Find Blue and White Items in the Dinning Room

The next room in our new house I want to tackle is our dinning room. Currently, the walls are covered in white wallpaper with small pink flowers on it. Needless to say this is not my style.

I keep trying to decided what directing I want to go, and have been throwing around a few ideas for the dinning room lately.



 

 

The one thing I do envision is a room with dark navy walls which I think will nicely set off the look of the hard wood floors my husband installed and the dinning room set that previously came from my childhood home.

 

 

 



 

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I want to continue with the color around the room and add blue and white items in the dinning room. These are a few I recently came across that I really like. I think they will make a nice mix of traditional and modern...The exact vibe I want to go for in this dinning room. Bonus is they all cost under fifty dollars.

Dinner plate ~ Vase ~ Agate Coasters ~ Art Print ~ Napkins

 

 

What do you think of this direction?  Have you ever tried dark walls in a room?

 

 

For more under $50 finds, check out Copy Cat Chic's Five for Fifty. 

Blue and White Stripes

Stripes are very in right now. I see them everywhere. Such a classic yet chic pattern. Normally you will find them in Black and White, but since blue is my favorite color, I am often drawn to Blue and White as the main parts of the stripes. 

I put together a few eye candy pictures using the Blue and White stripes in a table cloth. A great, and a little unique way, to use the pattern. That color combination looks so light, calm,  and a little nautical to me. Great for decorating your Spring table for both inside and outside dining.

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And for more Blue and White goodness. Check out the Pink Pagoda. Today is the Blue and White Bash.

Make Pink Hydrangeas Blue But Not White

We just got back from a wonderful Spring Break Trip. More on that later this week. We are still a little discombobulated around here, but I wanted to take a quick moment to join the Pink Pagoda for the Blue and White Bash.

It is finally starting to look like Spring around here, so my first thought when deciding what to talk about this month was that I knew it had to involve flowers since, well, I haven't seen any growing from the ground in several months. Then, I thought about one of my favorite flowers, hydrangeas, which can be both blue and white. Perfect!

I had heard that you could change the color of this flower by somehow treating the soil. I wasn't sure if that was just an old wives' tale, so I did a little research. Apparently, if you make the soil acidic you can change the hydrangea's petals from pink to blue.(This website has the recipe if you ever want to try it out in your garden.) But the white hydrangea remains that color no matter what.

Before we left on our trip. I made a quick stop at my favorite place to place to purchase flowers...our local grocery store. Four dollars later, I had these white hydrangeas blooms to put in a blue planter in our living room. Since this is actually made for potted plants, and there is a hole in the bottom of this container, I added a smaller, clear vase to tuck inside and hold the water for the flowers.

It was a great improvement to the décor of the room. The perfect blue and white to welcome spring into my home.

Linking up with Remodelholic

Paint a Porch Ceiling Blue

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Many years ago my husband and I spent a vacation in the Florida Keys.  While walking around the town of Key West, I was enamored with the white front porches with ceilings painted pale blue.

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We asked one of the locals about the  trend, and were told it was to keep away haints (another term for restless ghosts.) Apparently, this color was suppose to protect the occupants of the house from evil sprits entering the home. We laughed thinking that this was a story made up to scare tourist. Later, we found out that this was a tradition through other parts of the south, and people even refer to this soft  blue green shade as Haint Blue.

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I did a little research  and discovered that there was also a practical side to this blue. Apparently, since it is almost the same shade as the sky, insects and spiders are fooled by it and do not build their nest or webs in the top of the porch. That would be one way to repel the bugs while sitting on the porch swing sipping your sweet tea on a hot summer day.

Would you like to paint your porch ceiling blue?

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Today I am participating in the Blue and White Bash hosted by The Pink Pagoda. Be sure to head on over there to see more color inspiration.

Collect Blue and White Art

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The first art I ever acquired was a poster of Starry Night complete with Von Gogh in big block letters on the bottom. I put it on my college dorm room wall with poster putty. I thought I was being so sophisticated by picking a masterpiece to display in my space.

A few year later, after purchasing our first house, I found my next art piece. It was a reproduction of a vintage poster advertising French wine.  I think I bought it at Bed, Bath and Beyond. The color scheme of the piece started my temporary, but deep, obsession with the color scheme green, yellow and red. I happily decorated the bedroom in these colors to complement this art hanging prominently on the wall. (This time it was in a frame, and attached to the wall by hanging on a nail...see, I was moving up in the world.)

While these early pieces of artwork still have a fondness in my heart, as I moved towards my thirties, I decided I needed to have "real" art work. I wanted to purchase art that was created by someone, and not a mass-produced reproduction. It almost felt like this would show I was moving to a new stage in my life...at least a new house decorating stage.

