every year or three we succumb to a strong urge to paint various rooms in our home a different color than the year(s) previous (or rather the husby just sighs and says “as you wish” and i get it done). it seems we are drawn to different hues in cyclic patterns. for example, i used to like red. then for a few years i utterly despised it. poof! i wake up one day and red is the most lovely hue that ever existed. i’ve always been fascinated by such things. right now, i reestablishing a love affair with hues of earthy green, both light and dark, and super deep almost brownish purples. i have loathed purple for years.
when i moved into my husby’s house, i was a much nicer girl. i said “i’m having someone paint every room in this place — you pick the colors and i’ll pick the hues.” yeah, not doing that again. he wanted blue for the kitchen and orange for the dining room and living room. orange? i ended up creating a lovely warm terra-cotta pumpkin bliss, as we later named it, but it’s a bit much for four large walls in my opinion. hues of orange evoke feelings of energy and excitement. no wonder i never sleep… i wish to paint it so i can relax. i am thinking about either coffee-stained organic white cotton or dusty crocheted tablecloth tea-party or old crumbly paper (we like to make up weird paint names as we never chose one of those pre-mixed square-on-paper-card hues). our downstairs hall, for example, is the most GORGEOUS shade of “bum dust” (which i would paint in the whole main level of our house if i wasn’t into different hues for every room).
i’m thinking that i will keep the blue hue of our kitchen and dining room for another year. it’s happy happiness blue. hues of blue create feels of calmness and serenity. blue can also lower your pulse rate, so if you have high-blood pressure, maybe a nice azure room in your home would be of benefit to you? or you can come for a visit for tea.
how you do chose one single color to paint a wall? there are way too many options out in the world. i’ve decided my bedroom — that’s easy. the walls with now be “my morning coffee” with “my favorite mug” as the trim hue — you can see just below. the mug is a deep chocolate brown, not black as it may appear. but how do i pick my living room hue? put them in a hat and draw? let the husby do it? if he picked, it’d probably either be lime green or…. no, he’d keep it “orange”. (and he would never really pick lime green.)
browns and tans bring a sense of warmth, comfort and security. i love the earthiness and natural feeling of these hues.
but enough of that — i got distracted and this distraction has turned to excitement. my plan for the day was to post this blog entry, read a dozen or three of some of my favorite blogs’ newest posts and do client/computer work. got the client work done for the most part. check. got most of this post done — i had some other colors and feelings and blah, blah, blah, but i had a thought. “i want a bonnet so someday when i get my trike, i’ll be ever so cute peddling around my neighborhood.” actually my REAL thought was “i want a bonnet.” so without a pattern, sewing skills to speak of or any decent fabric, i managed to create my wee bonnet anyway…
ingredients: left over fleece from my wee bug’s solstice skull blanket, some crushed deep red velvet, coffee stained cheese cloth and two types of lace, coffee stained piece of vintage crocheted tablecloth. oh, and two long pieces of black velvet ribbon to tie it. it’s ever so cute if i do say so myself — nowhere near the bonnet i posted the other day that i said “i wish i could sew like this!!” but maybe with practice…
the back is cute too with all of it’s over-stitched red bits (it was a tiny bit too big so i had to take it in here and there). or at least i think so. my mom will make fun of me and say something about how i look like i’m trying out for a part on little house on the prairie but whatev. she’s is so not cool enough to wear my hat! 😉
i kinda failed on taking a picture of the right side, which has a cute red polk-a-dot but you get the idea. as if five photos isn’t enough, i know.
happy wednesday… tomorrow for most of us. i’m going to see about going used window shopping for our new studio (like literal window shopping — i need to buy two of them). wish me luck as this is my fourth trip to find “the perfect panes”.
16 comments
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6 January, 2010 at 12:43 am
Debrina
ooooh – I love all these colours!!!! You’re so clever with the photo mosaics and the text thing going on inside the photos and, well, you’re just clever. AND Finn is so cute! He’s so pixyish! I love him and his clever little ways! I love the orange, especially that photo of the wall behind the buddha, but I think you’re right, 4 walls of orange could drive you a bit nutty, or restless as you pointed out!
Love your bonnet Alicia! When you get the tricycle, you’ve got to do some poses next to it (or on it) with your hat on. A bit like those half naked girld who drape themselves over the latest new Harley! Ha ha!
6 January, 2010 at 7:56 am
alteredbits
hahaha! i will indeed have some photos like that, just for you — in my bonnet and matching skirt i’m wishing to make. 😉 that is a lot easier than a new harley, which i always wanted as a child and younger girl.
all of the colours love you too! 😉 (so does finn, speaking of love.) i think i shall keep just one tiny wall the orangy hue — we have a wall that’s only about 5 or 6 feet side that protrudes from the rest of the wall — i think i’ll keep that as is, and paint the the other walls a colour i have yet to decide upon. paul hates anything in hues of beige or tan or cream. he says it’s boring. maybe i’ll crackle milk in coffee brown over a warm tea stained tablecloth color. 🙂 that would sure be a chore!
i shall try to make you a bonnet before your winter. 😉
6 January, 2010 at 7:31 am
leslie avon miller
Love both bonnets and your colors – yummy. Why not one orange wall and 3 in a supportive color?
