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accessories, Color Theory, decor, Decorating, Holiday decorating, Home Decor, painting

How to Pick Color Palettes: Color Harmony in Decorating

Color Harmony in Decorating

One of the most frequent complaints from homeowners is struggling to choose colors for their home. When you walk into the paint store, the color selection can seem overwhelming. Choosing a rug or furniture can be equally daunting. Today I’ll give you some tips and tricks for creating color harmony in home decorating. You’ll learn a little knowledge about color theory, complements and harmonies that make choosing colors much easier. Plus, you can use the same theories in almost any visual field. From graphic design and web design to choosing your outfit for a big event. Pretty soon, you’ll be able to put together pleasing color palettes with ease.

I’m sure you’ve stumbled across art, paintings or photos that use visually stunning color palettes. Chances are that the artist or designer put thought into each color and how they work together. Let me introduce you to color relationships and harmonies!

You’ve heard the term complementary colors, but do you know what defines a complement? Here are the definitions of the various color relationships or harmonies and some great sample palettes you can use in your home!

Complementary Colors:

One of my favorite color combinations are the gorgeous pinks in a bouquet of peonies paired with an aquamarine ball jar. Something about this palette stops me in my tracks every time! The reason this pair grabs my attention is that those two colors are complementary.

Photo courtesy of Two Twenty One

Red/orange and blue/green are directly across from each other on the color wheel which makes them complementary or a perfect pair. (Kind of like wine and chocolate…right?!)

Here is another example of a complementary color palette. Blue and orange are stunning together. All the blues are balanced by a few pieces of fiery orange that demand attention in Sarah Richardson’s nursery below.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Richardson via HGTV.ca

Split Complementary Colors:

Elise from Grow Creative is my newest favorite eye candy blog. She is a watercolor artist and photographer. You should definitely subscribe to her blog for a visual pick me up every time she posts! Her watercolor painting of a cactus contains a great example of the split complementary relationship.

Photo courtesy of Grow Creative

Although, she only used a little of the bright red-orange color at the tips of the cactus, the bright color holds its own opposite the blue and green split. Without the orange, this painting would still be beautiful with an analogous palette (see the explanation of an analogous palette here.)

In the photo below of the Thistle from Grow Creative, the opposing colors have a wonderful split complementary relationship.

Photo courtesy of Grow Creative

The purples and green steal the show for sure, but the small hint of yellow gives this photo more complexity.

Analogous Colors:

While attending the La-Z-Boy event, I fell in love with Beth from Home Stories A to Z’s room design. The dark and light contrast of the navy with the crisp white doors stole my heart for sure. But, the decor colors really complete this stunning palette.

Photo courtesy of Home Stories A to Z

The key colors in her room are navy, light green and yellow. The white and grays are neutral therefore, they work with any color. Together you have a great example of an analogous palette.

Another example of an analogous palette is seen in this photo of a paper floral table runner by Fiskars:

Photo courtesy of Fiskars

Choose colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel for a gorgeous analogous palette. These colors together are sunny, warm, energetic, but most of all harmonious.

Tetrad and Triad Palettes:

Now we’re getting into a few of the more complex palettes. They aren’t hard to use, but do require a little more thought in terms of amounts and value. The bold palette in this dining room works well because they are presented against a neutral black and white backdrop.

Photo courtesy of John David Edison Interior Design in Toronto, ON

The blue, yellow and pink colors form a perfect triangle on the color wheel making them a great example of a triad relationship.

This bouquet my husband gave me for my birthday is a wonderful example of a Tetrad palette at work.

The four colors (red/yellow/blue-violet/green) are equally spaced on the color wheel. Using all these colors in a room design can be gorgeous, but you should choose one main color and a secondary color that will dominate and let the other two colors take up less visual space. As an alternative, you could balance the bold colors with a large amount of a neutral color(s) as shown in the dining room above.

Monochromatic:

After explaining some complex color relationships, I wanted to leave you with a very simple palette. The monochromatic palette is comprised of one color used throughout a room with differing values (shades of that one color achieved by adding white or black.)

My screen porch has a monochromatic palette. Using a variety of shades of blue with white creates a calming palette that’s easy on the eyes (and invites one to sit for a while and relax.)

For a little more punch, you can pair one color with black and white.

Photo Courtesy of MintSix Boutique Homewares and Styling in New Zealand

Mint Six Boutique creates a beautiful example of a monochromatic palette with several shades of red and coral in this bedroom.

The coral color steals the show, but is highlighted by the contrasting black and white in the room. Using strong contrasts in your home are sure to create visual impact.

Where to Get a Color Wheel:

Creating new color palettes is easy if you use a color wheel. You can purchase a color wheel on Amazon for less than $10! Once you have one, you can use it to choose colors for a room palette, coordinate your outfit for a big event, tablescapes, logo design and much more.

