I May Have Opened a Can of Worms… (After painting my Dining Room)

By: Stephanie Andrews

My last post was about the magic of simplifying and new paint and I spoke of painting my dining room a soft chalky pink (Farrow and Ball Setting Plaster). Two weeks later, I am still getting used to it and almost love it, yet, it has made me realize that some other things need to be simplified and updated.

As I was lamenting about these ideas of change, my best friend, Gail, remarked about the joy of the domino effect.  I never thought of this aspect of changing my dining room color, as the impetus for other items needing to follow suit. However… I am deeply considering it now!

My reason for this domino effect? I now think I have too many colors that do not relate much to each other throughout the main level of the house.  I have this pink in the dining room, a rich blue grasscloth in the media room, an olive green brick fireplace and an assortment of other blues and reds in the kitchen and pillows.
I really love the Schumacher peacock blue grasscloth and I do not want to change it. I believe that I have at least 3 places to unify my color palette: cream, pink, blue with touches of red and black.   Before you think I am a colorful maximalist, just know that the red is a Persian rug that I got from my in-laws and the black is a shiny lacquer on the railings and on the mantle.  Currently every door is also a deep brown (SW Urbane Bronze).

My 4 Simple (?) Changes to unify the main floor:
1-Change out the wallpaper on the curved wall going to the kitchen
2-Change the fireplace brick color in the living room
3-Change the pillows to incorporate some more navy and a touch of pink.
4-Find a new rug in Turkey on an upcoming April trip that pulls these colors together.

For item # 1, I have enlisted the team to get new ideas for the wallpaper for the curved wall going into the kitchen. First to give you some context, this is my downstairs:

   

Here are their ideas and why they think it would look amazing:

First up is Jen’s Pick:

 

“I love how this wallpaper brings all of the colors you’ve used throughout your home and garden areas into the center of your home. I feel that the watercolor painterly effect also ties in the zen-like feel you’ve been trying to achieve – soft yet, full of life.”

 

On to Andrea’s Pick:

“I selected this wallpaper because it reminded me of Stephanie’s new Japanese inspired garden. It brings the outdoors inside your home with a watercolor style rendition of a mountain landscape.I loved the soft pastel palette that works well with the other rooms in Stephanies home. The large scale mural creates a bold look when you walk into her home.”

 

Let’s see what Marlee chose:

“I found several cool wallpapers that I thought would work well for Stephanie’s feature wall, but I landed on Bird Panorama created by Artist Sara Ricciardi for Texturae. The paper features birds holding blooming branches gliding through a softly textured sky background. Besides the fact that it’s a beautiful motif with pops of pink that work well with the new dining room, I picked this paper because the flowers look like Japanese cherry blossoms, and if you’ve been reading our blog lately, you’ll know that Stephanie and her husband recently traveled to Japan and loved it, so I thought the flowers could tie in a personal detail.”

 

And Melody’s:

“I chose this mural because I felt the accent wall it would go on is small enough to consider the entire wall as a piece of art. Taking inspiration from Stephanie’s love of Japanese culture and design, as well as her new zen garden, this mural is reminiscent of scrolls and tapestries depicting the treasured crane (Japan’s bird of happiness, luck, and longevity). It brings small touches of the colors present throughout her home and ties them all together, while also bringing a bit of her zen garden indoors.”

 

Lastly Allie’s Thoughts:

“I chose this wallpaper because I wanted to connect the rich blues of the media room, the earthy warmth of the living room, and the brightness of the newly painted dining room. The background color is similar to doors and accents within the home and Japanese water landscape felt serene even with the busier pattern.”

Any thoughts on your favorite?  I will definitely keep you posted on my decision (I may let my husband and Gail chime in as well).   I think this is a valuable lesson for me in being open to change.  This is something that we encourage daily with our clients, even though it is sometimes hard and a bit scary.  The domino effect is often likely when you are simply considering one small change.  And ultimately, that is okay if we are open to it.