Lemonsorbet: a Lighter color for 2013

Lemonsorbet from Benjamin Moore comes up now as a strong color for 2013. It is a warm white, but using it may take some getting used to, since this tone is 'new' when compared with the many grays we have seen in homes in the past few years, or the stronger cool whites that are used in the French vintage ensembles. This first group shows the color paired with coffee colors: deep brown and a lighter mocha. For me this brings to mind tweeds, parchment and vintagey browns.

This second set of color teams Lemonsorbet with grays: a warm French gray and a foggy London gray. The linen-like warm gray tones with this vanilla white bring on a beach house sense of color, while the cooler gray still works with the gray accessories we have collected in the past few years.

To start, Lemonsorbet with its vanilla overtones would make a dark little room seem warmer. It can also perk up a room that has 'too much' wood trim or furnishings. In my own bungalow, the walls in our living room and dining room are painted a similar color, and it seems so much brighter than a true white might be against all the wood that these rooms have. The great items here in these slides all come from shops on Etsy, and feature the things I love!

Top group:

Art Deco Pitcher by Eva Elena, Etsy

Tweed Messenger Bag by Sew Much Style, Etsy

Linen Chair by Story Boutique, Etsy

Fish Pillow by Elliott Heath Designs, Etsy


Bottom group:

Striped Pillows by Fighting for Joy, Etsy

Art Deco Vase by Red Hill Home, Etsy

French Side Chair by Shabby Chic Fairytail, Etsy

Zig-zag Pillows, by Shadobox, Etsy

Valentine for You

Here's a little Victorian era greeting card for your Valentine's Day.

Feel free to print it up and use in your own Valentine crafts. Or if you haven't the time, save it and send in an email or other digital media.

I think it's the perfect one to send to a good friend, don't you? This cutie comes from a child's scrap book I have dating back to the 1880's.

Queen Bee: Trends in Home Accessories

The Queen Bee motif is perfect for the gardener's home. It is a design that brings the garden inside and adds visual interest to any decor. Honey bees and all types of bees are trending now in many forms, as you can see here. I have brought together some of the most interesting and fun uses of the bee motif as found mostly on Etsy. When you plan for spring, consider adding a bee design to your home, it will display nicely with potted plants and vases of fresh flowers.

Sources:

1 white pillow with print: GraciousHome
2 foot stool: HomeDecorators
3 stencil: Artistic Stencils
4 mug: ThatWhichIsNot
5 framed print: MichaelEllisStudios
6 aqua bowl: CircaCeramics
7 metal Bee: RoadsideRubys
8 yellow striped bowl: CircaCeramics
9 Melamine plate: TheMadPlatters
10 silver metal Bee: BunnySundries
11 decoupage glass plate: Eclectic Paper Designs
12 door knob: KMadson

Blogs to Read: Gardening and Landscape Design

Where do you get your garden ideas? While we used to pick up magazines such as "Sunset" for local information, online blogs and websites have become a great garden and landscape design resource too.

This is the best time of the year to read up on garden design, plant selection and landscaping. I have found quite a few blogs that are fun to read and offer a wealth of information. Here are a few that you might like too. I confess that most tend to focus on drought tolerant landscapes and west coast issues, but you will find links on them that include other garden blogs through out the U.S. I have more great links that I'll share next week.

Plant Propaganda:http://plantpropaganda.wordpress.com/
A Growing Obsession: http://agrowingobsession.com/
Curbstone Valley Farm: http://curbstonevalley.com/blog/
Digging: http://www.penick.net/digging/
Garden Rant: http://gardenrant.com/
Garden Smackdown: http://www.gardensmackdown.com/
Gardening Gone Wild: http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/
Gossip in the Garden: http://gossipinthegarden.com/
Growing with Plants: http://www.growingwithplants.com/

This photo was taken in Carmel, CA last September. Carmel gardens are so inspiring, even those downtown in the village where little plots of land along the sidewalk and strips between buildings are turned into colorful views.

Collections as Wall Art

Mexican tin wall art is clustered together here to create texture, color and visual details. Don't you love to see small collections grouped together on a theme? This wall is a good example of that. Arrangements like this are a great way to change-up a familiar room, long hall or blank wall. This kind of wall treatment is also easy to do, and quick to remove, should you change your mind or want to try another group. What small collection do you have that deserves to be brought out and displayed together on a wall in your home?

Emerald Green: 2013 Color of the Year

I want to start this year off right by looking at this year's color trend prediction. It shows more greens, especially a rich Emerald green. Pantone's forecast proposed this saturate blueish green as the "Color of the Year", so we will no doubt be seeing it around alot.

I've noticed that sometimes these new color introductions can take awhile to integrate into our lives. This is especially true in living spaces where fabric, wall papers and paint provide our color medium, and changing them is no small feat. In these mood boards I have gathered together several images in emerald. Looking at them, it's easy to see that this is a strong color shift from our more neutral gray toned trends out there right now.

Where our recent greens have been in the leafy 'new' brights and citrus 1960's revival tones, the new emerald takes a vintage 1980's viewpoint. Will you be trying this color out? Perhaps it will work most easily into accents: painted chair or table legs, small wood boxes, vases and china, a gate or front door, big flower pots or in stripes and simple toile fabrics.

What do you think? Will this new tone fit into your world right now?



Emerald Green Moodboards:
TOP: front door at Monet's Giverny and a garden umbrella
BOTTOM: glazed tile (Laguna Beach), vintage green truck, Italian window, vintage Tiffany green glass box, craftsman era tile

Happy New Year!