I’m showing you the quilt that inspired the colors.  It just makes me want to open it up and explore all of the possible combinations.

Here’s a quick view I put together of the palettes so that you can see just how many beautiful combination of colors he pulled out. But do go to Eddie Ross blog to see the pictures of the sections of the quilt that inspired each and to read about how he envisions each room.

I love the magenta, gold and gray scheme for the dining room.  It is my favorite even though for myself I rarely choose magenta with the gold and gray it is a combination that I would consider for my own home.

Lavender and greenish gray will surround the Master bedroom in stripes.

For the Guest bedroom combination has a vintage feel that is appealing.

A scheme of neutrals and blue for the Kitchen

Colors perfect for the library

And this striking combination is for the foyer

Quilts have always inspired me.  Michael James quilts have always been a source of color inspiration as have my own antique quilts.  Do you have an antique quilt or favorite quilt artist you might look to for color inspiration?  I’d love to hear what inspires your favorite color schemes.

Titled A Pennsylvania House in Gorgeous Grays the article by Mimi Read begins “Jeffrey Bilhuber envisioned a modernist version of a barn when he designed this soothing, monochromatic abode.”

I think modernist barn is a great way to describe this home and the rich gray palette.

Here are a few pictures of the home from House Beautiful but click here to see the entire gallery…

The color scheme continues on the tabletop with a slightly redder orange.  I think this is a nice addition to the palette.  Julie found many great items in this color at CB2 catalog shows them on Live In Full Color.

Even an ardent urbanite could be tempted to live in a barn when it looks this good.

Here are some photos from Domino.com in the blue and orange combination.

These use blue on the walls but Kim over at Desire to Inspire put together a collection of rooms with orange walls so if you would prefer the orange on the walls check out the pics.

If you don’t want to go with this scheme in a room how about on your tabletop? “Autumnal colors just pop against a blue and white tablecloth,” says Carolyne Roehm in House Beautiful magazine.

Or how about the Etch bedding from Crate and Barrel?  It would look great against blue walls or with some blue accessories.

While blue has long been a favorite in the home orange has more recenlty come into its own and looks great in an entire range of colors from bright and bold to muted and earthy.  All of the many hues of orange look great when paired with blue.

My color inspiration today came straight from the Thanksgiving table. I brought the many hues of red found in fresh cranberries into this palette of reds.  You can see my entire post about this palette in my color journal.

When I lived in Westwood outside of Boston, MA my dining room was a soft cranberry color like the one shown in the dining above that I created using 6601 Tanager with the Sherwin-Williams color visualizer.

I added another Thanksgiving inspired color 0044 Hubbard Squash in the living room.  I like the way these two colors work together and also look great with the wood floors and wide white trim.  What a yummy combination!

I was taken with this snippet from the banner on the blog Half2Know and used it to develop my inspired color palette for today.  You can see the palette here.

And earlier in the day I had saved the following photo from Flickr that I was going to write about as an interesting color scheme for a kids room.

As I was looking at the picture this morning I noticed that it is a variation of that same color scheme.

How funny to have saved both of these images on the same day.  The effects of color on our mind will never cease to amaze me.  Can you see the similarities?

This is a fun way to illustrate how if you like a particular color scheme that simply by using different values of the hues it can change the mood and work in different types of rooms.

Photo reference:

The banner snippet is from Half2Know

The photo from Charles St. was found on Flickr by urbanbicyclist

Today I added a bit of gourmet color to my online color inspiration journal.  See the entry at Sensational Color Pro…

Complementary color schemes — red/green, blue/orange, violet/yellow — when in balance can really please our eye and can add real punch when used in accents in a room decorated in neutrals.

It also spawned Christmas decor in these colors but this year the look is being updated with the addition of traditional red.

I really like this combination and was pleased to see how Caribou coffee took the aqua and brown that is their signature color and added red to create their holiday decor.

I just added many pictures and a little laugh at myself that you can see on my color journal Sensational Color Pro…

See Julie’s post with pictures of this unusual but very successful use of this specialty paint..

In honor of TJ I’ve created some autumn-inspired color schemes that remind me of him.
While fall colors are often very brilliant the more muted hues are the ones TJ likes best.  The earthy browns, and oranges are colors he often chooses to wear and for his bedroom he picked a luscious latte brown.  This photo of fallen leaves captures his colors.

The photo with the acorn is a combination of hues that I would also call TJ Colors.  This scheme is similar to the one above but includes a blue tone that remind me of his favorite sailing shirt, our well-worn leather sofa (his favorite place to relax) and a pair of comfy blue jeans.  The blue tone complements the warm orange and brown hues.

On the Valspar site there is a section of nature inspired paint color schemes so I looked there to see what color schemes they had come up with.  The one above is from Shimmering Pond Colors and the one below from Autumn Leaves Colors.

The color palette directly below the photograph was generated using the online tool Pic2Color.  The color combination below that shows Valspar’s recommendation for a paint color scheme a la the golden shimmering pond.  These two color schemes are similar but not exactly the same.

So let’s look at how this works and how you might use a picture you love to inspire an interior color scheme If you want to use a photograph of nature as your inspiration.  You can use Pic2Color or a similar tool to help you to pull out the color palette but keep in mind that it will include a range of colors and values.

This is a good place to begin but don’t simply use the hues the tool gives you and try to match them to paint chips.  What you are going to want to do is look to these for inspiration and then chose values of the color that will work as interior paint.

As you can see from the photograph of the golden leaves reflected on the water that the folks at Valspar used the picture as a reference but the colors they recommend are more likely to work in a home environment.  This is the same approach you will want to take if you use a photo of your own.

Also there may be colors you want to eliminate completely.  Look at another photo from Valspar, the palette generated by Pic2Color and the color scheme that they recommend.  In this case they have eliminated the blue altogether and gone with more muted shades of each hue.

Can you begin to see how this translates from photograph to color scheme and finally to colors for your room?

Have you ever used a nature photograph as a starting point for a color project?  Did you adjust the colors or just feel limited to ones that matched those in the photo?  Did I explain this in a way that gave you a new idea or way of approaching this?

Reference:

Valspar Paint Colors shown:
Vivid Orange 2011-3
Golden Butter 3002-1C
Red Ochre 2001-4
Creme Brulee 2008-6C

Pineapple Mousse 3008-3C
Crafted White 3007-6C
Summer Moon  3008-2C
Burnt Carmel 2010-6

Valspar paint is available at Lowe’s and through independent dealers.  To find a store near you visit visit the Valspar site and enter your zip code…

First two photos found on Flickr from baldwinm16’s

I had a short time to spare in an area of Maryland that I don’t get to very often and certainly don’t know well so was driving along on the main road that runs parallel to the bay when without even giving it but a split second thought I decided to turn in to a small, older waterfront community.

Before I had even driven the couple of blocks to the waterfront I could see this amazing roof on the home at the end of the street.

This multi color tile work may be common in some places but I don’t recalll seeing anythng like it before.

Here’s a view from the other side where you can see the roof peak and the round attic vents.

Here’s a closer up view.  I think these colors works so well together.

I love the way the roof lines look.

Okay so maybe it isn’t exaclty a showplace

Although it is bigger than you might think from this picture as you can see from this Google aerial view.

And it needs some work.

But with such a great roof and this view from the front porch I probably would have bought it if it had a for sale sign in the yard.

With a little TLC and renovation I think this could be a storybook cottage.  What do you think?