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Tag: pajama lounge

Creating a Cohesive Color Palette

Creating a cohesive color palette throughout a room, or even a whole house, can be challenging.

Yes, certain colors work well together while others don’t, but the most important factor that makes – or breaks – a room / a whole home is balance.

With drama, needs calm.

With color, needs quiet.

With dark, needs light.

With a statement piece, needs minimal elements.

I’m a true believer to go all the way with unexpected + bold elements, but I also believe a balance needs to be achieved so a room feels inviting + comfortable.

Creating a Cohesive Color Palette throughout the home

Last week, I shared the reveal of our newly renovated Pajama Lounge.  Yes, you heard right… we ditched the traditional family room and created a fun, relaxing, vibrant space where we lounge in our PJs.

When we first stepped foot in the dark + dreary room during the open house, the sun was filtering through the large glass windows. Unfortunately we were quickly distracting by all the dark paneling, but I just had the feeling that when the space was transformed it would be flooded with sunshine.

As the space took shape during the renovation, I envisioned introducing color but at the same time I kept coming back to my vision of wanting the room to feel light and bright. I knew the furniture for the space would be most of what was in our previous living room and since those elements were colorful and dynamic, I landed on a neutral backdrop that color could be layered on to.

This is how I knew balance would be brought to the space >>> Light colors for the backdrop with bold layers

Creating a Cohesive Color Palette throughout the home

As the space started to take shape, I’ll be honest, the room looked boring. It didn’t have the depth and vibrancy that reflects my style. I stuck with it and as I began to introduce the furniture and the layers of accessories, pillows, the rug, and all the elements, what I was envisioning started to result.

Then to really make the space pop, I decided to paint the existing wood door a vibrant, eye-popping yellow. Well that took the space to the next notch. That element alone took the room from interesting to unexpected and unique.

After priming the door with Kilz stainblocking primer…

… I chose Valspar Lemon Curd for a splash of yellow.

Creating a Cohesive Color Palette throughout the home

To make this dramatic color work, I brought in this bold yellow hue throughout the room in understated ways.

Aside from the door, there are a half-dozen other elements in the space that are the same yellow hue – 1. door / 2. pillow / 3. storage boxes on shelves / 4. tray / 5. side chairs (at desk, not shown)

Creating a Cohesive Color Palette throughout the home

Creating a Cohesive Color Palette throughout the home

Introducing this eye-popping color in other elements creates cohesiveness throughout the space versus it being a ‘one-off’.  Yet, the yellow doesn’t dominate too much and take over.  In small doses is best.

Creating a Cohesive Color Palette throughout the home

Another way our pajama lounge space works well is the balance of light and dark.

As I mentioned, at first this room seemed boring to me with the walls painted a light color – Valspar Snowy Dusk – but when the furniture + accessory layers were added, the room started to come alive.  With the light colored walls as a backdrop, the opportunity was provided to add contrasting darker elements, like the dark navy barn doors.

Creating a Cohesive Color Palette throughout the home

The color on the barn doors is the same as the newly painted kitchen cabinets.  Having the same color on multiple elements in different rooms, creates for a cohesive thread throughout the house.

Creating a Cohesive Color Palette throughout the home

Balance is key to creating a cohesive color palette.  Once I determined that I wanted to introduce a dramatic color, I knew the other colors in the space needed to compliment the bold yellow hue.  Choosing a light backdrop (the walls) with darker layers (the navy barn doors) + pops of color here & there throughout the room created a space that is light + bright & a space we love to lounge!

Creating a Cohesive Color Palette throughout the home

 

 

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST ON CREATING A COHESIVE COLOR PALETTE IS A COLLABORATION WITH LOWE’S. ALL OPINIONS + SELECTIONS ARE MY OWN.

Pajama Lounge REVEAL

Did the title of the post entice you to read more?!?

