YELLOW

Yellow is my least favorite colour when it comes to interior design. I just reminds me of a moldy lemon. Yellow doesnt go wel l with any others as well. Though it would go well for a babies room it still isnt my favorite. Beige and yellow go well but i think beige would go much better with another colour. To much yellow is even worse! yellow just doesnt go well with anything.



-DakotaSantaga(one post)

BURGUNDY:(

Although I love most colours, I think my least favorite colour is probably burgundy. I do like purple, and I do like red, but I really don't like them mixed together. I think that SOMETIMES burgandy can be a nice accent colour, but only in small doses, and with other colours. When I think of the colour burgandy the first thing that comes to my mind is royalty. I think it is portrayed to be a very rich colour, and its often used with gold. Our school colours are burgandy and teal... ew. Not a good colour combo.  If I was to use burgandy in a room, I would maybe use it for the colour of the couch cushions or a trow blanket.I think that this room looks nice, I like how they incorporated the colour burgandy, but didn't over do it. They mixed it with neutrals, and also used purple for an added touch of colour.
Personally I wouldn't use this colour in a room that I was designing, but if your into it, it can look nice:)
 EW. Really not diggin' this, I think it is just TOO much! Especially with the big bed, it just looks too over done. Not my style.
Burgundy leather couches anyone? Ha. NO THANK YOU. Really don't love this, not only do I not like the shape on the couch, but the colour just really does it for me. They are too big, and too dated looking for my taste!
-BellaCooper

BEIGE

I can honestly say i don't hate a lot of colors, i believe you can make ANY color look good if you do it the right way.  But if i had to pick a color i dislike the most, it would probably be beige.  It's just so boring.  When i look at a room or interior using the color beige, i think "Oh that's nice... but it could have been nicer with another color.".  I guess i just feel as though there's so many other vibrant, cool, more colorful colors out there, why pick beige?  I feel like beige is hard to work with because of it's "blandness".  It's difficult to pair beige with bright colors, and pairing beige with shades can become tasteless.  Also, unlike many colors, it's a difficult color to have both main pieces and accents of in one room.  If beige happened to be the favorite color of my client i would probably use beige as one of the main pieces of a room, i believe i could spice up the room with small accents here and there of more vibrant colors and balance out the beige.  I think beige can look brilliant when paired with texture, so i'd probably add something like a beige rug with tons of texture.

-NoelleKamitakahara (single post)

 
I really like how the color beige gave this room an "earthy", nature toned, kind of feel. 


 
I like how this room used the color beige to give off a simple look.  Almost boring, but very classy.


A shag rug like this, would be an awesome way to incorperate beige into a room, the texture gives the color so much more character.

ORANGE

Many people hate the color orange, but i think differently.  I LOVE the color orange.  The color orange is so versatile when it comes to what it can be put on, around and add to a room.  It pairs with so many other colors and it gives off and overall warm&happy mood.  I love working with the color orange because it's super easy to find other colors&patterns that it can work with and look amazing.  I have an orange bag that i tote around everyday, and i love that it can go with almost anything i wear.  Orange can be used in all kinds of ways, for walls, for furniture&for decor.  You can use a little bit of orange, or A LOT of orange, and make a room look good either way.



I love the Bohemian feel the color orange brings to this room, it works well with the red and even with the gold.



The color orange looks amazing with green, it brings such a warm&fresh feeling to any room.

     

The orange wall in this picture brings light to this room and goes great with the dark wood&the sunflowers.



The small orange accents in this room add personality to the mostly shaded area.

    



I LOVE this accent piece.  It's super modern and makes the room a lot more funky.



Orange also pairs nicely with gray&yellow, a very modern color trio.

  



All the small orange accents give off a positive feeling to this rather small space.

  

As you can see orange can be used as main piece in a room or as small accents.  Either way, this color brings such personality to a room and can change an enviroment from being boring to being totally funky with even the smallest accents.  I love the positivity this color rubs off on you and how, with just one look, it can change your mood completely.

-NoelleKamitakahara (double post)

http://freshome.com/

            

After looking through many different blogs, i came across freshome.com.  I really enjoyed this blog, in particular, for many reasons: it focuses on really cool&unique subjects, the layout is really easy to understand (there's not too many little buttons, pictures, or links crowding/overwhelming the site) and because the blogs are short&sweet and filled with TONS of pictures.


This blog is about interior design and focuses on apartments, architecture, bedroom, furniture, kitchen, living room and bathroom.  It has been running since March of 2007 by Micle Mihai-Cristian, a man from Romania who started the blog because he wanted some interior design inspiration for his own home.


As i mentioned, i love how these blogs contain so many pictures, it's super helpful to get a really good understanding of what they're blogging about.  And i also love how these blogs are all on super unique and different subjects, like "Bay Window in San Francisco Creatively Turned into Garage" and "Each Room with It's Infinity Pool", which makes this blog stand out from others.  For me, after reading tons of blogs on couches&sinks this was like a refreshing breeze that really made me stop and read.  If this was my blog, i probably wouldn't do much to change it, maybe give it a funkier background or organize the advertisements in a more appealing way, but other than that, the simplicity fits the blog well. 


