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What’s Your Home’s Palette?

March 5, 2021 By kimwheeler 17 Comments

Does your home have a color palette? Remember when people used to have their colors done? Well your home has a vibe and certain colors may suit it more than others. Some colors also may be more pleasing to you personally. These are all things to consider when choosing the palette for your home.

If your home stays in four to five colors or tones, you can make easier choices when shopping and decorating. I have a binder for my house with all the items from the renovation, and inspiration photos. The picture on the cover was my color inspiration/style for the house!

My house is variations of white, grey, light wood tones and some black accents, grey blues. With spring coming I’ve been wanting a change and a bit more color with my current favorite -soft blues. I added this striped blue and another blue pillow on top photo and a few other accessories to give it a coastal and springy vibe.

It all started when I bought this jacket from Anthropologie in the prettiest blue. I had it hanging on my coat tree and noticed it nicely picked up the blues about the house. The house is neutral, but there are pops of blue and a tiny bit of orange in a picture and my rug too..

Then I was at Pottery Barn and I noticed the same soft blue of these Modern Glass Candle Holders. I bought a blue one and gathered a few other blues like my Glassy Baby. So now with the blue pillows and a couple of things I already own, made the house feel fresh to me.

If you know your home’s and your own color story, you can keep it in mind when shopping and making design decisions for the house. You can create a binder as I have, with colors and pictures that reflect your taste and style. Referring back to that will confirm what you love and help you make smart choices. I know what colors I like and don’t so I can usually blow through a store or online shop pretty fast knowing what I am looking for and what will work in my house.

It doesn’t mean you can’t change things up and are stuck with the same colors. In fact, you might add in or subtract or focus on some colors more depending on the seasons. In fall and winter, I love adding more black accents -frames, and woods. In spring and summer I bring out more whites, my coral collection, and striped pillows and linen throws. The color scheme stays the same overall, just the tone feels darker and cozier or lighter and brighter, depending on the time of year!

If you’re unsure of your home palette, or don’t think you have one, start looking around and see what colors you use most predominantly. Also consider your personal wardrobe. What is in your closet? Do you gravitate towards white jeans and navy? How about denim shirts? If there are repeating themes in your closet than they are sure to be things you’ll love in your home and may already have.

Sometimes your kitchen or your fireplace material may move you toward a cool or warm look. You may have many colors in your house, but most people gravitate towards favorite tones. Walk through the house and see if there are threads of the same colors that connect your spaces, especially the main rooms. You may want to choose to use some during some parts of the year, and change out the the others. The most traditional way is adding warm tones at fall and cooler at summer. These colors actually have a psychological effect of making us feel warm or cooler, hence the seasonal use!

Sometimes you just need to find a look. This photo was an inspiration last fall. I used the warm cinnamon colors in this photo to add dried flowers, wood bowls and some candles in these tones and still kept my same neutral feel overall.

You don’t have to be limited to a small color family, but know what your look and tones are. Some people have a lot of color and live with it all. My friend Heidi, whose home and style I profiled for my Californian’s at Home is an artist and her home palette is many, many colors and it works beautifully for her eclectic and creative home and her art. Same with my friend Elizabeth, the Vintage Contessa, who lives with a lot of daring tones like chartreuse and bright yellow and luxe items. Cindy Hattersley is someone with many gorgeous neutrals and some beautiful blues in her amazing California home.

Cindy’s dreamy bedroom!

Some beautiful blues : Zinnia Pillow cover, Thibaut Serengheti Pillow, Coastal Blue Solid Velvet Cover, Serena & Lily Cuesta Pillow Cover , Perennials Rosemount Pillow Cover, Swansea Cotton Throw,

If you know what your colors are that’s a huge help in creating a beautiful home. You may have spring and fall, summer and winter looks, but know the main colors and what works with them. Have some fun thinking about setting your home’s style and colorways… maybe even make a binder as I have, or an inspiration board!

