Guest Post - Green and Blue

Hi everyone, due to the lack of posts here, I was more than happy to get an offer for a guest post by Arcadian Home blog. Just to keep everyone informed, I'm actually expecting a new member in the family, thus the rare updates on my blog! Have been resting for the past months. My actual due date is this Saturday! Hopefully the little one arrives on time or earlier. Pregnancy is tiring during the finals weeks.

Anyway, I'll let Mari take it from here. Hope you enjoy this guest post... xoxo

Hello, everyone! It's Mari here from Arcadian Home blog, a fantastic place to find lots of decorating inspiration, including winning ways with beautiful table decor, interesting wall art and lovely lighting fixtures. I'm so happy to be visiting with you at Weekend Escapades to share a guest post about spaces with wonderful green and blue color palettes. Amnah inspired me to choose this topic with her post about how much she loves blue, but is becoming interested in green. I've pulled together eight images that illustrate the versatility of the great color combo—blue and green. As you will see on our little virtual tour below, greens and blues are lovely together in all sorts of rooms, from the traditionally elegant to those with a contemporary minimalist look. Whether it's just a pop or two of these lively hues or a room saturated with vibrant blue and green, I hope you'll find inspiration for your own colorful interior or outdoor spaces. Please enjoy!

 
 This formal dining room is kicked up a notch with a brilliant green wall and eye-catching shapely chairs with gorgeous backs dressed up in chartreuse and turquoise burnout velvet.

 
 With a much softer background color on the wall, this living room also includes touches of deeper shades of blue and green. I love the blue sky peeking through in the canine painting.

 
 This lofty bedroom is a restrained blend of blue and green—stylish and inviting. It's one of my personal favorites. The pale walls are painted in a perfect blue hue.

 
From pale blue walls in a bedroom retreat, we turn to soft green walls in a lovely dining room with watery aqua chairs. The embossed pattern on the chair backs adds texture and visual appeal to the design. Buffet lamps are pretty in a color that seems to be a beautiful blending of green and aqua.

 
 Think green and blue rainbow. This living room and nearby office are dressed up in a lovely array of green and blue hues, from pale seafoam to a toned-down version of chartreuse. A contemporary striped rug ties
the room together.

 
 This pretty pale corner vignette gets a bit of color with a blue unframed painting and green buffet lamps. I love the wide gold detailing against the muddy shade of green on the lamp bases.

 
Pale turquoise walls and apple green cabinets create a spa-like space in this large bath with marble floor and shower surround.

 Green and blue is a great color combo for an outdoor space. Here a vintage porch goes for cool contemporary style with stripes, patterns and solids. The hanging ferns are fabulous and so are the contemporary floor lamps created from a classic form.

Images 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 

What do you think of these color combinations? Leave us your thoughts below and be sure to visit our website for more home decor and lighting inspirations!

Thanks, Mari! Oh yes, due to the amount of spam I've been getting lately, I've activated the word verification in the comments section. Hope it doesn't put off genuine human beings from commenting!

Orange

If you had asked me, what is my least favourite colour, I would have said "orange".

Without a doubt.

But.... I find that orange works great as an accent colour to add life to any setting. I mean, even Blogger is using orange as the accent colour for their theme! :-)

When you feel like your home is lacking in colour, throw in some orange!

Orange and blue looks great together. Here, the orange place mats bring zest in to this neutral coloured room.

House Beautiful

Or, how about some orange trinkets styled on your shelves in the kitchen? I absolutely love this kitchen and the deep blue colour with the bright orangey-red.

Helen Norman Photography

Even an orange book in a bedroom would do. Love the little birdie on it.

via The Pink Pagoda

I love the texture and look of this single vibrant orange cushion in this grey-toned sitting room. This is such a beautifully-styled room.

via Belgian Pearls

Or you can go bolder by throwing an orange cloth over your dining table like this one. I love the velvet texture of this fabric. It looks so rich.

via Belgian Pearls

This beautiful room by John Saladino uses orange and green - colours that complement each other well. Don't you just feel like hanging out here all day?

Veranda

This room, decorated by Giannetti Home uses orange cushions as an accent.

Velvet & Linen

Orange-coloured flowers brighten up this pretty little breakfast nook.

BHG

Or, you can just use oranges - and I mean the fruit - in a bowl to brighten up your kitchen!

Martha Stewart

So how would you use orange in your home?

Have a great week!

So my style is...?

The best thing about having a new home is the ideas and inspiration we can find online as we dream of how the home will be decorated.

Even though renovation has not even started yet, there are days when I'm dreaming away of what my living room would look like.

If I were to define what style I would go for, I don't think I can put my finger on it.

It's a mixture of beachy decor made of blues, greens and greys...

Velvet & Linen

I am also inspired by the use of simple lines and natural materials, and darker, accent colours like the vases in this room...

via Mark D. Sikes

I love neutral-themed rooms too...

Curated Style

My Notting Hill

And some modern elements to spice it up a little bit!

Cote de Texas

I think I will use a mixture of all the features I love in each of the photos above to decorate my living room!

Have a wonderful day! 

green...

I've always been a blue girl - meaning that I love using blue as accent colours of a room.

But lately, I've been seeing more and more rooms decorated with green! So now I'm torn between blue and green.

Check out this beautiful room with green as the theme colour.

Image via Green Street

I love the deep hue of green sofa. Notice how the green complements well with black accents? Gorgeous!

Have a great day!

bedrooms sheets

When it comes to choosing bed sheets, without a doubt, I would always go for plain sheets - preferably white, for that matter.