-NoelleKamitakahara (single post)

  

LIME GREEN:)

Colour week! Colour, colour, colour! Personally my favorite colour is lime green! Its a fantastic colour. I love it because it is super bright and cheerful! It's a very summery colour. My room is bright green, the colour is called Juliets Passion, I chose the colour because my room gets really bright and sunny in the summer, especially in the morning, and I thought it would be a good colour to put me in a good mood to start my day. My room is accented with mostly black and white, but I also have some pink pillows that are a good accent colour. I think that having bright green as a wall colour, is really bold. If you don't want to have it on your walls, I think it also looks really good as an accent colour. I have seen pictures of rooms, that are very modern, with grey walls, a black couch maybe, and green accents, like lamps, or a rug. I think it looks really nice. Also another way you could use green in a space would be with beige and brown with green and yellow accents. That's a great colour pallette for an outdoor space, like a patio, or a back yard area. Super summery!

I like this space, it's funky. I like the contrast between the white and the lime, it's really eye catching:)

This is from an ikea catalogue, but ties in with the idea of using the colour green with blacks and greys as an accent colour:) -BellaCooper

COLOURS

My favorite colours for using in interior design are dark colours. I think having dark accent walls are very nice. Having dark purple, blue or red are very strong. Having a strong dark accent wall gives the room a direction. With the smaller and lighter peices around the room the dark wall really stands out. With dark blue it would be good for a bedroom. A can always picture a boys bedroom being painted dark blue. With reds it would be great for a couples room. It would be very romantic and seductive. Painting the whole entire room with dark colours would be to dark and sad. With the accent dark colour it gives the room a focus point.

With the red, purple or blue you can also have many other accent colours. Pinks or beiges would go very well with the dark purples as well with something black. With the red room anything light pink and light would be good. With having a dark blue room white or yellow or orange would go very well.
-DakotaSantaga

http://patriciagrayinc.blogspot.com/2009/03/diy-canopy-beds.html

I looked up blogs on beds and this was the first on that popped up. I totally forgot what a canopy bed was untill the blog popped up. I love how she has a diagram of a canopy bed and how it is made. Canopy beds are large beds with something hanging over them. Canopy beds are quite easy to make. In this blog is shows you how you can hang curtains around you bed to make it a canopy bed. I think that canopy beds would look greay in large rooms. The curtains make the bed look larger and fuller. Canopy beds were used a lot more back in the day with castles and such. They used the canopy beds for newly married couples to have some privacy. Modern day canopies arent to extravagant with huge hanging curtains. They can have a hanging cutrain over head with beads hanging down which would be considered a canopy. Having net over the bed and around would also be considered a canopy. Just having a small barrier between the bed and the room would work. I think canopies are very beatiful and more girly. Many pillows would be placed on the bed and large blankets to make it all look full.

-DakotaSantaga

http://www.betterlivingthroughdesign.com/

I found this blog on the google top 25 interior design blogs. I think it is super funky. I really liked some of the funiture featured on this blog,

For example I really loved this dresser, it's really different and original. I think it would fit well in a "Hipstro" themed apartment because it's really simple and organic looking.                                                                  

I like the name of the blog too, "BetterLivingThroughDesign," It's original, and fitting for the blog.

I like this bedding! It's really fun! It suits the theme of the blog, and also our "Hipstro," theme.

it's funky and different. Although it is really simple, it has cool detail:)

I found this picture under the accesory section of the blog. I haven't seen flower pots like this before. I can see these definitely fitting in well in our "Hipstro," theme. I can see these sitting like this on a window sill, or on a shelf. Super cool. Really diggin' these.

One thing I really liked about this blog is that there was a lot of useful information. Not only was there some really nice pieces of furniture and accessories, but there was some useful and simple ideas on how to design spaces in your home. I found this blog very useful, and I'm definitely going to be using it in the future:)

-BellaCooper

CARRIE'S APARTMENT -BEDROOM-

Just last night, i watched Sex And The City 2 and throughout that entire movie i really couldn't stop looking at all of their extravagant outfits and most importantly.... THE INTERIORS!  Everyone knows Carrie Bradshaw has the most unique and fabulous style, and her apartment is no different.  I love her apartment, the way it's layed out, the furniture inside, the colors used, and the little details here and there that give it character.  Her bedroom focuses on colors like baby blue, white and a little bit of burgundy, which leaves the room looking simple and clean.  One of my favorite pieces in the room is the mirror vanity table, i think it's such a  funky, retro, yet classy piece of furniture that fits in this room perfectly.  I also love the picture frame back splash behind the bed, i have something very similar to it in my bedroom, the frames don't fit together perfectly but they fit together just right.  And lastly, i think the rug in the middle of the room finishes it off nicely, giving it that extra touch of burgundy necessary.

