Midwest #33: Gretchen's Color Combos

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

- To Contest Page & All Entries -

Comments (27)

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

Gorgeous! I adore your child's room and the mini-Pantonesque chairs. Fabulous job and when can I come visit?! ;-)

Please do share were you got the faux bois (did I say that right?) throw from?

Thanks!

Stunning home. Thanks for sharing.

Woah. So beautiful!

i LOVE this - fantastic color. The kid's room is amazing.

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!

Good color advice.

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.

what an awesome home

very nice. seems very relaxing.

Beautiful color! I bet it makes the cold seasons feel warmer.

Thanks for the color advice! :)
Your place is so nice and cozy and practical and full of soul!

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.

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.

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.

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!

Thanks Greta!!!

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!

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!

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

I love the area set aside for the Rock and Roll Kids Band. Functional, yet hip, like the band itself.

Great combination of colors!

Kathy K
Buffalo

Gretchen,

The color on the ancient Buffalo banner is great! Nice ballet poster too!

Thanks KTG.

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

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