Feeling Blue

I have a confession to make. I have never liked blue in decorating. Oh, I wear blue, and it’s cute in my little boy’s room, but whenever I saw blue in a living space, I just didn’t love it. Perhaps it’s because my parent’s house was blue for many years (every room, mind you!) but for whatever reason, it was just not something that spoke to me. My family room/kitchen area is neutrals and cream with pops of red, and it has been like that for quite awhile now. Red toile curtains, red toile chairs, red checked roman shade and a few red striped and/or floral pillows on the cream couches. And I have always loved it. It is fresh and cheerful, and it looks great at Christmas. That is, I loved it until recently. I don’t know what happened, but I sort of woke up one day and thought, “I cannot look at this red for one more day!” I know blue is a huge trend in decorating. And of course, I’ve been seeing a ton of it; in blogs, in catalogs, on websites and on Pinterest. But I’ve certainly seen trends I didn’t follow before. And I’ve certainly seen blue photos that never spoke to me before. But now…..

It kind of started when I was searching for new red toile pillows for the couches (the ones I have are falling apart). I found the perfect fabric and was all ready to order them, when I started to wonder why I was about to plunk down money on pillows in a color I’m wanting to move away from! But I kept talking myself out of it, thinking I shouldn’t spend the money or that there was too much to change. But then I started to think, this is the room I/we spend the most time in. I am literally in here almost all day; working, cooking, watching TV, hanging with the kids, etc. So shouldn’t I love the room I spend the most time in? So, I’m doing it. It may take awhile, but I am determined to move out of the red and into the BLUE! This is the photo that I fell in love with! (and it’s not even new… it’s from designer Dan Carithers house years ago). Don’t care! I am in love!

I love the gray/blue tone, especially with the dark woods

And this is a photo from the great Joni Webb’s breakfast room. I absolutely fell in love with her blue transferware. I have been collecting brown transferware for years, but had never felt drawn to the blue.

I just love the pale, almost gray/blue color.

I don’t want to change the style of my room, just the accent color. And the more I thought about it, I realized, it’s not that complicated. I already have neutral/cream couches so there all I have to change is some pillows. I got rid of every red accessory I had last year (I guess the itch was already starting?!) So really, the big things are the curtains, the two chairs, and the roman shade in the adjacent kitchen. I’ve decided I will just take down the window coverings and live without for awhile if I have to, which leaves just re-covering two chairs! Not too bad, right?

Here is my family room today….

 

 

 

 

 

I still love toile, and stripes, and checks. So I’m going to do cream curtains and look for some pale blue toiles and/or stripes with which to cover the chairs and throw in some accent pillows. Something like this:

 

 

 

 

 

This is a very grayish blue, but I like it

 

This one is a little brighter blue than I will probably go, but I like the idea of the blue just being in the pillows and a few accessories

The big blue trend that is happening right now seems to be very crisp, clean navy blue. More of a “beachy” look. And I like that too, but I think the French, pale blue is more me. I may even go a little grayish-blue. Just a “blue” version of what I already have!

I’m going fabric shopping this week, and have already been to Home Goods to get a few blue inspiration pieces (couldn’t resist). And I did buy my first piece of blue transferware on Etsy.

I love the pale grayish blue of it…..

Can’t wait to see it when it’s all done. I have had this red sooo long, I just need a change. And I know it’s right, because I feel so energized and excited at the thought!! I will post some photos when I have it all finished….

Sheila
xo