{bachman’s spring ideas house 2017}

Photo credit MSP Magazine

Urban Farmhouse

Each year the Bachman’s Spring Ideas House marks the end of winter and welcomes  a season of warmer weather and beautiful spring colors.

The theme for the 2017 Spring Ideas House is Urban Farmhouse. This transformation from season to season takes place in the historic Bachman family home on Lyndale Avenue. Truly an urban farmhouse.

A neutral background palette allows the colorful spring florals and accessories to be  focal points throughout the home. If you’ve never been to an Ideas House the design team does an amazing job creating charming vignettes with new items, up cycled pieces, and vintage pieces.

Look for these key trends for 2017:

• Fresh contemporary meets vintage permanence
• Shades of grey against farm fresh white to create warm contrast
• Floral Patterns and Ditsy Prints add dimension to our simple farmhouse decor
• Galvanized metal and reclaimed wood used for accent and function
• Botanical greens from dominant fiddle leaf figs to refined ferns

Photo credit MSP Magazine

{50 shades of gray – the paint edition}

 Shades of Gray to Fit Any Room

There is quite the buzz in the air about the movie, 50 Shades of Grey, you can’t help but read about it, hear about it, and see it everywhere. People can’t seem to get enough of it. So welcome to 50 Shades of Gray – The Paint Edition.

Langdon Dove by Hirshfield’s |Highmark Builders | Photography by SpaceCrafting

Shades of Gray to Warm A Room

Shades of gray that work well in our cool climate are the warmer grays. These are the grays that have gold or brown undertones as compared to the blue undertones that tend to look too cool for our weather.

Hirshfield’s color expert, Mark Masica says grays work easily in most any room, “ I’m old school and about the only areas I would not use a gray would be in a nursery or young child’s room, where I still like the brighter, more playful colors.”

{friday finds: gray, grey, greige}

Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter HC-172 – DecorPad

The color gray is a gray area. It is a complex color. “That’s not gray, that’s…”

The shade of gray that is “in” right now is a brown gray. It looks good with the warm tones that have been trendy the last few years. When asked about customers’ preferences, Michelle from the Edina store, agrees, ” people usually shy away from the cooler grays and gravitate to the brown grays.” When selecting a gray paint color, pay attention to the undertones. Are you seeing a blue-gray, a purple gray, a green gray? Pearl grays can be iridescent and have purple and pink in them. A good charcoal gray is closer to black, but much softer than black. So many choices.

I pulled some reader comments on grays from Apartment Therapy postings. If you are searching for a gray you may find these comments helpful.

… my dining room is Benjamin Moore’s Metropolitan AF-690, from their Aura paint line. It’s a nice bluey grey as well…

…Ralph Lauren Soft Earth UL29 is a nice grey that would still look good with golds…also, Forde Abbey TH06 is a great color…

A few years ago I painted the entire inside of my house BM’s Balboa Mist 1549. It’s a soft grey that changes with the light. Decorator white woodwork and black doors with brushed silver knobs. Loved it every day. Very fresh….I’m addicted to gray!

I recently painted with Benjamin Moore Feather Gray 2127-60, and it’s gorgeous. Depending on the light, it can look sort of blue or silver, and it’s just such a soft shade, like a bird’s wing…

I love gray and found BM Stonington Gray HC-170 here on Apartment Therapy. Everyone said it was the most neutral gray and did not take on purple, green or blue the way some grays do. Oh, how right they were…

Benjamin Moore Coastal Fog 976 is a color offers a wonderful chameleon-like background for other colors. I had it with a white sofa and chair and smaller accents of bright, light green — also had deep brown. It also looks fabulous with red and with black…

Our new grey is Ralph Lauren’s Artist’s Studio VM 157. LOVE it. Has more of a blue undertone than brown.

Currently, my bedroom is Gray Owl 2137-60 and OC-52 (Benjamin Moore). It’s really subtle, with a hint of green. (I also have a bathroom painted Pigeon Gray 2133-50 (BM). That’s a nice deep gray with purple undertones.

We’ve got you covered with the warm and cool grays found in this wallcovering – Ideal Home

Ideal Home

Chelsea Gray (HC-168) is the background in Brooke Shield’s NY living room.

Can’t commit to grey on your walls? Image from Vtwonen found on Decor8

Metallic wallpaper from Graham& Brown – Ideal Home

Benjamin Moore Nightingale AF-670 – Pottery Barn

Cow Parsley wallcovering by Cole & Son

Benjamin Moore Whale Grey 2134-40 and Deep Space 2125-20

For more photos of this space visit Cheeky Living.

Ideal Home

Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal HC-166

Benjamin Moore Abalone 2108-60 (The lighter grays are hard to see in photos)

This is a work in progress from china shepherdess.

Love the gray and black accents – Ideal Home

When looking for paint colors remember to bring in fabric samples, flooring, or whatever you have available, so Hirshfield’s sales staff can assist you with your paint and wallpaper selections. If you can’t see the difference in a purple gray vs. a green gray, not to worry, that’s when our sales staff can be of assistance. They work with color every day, all day. Grab some samples and audition them with your finishes, your lighting, your husband (not really), in your home. Need more one-on-one assistance, think about a color consultation.

Check out the paint coupons on the Hirshfield’s website and this last link to gray.