Name: E & D
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Type: 2 Bedroom/rental
Why I use color: We just recently moved from New York City to Los Angeles and we fell in love with the abundant, year round vegetation here. We also live near the ocean. The beautiful water and all of the interesting plants have made us want to bring the outside in, so we've used color to do just that throughout our new place. Color here is a way to connect the gorgeous outside with the less dramatic inside, and an affordable way to do it, at that.
2 Good color tips:
1. Don't be afraid of brighter colors. People often think
bright colors aren't very sophisticated, but they are warm, fun and
bring rooms alive in an instant. So don't be too shy when it comes to
choosing a color.
2. And then there is the old standard of building a room around an
object. In choosing the color for our rooms in this home, we noticed
there was a color pattern in amongst our favorite possesions, and so
we went with it.
2 Good color resources:
1. Nature (in this house, greens, browns and blues play big off the trees, plants, sand and water nearby) and fabric. We've tried to find bright, beautiful prints to use as color inspiration on our windows throughout the place.
2. We've especially looked for fun prints, to make things jump a little (this possibly inspired by a recent trip to Amsterdam, where whimsical color was used with ease).
Nice shade of blue...but aside from that I really don't see any inventive use of colour. I'm also surprised you painted a rental...hopefully the manager doesn't find out!
I love that particular blue and the surprising print on the shades.
Waylon, I think many owners/managers allow painting in rentals as long as the renters paint it back the original color before they move. That's the agreement I've had in all of the places I've lived. Though, they were all small, individual owners and not large company-managed buildings.
Weird, the sink looks more like a bathroom sink than one found in a kitchen.
this is kind of a cath kidston/martha stewart/domino mag trope i'm calling Boho Country. i like it, but i think it's been done better elsewhere in this contest (alicia's portland studio and house have been featured in practically every magazine selling this idea). i am beginning to have had it with that tiffany blue box wall color. it bespeaks shopaholism to me.
don't listen to them. your blue is beautiful.
It's beautiful. I love the blue and the curtains up against it. I also love the black and white of the kitchen sink area. I might cook more if my kitchen looked like this.
But it doesn't really matter whether I love it or whether others say they hate it - you enjoy it - that's all that matters.
I really like the curtains - di you make them?
The kitchen sink does look like a bathroom vanity, but I kind of like it. Not sure how useful it would be for washing dishes but it looks very interesting. The colors are nice, but I'm also not seeing anything more than painted walls. Wish we could see how your furniture and decorations mesh with the color scheme.
I really love that sink/vanity. Where did you get your curtains/fabric? The curtains are an unexpected surprise.
this looks great, but how the hell do you have a porcelain sink/conter area without it getting all chipped up?! metal in the kitchen is the only way to go (or maybe I'm just entirely too accident prone?!)!
This feels very clean and serene to me without being too DWR catalog. I love that black cupboard against the blue. And the shiny shelves.
what is the name of the paint color? i love it.
Liking those cool half shades!
That looks like a vintage farmhouse sink, complete with grooved drainboard. It's beautiful, although I would expect the sink itself to be a bit larger. Did you score it at a flea market, or did it come with the rental? beautiful blue....
It's like your kitchen dressed up like a bathroom for Halloween and I love it.
Very very nice. I love the sink. It does look like a bathroom vanity. Unexpected and neat. Like the shiny shelves too - did you paint those?
I love that this kitchen seems to function like a kitchen but doesn't look like one. Cool.
my grandmom had a kitchen sink like that in her old house. i dig it!!
Oh god another blue room...it's not the blue. It's that shade of blue. Like that's the only blue available. Can you say sheep!
Not quite sheep as they are half way around the world from each other, but I think these two should meet!
Baa! It's E of E & D.
Thanks for all of the feedback- really interesting to get the reactions- helpful and eye opening. I especially found the dressing up the kitchen to look like a bathroom comment interesting- I didn't think of it that way at the time- but now I definitely see what you mean.
The fabric is Marimekko (Kiitos Marimekko in NYC)- half curtains hand made- though not by me. Though I wish by me.
The blue is Jamaican Aqua from Benjamin Moore- and yes- there does seem to be a hell of a lot of this kind of blue going on. . . we chose it b/c we thought it looked good with the trees outside and generally cheered us up. . .but maybe it is making me shop more- we just painted it and this has been a terribly expensive month!
As for the sink- it's a rental- so love it or hate it- it's ours. We're kind of into it. Maybe it allows me to pretend I lived on a farm, which I would prefer to a city. Though the sink isn't so practical- it is different and we have found it charming.
Many thanks for taking the time to post. Sorry we didn't take bigger pics- but the rooms in this old house are tiny- the kitchen is narrow- and so it was hard to shoot.
E & D - I luv this color and the way you've used it. I've read some of the other posts and seem to be hearing a lot of negatives about the use of green and blue. I don't understand this because either you use color or don't and if there are more than 2 contestants who like and use the same color what's the problem? The style is different. I like the pictures you submitted and love your kitchen thanks for sharing! Good Luck!
This is another nice room where I want to say, "great start!" Lovely paint job, nice curtains, but keep going. A great color scheme does involve more that a great wall color. Love your home, though, and you obviously have a good idea of where you're headed.
Thanks for giving the paint brand/color. So many people don't when asked and I see so many beautiful colors I'd consider using if I only knew the name! AARRGG!