Hello Hue! { Florence, Italy }

Lemon Drops

Pan for Gold

Parakeet

Dark Celery

Gold Rush

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these colors.  Our living room tries to be in this palette, but I think it has too many black and white accessories to succeed. This is just so warm and inviting and Florentine...don't you want to sit down at a lovely outdoor table with a bottle of wine and some bread and olive oil and soak in the sun? 

{butcherblock server}{amber glasses}{dinnerware}{plate}

{bowl}{candlesticks}{serveware}{placemats}

You are practically relaxing in beautiful Tuscany. 

Hello Hue! { Back to Venice }

So of all the beautiful, vibrant colors of Venice, I chose a photo that is practically black and white.  Yep.  I think I was scared of a crazy-clown color scheme.  And Venice by night is a totally different beast than Venice-by-day.  Most of the tourists have gone, the streets are quieter, the alleyways more mysterious.  Plus I love gray and yellow.  I have ever since Sarah did that farmhouse bath.

But lately, gray-and-yellow have been everywhere.  Weddings, nurseries, prints, sheets, fabrics, outfits, dinnerware, and don't even get me started on the chevrons.  It can so easily skew...Pinterest-twee.

{via, with apologies}

So how to capture the dark, secret, aged elegant feel of Venice-by-night in a budget-friendly grown-up bathroom kind of way?  First, paint the walls gray.

 

{Charlie and Co.}

But add a nice dark vanity with a gray and white Carrara marble top. Pottery Barn sells similar styles for over $2500 - without the marble top.  I hate the whole 'buy it for less' deal, because unless it is the actual item you are looking for and you find it at a discount store, it really isn't the same thing.  And it probably doesn't have any of the features you liked about the original (e.g. heft, durability, construction, finish).  So... you'll likely be buying a new one.  Soon.  Which doesn't add up to 'less'.

However, this is not a cheap vanity - just fewer bucks than PB.  It imagine it will be serviceable.  Plus the carved detail is a little Venetian. I don't hate the mirror, but it looks a little top-heavy.  I don't want to worry about a concussion while I'm brushing my teeth.

{vanity}

And add in some carrara mosiac tile (maybe this is a small bathroom, and you can splurge on $10/sf), some aged brass fixtures and, since I apparently have to buy something for every room from PB, some towels. 

{sconce}{fixture}{tile}{towels}

You're practically brushing your teeth in romantic, moonlit Venice!

Hello Hue! { Dubrovnik, Croatia }

My main impressions of old Dubrovnik were stone, stone and more stone.  This was the gate we entered and exited from, and looking through the colors, I realized that the stone itself is so multicolored, it could be a whole hue-board all on its own.  I ultimately decided to include the lemon tree because a) it's cute and b) I love, love, LOVE gray and green together.  If I could paint my house (vinyl siding, boo), it would be gray.  With a green door.  *sigh.  Let's take a look...

 Springview Green

Nantucket Gray

Mountain Moss

Luau Green

Scotland Isle

With all the greenery and gray stone (and since we had SUCH a good time at the outdoor bar), I figured a patio would be best suited to the Dubrovnik color scheme.  Something simple and classic, surrounded by tons of leafy greens.  (Leafy greens...is that only to do with salads?) 

Something like this:

{via}

Target has some great options for patio sets - even better if you can catch them on sale (especially if it is Smith and Hawken). Here's a completely Tar-jay-sourced patio set.  Nothing too overboard, and similar enough to my (almost certainly) splurge-y inspiration picture.

{lanterns}{pillows}{planter}{chaise}

What do we think?  Are you practically sipping warm beer at a cliffside bar in Croatia?  

*Sorry for the lack of posting recently - it took us a solid week to recover from the jet-lag.  So ridiculous...we didn't even leave our own country!  But the Pacific Coast was heavenly...posts to come soon!

Hello Hue! { Istanbul, Turkey }

I loved this room in the palace - with the cool tiled walls, low seating and arched, open windows, it just exuded opulent warm-climate elegance.  You could easly imagine a hot summer's afternoon spent there, lounging about, drinking cool tea, reading a book, enjoying a sea breeze...sigh. 

