Beige Decor that wont Bore...

It's by far the most popular paint color sold.  Did you know 80% of houses built use this color alone inside?  And most people choose it in order to sell their home.  The reason it gets chosen to sell homes is not that it's the most interesting color, or the prettiest, or the most outstanding.  Let's be honest, it is actually the most boring.  The reason that color gets used all the time is not that everyone loves it - it's that it's so neutral you practically don't even think about it.  When people are buying a home it allows them to imagine themselves in the space because no matter what color of decor they have - red couch?  No problem, that works.  Blue table?  That works too.  It just allows people to not get hung up on the fact that they don't feel like they have to immediately re-paint.

So most of the time I don't do blog posts on beige, because I'm all about encouraging people to go out of that box.  I think most people keep that color because it seems scary to chose a different one.  But some people really like having a totally neutral feeling in their home.  Think Jeff Lewis.  Jeff doesn't go with various shades of beige, grays or whites because he doesn't know how to decorate - he does it because it can feel luxurious.  And because he knows what he's doing, and he does it fantastically well. Some people chose some really pretty beiges.  Tim Gunn recently revealed his favorite beige in Elle Decor and it's quite lovely. It's called Benjamin Moore's Wilmington Tan (but you should know this means if your contractor chose your beige it's probably not the best you can do in that department).

Which is all just to say that this post is about Beige rooms that are not boring.  A beige room that I can really get behind because it's actually lovely.

This room would be considered more of a transitional decor.  I love the yellow and black and white with the beige.  It's a really classical combination.

This room is really lovely and restful - the only real color here are those mango pillows.  Very nice.  

This room is so pretty and lively, the beige really works here because it's keeping the walls neutral so that everything else that is going on doesn't get over-whelming.  Super cute. 

I absolutely adore this room.  But I'm a huge fan of blues with beige.  

This beige is almost brown.  Look at that ceiling.  You wouldn't want to do something like that in a space that didn't have a lot of neutral.  Really cool. 

You suddenly have the urge to go to bed early?  I imagine if this were your bedroom that would happen all the time.  

Spare and simple and yes, I admit to loving it because of that darn mirror.  How awesome is that mirror?  But this beige is almost not beige...See how it nearly turns into a white?  

I love everything about this too.  That linen wall is awesome.  

So pretty and so NOT boring at all.  Sometimes having beige walls means you're allowed to do pretty much any other color you want.  These really hot colors would be hard in almost any other room, but here, they are fantastic (also...how great is the wall paper in the bathroom behind?)

Gorgeous.  To die for.  

Such a cute girl's room.  I love the hot pink.  Kids who want colors like this in their rooms - this ia a good way to let them go nuts on some bold items without making the walls crazy bold.  (some kids bedrooms get crazy because kids have a tendency to choose really vibrant colors...this avoids that problem) 

so tasteful.  I believe this is a Michael Graves room.  

It's a little frou frou in a way, but it's also kinda great.  I love those chairs with that table.  Great linen walls.  And fantastic curtains.  Those walls make it possible for you to chose those curtains and that chaise.  

So there you have it Beige Decor that didn't Bore!  

Beautiful Brown Rooms

For all of you out there googling for great brown room ideas (and there are a LOT of you...it's still one of the top search items that lands people on my blog...and by the way, blog hits are now around 6,000 a month consistently, I continue to be shocked at the way the numbers continue to climb so thanks internet googlers), 
I save up brown room images I like and do a blog post on them about once a year.  It takes me about that long to find enough of them that I really like.  That's the bad news.  But the good news is that means this blog post every year will give you some really great brown room ideas that are beautiful!

The best advice I can give you if you're considering brown is choose a really lovely tone carefully and then add at least two accent colors that will really make it beautiful.  Bold colors work well.  Good luck!

ps, Brown includes Beige as far as I'm concerned.

Here you go:

Best Brown Rooms

People continue to google 'brown rooms', 'best brown rooms', 'brown paint' and 'brown decor' with quite some regularity - and end up on my blog and look at the few brown rooms I have and probably go away slightly disappointed.

Here are the best brown rooms I've found in the last year.  My advice for someone considering brown or beige or taupe or even a cream bordering on beige is to choose a strong accent color.  Even if you're really set on having brown walls, your decor will look so much better if you have something to set it off.  The good news about brown is that accents of almost any color look good with it - Orange, Yellow, Blue, Green, Red, even Pinks and Purples look good with brown.
I was once in the home of a wealthy Scottsdale couple and their entire house was beige walls with brown, beige, cream, and black and white accents everywhere.  soooooooooo boring.  I'm sure they thought it was very chic.  I just thought it showed a complete lack of imagination and personality.