Kim

P.S. By the way, I am honored to be featured on Cindy’s beautiful blog, Cindy Hattersley Design today. She is showing more of our renovation. So pop on over if you have time. Her blog is a great inspiration to me personally. She’s amazingly talented.

Links may sometimes generate a small commission. Thank you for supporting the blog!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: #colorpalette, #designtips, #homecolors, #homedecor, #homedesign, #homepalette

May House Update

May 1, 2019 By kimwheeler 26 Comments

I can’t believe it’s May already.. This year is flying by. We have two months until we move into our home and it seems like a ton to still get done. The past weeks have been so busy. In the midst of everything my beloved wisteria had the best bloom in years.. Thank you California rain!

As luck would have it, that was the week the painters came to paint the eaves black to match the new black roof and gutters, which I am loving. They very kindly pulled the wisteria off and hung it in a large wrap. Can you believe it? They put it back after no harm done. I was so happy as this vine is 40-50 years old and I am trying my best to preserve it with all this work being done!

I am mostly finished with choices for-tile, cabinets, lights, floors and I am so glad. My head is swirling all the time with this stuff. My days go like this- call the closet person, get back to the cement guy, meet the garage door people, check with the tile store, view the floor sample, get back to the cabinet guys, order those lamps, return the ones that didn’t work, think about bath mirrors…and so on!! I would be lying if I didn’t say I’ve had some anxiety.

There are SO many building choices and websites. You can pull a whole home together on something like Build.com and Restoration Hardware. I am one of those people who may do better with less choice. I love a LOT of things and styles. The anxiety comes from worrying about whether I’ve made the right choice and if it will all look good pulled together..Luckily now a lot of design is changing and there really is no ‘perfect’ look -just your own. I keep reminding myself that, and that I am going for my own unique home, but still I stress.

So look guys…this is the interior..Fireplaces and walls gone, drywall almost all up. This is the front view out. I love the large French doors to the little patio we are building. I plan to put my dining table in front of these doors.

This is the back of the house looking toward the new fold away La Cantina doors and our fireplace. Window seats will be on either side and to the left is the kitchen.

My biggest challenge with this house has been sticking to my look and style for this home. Not everything has to match, but I would like it to flow. I love when a home has a thread of continuity about it and the rooms feel connected in some way. This exterior of the house will be white with black details, wood floors and cabinetry, light stone accents, white walls and aqua blue in a few places. The house has no trim or moulding on the upper walls or windows and has contemporary feel inside.

This is the front right now. You can see the new path I tried to model after an offset path from my grandparent’s 1960’s house and the new patio to the left.

The front entrance has a portico that will have a little bench on one side for packages. The door will be glass and the sidelights also.

This is the back and you can see the new dark roof and gutters. This will be all stuccoed and painted white. Deciding on that color is next- hopefully something not stark.

Here is what is all over my house..tiles and cabinetry and flooring. I think you can see the look I’m going for here- whites, light oak, and stones.

This is the fireplace material below. I love this Italian tile and I think it will look modern, yet still natural. I cannot believe the gorgeous stone looking tiles that are coming from Italy. This is supposed to be like onyx and has about 400 different variations so using it looks just like the real stone for a lot less.

These two are the flooring for the mudroom/laundry/pool bath and the beautiful blue tile is the background for the wall in the pool bath part. I wanted something fun as the pool is just outside the door and it’s mostly used by swimmers. This tile has the slightest shimmer and is like the sun on the water. I love it!

I used this image for inspiration for that pool bath and I am sorry I have lost the source. I am having a vanity built like this with two floating shelves where I can wedge pool towels between. I like the modern stacking style of tiles and the wall mounted faucet too.

I am also excited for the wet bar which I decided to use something called Yesterday’s Glass from Jeffery Court on the backsplash. It’s like those 1970’s mirrored tiles that had that smoky look that my parents and Max’s both had. I hope this will be a little glam and reflect light. The upper shelves are floating and the lowers are light wood. I still have to figure the hardware, but there is a round hammered nickel sink and a dark pewter toned faucet.