About the time I made this decision, I happened to be volunteering at an art fair. I walked by a booth, and I swear a beam of light shone on one of the pictures, directing me to look at it. (Ok, I am exaggerating, but I was really taken with the piece.) The artist told me how she took a Polaroid picture, and before it completely dried, swirled the image around with a stick pen. I had luckily stuck a twenty dollar bill in my pocket that morning, and that bought me the smallest print she had.

My next big art purchase was from an artist I found on Ebay. (I know still not such an adult that I would actually go into a gallery.) The painting he had listed reminded me of what the forest near my childhood home looks like in that early morning time just before the sun rises. Once again I fell hard. I needed it in a bigger size than what was listed to fit the space in my living room. After an email exchange, the artist agreed to custom make something for a price that was almost the same price as the couch that would be beneath it. As someone who just a few years before, thought that decorating with a poster was high times, the cost was a bit of a struggle for me to come to terms with. But after thinking about it for a while, I finally commissioned the painting. I am so glad I did. The painting still makes me feel calm and happy whenever I look at it, all these years (and a new house) later.

 

Fast forward a few years, and we have now moved a few times since I decided to work on my small art collection. Our new home needed something for the back wall of our dining area. I asked my dad, a professional photographer, if I could have some of his pictures to display.  I waited a few months, after all the paying customers come first, but finally pictures of flowers arrived. I love that my dad autographed them, and they look great in the room. And of course I was glad that blue and while flowers where included.

 

 

I continue to look for art that speaks to me. I wonder when my next find will appear!


Do you have a favorite piece of art in your home? How did you come across it?

Do you notice how I subconsciously gravitate to the color blue? Do you have a certain color that catches your eye?


If you want to see more ways to use that color, be sure to head on over to The Pink Pagoda and the Blue and White Bash. Also, be sure to check out Jennifer's Etsy store. She has beautiful prints that would look great in any room.

And for more blue and white eye candy, see what I collected on my Blue and White Pinterest Board.

 

 

 

Also linking up with the Remodelaholic and Serenity Now

 

Find a Way to Keep a White Couch Clean

 

 

 

 

 

When we originally purchased the furniture in our living room, we were in a different house with a different space configuration. We had it in a formal living room that we turned into a library. It was separate from the rest of the rooms and was for the most part only used by my husband and I for quiet moments to read the newspaper or do some work. The white couch seemed like a good idea for that type of room. Now we are in a house with more of an open concept and the couch is used all the time by the kids and especially our dog. Apparently the sun shines on this spot in the afternoon at just the right angle...perfect place for a doggy nap. It took just a few months until, frankly, it was filthy. We had it professionally cleaned, which helped, but I can't do that every month. The long term plan is to get slip covers for the couch, so I can "clean" the couch more often by just throwing the slip cover into the wash. But until that happens, I needed something to protect the couch.


Enter a blanket from Ikea.

 

 

The colors went great with the pillows and other décor in the room. I arranged it over the couch, and put a dowel rod in-between the cushions to keep it from sliding around when someone sat down on it. If the blanket gets dirty I can simply throw it in the washing machine and the couch stays nice and clean. It's such an improvement to the space.

 

 

 

 

 

Link Up with A Bowl Full of Lemons, Remodelaholic,



Have a Blue and White Christmas

 

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I love the idea of decorating in blue and white. It captures the wintery look of the season. It is also a chance to be creative with ornaments.

 

 I mean you could do this...

 

But putting ornaments on a tree is so...normal.

Since you are already stepping out of the box by using a non traditional color scheme, highlight the beautiful blue and white ornaments in unique ways.

Gather them together as a garland and decorate the mantel.

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 Or hang ornaments from the ceiling.

 

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Displaying the ornaments in pretty containers is always an option.

 

 

 

 

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Of course you could still do a tree...with a twist.

 

 

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Blue and white could be a wonderful improvement to your Christmas décor.

 

 

For more decorating ideas, head on over to the Pink Pagoda Blue and White Bash by clicking here.

 



And be sure to check out my Blue and White Pinterest Board here and my Christmas Decorating Board here.

Also linking up with Serenity Now, Inspired by Charm

Add a Pop of Color to Blue and White

 
Today I am linking up with the wonderful blog the Pink Pagoda. Every Monday, on this blog, Blue and White is the featured color, and once a month is the Blue and White Bash, where bloggers are invited to share their Blue and White posts.
 
Blue and white is one of my favorite color combination. Most of my house is decorated with that look. I find it so calming. But every once in awhile a pop of color is need to really bring the blue and white color combination to life.
 
The color that is frequently paired with Blue and White is Pink.

 

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Blue and White with orange is always a great look.

 

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You can also add a dash of yellow.

 



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Or a reddish hue.



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And to return to a calmer look pair, Blue and White with green.

 



 

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What color do you think makes the best improvement to blue and white décor?

And for more Blue and White inspiration, be sure to check out my Blue and White - Pinterest Board here.

Also, for more good times with the color blue check out the The Dedicated House Anything Blue Friday Link up.

 

 

And Linking up with Serenity Now