Yellow Lotus

Spicy Mustard

Hunter Green

Classic Burgundy

The saturated colors were hard to replicate, but Yellow Lotus is a beautiful match to the stencil-work on the palace walls.  And that red velvet settee? Under $500 - woooo!

{lamp}{vase}{sofa}{rug}

With one super-splurg-ey lamp and some budget shopping, you will practically be a member of the Byzantine royal family!

Hello Hue! { Ephesus }

There were so many great vistas in Turkey, but the minute I snapped a photo of the marble mosaic sidewalk, I knew it was a picture I wanted to do something with. Looking at it on my computer at home, I was surprised to find that the navy blue and red scheme I thought I'd captured was more of an orangey-ochre and sea blue.  Perfect for a boy's room?  I think so!

Whirlpool

Silver Lake

Bangkok Rust

Regatta

Midnight Navy

For a city that was left high and dry over a thousand years ago, it's an awfully watery theme. The blue and red colors are pretty saturated, so the walls could be painted in Whirlpool or Silver Lake to cut the intensity a bit.  

 {airplane print}{curtains}{bedding}{bed}

There are SO many cute accessories to be found.  Since this is a scheme that could work for a small boy AND a teenage boy, the big things could be kept (which is good, since some of these things are a little pricey), and the smaller items switched out. 

 

{clock}{pillow}{nightstand}{rug}

Your little one will practically be strolling through Ancient Ephesus!

Hello Hue! {Olympia, Greece}

This post was hard.  I really wanted to go the whole aqua-blue water, crisp white accessories route, but we  didn't see much of that Greece on our trip.  The colors in Olympia were softer, more subdued...less all up in your grill. 

Stolen Moments

Wethersfield Moss

Desert Shadows 

Stunning

Nightfall

I thought they would make a nice bathroom palette, until I color matched.  My nice Greek paint scheme had turned into a damn Harlequin romance novel.  (Minus poor old Wethersfield Moss; too puritanical-Witch-of-Blackbird-Pond for the Sultry Greek bathroom,  but since I love the color, it stays.) 

Of course, the Sultry Greek Bath HAS to have marble.  Here are some small accessories if you don't want to break the bank, and the drool-worthy Pottery Barn carrara vanity if you want to..er..blow the wad. Oh god. I'm so inappropriate.

{small accessories}{anthro towels}{PB towels}{PB vanity}

Add in a nice, sculptural-ish soap dish, maybe sew your own shower curtain, and while you're at it, why not reupholster a classically inspired vanity stool with a soft, vine-y fabric?

{soap dish}{vine fabric}{plush fabric}{stool}

You're practically on a Romantic tour of ancient Greece.

Hello, Hue! - Bari, Italy

I thought it would be fun to try something new here...I've noticed that when we are out and about, I tend to take pictures of buildings or scenes or color schemes I like.   I suppose I think I'm going to come back home to Maine and do something fabulous with the photo that will forever remind us of the destination.  (I usually take these photos on holiday, so the vibe is pretty fun or relaxed or cocktail-infused...definitely something I want to recreate in every-day life.)

However.  What I end up doing is framing the photo in a cheapy Ribba and adding it to the stack of to-be-hung-up wall art in our office.

But...what if I did something else?  Something that didn't add to the clutter in our already too-small house? Something that might help me figure out what kinds of colors I like and break out of the beigey-yellow box I seem to be stuck in?

Here's one of my favorites from our day in Bari and some colors I pulled out of it...

I know, I know...there's beige in there.  But the other colors are so fun!  Here are some close paint matches.

Benjamin Moore Concord Ivory

Benjamin Moore Gold Mine

Valspar Gaslight

Sherwin Williams Paradise

Sherwin Williams Sturdy Brown

And what if you accessorized with some budget-friendly Bari-like decor?

{plate}{terracotta pot}{plants}{bench}{frames}

You are practically in Southern Italy.  ;)