This was one inspiration for the bar found on Instagram.

I wasn’t sure what kind of garage door to go with. I like the glass ones, but they seem more modern than my house is. I did not like the metal ones many garage door companies have. I like a very clean and streamlined look and a few neighbors have that. Turns out my neighbor Vivian designed her own and the other neighbors like it so much they also used her design.. Below is Vivian’s house and the look I want, but in black. Isn’t it modern and sharp? I think it’s perfect for my transitional style.

Then there is the driveway and I love this look below and am trying to recreate something similar, but offset like my walkway and with stones between..

I have always known I wanted a glass front door for the light. This is where I am conflicted -do I go very modern like the photo below or classic like the next photo? Max worries about the openness to the front, but you can always add a curtain that pulls over the windows and sidelights if you need more privacy.

I am set on having the door a color and this below is the front runner..

I think Palladian Blue is a good foil to the golds and wood tones that will be in the house, like these chairs shown above with it.

Great Barrington Green is also cool for the door of a white California house with black accents..

Speaking of color, these new Century Paints from Benjamin Moore are so gorgeous. Have you seen these? Any of these would make a statement on a door!

Thanks for following along. I would love to hear what you think and any tips you’ve got for remodeling choices.

Next week I’ll share more house things like wallpaper, my trip to So Cal and my lunch at the most beautiful San Francisco home.

Kim

Filed Under: Home Remodeling, Uncategorized Tagged With: #californiahomestyle, #homedesign, #homereno, #homerenovation

The Home Reno Has Begun!

July 12, 2018 By kimwheeler 13 Comments

How is your summer going? We were away on vacation and last week, two days after we got home, we moved into a rental house while we renovate for the next 6 months. It had been ten years since we have moved and I had forgotten how much work there is. GAH! I’m still recovering. My son Jackson and I were saying that moving should be required for everyone every decade as it really makes you evaluate what the heck you own and are living with, you know? Moving requires you to acknowledge and touch just about every darn item you possess and even those squirreled away in a closet or garage. It’s a big wake-up call. I thought I had been good about purging in the past few years, but clearly not at all.  My family especially got on me about the amount of pillows and books I own. I love my books, but yes we will be cleaning out more before moving back. The days before the move we took 3 huge loads to donation. It made me really feel guilty about how much ‘stuff’ we acquired. We all vowed to have less.

The house in its true state in the process of packing.. Mr. Cat none too happy.

Empty and sad looking! I loved these built-ins, but they prevented me from using that space in any other way. This- our largest room, was also seldom used as it was blocked by the fireplace wall and not easy to walk into.

The narrow front room below was also the entry point to the house and our tv/family room. We squeezed into here once a couch and chair were in and never really all fit for a movie or game night.

I have shared before about the reno plan, but its actually been an almost 2 year process, where we intended to just do the kitchen, then realized how much we could actually improve the flow of the house. We figured while we were at it, why not do it and also make the whole living space work better? That also grew to include the master bedroom, which will be enlarged by taking over a fourth bedroom that is seldom used.

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Filed Under: Home Remodeling, Uncategorized Tagged With: #bayareahomestyle, #californiadesigners, #californiahomestyle, #homedesign, #homereno, #remodeling

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Blogger, writer and explorer sharing about my native California, and parts farther afield. Join me here where I chat about things to love in the worlds of design, fashion, home, travel and culture.

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Today, on the blog, some Valentine fun. 💗I’m Today, on the blog, some Valentine fun. 💗I’m joining a group of talented women and we all have some Valentine ideas for you. My blog is about an easy Valentine or Galentine‘s dinner you can recreate. I tried to make this super simple because the whole point is gathering with your people and having a good time. 