6 January, 2010 at 7:46 am
alteredbits
thank you so much, leslie. that is exactly what i’m trying to convince the husby to agree to. 🙂 a dear friend of ours made us the most amazing large collage as a wedding gift and the room looks like it was painted solely for that piece. i thought keeping one wall the orangy-hue would be nice for the piece and make it feel more relaxing to remove the rest.
6 January, 2010 at 8:57 am
heather
love your bonnet!!! it’s super-cute! i wish you had a picture wearing it so i could see what it looks like on. But i plan on going back to the other blog entry you referenced to get some idea.
and your colors are just lovely. here’s a thought. why not do your intense color as an accent wall? for example your pumpkin bliss living room? a single wall of pumpkin bliss would look quite dynamic with 3 other walls of say… mushroom? taupe? something slightly calmer to make the pumpkin bliss pop?
6 January, 2010 at 9:24 am
alteredbits
thank you so much, heather! it was my first bonnet as sewing is extremely new to me. i think i shall make many.
and mushroom! how perfect! i didn’t even think of that color! i am definitely keeping a pumpkin wall, and i think mushroom for the rest of the room would be great. the four large walls or orange-hue is overkill. 🙂
i emailed you a pic of me in the bonnet — a very, very, bad pic though.
6 January, 2010 at 12:13 pm
heather
it’s so cute!!! thanks for the pic! and now i have a new favorite website. i went and looked at the other bonnets and the dresses they make. i think i now have a ‘dream outfit’ to aspire towards.
6 January, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Kim
Love the bonnet! I see you have become a sewing convert now, LOL! Catching up with your posts. Love the resolutions! You go girl! We are so much alike about colours! I had a red thing a few years ago and recovered my lounge furnture in a dark red velvet, which I still love! Although lately I seem to be the queen of neutrals which years ago, I swore madly I would never be! LOL! Love the coffeee colours yumm! Old crumbly paper works for me too! Just don’t let husby go all lime with the pumpkin colours. You’ll never get any rest in that room then, LOL!
6 January, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Lisa Jurist
beautiful post! my house is all natural and primitive hues…i know you find that hard to believe..i love the coffee color you’ve chosen and the ecru and cream too! My youngest son wants his room gold and for a while Michael wanted his bedroom pink so never let a guy choose a wall color.
Your bonnet is fantabulous!! I wanna see a pix of adorable you sporting it! it’s perfectly fashionable. You could make them and sell them on your site and while you’re at it why don’t you post it on collage camp..KC would love it!
7 January, 2010 at 12:39 am
Lisa Sarsfield
Hmmm, I wonder what colour bonnet is? I bet bohemian bonnet is a slightly earthy hue…
I do like your bonnet:) maybe you can start a modern day trend! It could take off you know!
Love your colour theories/memories/observations.lol! and I really like the way you matched the organic things to the discussion, cool idea!
Quick visit, very tired from sleeping in a tent on an airbed…had fun though:)
7 January, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Mandy
Awesome bonnet. You clever thing -I bet it looks divine on. And your creative rooms have got me thinking how I could improve my own home…but..sigh… so little time. Keep up the lovely work!
8 January, 2010 at 4:15 am
Dale
This is just so cute with the bonnet. I love the soft doillie with the mixed fabrics. Great feel there! Also wishing for a picture of how it looks on… you should totally post a pic of you wearing it.
11 January, 2010 at 11:12 am
Gena
Your pictures are lovely and well put together.
I think you have a good eye and seem to have a clear plan of “color action”.
Jut incase you had some other questions or need some inspiration I thought you might enjoy the book Colors For Your Every Mood by Leatrice Eiseman. Or check us out at http://www.eisemancolorblog.com and look on the left hand side for books. I hope this helps even thought it seems like you don’t need it!
Enjoy!!
Gena
17 January, 2010 at 7:44 am
Patti Edmon
Lovely bonnet, incredible colors and fabulous photographs…. who the heck has time to paint??
There is a fireplace in our bedroom (not working unfortunately but in 1900 that’s the only way they heated the rooms:) and it has tile with a kind of unfortunate green, along with some brown flecks. I decided that – when we get around to painting – the room will be the color of my morning coffee!!! to pick up on the browns in the tile. happy painting.
hugs,
p
17 January, 2010 at 7:55 pm
Seth
Bum dust! That’s priceless!!
18 January, 2010 at 10:44 am
remnants
Hey! I’m feeling a bit stressed this morning so I was staring at the blue colors and it worked!!! Have you made any more bonnets?!?!?