Some people chose brown/beige because they are afraid of color on their walls, other people chose it because they just really love brown.  Either way, carefully contemplate what you can add to it to give it some panache.

I'm sort of starting off breaking my own advice here regarding an accent color - BUT, this powder room is so tiny, that beautiful mirror with all the white is perfect. 

this isn't quite a 'brown brown' but it's close, and what they've done here with the different tones would work well with any variation of brown - I think the walls here are more of a mustard brown. 

via the lettered cottage - browns and beige always look great with red

I love that light light powder blue as an accent here, such a great bedroom, totally peaceful

there are some really fun ideas here, I love the bright yellow with the brown and the family photos are great

I feel like I might have used this before, if I did, I'm sorry but I really love that wallpaper and the brocade chair - love that turquoise with the brown and I really like that everything has a metallic quality

Again, another brown which really borders on being yellow - isn't this a great trend?  I'd like to see more of this color combination it just works so well with the plum

via Elle Decor - I love this floor and all the different things going on in this studio/office

This room is truly genius in my book, I pretty much love everything here

Such great accent colors here!!!!

Yes, this decides it for me, my new favorite combination with brown/beige is purple

I have definitely used this before but it was a really tiny version of this photo so I wanted to get a blown up size because I think this is a really great room.

I love the combination of the deep dark chocolate wall in the background with the more beige walls in the foreground, I also love the little pops of green, red, orange, yellow and the black & white pillow.  Along with the white on the furniture, it all works together to creat a lovely and cohesive little room. 

via houzz - love all the white with the beige, and that mirror is really cool with the sticks forming the sunburst.  I tend to feel that rooms with double high ceilings do very well with a lot of white in the room.  This room is carefully balanced, bordering on shabby chic without being too frumpy. 

via adamhommerding - I love that photography of the family on the brown wall.  Well thought through family photos can add a great element in the right spot - the entry way done up like this sets a tone for a the rest of the home and it's great. 

I'm dying over that sunburst mirror.  This space is just comfy and fun. 

a little more formal and expensive - I love the wall paper and the ceiling here

(I hope this entry helped some of the googler's out there :) )

Hi, Nice to Meet You, Google must have sent you Here, And you are?

always wonder what exactly people are looking for when they come to the blog. I actually also wonder who they are. It's interesting because people do not often comment, and yet hundreds of people visit the blog every month. Now that there are these nifty tools to keep track of why people come here, it's less of a mystery, but still very interesting (well, at least I can see why you show up, not really who you are, except what general geographic area you are coming from).

Last month a lot of people were looking for one of my favorite artists, Brian Kershisnik.

one of my favorites of his paintings...

And some people seemed to want to know more about Matt's Big Breakfast. (here's a tip, I tried to go by there for breakfast today w/ my two kids...but I forgot they are closed on Monday...it was a bummer)

But lots of people type queries into google like this: "green bathroom looks good with blue tile?" or "pencil sketches on walls" or "who is Brian Christensen?" (answer: I have no idea, and I have no idea why google tried to trick you into thinking I knew the answer to that question) "dutch boy paint" (not sure why google landed you here for that either, I pretty much only use Dunn Edwards) and "surf's up" (also a bit of a google mystery, although I do talk about water quite a lot) or "inspiring images for decor and/or lighting in a brown room" and "brown rooms with black in them" and "light colored brown rooms" or "brown rooms that work" (SERIOUSLY! I am shocked at the number of people trolling the internet for brown rooms...who knew? And I am sorry that google directs you here only to find I mostly talk about colors which are not brown).

another brown room I like quite a lot...

One was "what the heck should I put on my walls/not kitschy". Well I do think you might find some ideas here for that. Here's one I've never talked about before though. Sometimes when I watch project runway I am very taken by their sketches. They are really cool! They are artistic and fun looking all on their own, completely separate from the actual designs themselves. And I was thinking - you know, those would look really cool as art work by, framed and on the wall. So here's something I think maybe you should put on your wall which is not kitschy. For heck's sake. (Dear Google: Do I say 'heck' a lot? Sincerely, bandanamom)

Enjoy: