When I chose my apartment, the complex gave me the option to have any of the walls painted with accent colors and I chose to have one wall in my bedroom painted green. On June 8th when I finally moved in I was surprised to see that one of the walls in the living room was painted a rust/clay red. It really threw me for a loop. Being so busy with the move, I really hadn't stopped to decide what my decorating would look like. Although red was never on my list. I have no problem with red but it's not a color I would ever choose to decorate with. When it comes to paint color I tend to gravitate toward blues, greens, grays, and khakis. Although I love rusty red on cloths, my walls where a different story.
The color surprise was not enough of a problem to have the wall repainted and I took the situation as a challenge. I won't let this red wall beat me! My first reaction was to avoid the red and use beige on everything. Wash out the color with neutrals on neutrals on neutrals. Then I had a burst of inspiration from a Target pillow. I really liked said pillow but my only hesitations were the touches of yellow amongst the neutral brown. Once I got home the pillow(s) looked great. The yellow complimented everything perfectly. I quickly realized how to work with my red wall. My color pallet should be one from an African safari. Rusty red, stone khaki, burnt orange and muted yellow offset by dark wood. To be clear, I don't want an African theme with tribal masks and big stuffed giraffe. I'm only interested in the colors. I paired the pillow with an ottoman from West Elm (a splurge) that is stone gray with a white rosette pattern. The more the room comes together the more I like it. I'm almost glad my red wall forced me outside my decorating comfort zone.
My living room is far from done but the major pieced are in place. My next big hurdle is art work and wall decor. There is A LOT of empty wall space that needs to be dealt with. I have a couple small pictures to hang but they'll be dwarfed without something more substantial. I'd also like a shelving unit of some sort to store knick knacks and tchotchkes. Originally I bought one from Ikea but later returned it after I questioned it's stability. Everything will have to be put on hold for a while though while I let my budget catch up with my shopping.
When I chose my apartment, the complex gave me the option to have any of the walls painted with accent colors and I chose to have one wall in my bedroom painted green. On June 8th when I finally moved in I was surprised to see that one of the walls in the living room was painted a rust/clay red. It really threw me for a loop. Being so busy with the move, I really hadn't stopped to decide what my decorating would look like. Although red was never on my list. I have no problem with red but it's not a color I would ever choose to decorate with. When it comes to paint color I tend to gravitate toward blues, greens, grays, and khakis. Although I love rusty red on cloths, my walls where a different story. 
The color surprise was not enough of a problem to have the wall repainted and I took the situation as a challenge. I won't let this red wall beat me! My first reaction was to avoid the red and use beige on everything. Wash out the color with neutrals on neutrals on neutrals. Then I had a burst of inspiration from a Target pillow. I really liked said pillow but my only hesitations were the touches of yellow amongst the neutral brown. Once I got home the pillow(s) looked great. The yellow complimented everything perfectly. I quickly realized how to work with my red wall. My color pallet should be one from an African safari. Rusty red, stone khaki, burnt orange and muted yellow offset by dark wood. To be clear, I don't want an African theme with tribal masks and big stuffed giraffe. I'm only interested in the colors. I paired the pillow with an ottoman from West Elm (a splurge) that is stone gray with a white rosette pattern. The more the room comes together the more I like it. I'm almost glad my red wall forced me outside my decorating comfort zone. 
My living room is far from done but the major pieced are in place. My next big hurdle is art work and wall decor. There is A LOT of empty wall space that needs to be dealt with. I have a couple small pictures to hang but they'll be dwarfed without something more substantial. I'd also like a shelving unit of some sort to store knick knacks and tchotchkes. Originally I bought one from Ikea but later returned it after I questioned it's stability. Everything will have to be put on hold for a while though while I let my budget catch up with my shopping. 
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