Beach Glass Inspiration: Light Blue, Seafoam Green, Aqua

My husband and I spent the past weekend at the beach in NC with one of my closest friends, Christy.   SO relaxing :)

Staring at the ocean and surrounding views inspired me to write this post....
So thanks, Christy, and thanks to Wrightsville Beach!

Beach Inspired Interior Design

I love the light aqua here....

Soft blue and white dining room....

Bright and calming spaces:

I love how the interiors of beach houses can be overtly "seaside-ish".... generally the colors stay in the sea glass family.

Kind of digging the green kitchen!

These bedrooms are the kind that you would never want to leave.

Some more of my favs:

Bedrooms that make you NOT want to get out of bed!

Pale shades of seafoam.

Bright pops of turquoise are fun too.... I really love how it looks when they are off-set with dark metals, wood, and mirrors.

And my personal #1:
Light blue zebra.... who would've thought?   And it totally works!

Yellow spaces = happy places :)

Camille Saum, via Traditional Home Mag

Yellow is such a cheerful and happy color.   I think that all cranky people should be required to paint their bedrooms yellow.... it's impossible to be cranky when you wake up in a sea of sunshine every day:)   I'm in love with these sunshiney-yellow rooms, and I especially love the creative ways that designers are using the color.   From floor-to-ceiling monochromatic soft yellows, to dandelion hued linens and furniture, it all works.   Inspiration:

From houseinteriordesign.net

From elle.com

Design by Barry Dixon, photo from Traditional Home

Design by David Herchik

From decorpad.com
(How amazing are these elegant yellow armchairs??)



From dotavideo.com



Photo from Traditional Home, design by David Herchik

Design by Julie Kays,
photo from Traditional Home

Julie Massucco Kleiner design,
via Traditional Home magazine

(ADORE the look of the unexpected yellow curtains in the formal dining room)

From solarnovo.com

By Tobi Fairley

The high contrast between the navy blue and bright yellow is perfect paired with the subtle brown, gray, and cream..... very traditional and elegant!

Max Azria home

Photo from Southern Living

Lilly Pulitzer comes Home!

If you're a lover of all things Lilly Pulitzer, you should check out her home furniture and accessories line.   I'm a fan of Lilly, but the idea of having all-over prints in my home didn't really appeal to me at first.   But when I took a look at her furniture designs and fabrics designed especially for the home, I fell head over heels in love!

picture from Lilly Pulitzer home collection preview

 The best way to describe her home line is 'Lilly inspired '.   For the most part, it doesn't look like a Lilly fabric factory threw up all over someone's living room ;).   The pieces are upscale chic, and have a more grown-up Boca Raton feel to them.   And as you might expect, bright white is a common theme in her home collection.   You also see a lot of bamboo caning details, asian architectural influences, and pops of Lilly's signature pink, sunshine yellow, and soft blue.   Very fresh and fun.

picture from Palm Avenue boutique

If you fall in love with Lilly's new venture just like I did, be prepared to spend big.   The sticker prices of her Lilly Pulitzer home collection put her in the high-end furniture spectrum, with couches and chairs running in the two to four-thousand dollar range.   Then again, she also has things like placemats, mugs, napkin rings, and pillows that are all under $100.  


Online, you can find her collection at places like horchow.com, neimanmarcus.com, and garnethill.com.   I've also noticed that a lot of the Lilly Pulitzer "via" shops (merchants authorized and licensed to sell Lilly Pulitzer, who buy their products wholesale directly from the designer) are starting to carry furniture collections.   The idea is to create a Lifestyle boutique for brand loyalists to be able to buy everything from clothes-to-home all in one spot.   Either way, if you have the opportunity to see these in person, do so!   Just like her clothes, everything in her home line is very well-done with impeccable attention to detail.

Pretty in Pink

I'll admit it: I've never been brave enough to take pink full-fledged in any area of my life, especially home decor.  Unless you count my bedroom when I was 5, or that one time in my college where I had 2 pink pillows in my apartment....but I'm pretty sure that doesn't count.  With super bright colors making a come-back recently, I'm now falling in love with pink for the first time.... especially hot pink and magenta.  It's hard not to "go over to the dark side" (as I like to call it) after you see some of the amazingly gorgeous rooms from top designers featuring this color. 



Tobi Fairley

design by Windsor Smith (from Housebeautiful.com)

These days, nearly every store you walk into has a collection featuring some variation of pink.  Designers like Lilly Pulitzer, Robert Kaufman, Amy Butler, & Caitlin Wilson are incorporating this fresh and fun color into their fabrics more than ever.  Interior designers seem to be embracing the color with renewed passion, as seen in the portfolios of some of the most renowned (as well as fresh new faces): Jonathan Adler, Nate Berkus, Cozette Coffman, Vanessa De Vargas, Krista Ewart, & Tobi Fairley just to name a few.

 

Pantone Inspiration: Fuschia, Watermelon, Rose, Blush, Salmon, Magenta, Carnation, Honeysuckle, Pale Pink, Pink Flambe

Playful Patterns: Ikat, paisley, interlocking caning, greek key, stripes, polka dots, floral, chevron, stripes, scroll, bohemian embroidery, toile, seersucker, chinoise, fretwork, trellis

Even though I seriously doubt that my hubby will endorse a massive pink room makeover anytime soon, I'm happy to say that one thing is for sure: Pink isn't for little girls anymore!  It's all grown up, and sophisticated in a whole new way that will make even the most staunch "pink hater" give it a second look.