Re-Decorating with New Colors Picked After a Color Consultation

 photo credit

Ever wondered what a color consultation by an interior decorator could do for you?  Well, I finally found out last week! Maria Killam of Maria Killam Colour and Design is an interior designer who works mostly in the Pacific Northwest. She does so many things like shopping, helping people make decisions on decorating  and painting their home or businesses, arranging people's homes or businesses for photo shoots, teaching workshops on how to understand and use color for those who are in the interior design business or for people who just want the information to use in their own homes.  She's pretty amazing!  I am an avid follower of her blog, Colour Me Happy!

But the service that she offers that would help YOU and Me with the most, is her online phone consultation service.  This is what she did for me last week. Really, it's pretty impressive what she can do over the phone in just one hour! She says that she can do most houses in 1 hour and usually no more than 2. So don't choke when you see the price--it's incredibly reasonable if you want to avoid a lot of mistakes while purchasing furniture, drapes, paint, tile, accessories even pillows!

You have to understand why this consultation was so important to me. Unlike many of you, we never owned our own home until three years ago. For over 20 years we have rented and that is in over 20 houses!  I never had to 'choose' a paint color and our decor had to be rearranged to fit 20 different styles of decor.So unlike many other activities, this is one for which I have practically ZERO experience!

New Living Room Accessories and Extra Chair (borders removed from Living Room and Dining--still working on it!:o)

 

The Regatta Bay is the kitchen counter color.

I have recently discovered that paint of any color except white runs anywhere from 14.00 to 30.00 dollars a gallon.  Plus, we were considering buying a new couch and love seat at some point soon because ours is wearing out. It's the couch situation that really put the whole thing into 'critical' mode. (That and the fact that I hated the mismatched borders and was tired to death of the Burgandy/Navy decor we have had for almost 20 years. It's very obviously '80's. )

  Old Living room Colors and Border

I don't want to be stuck with piece meal colors, buying a couch that works now--but wouldn't work for the whole house. I didn't want to be stuck with the ugly borders, out-dated burgandy and gold/green wall paper just because I bought a couch that works now---but wouldn't allow for changes later.  And I sure didn't want to buy rugs, cushions, or even fabric for drapes without some kind of decent plan. I've already spent some money and energy making decor changes that turned out not to be the best because I was only focused on one room.

The coffee table and end tables will be painted Moonlight White and gold accents are or will be added to match gold chair that Maria had me bring in from the bedroom. 

So---here's what happens.  I took photos, without flash, of every room in the house (except the kids' bedrooms which I wasn't too concerned about.), and also photos of the transition from one room to the next.  Then I uploaded all of these to an online photo place as an album.

 New Dining room with border and goldy/green wall paper removed. Will be painted  Arizona Tan with Moonlight White Trim.  Kitchen will be Bavarian Cream with Moonlight White Cabinets.  The counters in the kitchen are the Regatta Bay color.

  Old Dining Room

Maria also had me get a fan deck. I did not know what this was! Now I do. Home Depot sold them for $20.00 (online) but when I dropped by, they gave me one for free. It was for BEHR paint. Maria has plenty of fan decks for different brands of paint and she had one that matched mine.
 

  New Sewing Room Accessories...the Cool Sky Blue will lead 

into the bedroom with the Grass Cloth green walls.

 Old Sewing Room Decor

This way we could use the shades of paint on the cards to tell her exactly which one matched the color of the kitchen counter, the gold chair in the bedroom or the upholstery on the couch and then make recommendations. She could also communicate to me which colors she was suggesting and we could look at other shades as options and no exactly what we were both talking about.--That was very helpful!

 New Bedroom Accessories for New Color Palette (not painted yet) 

Dark Victorian just didn't look right in a 'rustic' style home!

This was my favorite 'transformation' so I linked up to Shabby Chic's Thursday's Transformations.  Also, if you look close you will see that the Burgandy bedside lamp below is now green! You gotta love spray paint!! I linked my lamp re-do with The Shabby Nest.

 Old Bedroom Decor

Well, these photos are just a hint at how a color consultation can help you!  When the rooms are painted--then you will be able to see much better, what a help Maria was.

And she did so much more than I have even begun to describe!   She helped me see the major flaws in the rooms...like mismatched borders leading from the Living Room to the Dining Room and advised me on the right accent color for the living-room when she saw that I actually didn't have an accent color. (I had removed all the burgundy stuff and the green and red rug before I sent her a picture of the living room.  She suggested what colors to paint some of the furniture and cabinets. She suggested either painting the wood wainscoting in the living room because it contrasted too much with the laminate floor or asked us to consider carrying the pine wainscoting into the dining-room so it would match.

She helped me come up with a major overhaul of the bathroom which is terribly out-dated! We will be painting it moss green and painting the counter forest green to cover up the two-tone purple/pink/hunter green. The cabinets will be painted moonlight white and the towels will be cream.  She suggested I move the very green antique lamp of my Grandma's from the sewing room to the bathroom.

The Kitchen Colors are the Blue, Cream, and Moonlight White.  We are painting the walls Bavarian Cream and the Furniture Moonlight White.

But even better..she worked with me to develop a color flow...from the key colors of the Living room to the Dining Room and on into to the Kitchen..

and then from the blue and white of the kitchen into the entry way where we change to blues and greens which are carried out into the adjacent sewing room, master bedroom, and bathroom.  I'm so glad I didn't have to make all those decisions. And she warned me to buy the new bedspread and curtains before painting the grass cloth color so as to make sure I get the exact right shade to match.  Great idea!

Oops..I'm not sure about those covers for the desks!!  I think I made a mistake-Drat! I should have taken my color cards that I picked up at Home Depot with me-They need to say in my purse!

We covered even more territory than this...and as you can see..she really knows her stuff. It's amazing what we accomplished in such a short time.  I will be painting walls, furniture, cabinets and even counters..with complete confidence this summer thanks to Maria!


Have you got any re-decorating or painting plans for the summer?  You might want to start reading Maria's blog Color Me Happy. She is in the process of painting and re-decorating her new home and is sharing photos of each step of the way. You can learn so much from her expertise!