I recently accepted an unusual challenge from a client desperate to change the look of her boring beige living room; "shock me but don't make me hate your guts for doing it!" Because I'm slowly getting used to aggressive New Yorker behavior, I ignored the threat and faced the challenge head-on. When I asked Ms. Aggressive what her favorite color palette was she snapped, "black and white, of course!" I can't imagine living in a black and white world (
oh, it was such a beautiful black and white sunset...The ocean in the south pacific was such a lovely shade of black and white...) so I knew I was going to have to tiptoe my way around the color wheel to a safe place for this challenged space. I found inspiration in an unusual place; my closet! As I pulled out my winter sweats for yet another day I noticed a Thomas Pink shirt my parents gave me a few years ago for Christmas. The bold pink stripes in the shirt are simple, chic, colorful and masculine so, naturally, I thought this would translate perfectly to a new living room design. The biggest impact was achieved by using three different shades of pink paint by Behr on the wall behind the bookshelf. White accessories pop against the vibrant color and, thankfully, the homeowner didn't "pop" me when she saw it!
QUICK TIP: Home Depot and other hardware and paint stores sell sample paint sizes for under $5. The pink colors I used were Behr products from the Home Depot and I was able to cover the entire project with just two sample pint sized pinks for $2.65/each!!