I always feel plain sheets will never tire me and I can always dress up the bed with throw pillows and quilts of different colours, patterns and textures. I also prefer soothing rooms that I can retreat to at the end of the day - that means soft and cool colours like white, blues, and light greys.

Here I'll show you my favourite dressed beds and what I love about them.

Better Homes and Gardens

The photo above has to be one of my favourite bedrooms - it looks so luxurious and sophisticated.  Bed sheets have a subtle pattern, and dressed with a frilly skirt and textured quilt. Beautiful.

via Conspicuous Style

I love whites and beiges. This bed has textured pillows and a lovely elegant pattern on the skirting. Gorgeous.

via The Pink Pagoda

If you have lovely wallpaper and patterned rugs, its best to keep your sheets plain white like the photo above. The olive green borders is a simple pattern yet pretty.

Source unknown

The photo above has to be another of my favourite rooms. Beautiful plain white sheets matched with a textured beige coverlet and grey throw.

Elle Decor

A white room - the pretty details of the headboard bring visual interest to the plain white bedsheets.

Source unknown

Plain white sheets paired with patterned throw pillows and a plain blue square pillow and blue throws. I love the casual elegance of this room.

 If you like more patterns on your sheets, here are some that I find pretty...

Ruemag

The photo above was one of the inspiration photos my sister and I referred to when we were doing the makeover of her room. We love the colours used - grey-blues, white and beiges. Notice that they also use white sheets, but dressed it up with a textured, patterned quilt and throw pillows.

via Create Girl

I love this blue and the simple pattern of these sheets. They dressed it up with a white textured throw and a plain throw pillow for that pop of colour.

via The Lennoxx

I find stripes are pretty too - this coastal themed room uses blue stripes with white sheets and a cute pillow with a starfish pattern.

If you don't mind bold colours and patterns, this zigzag pattern looks great, too. Notice how everything else is kept white and simple - except for the cool aqua blue nightstand. 

Urban Outfitters

So how would you dress up your bed? Plain and simple? Or bold and bright?

Fantasy view of France

I've never been the daring type to go all-out with colours when it comes to decorating. It's not easy to make everything look good together.

This photo caught my eye.

My Home Idea

I love the different colours used in this room and somehow the antique painting of a fantasy view of France just brings the whole room together. It calms the room where there are a lot of patterns and colours in the throw pillows and the stools and curtains.

How do you inject colours in your room? Any tips and tricks on getting a colourful palette without going overboard?

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

black accents

Today is 1st May and it's Labour Day here in Malaysia! For all Malaysians, I hope you're having a good holiday!

Just the other day, my rather opinionated sister mentioned that my blog features a lot of white and wicker and needed some variety. Of course I was indignant and said, "well, yeah, it's my blog, I'll post things that I like." Which happens to be a lot of white... and some wicker, too.

White walls and wicker chairs? Erm, I couldn't resist! Image from Country Home

So, if you're getting bored of white, I thought that this time I would write about the opposite of white... which is black of course. I've always liked rooms that are neutral in colour scheme, but I feel that a hint of black, as an accent, tends to ground the room and give it that little bit of edge.

Here are some examples.

Katrin Cargill

I love the black backsplash, the granite top, the lanterns and the black stools in this country kitchen.

My Home Ideas

Hints of black on the coffee table, black piano, iron railing and curtain rod. I love this room.

Katrin Cargill

The console table against the wall is black - adding some edge to this otherwise neutral room.

Decorpad

I love this white kitchen and the black pendant lamps to ground the room together.

All Things Stylish

I love the composition of black and white photos in black and white frames. Modern and stylish.

Eclectic Revisited

The beautiful black chandelier is a gorgeous accent in this neutral and edgy room.

Source unknown

I love this study room and the hints of black - the chair, the doors, the photos and their frames.

Elle Decor

Black and white stripes on the banquette - the other chairs and furniture are more traditional to complement the modern stripes of the banquette.

Elle Decor

I adore Meg Ryan's house featured in Elle Decor. White with dark floors and black accents. Her bedroom is gorgeous, too.

Elle Decor

And the black cabinets in her kitchen.

Elle Decor

 So what do you think of black as accents? Is it too strong, or would you consider using it in your home?

red nook

I wrote about breakfast nooks the other day. So we've decided that we can't afford to have one in the house, for now.

But it still has not deterred me from finding beautiful pictures of breakfast nooks on Pinterest!.

I'm loving this one right now.

Source unknown! Pls let me know if you can find the source

I've never been a fan of red, but this crimson looks so pretty. I'm loving the exposed wood beam, the raw plaster walls, the linen table cloth with the red stripes. And floral pillows matched with striped pillows look great, too.

Lovely!

kitchen crush

I saw this beautiful kitchen on Houzz and thought I'd share it with you here. Take a look!

traditional kitchen design by burlington architect Smith & Vansant Architects PC

I'm really liking the off-white cabinets, the marble countertops and the backsplash. I also love that open shelf showing a collection of books and mixing bowls. 

traditional kitchen design by burlington architect Smith & Vansant Architects PC

 The kitchen has a great view to a green garden. The windows open up like french doors. Check out the huge farmhouse sink. 

traditional kitchen design by burlington architect Smith & Vansant Architects PC

And lets look at the details a little bit closer, shall we? 

traditional kitchen design by burlington architect Smith & Vansant Architects PC

traditional kitchen design by burlington architect Smith & Vansant Architects PC

I love the glass pendant lamps, the simple cabinetry and a mix of hardware used. And a kitchen can never have enough drawers!

Have a great Tuesday!