Posted on April 26th,
2010
by John Kirchner
Don’t get caught in the trap of thinking bold colors and strong contrasts are the only way your interior decor can look sophisticated or make a statement. That’s the lesson learned after reading a post by the Centsational Girl in which she shares the detail of her recent dining room makeover.
She explains:
My dining space has always been tricky to decorate because it stands in the middle of a major freeway between the garage, family room, and kitchen. We don’t have a formal dining room – there is simply no need for our laid back family of five to have anything other than a casual dining space for evening meals. We nibble in the kitchen most of the time, don’t you?
However, I do like the idea of our dining space being dolled up for holidays or special guests. After all, it has a beautiful set of French doors and a view that leads to the rear yard. So a few weeks ago I decided to upgrade by adding some new window panels and a bench for additional seating. I’m returning to the peaceful calm of white because I find it so fresh and uplifting. Also, cream and white are such a nice contrast to rich dark wood, so I kept a purposeful neutral palette in our dining space.
She’s not the only one signing the praises of neutral settings. A quick search of the photo-sharing site Flickr turns up neutral-color design inspiration ranging from soft and simple to sleek and modern to unique and stylish. Interior-decorating blogger Teri Larsen writes:
Varying tones of gray and white will be the hot neutrals during the coming year. These grays vary from warm putty to cool steel gray. However, gray is not used alone; instead it is paired with warm, buttery yellow or deep taupe to add spark to the palette.
Speaking of gray, this writer, though speaking more about Web design than interior design, opines on the versatility and usefulness of the neutral hue’s varying shades. And DoItYourself.com has some tips on choosing a neutral color scheme for your home.
Whether you stay true to a purely neutral theme or use neutrals as a foundation for making accent colors truly pop, it’s certainly true that well-applied neutral colors are far from bland.
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