Name: Marisol & Jessica
Location: Providence, RI
Type: Our home is a 3 bedroom apartment on the first floor of a 3 story house. We're renters.
Why I use color:
We've both lived in apartments with plain white walls, so we know how important color can be and were relieved that we could use lots of it. It can definitely change how a room feels (warm or cool) and can affect how one views the size of the space as well. We love using bright, unexpected colors in our shared rooms because it really stands out!
It's so nice to come home and curl up in our cozy orange reading room or chill out in our blue living room. We love to see people's first reactions when they come into our house. One person actually said that living in our apartment was like "living in a package of Starbursts"!
2 Good color tips:
1. Don't be afraid to try different color combinations (and sometimes fail) before settling on what's best for you! We spent a long time with good-looking but over-the-top bright pink curtains in our blue living room, but it never felt right. We've finally settled on brown and we're both really pleased with the decision to tone down it down a bit.
2. It's easy to add color in little bursts around the house by adding a small pillow, new lamp, fun painting. Color doesn't need to be all-over and intimidating to make a statement!
2 good color resources:
1. Vintage or retro fabrics and patterns. It's fun to incorporate retro color schemes or large-scale patterns into our decorating.
2. We've spent a fair amount of time looking through magazines such as Readymade and Real Simple for color ideas. We also use a lot of online resources, such as Apartment Therapy (thanks, guys!) and various decorating communities on LiveJournal.
I'm definitely biased about lovely, sunny Providence, but you guys benefit from my bias. I like what you've done, and I like your classic Prov. apt.
I love how this feels warm and welcome. It's a place where I would enjoy sitting for a chat or with my knitting needles.
Love the color in your reading room. You say it's orange, but on my screen it reads as yellow. Can you please tell me the name and brand? Thanks.
woo-hoo, Providence!
I like the looks at first glance, but it seems like it could use a little more cohesion between the various colors/elements.
I think your place would be the most amazing rooms for inspiration, I love how the colors just seem to burst out at you, and yet have that tone of comfort. I also like how much light you have in those rooms.
so this is like the third entry which features bright blue walls and red accents.
interesting.
I like this entry a lot. Are the curtains brown, or a deep plum, or a plummy brown?
I think it's nice. I hate that there are only three choices here - Insta finalist, In the Running or NO WAY! Because you're not terrible to get a No Way, but at the same time I think you played it too safe. You have this amazing space and big beautiful windows - you could have played up the whole French/Spanish architecture that you might find in New Orleans - have an artsy fartsy friend come over and paint some (spelling alert) Trompe L'Oeil murals on your walls, bring the outside in. Make it look as if you are living in this crubmling old bordello even.
I think you've got great ideas, but it still looks a little too dorm roomish for me.
Lots of color, true. But in what way? I can't get my senses together on this place.