There’s a new phrase being tossed around in the design world… Pajama Lounge.  I first heard it on Young House Love Has a Podcast and then Apartment Therapy recently shared an article on What is a Pajama Lounge?  The space that I was referring to as our family room really is better suited to be our Pajama Lounge as it’s  just that… a space that we basically lounge around in wearing pajamas.  It’s our hang out space. The room that we gather to watch TV.  It’s the place in our home that the kids play, do homework, and create.  It’s essentially the everything room where it all happens.

Taking a step back to when we first bought our brick ranch fixer upper, the room looked nothing as it does now.  Let’s head down memory lane for a glimpse at what we started with…

The vertical paneling was torn down. The carpet was pulled up. The ceiling was removed.

New framing was added.  New sheetrocked installed. New wood flooring layed.

A few weeks later, a completely transformed room was created with a fresh palette to decorate.

The walls were painted. Furniture was brought in. Layers were added. And the once barren, dreary space came alive…

Welcome to our renovated living room, a.k.a. Our Pajama Lounge

Step inside…

I shared a glimpse of our PJ hang out room a couple weeks ago when I wrote a post on the new rolling barn doors, which there are two of, that separate this space from the rest of the house. To create a cohesive tie throughout the house, the paint color on the doors is the same as the newly painted kitchen cabinets.

The pajama lounge is a large space at about 23′ x 15′.  A space of this large size can be overwhelming to lay out  so I decided to create two zones – a TV / lounge area and a separate fun / work area.

The opening off the foyer is the TV / lounge zone.  Most of the furniture in this space is from our previous home and the set up fairly the same as it was.  The TV sits on a media stand at the far wall and is surrounded with a collage of prints + pictures from Minted.  Even though the TV – the big black box – is large, it doesn’t feel overwhelming or dominate the space because the elements around it are interesting and distract the eye.

To create the two zones, I positioned the sofa in the center of the room facing the TV.  Then behind the sofa is a large table (part of the work zone) that is a desk for creating. In the TV zone, along with the sofa are other seating options including a comfy side chair in a small geometric pattern and an armless side chair in a green suede fabric.

New window treatments flank the sides of the two large windows and the continuing pattern at each window, tie together the two zones.

Other furniture elements in this area of the room are light and airy to keep the space feeling spacious and open.  The lucite coffee table can easily be moved when all of us are lounging and the new white metal side table is attractive from all sides – front, back, and sides – so no matter the view point, it looks good.

Atop the side table which sits between the chair and sofa is a lamp with a clear glass base and white shade.  It took me a while to find the right lamp – I tried many!  I’m a lamp hoarder so thankfully I didn’t have to buy anything new.  I first tried a thin, tall lamp, but it dominated the room.  Then I tried a smaller lamp with a solid base but it wasn’t the right scale.  Finally I tried this lamp and I think because it’s clear glass it balanced the layers of color in other elements throughout the room.

Along with the large desk behind the sofa used from homework + creating, the second zone of the room is used for play.  The tall bookcases in a distressed wood finish on the far wall are a recent purchase. They are half open shelves and half closed at the bottom.  The top portion of the bookcase stores arts + crafts supplies in boxes, toys in baskets, books, files, etc.  The bottom section with the closed storage holds the kids toys.

The fun zone offers the kids a wide open area to play and in the corner is a drum set.  Because we don’t have a finished basement anymore, many of the items that used to be in the basement – toys, drums, all the other ‘stuff’, had to find a new home (or are still in boxes, haha).

In the work / fun zone of the large pajama lounge that is the second rolling door that leads to the kitchen.  This area of the space is still a work in process (as is a bit of every room in the house), but I have ideas brewing…

We love and live in this space so much.  It’s our hub.  The space is so bright + feels so inviting.  And who doesn’t love a good before & after.  Let’s take one more peek at what it once looked like and how our pajama lounge looks now…

Check out this post on how I created a cohesive color palette in the room with the colors + layers of the room I chose.