in great shape. Now sit back and enjoy.

Green light - 2009 could be the turning point for eco-friendly trends

The following is from Green light, 2009 could be the turning point for eco-friendly trends, an article published in The Baltimore Sun, Dec. 28, 2008 (and I'm not sure why it took me this long to post it?!), written by Andrea Siegel.

I got a word in on redesign...

"Natural and repurposed goods
Interior decorators are seeing a surge in natural materials, which feel more luxurious than in the past, and vintage furnishings.

For the former, think beyond grasscloth to soft fabrics from wood pulp, eco-silk and bamboo, and rugs of wool over natural flooring. From natural fiber rug tiles to organic bedding to no-formaldehyde cabinets, the desire for goods that don't off-gas is increasing, merchants said.

Issues over the other kind of green is turning attention toward recessionary living.

People are "doing a redesign, but they are using things they already have," said April Force Pardoe, an interior decorator who owns AFP Interiors in Elkridge. "There is a lot of reuse going on."

Decorators are seeing more people determined to make improved use of their space while shopping in their attic, in the next room, at consignment and second-hand shops."

Click here to read the full article.

Going GREEN never looked so good

before redesign

Let me start by saying that I believe recycling is important, and not just because it's cool and hip right now. I like doing my part to help better the environment, but enough already with ALL of the articles and publications focusing on "going green." Seems every magazine that I subscribe to has had a "green" issue lately. I'm kinda feeling "green- schmean" (pronounced sh-MEAN).

after redesign

Imagine my surprise and dismay when I realized that one of my main design services, redesign, is a GREEN service. Yep, right there on my website I'm "going green" with redesign. I should be happy because redesign is a GREAT service, offering amazing results for little to no money. I realize that not everyone knows about redesign or understands it, so an obvious way to peak people's interest in it is by jumping on the "green" bandwagon. I'm not typically a joiner, but here I am joining.

Go "green" with redesign.

before redesign

after redesign

Here's how it works, in a nutshell. If you don't like a room in your house, you just can't get it "right," and have tried everything, instead of buying all new furnishing you schedule a redesign and we come in, clear out your room and reload it with your stuff (RECYCLING) and create a NEW room. Wow. Isn't "green" great?

before redesign

after redesign

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. This room produced very happy and "green" homeowners, much to my delight and "green-schmean" dismay!