Cherish Toronto: Accent colour

Showing posts with label Accent colour. Show all posts

Monday, March 7, 2011

Intro to Design Maze

This is the living room of fellow Toronto design blogger Tim Lam, who writes Design Maze. I love the way Tim uses slipcovers and pillows in colourful fabrics to add a sense of the season to his space. On March 17th, his entire condo will be featured on CBC's Steven & Chris, or for more immediate gratification, visit the Design Maze blog and website.

Welcome to the Toronto design blogging community, Tim!!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Project Pantone: Colour Transformation

I believe I've set a personal best on this one - this project moved from concept to completion in just under two weeks! I first tweeted about my inspiration on the morning of January 4th:

I opened up the Benjamin Moore colour fan decks and immediately decided that I would paint my living room accent walls Springtime Bloom (2079-40). It's a beautiful shade of pink:

Things got pretty exciting when I remembered a fantastic fabric swatch I'd seen at Designer Fabrics almost one year ago. Knowing that I loved this bold print, I headed out on a slushy, snowy Saturday to purchase enough yardage for two toss cushions, plus another yard of a coordinating solid fabric. I spent Sunday afternoon sewing, and Phase One was soon complete:

Cushions sewn, I went back to the drawing board with the fan decks to search for an alternate pink. Springtime Bloom just wasn't the right shade to work with my chosen fabric. The best way to select a paint colour is by pulling colours from a great print, as opposed to the other way around:

After several days of dithering, I finally settled on two new colours. Spring Tulips for the coffee table base and Flamingo's Dream for the accent walls:

I chose to use Benjamin Moore Aura paint for the coffee table base since the strong colour would cover in two coats with the low VOC Aura, rather than three or four coats. When it comes to DIY projects, I'm all about getting the job done as quickly as possible.

I raised the table off the floor by placing the base on plastic containers. This made it easier to paint almost all the way to the bottom. I flipped it over afterward to do touch ups.

I spent a bitterly cold Sunday afternoon indoors applying paint to the walls, which isn't my favourite thing to do, but once I started, there was no turning back. This was my mid-afternoon freak out:

Now for the colour reveal. Drumroll please...

Now & Then

Project Cost Tally:

Fabric & Notions: $59.70
Paint & Supplies: $124.61
Labour: Me=Free
Total Spent: $184.31

What do you think of the new colour? Be honest!!

All photos by Pamela Graham for Cherish Toronto.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Visions of Honeysuckle Dancing in my Head

I'm dishing out a few hints about what I've got up my sleeve for my next decorating project. It may have taken root in my brain after seeing this year's Pantone Colour of the Year: Honeysuckle.

And the idea may have found its legs when I shuffled through a Benjamin Moore fan deck and discovered so many pretty shades of pink:

Of course, these are strong accent colours, and they'll need to work with my core brown and tan upholstered furniture pieces. This print should help to pull everything together:

Pink living room walls is a bold idea, and there is a possibility that I'll chicken out at the paint store. Stay tuned to see if I follow through!!!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Yellow Decor: Use Sparingly

The temperature in Toronto today is -13 degrees Celsius, making it one of the coldest days of the season so far. In an effort to counteract the cold, I'm thinking about sunny yellow to warm up the day!! Decorating with yellow can be difficult, since it's such a strong colour it can be dizzying if overused. But as an accent with grey, blue, black or white, yellow can look just right!!

Eye catching, all the way from the curb.

Home of Designer Ann Nicholson
via Country Living Magazine