A Little Color Splash...

I am a complete HGTV junkie... although I am getting extremely sick of watching reruns of House Hunters, and House Hunters International. And this season of Design Star was pretty much HORRIBLE... with the one exception of the WINNER (Emily Henderson). I picked Emily as the winner from episode one (even though she totally blew that challenge and could have easily been eliminated after the first challenge of the season!) But one show that (almost) never lets me down, is David Bromstad's Color Splash (and Color Splash Miami). Like any successful designer, David works to please his clients, and design taste will never be the same from one client to another... so it happens quite often that David produces a room that doesn't come anywhere close to my design style. BUT, no matter what the style of the client, David's rooms almost always carry elements of design that I would LOVE to bring into my own home. And, of course, that is why I have to consider him one of my favorite designers of all time! Below are a few pictures of David's designs with the FANTASTIC design elements that I love!

The design above in no way reflects my personal design style, but I really love the graphic patterned pillows used on the couches, the hardwood floors, and the table lamps. I also think this is a really great color scheme (although I would prefer it in a bedroom).

Again, the design above does not really fit my personal taste, but I love the clean, modern lines of the furniture pieces in this design. I also love the enormous print on the wall behind the couch. My favorite design element in this room, however, is the color scheme. I love designs that start of with the neutral elements in the room, making those typical "non-colors" (such as blacks and whites) part of the design. But in order for this to look good, dramatic pops of color must be brought in. In this design, the blues stand out so perfectly from the backdrop of neutrals, that I can not help but call this great design.

The two pictures above are just different angles of one completed room. I LOVE this design. While it is certainly not for everyone, and is slightly more bold that I would probably go in my own home (or at least more bold than my husband would allow me to go), I LOVE it! Where do I even begin with this room? Let's start with the color green... my personal favorite, and it works so well in this space. It is difficult to see from these pictures, but the green wall is actually made of large sheets of glass that have been backpainted with the lime green color, and then attached to the wall. I have been wanting to do this as the backsplash in my kitchen for a VERY long time (with the exact same color shown above), but I have had no luck finding anyone in Oklahoma to do this. You can order the paint online, and purchase the glass separately, but with such a costly project, I'm afraid things won't go quite as planned!

Moving on, as in the previous room, David has chosen a neutral backdrop of colors and clean lined furniture, and added those pops of color (in this case we see the greens, the purples, the pinks and the yellows). I love the use of the poufs for extra seating (I have two in my own living room, and finding cheap poufs can be an extreme challenge... I finally found mine at Target). And finally... I absolutely love the rug! I used to be a fan of the plain and simple rugs, but I have recently discovered a love of giant, bold patterns, like this one. The one thing I don't like is when patterns become too busy, and this rug is perfect with two giant flowers. I have come to truly admire the designs of Amy Butler and Thomas Paul (both will later have a blog dedicated to their designs as well).

I wanted to include the two pictures above because I love the large, graphic patterns that David used on the walls. My one issue with wallpaper is that the big, beautiful patterns tend to repeat so often that it becomes a busy mess that gives me a headache. Otherwise, I would love to put some big, BOLD patterns on my wall. Unfortunately, I am not the skilled artist that David is.

Can you guess why I love the above room??? Green, green, green! It's beautiful! And this time, David chose to add the pops of color in reverse, making green the main color in the room, and adding pieces of brown and white to compliment the decor. I love it! If only my husband would agree to let me go so bold!

So, once again, I included the photo above because I love David's choice of color for the room. I love the combination of yellow and gray. In fact, I just decorated my guest bedroom in this color combination. It took some effort to convince my husband, but it looks great, and he loves it! We chose to go with yellow, gray, black and white. Although trying to find really great yellow and gray, or yellow and black bedding is almost impossible! Everything I have been able to find runs upwards of $250! So we still have a few finishing touches before the room is complete... but I will be sure to post pictures once it's done!

So that's it for my tribute to David Bromstad and his amazing splashes of color! I hope it helps you with your design inspiration!