Hello Indianapolis Fashionistas,
This will go out between two holidays, so I am giving myself a break and doing a lighter topic. We are also moving next week — in the same zip code — but nonetheless all the work, joy, etc., of a new home.
Since I am an Indianapolis Personal Stylist, not an interior decorator, I have been a little lost picking paint colors for our new house, and deciding what old furniture we keep and what we buy.
For starters, the house we are moving into is completely different from the house we live in. That compounds my confusion! LOL..But in some ways, the principles of color and design are the same with interior design. This is what I’ve learned:
Like in your outfit planning, you want to add contrast and pop, right? I ended up consulting with a lady named Teresa who is an interior decorator and a Sherwin Williams consultant. She helped me pick my paint colors and my upholstery colors for my chairs and couches (just covering some existing furniture the cats and Michael love). We ended up picking a very pale grey and pale yellow for the hallway, dining room and other rooms in the first floor.
If you are not sure of your furniture/house style, go to Houzz.
I added my “pop” in the furniture: I recovered my couches in apple green (not dark though), and then picked a houndstooth print of turquoise and green on cream for one chair and a navy, hunter green, blue and green print for the larger chair. Rug will most likely be neutral. These will pop against the very pale grey walls. The trim is a very bright white.
The main objective with my paint colors was “flow” from room to room. (We need to do this with our outfits as well ..).
In picking some new lights, I tried to flow with the same style of decorating — we do this with our clothes, too. For instance, we don’t put a distressed T-shirt with a formal sheath dress, right. We somewhat carry on and flow the theme of the outfit, even though we don’t have to match the colors. It is better to somewhat stay within the same style domain.
So my lighting is somewhat transitional since it’s not contemporary and not really traditional. It’s somewhat in between.
I also mixed different chair shapes to add interest. You don’t have to have two of everything on your living room … just like with clothing, you can mix different items of the same style.
Finally, going back to the neutral wall colors I picked, I wanted to apply this to clothes. Having a great wardrobe of neutrals with give your outfits so much variety and many more wears. What are neutrals? Consider olive green, grey, black, navy, tan, brown, burgundy, plum, hunter green, cream, etc. These colors can mix and match and give you some great outfits.
You can also just do a monochromatic look with grey, navy, black, etc. Mix in some different shakes of the same color for that unified approach.
That being said, I have more work to do. Yes, packing!
Have a day, and I will talk to you in 2018! Make it a great one, and keep it sassy, Indy!
Beth Divine, Indianapolis Personal Stylist