Before you have one of these great color tools on hand, you can visit ColourLovers. It is a website that allows you to browse color palettes:

(Feel free to follow me on COLOURlovers, as I upload my new favorite color palettes.)

Or you can create your own palettes. One of the best tools on their site is Copaso (found under tools). You can use it to upload pictures and/or create color palettes from scratch. To see suggested complements and harmonies, select one of the buttons below the color wheel.

Find photos that have color palettes you love (Houzz and Pinterest are two great places to start). Then upload the photo in the Copaso program. The program lets you pixelate the photo so you can select exact colors (you can also fine tune the hue and value until you reach your desired color.)

I uploaded this beautiful seaside home from Houzz to create a new palette of seaside colors that appeal to me:

Photo Courtesy of Donna Elle Seaside Living in Nantucket, MA

Next time you are thinking about shopping for home decor, paint colors or furniture, have a plan before you go. Use color harmonies and complements to help you solidify your color palette. Planning ahead will help avoid that overwhelmed feeling.

Pin this post to refer to next time you are trying to figure out good color harmonies!

Enjoy picking fabulous color palettes from now on!

March 31, 2019/25 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

accessories, arts and craft, Crafts, decor, Decorating, DIY, Holiday decorating, Home Decor, Summer, wreath

DIY Modern Hoop Wreath for Spring

Hello! I’m so excited to be here to show you how to bring a little Spring into your home. I’m betting we all need a little Spring at this point in the year. After two back-to-back snowstorms and weeks of frigid temps here in Seattle — I’m so ready for it! A great way to bring beautiful spring vibes into your home is with this DIY modern hoop wreath.

I love creating modern hoop wreaths because they are so fun to create and one of my favorite DIY projects ever! Not only do they look beautiful – they are easy on your wallet since you don’t need much to assemble one. Hoop wreaths can be made for any season or holiday, so let your imagination run wild with ideas!

Today I’m going to show you how to make a floral version of a modern hoop wreath —perfect for Spring. Let’s get started!

Materials :

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

Hoop Ring or Embroidery Hoop
Scissors
Floral Wire
Wire Cutters
Jute Twine
Faux Greenery and Flowers – I used tulips, ferns and Queen Anne’s lace (Michael’s, Target, Joann Fabrics, Amazon and Afloral.com are good sources)

How to Choose Your Faux Greens and Flowers:

Before we begin, here are a few tips for choosing greens and flowers for the wreath. Hoop wreaths are particularly beautiful if either one main floral/greenery is used or when a collection of three different flowers are used together.

For this wreath, I used the rule of threes.

Assembling Hoop Wreaths:

First add greenery as a base on the hoop. Then add a secondary green or floral. Finally add your main florals on top for the true showstoppers. For example, this is the order we’ll assemble the Modern Spring Hoop Wreath:

A base of greenery – ferns
Secondary accent of greens or flowers: Queen Anne’s Lace
Main Florals – Pink and White Tulips

I find Michael’s and Afloral.com have the best selection and most realistic looking faux flowers and greenery. However, Target is also stepping up their game lately. These faux ferns and Queen Anne’s Lace were from Target’s Hearth and Hand collection and are very pretty and semi-realistic looking. (I tend to be super picky about my faux flowers!)

Instructions :

Step 1: Cut the leaves and flowers from your faux plants (if needed).

Snip off a few pieces of fern while leaving a little stem to attach to your hoop. It’s usually easier to snip off the individual leaves which will give you the most flexibility when designing your wreath.

Step 2: Arrange your greens on the hoop until you like the layout.

Step 3: Snip off a piece of wire and use floral wire to attach your fern/greenery to the hoop.

Bend and train the greenery as you wrap it with wire. Luckily the wire is thin and can be easily hidden with the greens and/or flowers. But, you will need to wrap it fairly tight to keep the greenery from moving when the wreath is hung up.

Step 4: Repeat Steps 2-3 again, using the secondary flowers or greenery.

Tuck the Queen Anne’s lace around and on top of the ferns. It’s really coming together now!

Step 5: Add the main florals – these beautiful spring tulips!

Use your floral wire to attach the stems to the hoop wreath, and then use the greenery you attached earlier to hide the wires. It works perfectly every time. You may have to play with it a bit until the wires are hidden, but no one will notice once you do.

Step 6: Tie a little bow of jute twine around the center for a sweet rustic finishing touch.

The jute bow helped hide more of the floral wire and gives the wreath some extra holding power.

That’s all there is to it!