I did make ahead dishes and used pink items already in my home for the table. I added primroses from the hardware store for extra prettiness and for take home favors. 💕

Stop on by the blog to get all the details. 
@northerncalstyle link in my bio.
And don’t forget to go to these lovely blogs:

@most_lovely_things 
@cindyhattersley 
@classiccasualhome 
@makemineaspritzer 
@sherisilver

#valentines #valentinestablescape #valentinesdinner #galentinesparty
Styling idea of the week…February dressing inspi Styling idea of the week…February dressing inspiration from Princess Diana.. Try a puffer vest or jacket paired with ruffles or florals and a skirt. A pretty transitional look with a romantic February vibe. 💗 Maybe you already have these items in the closet? See what you can create!

This pic is from the fun account, @lostinvintagefashion which is a wonderful rabbit hole to drop into should you need some sartorial inspiration.

Happy first of February friends!

#winterdressing #stylingideas #princessdianastyle #puffervest
The weekend post is up with chat about the trendin The weekend post is up with chat about the trending colors for 2023 in home decor and fashion.. Did you love the 80’s? If so this is perhaps a more sophisticated version with sherbet tones and bits of magenta, greens and navy.  Here I added a bit of these Easter tones to the coffee table with a grass cloth box, one of my books and a candle. I think the best way to update things is to add touches to the home and closet that appeal to you and mix them in with neutrals.. 
What do you think of these colors? I think they’re fun. Some clothing pieces bring me back to my Esprit loving days. It could be fun to add a shirt, shoe or bag in these tones and I selected a handful to consider..

Also on the blog, a few good white jeans, skin cleansers you may need and more! 

Stop on by our blogs- links as always, in our bios or stories:
@northerncalstyle 
@makemineaspritzer 
@pineconesandacorns
 Happy Sunday!

#color2023 #springcolors #trending #serenaandlily #coffeetablestyling
A January PSA- get in your closet and get those wh A January PSA- get in your closet and get those white jeans out! I found mine at the bottom of my closet today in a basket and thought -yes! I love the look of a classic white jean, paired with a chunky sweater or turtleneck in black, beige, tan, creams-  neutral colors always look fantastic. Today it was warm enough that I could go sockless and wear my Madewell loafers with them and a little jacket I have from Anthro. Get your white jeans out. it will give your winter wardrobe have a little kick. White jeans can be worn all year and they even look great with winter boots and coats. 

This is also a great time to look at your white Jean inventory. 🤍If you don’t have a pair that’s comfortable and straight leg, in a thicker material…this might be a good time to look. I’ll share some on the weekend blog as well.

if you missed our LIVE this morning, you can watch it on Juliet’s @makemineaspritzer Instagram and I’ll link to it on my stories ! Thank you everyone for tuning in in for the fun questions and comments. We love doing this with you all weekly! Let us know in comments if there are any other topics you want to hear about. Today we talked trending colors, exercise classes .. finding art and pillows and more..

#whitejeanseason #januaryclosetremix #winterwardrobehacks
I love the sunshine in the morning streaming throu I love the sunshine in the morning streaming through the kitchen.. My baby daffodils are blooming to make it even happier. This is one of my favorite things about the new year, the bulbs and daffodils and California poppies that hint spring it on the way.💛 If you don’t have a few blooms in the kitchen, maybe you can add a few?

Hope your having a beautiful week!

#kitchensun #californialife #januaryincalifornia
I love this of Liz Taylor at her first wedding to I love this of Liz Taylor at her first wedding to Richard Burton in 1965. She’s wearing a empire, knee length dress and orange blossoms in her hair, which must have smelled heavenly. I want yellow in my closet this spring!

This is the center of my spring vision board! 💛 Link to all Elizabeth’s wedding dresses on the weekend post -and a few yellow things I added to the house if you missed it! 

#yellow #yellowaesthetic #liztaylor #thebrideworeyellow #springfashion #spring2023 #vogue
Sunday beach trip… We made it to Santa Cruz to c Sunday beach trip… We made it to Santa Cruz to check out the coast after these rough last weeks. Aptos looks pretty good and poor Seacliff is terribly battered. So sad to see what people have lost. My heart goes out to them.

