Yes, you read that title correctly. Let me explain (before you think I’m nuts)! 😉
I love our couch in our living room, it’s comfy, it’s good looking, and I like the color. But olive can be a tough neutral to work with. I tried going with shades of green, similar to my front room but it ends up making the couch look kinda brown.
I need some color in this room. These pillows just aren’t doing it for me, it all blends together and says
I received this in the mail and was instantly drawn in.
Color! Sweet, glorious color!
Isn’t that blue gorgeous?
I was surprised to to see that olive was featured in their color palettes? And not just once?
side note: I love olive with baby pink on ME, but
1.) I am not painting my ceiling or trim pink or hunter green – I will admit that I am a wimp on this one.
2.) I think it’d be too Victorian, fancy, stuffy, etc in the room.
I thought I’d like to try the combo like on the front cover, royal blue, bright blue, olive, yellowish, you get the picture. But I am NOT buying new pillows and fabric only to find out that
”CRAP. I hate it.”
So while folding the laundry explosion on my couch, I realized that between the four of us, we had shirts of many of the colors I liked!
I dressed my pillows in their shirts and…
The same bright blue shirt (my fave at the moment) and a dull turq throw?
Meh. I don’t know. Maybe?
Blues and white? Getting there, but no.
A couple of different blue shirts?
I tried brining in some accents I thought about adding to the room…
I remembered this scarf I saw at Old Navy earlier in the week…
and tried this – love the idea of nickel/pewter/whatever accents!
even took the shirt off my back (sorry, no pics! haha) to try this
added Lily’s jeggings to the mix
“Ohhhhh, CRAP. I love it.”
and you know what I realized? Here are my kitchen rugs, and there is no olive in that room
maybe this color combo was subconsciously in the back of my head?
What do you think?
Can you think of another color combo you’d like me to try?
Am I just biased towards turquoise, is it too trendy?
What is it with me and blues and greens??!?
linking up with:
-Jen at tatertots & jello
-Amanda at Serenity Now, and
-Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick 🙂
Megan
The turquoise popped nicely! Love the shirts/laundry! The length us DIY'ers go to 🙂
The Corson Cottage
I am partial to the retro fan aqua. But I totally agree with [email protected] Harpersville Home, you may want to choose something that will lend itself to the fall season and then you can pop the aqua come spring. Definitely like the rug it added much needed texture!
[email protected] Harpersville Home
I agree that olive is more of a warm color. But I'm the kinda gal who likes to change things up seasonally - cool colors come out in the summer and fallish colors come out for the cold months. I can't look at the same thing all year. 🙂 I love the clothing slipcovers! Good idea. All I can say is I really think you should go with patterned fabric. I think that may be why the colors look so odd to you, because it's just stark YELLOW or BLUE. It throws me off. In your last picture though, the rug made all the difference - because it was a pattern. Love the pinterest pic above! Love the mix of the yellow and turquoise.
Amy @ Kiwi Chic
Hi Ann Marie - thank you so so much for your comment on my post! I am following your blog now - about this room: olive is a tricky colour because it's a warm colour. So it's quite hard to pair it with cool colours (blues and greens). Are you closed to the idea of warm tones like this room with a similar coloured couch: http://pinterest.com/pin/132290730/ ?P.S if you would LIKE, then I would love to make a mood-board using this room as a scenario to work from! Obviously, just for fun, and only as an idea of course! And taking into account your preferences. I could do a blog post on it. Let me know 🙂
missrschultz
I just read those pages in Real Simple and I thought the same things about the pink. I'm not that daring!
Laura
I'm super impressed by how resourceful you are! I love blues and greens too.
Leigh
I LOVE blue! I think it looks really good. I think you should bring an orangey color in. Not too bright, kind of rusty. That is actually what I am hoping to do in my family room. Great idea with the shirts! I am going to remember that.
beforethedawn
That was a great idea to use the clothes and things! I like the last picture. That looks good on the eyes. :)Did you ever get my address for your giveaway last month? You emailed me, I replied with my info, but I never heard back from you.Blessings, Jessica
Jennifer
The turquoise and the yellow, definitely. Love the shirt idea!
[email protected]
Nope! I think you hit the nail on the head with that color combo! Gorgeous & BRILLIANT with the shirts!
marty (A Stroll Thru Life)
I love the blue and turquoise, it looks wonderful. Yes, olive is a really touch color. The only other colors I can think of are rust, deep barn red and then there is also purple. These all need to be really bright colors. So, if you don't like any of those, then I think you have found a great choice. Hugs, Marty