Tips for Hanging and Displaying your New Wreath :

Modern hoop wreaths can be hung with the flowers on the side or at the bottom. You can use a wreath hanger or a Command light clip. The light clips hold these hoops perfectly and are clear, so you can’t see them. You can also use a suction cup hook or a magnetic hook if you have a metal door. Or tie a pretty ribbon to these wreaths and hang them from the ribbon. I purchased a clear wreath hanger from Amazon that hooks over the door. These wreaths look beautiful not only on your front door but also on your interior walls, closet doors, hutches, over mirrors etc.

Feel free to get creative with placement and add some spring to all parts of your home!

When you are ready for a change, simply snip off the wire and reuse your greenery and florals for another project. These modern hook wreaths end up being a very cost effective decor project.

I hope you all enjoyed this tutorial. I’m looking forward to connecting with you again next month!

In the meantime, check out these beautiful spring decor projects on Pretty Handy Girl.

~ See More of Karen’s Tutorials ~

Hello! I’m Karen, the creator of the Home Decor and DIY Blog: Decor Hint . I’m a Native of the East Coast, but I currently live in beautiful Seattle with my hubby, our two wonderful children and our spunky wheaten terrier.

You can usually find me with some sort of craft in one hand and a coffee in the other. And I’m always rearranging furniture or moving lamps from room to room. I have a passion (read: obsession) for decorating, DIY, and gardening. In short, I love making my house into a home.

Like many, I’m inspired by what I see in home decor magazines, but I’m not so inspired by the price tags. Consequently, I love finding and creating beautiful budget-friendly home decor items. In a head to head competition, I bet you’d never know the difference between the designer items and my DIY creations! Many of my DIY projects focus on sewing, crafting, upcycling and organizing. Some of my favorite projects have been making pretty wreaths , sewing my own tassel hand towels, and crafting these trendy wood bead garlands . I can’t wait to inspire you and spark your creativity through my DIY projects.

You can always connect with me on Pinterest , Twitter or Instagram.

March 27, 2019/0 Comments/by Karen Decor Hint

Aged, Bin, Build It, clamps, decor, distressing, drill, gifts, Home Decor, Painting & Antiquing Techniques, ReNew, thrifting, Toolbox, Trash to Treasure, Upcycling

Rustic Wooden Caddy with a Branch Handle

Spring is right around the corner and I’m itching to cut some fresh flowers to bring inside. I love displaying them in jars placed inside rustic wooden caddies. Making a little caddy or tote out of salvage wood and branches can be an easy beginner DIY project. But, it’s also satisfying for experienced woodworkers looking to use up some old scraps or upcycle an old wooden box. Here’s how to elevate a simple wooden box into something more quirky and special by adding a branch handle.

Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

Old wooden box (Don’t have one? Make your own wooden box with this tutorial.)
Thick branch
Pry bar
Pliers
Clamps
Wood screws
Drill
Hand saw (coping or hack saw)
Spade bits
Paint
Sandpaper

I happened to be browsing through a yard sale and spotted a sad little box begging for me to buy it and give it a new life:

How could I say no! It was only $3. I couldn’t leave it at the yard sale in its sad burgundy dust-covered state. I brought it home so it could sit in my garage collecting more dust. (This happens more often than I’d like to admit. It’s a sickness I have.)

Using the pry bar and pliers, I pulled off the lid of the box and removed any nails.

Then I had a basic box to work with. You can use this tutorial to create a simple box if you don’t have one.

Instructions:

Cut upper handle supports out of 1×3 or other scraps. Clamp them inside the box.

Pre-drill holes and drive wood screws through the sides of the box and into the vertical supports.

Now it the time to finish the wooden caddy using your choice of paint or stain. (I like to create a rustic look using a relatively dry brush and by letting some of the wood grain show through your brush stokes.)

While the paint is drying, use a hack or coping saw to remove any bumps or burrs from your branch.

Measure the ends of your branch and select the spade bits that are closest in diameter to your branch (you want the holes to be equal to or wider than the branch.)

Drill a hole into each side of the vertical handle supports.

Insert the branch into the side of the caddy. You might have to experiment with which direction to install the branch.

Fill some jars with flowers and set them inside the crate.

Set it out in a prominent spot in your home.

Enjoy your shabby chic crate, caddy, tool box, or whatever you like to call it.

Personally I can’t get enough of this branch handle:

I’m curious, would you have bought that little dusty box too?!

If you liked this tutorial, you’ll love these other easy DIY Projects:

Mini-Picket Fence Caddy

Make Your Own Driftwood Crate

February 25, 2019/33 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

arts and craft, decor, Decorating, Home Decor, organizational tips, storage

How to Make a DIY Wood Wall Organizer

Hello, Pretty Handy Girl Readers! I’m Karen and I’m the blogger behind Decor Hint and a new member of the Pretty Handy Girl contributor team. I’m so excited to be here today. Today, I’m going to show you how to make a simple DIY Wood Wall Organizer. There is something about the New Year that always motivates me to clean up and organize my home. I’m always looking for new ways to organize my things but I still want to have it look polished and well decorated. Only I’m not interested in spending a lot of money. (Which is why I tend to DIY everything!) I’ve been seeing these cute wall organizers everywhere and I thought: “I could totally make that.” So here I am with a new project! Let’s get started, shall we?