We had the beach to ourselves and the weather was winter perfect. ☀️Cold and sunny. We had a picnic of sandwiches from Zoccolis deli and took in the sun and sea air while watching surfers and birds.

This song just seemed to fit -and relatable as I could not sleep last night! No idea why. Isn’t it maddening? 

Hope you get a chance to take a winter beach walk.. They are the best. 

#santacruz #aptos #california #northerncalifornia #winterbeachwalks #seacliff #norcal #seascapebeach
Happy Sunday! The weekend post is up and I’m sha Happy Sunday! The weekend post is up and I’m sharing a few good ideas for a dining room refresh, pops of yellow, my favorite winter skin care essentials right now, a beautiful and unique San Francisco house in @archdigest, online yoga, and the story behind a historic San Francisco home I came upon last week.. Head to the blog for all the deets! 

I hope its a wonderful weekend.☀️

Don’t forget to visit Juliet and Elizabeth blogs ..links as always, in our bios or stories:
@northerncalstyle 
@makemineaspritzer 
@pineconesandacorns

#northerncalifornia #weekendpost #yellow #diningroomdecor #bernardmaybeck #sanfranciscohomes #architecturaldigest #potterybarn #serenaandlily #californiastyle
Our dear friend Contessa @contessa_and_her_pig has Our dear friend Contessa @contessa_and_her_pig has been seriously sick and fortunately is back home now, but still struggling with pneumonia. If anyone wants to send her a snail mail note please dm me and I will share her address. She loves unique cards and pretty postcards you’ve saved from travel, so she would be thrilled to get a little note!

It seems like just yesterday we were in her gorgeous yard taking photos for my Californians at Home series. It’s still one of my favorite photo shoots and if you want to read it again -or missed it I will link to it in my bio today. She’s one of a kind, so let’s get her well soon and bolster her spirits!!💛💛

#californiacontessa #californiansathome
I have to share a snippet of just some of the wisd I have to share a snippet of just some of the wisdom that was Martin Luther King. He will always be one of my biggest heroes and ten years ago I wrote a small post highlighting some of his very meaningful words and quotes that we could all use as a life guide. Link to the post in my bio and more on my stories. 

Do you know he is the only American to have a holiday for him that hasn’t been a president? He also had a low approval rating when he died. That has changed. Now people around the world use his teachings of living in peace and the fight for justice as a model we can strive for. I find his words so very needed in a world that is polarized more than ever. ❤️

#mlkday #mlkquotes #whatareyoudoingforothers
It’s still raining here! In an effort to use som It’s still raining here! In an effort to use some beautiful citrus and boost morale, I made these chocolate chips with a California twist. They have orange and walnuts -and for fun I added macadamias from my Hawaii trip and coconut flakes. I also switched out brown sugar for moscavado which is less refined and had more depth and flavor. So far response has been thumbs up from the home crew! 
The recipe and all the weekend fun- along with some cozy coats for this weather, and a recap of our SF meander are on the weekend blog. Juliet and Elizabeth also have great ideas this weekend.. links as always, in our bios or stories:
@northerncalstyle 
@makemineaspritzer 
@pineconesandacorns 
Have a great weekend !

#californiacookie #californialiving #californiachocolatechipcookie #weekendpost #chocolateandorange
Just a little peek at some of the homes in San Fra Just a little peek at some of the homes in San Francisco’s Laurel Heights and a little walk through the Presidio to the Lyon Street Steps. We had an unbelievably beautiful day after so much rain and darkness. I highly recommend walking through this neighborhood, through The Presidio and grabbing lunch and checking out the lovely shops like the new Emily Joubert! The views are amazing all the way to the Golden Gate, and I am in love with all the beautiful homes of San Francisco. ❤️

#sanfranciscolove #presidioheights #lyonstreetsteps #sanfranciscowalks #housesofsf #visitcalifornia #ourgoldenstate #sanfranciscomansions #citybythebay #prettycity

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