Name: Gretchen
Location: Chicago, IL
Type of Home: Duplex Condo

What inspired you to use color? My furniture tends to be from flea markets, hand-me-downs, craigslist, the alley - you get the idea! Using color seems to help hide imperfections, tie together varying styles of furniture and somehow make inexpensive furniture look better (whether you paint the walls or the furniture itself.)
Color Tip: This may sound funny, but I look at people's coloring. Auburn hair, pale skin & blue eyes equals a great color combo. You can use a brighter version of the combinations, or a muted one. It seems to work most of the time. My office/playroom is a bright version of a combo of my son and me. He has blonde hair (floor and furniture), deep grey blue eyes (walls), and I have light auburn hair (orange accents) and bright blue eyes (blue accents). I like to look through magazines or sit and people watch. What exists in nature always seems to work. Plus, your palette combinations are limitless!
Colors Used: Benjamin Moore Caramel Latte, Bradstreet Beige, Behr Premium Warm Muffin, Flaming Sword, Dark Granite.
Welcome, everyone, to our Fourth Annual Fall Colors Sharing & Contest. We're looking for the most beautiful & colorful home in the world and sharing all of the great ideas we get with our readers. This year we're amping things up and hoping to do things better than ever. There are two basic phases, the Sharing Phase and the Voting Phase...
1. Sharing Phase - you comment, judges decide
The 40 best, completed entries will be posted on a daily basis for three weeks. You can view them all at anytime via our new, improved contest pages under ALL ENTRIES. During this time your comments are VERY IMPORTANT as our six judges will be choosing 16 finalists from each region based on comments and their own colorful opinion.
2. Voting Phase - you vote til you drop
Starting October 20th, finalist voting will begin on a daily basis through our new bracketed voting system, which will pit our 16 finalists against one another until only one remains. Sound exciting? We hope so.
Best, Maxwell
This is gorgeous. I love the mini-chair in the living room. I can only imagine that's there for Buzz Lightyear's owner? Beautiful use of color and I love the mix of modern chic with classic comfortable.
Everything looks so functional!
Good work.
Emily
view Emily Sneds's profile
Gorgeous! I adore your child's room and the mini-Pantonesque chairs. Fabulous job and when can I come visit?! ;-)
view Monica's profile
Please do share were you got the faux bois (did I say that right?) throw from?
Thanks!
view Julia at Living Luxely's profile
Stunning home. Thanks for sharing.
view racheloncegentry's profile
Woah. So beautiful!
view sdb869's profile
i LOVE this - fantastic color. The kid's room is amazing.
view inkstainedwriter's profile
I really dig this space. It gives off a great warm vibe and there are places throughout that illustrate the owner's wry humor.
I really love the "Induce Panic" print playing off the ever popular "Keep Calm" poster. Also plan on borrowing the idea of mounting cans to the underside of a shelf. So clever!
view ksmile's profile
Good color advice.
view Myshkin's profile
Besides just the color, it's such a neatly organized and yet clearly well-used space. I wish my own flea market finds looked so cohesive. And I like your color idea. The trick for me would be to figure out colors that look good on both me and my husband, lol
And yeah, I like the 'Panic' print too.
view whytephoenix's profile
what an awesome home
view hanako66's profile
very nice. seems very relaxing.
view terka27's profile
Beautiful color! I bet it makes the cold seasons feel warmer.
view catrobmar's profile
Thanks for the color advice! :)
Your place is so nice and cozy and practical and full of soul!
view Danijela's profile
Love how the color flows from the livingroom to the stairs to the kids room. Nice job. Looks great but homey as well. Good eye.
view bernoulli's profile
The color in your living room is warm and welcoming. Love the use of pillows and throws. Where did you find the exact color to accent the walls?
The shade in the workroom/playroom is very calming despite the panic sign. Great way to accent using kid's toys, playdough cans, etc. Love the dinosaur.
No need to explain your flea market and alley finds--did an awesome job camouflaging them.
view sunnidays's profile
Thanks for the nice comments. The induce panic sign was a joke and will stay up until my son figures out what it says. Don't want to traumatize him. I made it after I got tired of seeing the Stay Calm poster everywhere (which I adored at first due to it's simplicity. I'm a type junkie.) Julia the throw on the couch is actually a twin bedspread from Target. I think they're still available online if you search under Sami Hayek Wood Grain. It's brown on one side and tan on the other. It washes easily too - a necessity with a 4 year old in the house! By the way the cans on the shelves are Trader Joe's coffee cans - I'm a caffeine junkie as well. Thanks again for the compliments. Have fun with the contest.
view greta's profile
Wow, this is my favorite so far. High and Low is the most sophisticated combo in my opinion and this is so right on. My husband Jonathan and I entered this contest as well,( we are from Evanston. ) After my husband saw this he said, "they look so cool, stylistically we could be friends!" I love your kids room so much, where did you find those great red wood storage bins for toys? Toy storage, my god, it's like trying to hold back a lava flow!! You did a fantastic job and I am totally rooting for you!
view ilovestuff's profile
Thanks Greta!!!
view Julia at Living Luxely's profile
Kristen - The red toy bins were clearance items at Target several years ago. I now wish I had bought 4 instead of 2 (to better contain the lava flow!) I think they were knockoffs of something available at Land of Nod. Thanks so much for the wonderful comment - it made my day!
view greta's profile
Gretchen - this is amazing! I love it! Your colors are so cool and work so well together. And all the organization you've got going on... so awesome!!
Good luck with the contest... you've definitely got my vote!
view groovyjen's profile
Hey Gretchen thanks for the really kind words.
haha the lamp came out of necessity as I don't have a light/vent above my stove...it was one of those accidental, purely utilitarian moves that ends up looking fun.
I'd love to be a kid growing up in your home...bold color choices and a worthy opponent.
Good Luck!
Jesse
view JesseRyan's profile
I love the area set aside for the Rock and Roll Kids Band. Functional, yet hip, like the band itself.
view loubrock's profile
Great combination of colors!
Kathy K
Buffalo
view kathy44's profile
Gretchen,
The color on the ancient Buffalo banner is great! Nice ballet poster too!
view pasimons123's profile
I don't think this place should have been eliminated so early. It's a shame the way voting turns out that there are 16 entrants on Wednesday, 8 of whom will get to go ahead, and none by far as strong as this entrant. I have not caught all the way up looking at every semi-finalist, but having seen many I'd call adequate entrants, along with quite a few mind-bogglers, I am disappointed that Gretchen will not make it to the prize round.
I'm sorry Gretchen! You have a great place! I really feel like you have such a sense of style and color and arrangement. This is a nice, warm, homey example of how to put it together. It looks effortless and charming and bright.
view K T G's profile
Thanks KTG.
view greta's profile
hey, i love stuff - those bins (or similar to them) are on sale at pier 1 http://www.pier1.com/TopMenu/Products/tabid/260/Default.aspx?task=viewproduct&id=932&urlname=multi-bin-farmhouse-brown
view zoo's profile
Gretchen, LOOOOVE what you've done with the place. I didn't recognize it at first, then Amy saw the fireplace. You've got a great mix of old and new and the colors are a great backdrop for your unique pieces. All respect to the guy from Dallas, but I think this is way better.
-Mike
view Morgante's profile