Materials:

Wood Garden Stake –
- This cost me a buck from my local hardware store! You could also use a regular piece of scrap wood and cut it down to the size you need. For dimensions, my garden stake is 2 inches wide by 24 inches long
Wood Glue
Wooden Clothespins
Q-Tip
Tape Measure
Spray Paint (Optional)

Wood Wall Organizer Tutorial

Step 1 :Take your tape measure and mark where you want your clothespins to be on your piece of wood. Two inches apart and alternated top and bottom is a good pattern.

Step 2 : Attach the clothespins to your piece of wood or garden stake using wood glue. Use your pen marks as your guide. Squeeze a little wood glue on your wood piece and a little glue on your clothespins.

Place the clothespins onto the wood piece and press firmly for a few seconds. Make sure the “mouth” part of the clothespin faces out. If excess glue squeezes out, use a Q-tip to remove the excess. Repeat this step with each clothespin. Allow to dry overnight.

Here’s what it looks like so far! Pretty cool, right?

<Step 3: Once the wood glue is dry, it’s time to paint it. Of course, if you prefer the natural look of your wall organizer, you can keep it natural. If you decide to paint it, move outdoors or to an area with good ventilation while you are spray painting. Place your wall organizer in a large cardboard box and spray paint it. This will save you from having white spray painted grass! A lesson I’ve learned many times – although mine was pink grass! My husband really loved that project! 🙂

You don’t want to spray too much paint on your wall organizer at one time or it will get drippy. It’s best to spray several light coats in a sweeping motion to get smooth coverage. Allow the paint to dry overnight.

Step 4 : You’re done! Now it’s time to hang your new wall organizer! I use mine to hold and organize stationary, photos, postcards, and my kids artwork. I don’t plan on hanging anything too heavy on it so 3M velcro sticky tabs work perfectly. You could always hang your wall organizer with a good ol’ hammer and nails too if you feel you need the extra support.

And that’s it! A stylish wall organizer that was made for just a few bucks. You can’t beat that!

I love having a wall organizer like this that can help organize my papers. However, this isn’t just for stationary! The DIY Wood Wall Organizer could be hung in your closet to hold necklaces or ties. Or try hanging it in your laundry room to hold all those socks with the missing pairs. Make one for Christmas and use it to display all those Christmas cards from loved ones. I was even thinking this could hold spools or ribbons or washi tapes.

I hope you guys enjoyed this easy tutorial and I hope it gets you a little more organized this year! To see more of what I’m decorating and DIYing, I’d love for you to visit me at my blog, Decor Hint. I’ll be back next month with a new project for you!

~ See More of Karen’s Tutorials ~

Hello! I’m Karen, the creator of the Home Decor and DIY Blog: Decor Hint. I’m a Native of the East Coast, but I currently live in beautiful Seattle with my hubby, our two wonderful children and our spunky wheaten terrier.

You can usually find me with some sort of craft in one hand and a coffee in the other. And I’m always rearranging furniture or moving lamps from room to room. I have a passion (read: obsession) for decorating, DIY, and gardening. In short, I love making my house into a home.

Like many, I’m inspired by what I see in home decor magazines, but I’m not so inspired by the price tags. Consequently, I love finding and creating beautiful budget-friendly home decor items. In a head to head competition, I bet you’d never know the difference between the designer items and my DIY creations! Many of my DIY projects focus on sewing, crafting, upcycling and organizing. Some of my favorite projects have been making pretty wreaths, sewing my own tassel hand towels, and crafting these trendy wood bead garlands. I can’t wait to inspire you and spark your creativity through my DIY projects.

You can always connect with me on Pinterest, Twitter or Instagram.

January 16, 2019/2 Comments/by Karen Decor Hint

accessories, autumn fall decor, Chalkboard paint, decor, Decorating, Fall Leaves, Holiday decorating, Home Decor, pumpkin, Thanskgiving, vignettes, wreath

Cotton Fall Wreath and Décor for the Entryway

Cotton Fall Wreath

Every morning for the past few weeks I woke up and looked out the window. A few leaves have turned color, but as soon as I look at the weather report — the heat and humidity has yet to leave North Carolina. Will fall ever arrive? I want to wear flannel shirts and boots. I want cooler temperatures so I can stop sweating the minute I step outside. To usher fall into our area, I decided to make a super simple Cotton Fall Wreath. You won’t believe how easy this wreath was to make!

Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)