Which Blue?

We've known forever that our nursery (for a boy or girl) would be gender neutral and so we started choosing colours months ago.  You guys probably already know how much we love Farrow and Ball paint and we had wanted our nursery to be a calming deep blue shade with accents in white (we wanted contrast) as well as grey and pastels.

We tested Hague Blue, Studio Green and Stiffkey Blue on the nursery walls and after living with the swatches for months, I think we have a clear winner...

We even looked at the colours against pastel coloured artwork to be certain of our choices.

I'll post once we start the nursery in a few weeks but I'd love to hear which you would choose?

Choosing the Right Colour Palette

It's almost "go time" and we are starting to sort through paint colours and swatches in order to narrow it down (thanks for the tip, Mir) before the move.  Our plan is to have a few shades to choose from so that we can tape them to the wall and live with them for a few days.  I've actually been walking around with paint swatches in my purse so that I can pull them out to check them in different lighting conditions.

As I mentioned in my recent chair post, I dreamed of a navy blue living room before we moved to this condo.  I don't know how we ended up with grey-white walls and red and orange accents, but I'm ready to return to the colours I'm most comfortable with!  While I loved the hip vibe in our condo, I don't think Corey and I are really "red and orange living room " people.

I think I really want a deep blue or navy as our main wall colour and you can see some of our other ideas in my last post about living room inspiration.  I want a more layered colour palette in our next home, so I wanted to choose colours in different tones and temperatures.  It's difficult to picture how colours will "go" together, so I find it nice to see it on paper a compuer screen first.

I've read many times that you should choose colours for your home based on what you wear.  I think colours from your wardrobe tend to be your favourites and are an excellent place to start.  I found a great post on Style By Emily Henderson which discusses the process of choosing a colour palette in depth.  Here's what I created:

I began with a rich navy blue and followed Emily's advice in choosing a highlight and a lowlight (in similar, but slightly different shades) to compliment my main colour.  I also considered the gold from the coffee table, the black leather from my siesta chairs as well as wood tones (from the floor and accessories) and our grey couch.  Corey pointed to the bottom right circle (which is actually from a photo of our couch) and asked what colour it was supposed to be.  My response was "couchy grey" so from now on, that's what we're calling that colour.  I also threw in a warm purple as a surprise accent colour.

I picked up some paint colour swatches of our main colours at Home Depot... These are the swatches I've been carrying in my purse.  I think we've narrowed it down to a few shades which seem to work together.  What do you think?

Here it is, up close and personal.

And for those of you who are wondering how our packing is progressing, I've included a zoomed out version of the colour swatch photograph.

Notice "Box Mountain" or "Mount Boxmore" in our living room.  We have packed 76 boxes plus 2 wardrobe boxes at this point and I like to think we're on the home stretch.  Wish us luck!

My Living Room on Apartment Therapy

 This month, I decided at the last minute to enter my colourful living room in Apartment Therapy's annual "Room for Color" contest.  AT has been one of my favourite home and design blogs for years and they often have great ideas for DIY projects.

When I purchased our condo in 2010, like many first time buyers, my money went towards my down payment and some renovations.  At the time, there wasn't much left over for furniture but I was tired of the furniture I'd used during my years of renting and I wanted something a little more gown up and... me. 

With Corey still in university, we were shopping on one income:  That's when our love of Craigslist began and since we had style but not much money to spare, (after gutting our kitchen and replacing the floors) we made a game of finding unique and well made (sometimes designer) pieces and trying to work them into some kind of cohesive theme. 

My cousin founded an amazing home décor blog called StyleNorth.  I remember reading at the time that he had a large orange flokati rug in his living room.  It was so shaggy and different that I couldn't help thinking that it would be a great piece to work my room around.  I browsed Craigslist for weeks and the odd one came up but they were usually too expensive or not colourful at all.  Finally one day, we found this cute little red number and the seller explained that it had been a gift from her in-laws when they travelled to Greece but she had never cared for it.

From there, we found two glass coffee tables, which allow more floor to be visible and keep our space feeling open and airy, as well as a fabulous retro chrome lamp (which we now love after hours of polishing), vintage chairs, some old bowling lanes which we made into an entrance bench and a table for my office as well as a large painting which I painted myself.  The eclectic style allowed us to display some personal keepsakes such as a large Trilobite fossil and soapstone carving from my grandmother and an old suzani I've always loved.  It was so nice to be able to display these items without worrying about whether they match the room.

We ended up furnishing most of our home that way and we now have fabulous vintage hanging lamps, a church pew in the dining room and many other treasures.  We kept our walls light so that we could display our art without worrying about the wall colour detracting however, I think we may be a little more adventurous in our next home.

Apartment Therapy's "Room for Color" contest is one of my best sources of inspiration for my home and we are honoured to be featured this year.  Check out our entry and make sure you vote!