Thursday, January 29, 2015

A day of color play

One of my favorite things about my job is coloring. Now I don't color with crayons and pencils like I did as a kid, instead I use fabrics and threads to create a new story line and inspire new designs.

As I have shared before, my days of interior decorating will always be with me. I tend to be inspired by looking at photos of houses and decorating more than anything else. When I would help my clients decorate, I would have them bring me pillows, magazine images, paintings or a piece of fabric they loved. We would use these as a jumping off point to decorate their homes. My eye still operates this way when I design my Folk Art Fusion pieces.


The other day I received the newest copy of the Pottery Barn catalog. I admit that I love the Pottery Barn style. It's crisp, clean and casual. I always feel like I could walk into one of the photos and be right at home.


This season, the new color trend is Indigo. Woo hoo! I love this color. It's probably because I wear some form of blue jeans every single day.


My friends laugh because my wardrobe consists of various lengths of jeans, such as jean shorts for summer, jean capris for spring and fall and regular jeans for winter. Hee,hee,hee. 


The catalog also showed some wonderful tabletop designs for Easter. I'm sure you know why I was drawn to this photo, but I also loved the browns, greens, creams and silver colors together. Plus, I love the mix of textures. 

In this photo, I was drawn to the linen color of the chairs with the black nail head detail against the warmth of the wood.

In this photo, I was drawn to the black of the mirror the green leaves and the muted pink/peach tones in the wine glasses and the flowers on top of the cake. (Captain gave me that bunny bowl for Christmas!)

This is actually a piece of furniture I would love to purchase for my foyer. I love this piece so much. I'm drawn to the wonderful combination of black, blue and brown. In this photo, I also love how it looks with the off white walls, the dark floor and the soft tan of the rug. Oh and the soft grays in the driftwood art piece. Fabulous!


So, after drooling over all the yummy goodies in the catalog, I tore out some of my favorite pages and taped them to the cabinet in my office. Then I gathered my wool swatches and Valdani threads and started to play.


After a few hours of playing and tweaking and thinking and adding a few additional colors, I came up with this color palette. These will be the colors I use in a bunch of upcoming Folk Art Fusion designs. As you can see there are three different shades of blue. After all, everything goes with blues jeans. ;)

So what do you think?

I would also like to invite you to hop over and visit my friend, Lucy Galgano of By Your Hands. I will be a guest on her blog tomorrow (Friday). Thanks so much Lucy!

Light, Love and Blessings to you,
Michelle, the Bunnies and Sabrina kitty too!

25 comments:

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I could be very comfortable in the first photo. Love your inspiration and the fabric/thread bundles are so inviting.

Little Miss Titch said...

That Bunny bowl and plate is to cute,can't wait to see your new designs
and those magazine photos are just lovely,xx Rachel

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

Oh Michelle, the pieces you share are truly gorgeous, and Pottery Barn has always been a favorite of mine. Though I lean toward the antique style, I am not extremely frilly. Well, maybe in ONE ROOM ONLY..teehhehe...but the relaxed look of PB and the natural elements of wood and linen are a huge draw to me. AND who, who in their right mind could resist that bunny plate? teehehehee

Your choice of colors for threads/yarns are classic for any season. You have such a good eye and nimble hands my friend.

Anonymous said...

I don't receive that catalog and quickly see some gorgeous pieces! You've got a keen eye for what works and on trend. It seems Aqua and Red are also popular this past year.
Hope you have a good day...I'm back from our holiday and need to get to work.

PBee said...

Yes, I could move right into those rooms too. Love the colors you have chosen and can't wait to see what you create! Thank you for your postings: fun, informative, beautiful!

Starr White said...

So insightful to see what inspires you and how you apply it to your own art! Wonderful to see the artistic process at work!

Karen M said...

Shell, those pictures so look like you that at first I was trying to figure out where in your house they could be! Love the blues in the new palette. In my mind, denim blues are the best neutrals.

Heather said...

I love those colors. If you remove the purple and orange those are the colors that I use in the main parts of my home! I especially love the blues and look forward to seeing your creations!

paulette said...

Ohhhhh yeah!! I'm loving your colour palette! It's so me!! haha Yummy wools too!

Anonymous said...

OMG, do I love that color palette! Looking forward to seeing what you create with it.

Kate said...

Beautiful colour, Michelle, that left me drooling. :)

Anna said...

yes, just like Kate I am drooling...but really those rabbit plates are adorable!!

Tina said...

I love your color choices!! And I love your thought process in pulling the colors together from the PB catalog - great idea that I will remember. Thanks so much for sharing how you went about pulling everything together. (I so NEED help in my decorating ;o)

jerilanders said...

If anyone can pull off wearing jeans every day it's you! Lucky girl. You are an exert at choosing colors and using decorating images for inspiration is an idea that never occurred to me. I would love to have a set of those bunny plates,,,hmmm. Spring is already in my mind.

Sparklyjools said...

Scrummy palette. Our flat needs you!!! xxx

RoseMary Baty-Willcox said...

Love your eye for colors.
Can't wait to see what becomes of them.

RoseMary Baty-Willcox said...

Where can i order these colors, with the thread also.

Maggey and Jim said...

Thanks yor that wonderful montage..I loved the color swatches at the end, can't wait to see the design?

Kathy O in GA/AZ said...

oh Michelle, what a very yummy palette!

RG said...

Great color combo's!

The upper line of colors is kinda close to what we here call the classic Pacific NW winter misty Blues and Grays.

Createology said...

Your combinations of colors are perfect. I love them all. What a great review you have shared on the PB pages of design with us. It is easy to see you truly have the eye for design and colors. Creative Bliss...

Allie said...

I love seeing how you get your inspiration. But now I have to wait to see what you come up with, lol! Always the hardest part!

Kris said...

What fun to see how you put together colors and textures and beauty. Thank you for sharing!! Oh, and I'll take one of each from the catalog photos!! ;-)

Mandy Saile said...

Oh my goodness everything you show here is SO delicious...ahhhhh...I want it all, espeaciall your pillows and the rabbit plates and that turquoise chest of a 100 drawers, ha ha, wow:D

Barb said...

Love the sample of wools with threads...especially the blues.would you be willing to share thread #sfor those?

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