Not your average colour scheme

Some colour schemes are a dime a dozen and others are just daring and interesting. Today I'm looking at salmon/coral/melon and pink/rose/magenta.

Now I'm not saying I would use these colours in my own home. You can appreciate from afar without committing!  These rooms have just too much colour for my personal style.  I'm attracted to them because they are so vibrant and fresh.  Isn't it a good thing we don't all like the same colours?

 How do you feel about these rooms?  If you could transport any of them into your own home would you?

This colour scheme seems to be most popular in bedrooms. 

 Interior Designer Artistic Designs for Living, Tineke Triggs

The white bedding  and accessories work well to balance the hot colours.  White has many uses in decor and acting as a backdrop is just one of them.

You can't deny that these colours are great for a kid's room.  I'm really liking the hit of lime green as an accent.

Better Homes and Gardens

This is the subtle version of this scheme.  Just a hint of melon with a deeper pink. Both are tempered with lots of off white.  That seems to be a common thread through most of these rooms.

Phoebe Howard

More vibrant colours against light walls and furniture. The pink is leaning toward purple and there isn't that much of it. 

Jessica Lagrange

 This room turns it around and focuses on a rich magenta with smaller pops of orange. Do you think the headboard is dramatic enough or would you like to see a big piece of art over it?

Do you fancy one of these?

Living rooms

 Better Homes and Gardens

 Lots of white to play with these two vibrant colours. I'm longing for a little more pattern, perhaps a stripe with a third colour thrown in to replace the pink cushions. 

Here are some choice....

I would go for the purple one. How about you?

 

 While we're at it what let's think about the white vase... Hummm...

Choose one.  No matter what pillows you choose there's a vase that works.

  Can a room be over matched?  YES!

source

Deeper pink leaning toward red with just hints of orange give a totally different look.  In this room a neutral tan  in varying values serves as a backdrop to the vibrant colour. I like the fact that this room is not too over matched.  Lots of pattern in the pillows.

Simplified Bee®: Sweet, Modern Pink & Orange Nursery Room for Baby...

Go for it !

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Choosing great end tables

It requires a lot of patience to find the perfect end tables for a room. These tables are  part of your overall room design and you should follow some general guidelines to make sure they don't distract from your focal point or create too much conflict with everything else that is going on in the room. It's a delicate balance between your personal preferences and basic standards of design.

 Do end tables have to match the coffee table?

NO!  Having three tables in a space all matching sounds like a recipe for boredom in my opinion.  I know it's easy when you buy a set and  I know many homeowners opt for this solution, but I like a more curated look where each piece has obviously been given careful consideration and chosen for the space.  It is important that the pieces harmonize in the space or provide an impact whichever you are going for.

 

Tobi Fairley

In this room the end tables match each other and are light and airy which is in  opposition to the coffee table which is upholstered and dark. While they don't match the whole room is harmonized.

Tobi Fairley

This is another living room design by Tobi Fairley which has matching end tables with a very different coffee table. I would argue that the end tables, while very interesting  in the overall design scheme, are too high.  I could see more than one elbow smacked on these! That leads to the second consideration.

  
What's the perfect height for end tables?

 By function an end table is usually placed by a chair or sofa and you have to lift your arm over the arm of the furniture to lay something on the table.  Remember function first.  They also need to be tall enough to provide a base for a lamp which should be a reasonable height to shed light.  24 - 26" is the usual  the  height of an  end table (some are as tall as 30in.), but the chosen table should work with the proportions of your other furniture.  A simpler way to say this is have your tables just  below the height of the arm of the sofa/chair. But these are guidelines. The round table in the room below is taller than the chair but doesn't look out of proportion with the other furniture.

 Claudia Leccacorvi

 There are  also four different types of tables in this room and it doesn't look disjointed  because they are all in the same wood tones. When you have this many tables, a mix of shapes is imperative.  Some should be round  to play against all the rectangles.

Domicile Interior Design

 While this is a lovely room, I personally find the end table too low for the high arm on the sofa.  You would have to reach way up and then down to place a drink on the table.  The lamp is also overpowering the table.   Tables and lamps have to work together, but that's a topic for another post. 

 

 The Design File

 Strictly speaking this is a side table, but the same principles apply to its selection. These nesting tables work beautifully with the lines of the chair.  I like the use of the floor lamp with this vignette rather than having an overpowering lamp on these delicate tables.Threes always make interesting pairings.

How do you choose a style/shape/colour?

Your end tables can match the style of your other furniture or they can make a statement by having a dissimilar style. There are many ways to go when choosing shape. A square shape is a good connecting piece when you have sofas or sofa and chair at right angles to each other.  It fits into the shape well and creates continuous flow.    Some may find it too continuous and seek out a round shape to soften the look.  

If you have soft furniture with rounded lines, a table with clean, straight lines adds variety to the look. The colour should be different enough so that it stands out from the floor colour.   If you don't plan to invest in an area rug on hardwood floors, choose tables that are lighter or darker than your wood floors. This is one of the biggest mistakes homeowners make when choosing  tables of any kind. I call it the disappearing furniture syndrome.

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It's all about scale

  In recent weeks I've spent quite a bit of time looking for coffee and end tables for clients.  Getting the style and size right to work with the rest of the furniture in the space takes quite a bit of juggling and an  understanding of standard  furniture sizes.

The standard height of a coffee table is between 16 - 18 inches, but some can be as high as 21 inches. How do you know which height to choose?

 Style at Home

The answer relates to the height of the sofa/ chair. I prefer to see the coffee table about the same height as the top of the chair cushion or one or two inches lower.  The length of a coffee table is usually about 2/3 the length of the sofa not including the arms. Don't forget that you need at least 18 inches (24 is optimal) of space for your legs between a coffee table and the sofa.

 The size  of your coffee table should work with your sofa and other furniture in your room. It should also work with the size of the room overall. Let's check this out.
 

 DecorPad

How do you feel about the coffee table choice in this lovely room?  I would like to see something longer (remember the 2/3 the length of the sofa rule). This little beauty is having a difficult time holding her own with this sofa.

 DecorPad

The soft colour scheme and small scale furnishings  in this room  appear overwhelmed by this large, dark, and tall coffee table, but I really like the table.  Sometimes the weight of a table is influenced by the colour and material choice not just the overall dimensions.  Darker colours and solid woods tend to look more visually weighted.

Grisell Navas

Don’t forget the size of the room when thinking about scale. Glass tables work well in smaller rooms because they give the impression of lightness -  space is not blocked out.

Klang North West

 Even with two tables this room does not look over furnished.

Diana Rodriguez

If your room is spacious and/or the furniture is large in scale, choose heavier wood tables or ones with lots of  tiers or drawers.

Atmosphere Interior Design Inc.

This is a beautiful room with a colour scheme I'm partial to. Does the coffee table work for you?  I wouldn't want to try to place something on the table while sitting.  I'm such a stickler for function!

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