Dining Room Conundrum
Not too long ago I came across a great display of this collection in a (somewhat) local quilt shop. If I hadn't seen these in person, I may not have taken notice. But I'm telling you, up close, they are divine. I got some bits and brought them home to show Nick. As usual, he was really interested. Ahem, okay, maybe interested isn't the right word, but he did like what I got. haha Anyway, I thought some of these prints would look great as curtains in our dining and living room so I set about acquiring the right amounts.
Here's what the dining room looked like when we bought the house. It's still about the same, minus the weird Japanese sliding doors & window covers and the useless doorway to the kitchen. It's nice and open to the hallway and living room now. I think it's time to decorate!
These are the fabrics I'm using for the curtains. The red will be the majority with the bottom, say 18", in the grey. We currently have an oak dining set (hand me down, but nice enough) with khaki shabby chic seat covers. I figured these two fabrics would blend nicely with what we have and add something to the space
Now for the conundrum...
This is the paint color we chose. It's sort of mushroom and would likely change with the light (or lack of) in the room. It's nice, it's neutral...and now I'm afraid it might be boring too. I don't know why I'm so afraid of color! Actually, I was pretty happy with it until I made this...
Now I want to paint the room aqua. Is that wrong? I think it would be fine with the chair covers and even better with the curtains. Nick and I were just sitting at the dining room table, eating some cake, when I noticed these are the exact colors of my place mats, and what I did for my wedding! (And Nick wasn't sure about aqua, red and brown together!!!! Such a man.)
Anyway, what do you guys think about a watered down version of a shade of aqua for the walls in my dining room? Can you see it?
Insert helpful replies here:
p.s. I mean a very muted, on the grey side, aqua. Not AQUA!!!
9 comments:
I say go with the mushroom walls, red/brown curtains and use AQUA as your *POP* color around the room - in the art on the walls, the decorations etc...
I'm afraid of aqua.... LOL But I've had some bad experiences with some bold colors - think hot pink in a bathroom which, in my mind was AWESOME but a little much in real life. I agree with cbear to use some accents of aqua. You can use as much or as little. And sometimes less is more?
The French General fabric is awesome but probably too french for aqua accents. I'd paint the walls mushroom and accent in aqua or red or whatever your mood dictates. With neutral walls you can change your look and color pallette more easily. I too love red and aqua together, but don't really see aqua with Rounneries style.
We going to paint our living room aqua. But think of it more like a Robin's Egg Blue and mute it down a bit.
Country Living recently featured an amazing aqua room and another one of my magazines a different one.
One was Benjamin Moore and the other was from Ace Hardware. When I get home, I will email you the names of the colors.
I can't wait to see what you decide. But I love the color you've already bought. You could certainly go with that and then add splashes of the aqua. Are the chairs upholstered? You could cover them, make a table runner, buy candlesticks and even a light fixture that features aqua.
Oh my, can you tell how much HGTV I watch....
My recommendation is to get a sample of it and try it out. You could paint one decent sized area to get enough of a feel for it. I think it sounds like a nice contrast from what you've described, but I can be afraid of putting too much color on the wall too so I completely understand.
I say go for it! It's only paint, right? you could get a quart and paint one wall to get a feel for it before committing to the whole room. Or you could paint the room the mushroom color and do an accent wall in aqua.
Love that collection of fabrics from the French General. I saw it last month at my local quilt store. They are doing a block of the month quilt using them. They will look great in your living room and dining room. Personally, I wouldn't paint the walls aqua, but the mushroom and use some aqua accents if you want.
By the way, thanks for visiting my blog, I will be back here again to see your curtains and choice of paint color.
Picking paint color is so hard. It took me almost a year to pick the family room color.
Anyway, I would say go with the great mushroom color, make the pop come from the accents and incorporate the aqua in other areas. This way if you have the mushroom (basic color) you can change up the color of the room depending upon the season etc.
But whatever you do have fun with it!
You got rid of the japanese doors?!?! They are the most striking thing in that room! :(
I think the mushroom is a little dull but with the right accents it should brighten up the room.
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