A room for one, inspired by the other

I am so excited to share this room creation with all of you for two main reasons: their names are Kelsa and Amy.  Without these two girls, this blog would not exist. They've been my biggest encouragers (is that a word?) and supporters since long before I had enough guts to show the world all of the crazy organizing and design ideas in my head.

When I was offering to the Internet that I would design rooms for anyone that asked, Kelsa asked me if I had any ideas about what to do in her living room.  She has 2 fairly large crimson/cranberry colored couches, and she is never quite sure what to do with them, what colors to use with them, what sort of a feel the room should have, etc.  So, in the back of my brain, my wheels have been spinning on this question.  I have spent hours online looking at different color combos and room schemes, but I never really found any 1 inspiration point that really helped me to pull it all together.  I usually find a fabric or a painting or something that gives me a place to start...but I just wasn't finding anything that I was crazy about.

And then I remembered some photos that our dear friend Amy took awhile ago.

She took these photos on a California vacation about a year ago- and when I saw the splash of red in them, surrounded by all of the beautiful blues, beiges, browns, and tiny tiny hint of green- I knew that I had found my color palette. 

The style board pretty much tells the story, but to re-iterate what I had in mind:  Since they live in Arizona where I know they'll have tile floors wherever they live, I found a few rugs in blues and browns to break up the room.  I'd put a neutral on the wall, and use soft blue curtains around the windows.  Then, I'd add in lots of decorative accents in reds, browns, blues, and olive green.  I wouldn't use the olive near the red (Christmas!) but I would love to see a blue and/or brown chair over in a separate area- maybe with a little side table or desk for reading and working, with some of the olive to tie it all together.  The whole room would have kind of a relaxed and "beachy" feel, (check out that shabby chic white sideboard!) but with the dark red couches it wouldn't be your typical nautical room. Last but not least- take those beautiful pictures of Amy's, blow them up, frame them, and put them center stage to shine.

Cuz I love her to death, and I know after seeing those 3 photos you are dying to see more, here's the link to Amy's print shop. 

It is full of SOOOO much good stuff to put on your walls, you'll want to block off a good chunk of time to look at it all and then redesign your entire home around her photographs.  (And she does portraits too if you live in the Chicago area and need something like that- hit her up, she's amazing).