-NoelleKamitakahara

      

      

      

BACKSPLASH

Lately people have been renovating their homes, especially their kitchens. And over the past 2 years my house has been gutted, enlarged and renovated. The kitchen is often used the most for entertaining, like it is in my house, so it is very important to have a bright and eye catching space. Its never good to walk into a kitchen, or really any room that is dull, so in a kitchen a great way to have a non-dull space is to have a really nice eye-catching backsplash. Now that we are in 2011, most people want the "contemporary look", which is clean, sleek lines and smooth surfaces. Color for your kitchen backsplash tile material should be chosen to complement the countertops and cabinets. Texture of the backsplash tile materials should be consistent with the style or theme of your kitchen. Rough and uneven for "Old-World" or smooth and sleek for "Contemporary".  Avoid using a busy kitchen backsplash design or using too many textures, or intense colors if your countertop has a lot of movement or veins. My mom has been the one who designed the kitchen because she is the one who spends the most time in there, so picking the backsplash has been very difficult because she is very indecisive. We have found many samples to pick from and we have finally found one the suites our "contemporary" styled kitchen.  So below i have posted some pictures of contemporary kitchens, and you will see how the backplash really compliments the countertops and cabinets. The picture at the very bottom is very similar to the backsplash we have picked for our kitchen.

-VanessaBrletic

MIRRORS

Mirror, mirror, on the wall … With so many shapes, sizes, and styles, mirrors are a versatile decorative element that give instant polish to a room with little effort. They can do wonders—from illuminating dark corners to adding elegance and drama to an area to creating the illusion of space. They can even serve as works of art. There’s a mirror for every taste, whether yours is ultramodern or ultraclassic. Arranging mirrors in certain order near each other. For example, if several long and narrow mirrors are placed near (not against) each other it will not only elongate the appearance of the wall, but also creates a comforting repetition. Also by using different shapes of mirrors dramatic or whimsical effects can be accomplished.

-VanessaBrletic

PICTURES

Pictures are SO important to a have in a home. I think that they really give the home character, and make it look like someone actually lives there, instead of just a display home! My mom is a photographer, so I am used to having LOTS of pictures in my house. We have this one wall in our house, in the living room above our couch that we have as an accent wall. We have about twenty pictures framed ab out the couch. My favorite part of the wall is the frames. My mom has collected lots of different frames over time, from lots of different places, she's found some great frames at garage sales and second hand stores too! I think that family pictures, travel pictures, baby pictures, wedding pictures are all great to have in frames. They not only bring great memories, but also are a great conversation piece for guests when they come over. Another thing that I have at my house are picture books, I have designed a few pictures books with pictures that my mom has taken. One that I really liked was pictures from a photoshoot that my mom did of my brothers and I, my mom keeps in on our coffee table, and it's really nice to have out when we have guests over because they all enjoy looking through the pictures. I made the books on snapfish.com and it costs about $49.99 depending on how many pictures and pages you include in your book:)

-BellaCooper

COUCHES

COUCHES! Couches are fun, and funky. Everyone needs a couch if they have a house, or apartment.I have a super cool couch in my living room at home, that we got from my great grandma's house when she passed away. It's really big, so it's good for when we have people over, but it's also really nice looking so it's nice decoration for the space, and it's nice to look at. Personally, I prefer couches that are a cool colour or that have a pattern on the material. I think that sometimes neutral coloured couches, can make a space look a little boring.
 urbanoutfitters.com  ($579.00)
This Purple couch, it SUPER funky. I love the colour, and the style. It's really different, and it's not something that you would usually see in someones home. I think it would look awesome in a room with like dark grey walls, then the couch would be accented.
urbanoutfitters.com ($579.00)
LOVE this couch. I think the pattern is fantastic, and the shape and style of the couch, it really sleek and nice. One downside to getting a couch like this, with a busy pattern, is that with such a bold pattern on the material, you need to be careful about how you decorate the rest of the room. Make sure that you don't over do it with patterns on other fabrics in the room (ie. curtains, rugs.)

urbanoutfitters.com ($479.00)
This couch caught my eye because it's really different looking. I like the contrast between the dark wood bottom, and the light green material on the top. It almost looks like it's missing something on the sides though, with out armrests, but I think with end table on the ends of the couch, it will look better. It would look nice with like dark coloured walls, and dark wood accents to match the bottom of the couch:)

-BellaCooper

CHANDELIER

Chandeliers give a room a sense of completion. It hangs very delicately and is very extravagant. I love chandeliers and i have always wanted one. Some bedrooms with high ceilings look very good with chandeliers. The first two chandeliers are very pretty and feminine. They would look great in halls or a large room. The 2nd picture with the 2 small white chandeliers is very delicate. I think those two would be suited for a bedroom. The room would have to have a certain style to go with the type of chandeliers. The last two are very artsy. Those chandeliers look very large and unique. They would be very good in an art room or gallery. Chandeliers can vary in price. They can be from 50$ to 1000$.
-DakotaSantaga
 

CLOCKS

I love clocks, they are super cool and they look good in any space. They are a great decoration for any room because there are so many different kinds of clocks. You can find colourful clocks, vintage and retro clocks, clocks with cool designs, digital clocks. They are also cool because you can hang them on the wall, or place them on a table or shelf. Also clocks are good because you can have them in any room, kitchen, bathroom, living room or bedrooms, they look great.

-BellaCooper