60/30/10

I get email from HGTV almost every day.  It's freaking distracting on a good day, and downright evil on a day when I would rather be doing anything else but sitting at my desk at work.  Or on those days when I don't mind being there, but I'm supposed to be writing something and the words aren't coming.  On those days, an email full of suggestions for redecorating my bathroom or how to plan color palettes in a kitchen are obviously going to get bumped to the top of the priority list.

So today was kind of one of those days.  Or at least it was for a couple of hours.  I did actually get work done.  Shut it!  I did!!!

And I got the email from HGTV that, after clicking a dozen or so links that led to other links, and so on... led me to this Very Important Tip: when planning a color palette, one should use the formula of 60/30/10.  Your main color should occupy 60% of the surfaces or space in the room.  Another main color - or perhaps a neutral? - should dominate 30%, and the remaining 10% is your accent color.

This is huge for me, as I am struggling with what to do with my master bedroom that is currently painted a lovely grapey purple.  Don't look at that table!  What do you think, does having Jay-Z on my bedside table make me hip?

We painted it that color four years ago when we moved in, and now I can't walk by a decorating magazine without seeing a big, crazy cover photo or a huge spread inside that proclaims the perfection of purple.  I'm so way ahead of my time that way.  HOOOOOWEVER.  When the walls (and it's a big room - there's lots of wallspace) are covered with a medium-toned grape color, what the hell do you do to balance it?  I mean, that's a shitload of Barney, which is not conducive to romance and relaxation.  My original plan was to go black and white on the linens... and of course that's all trendy now too. Or it was a year ago, actually.  But it's seeming like it might be a bit too stark for my taste.  I am a collector of stuff, and love a good thrift store, and my stuff is generally more colorful than black and white.

I do have some amazing lampshades that have a black design on the inside (and the real thing looks a good bit better than my rendition above).  When the light is turned on the black shows through the shade.  There's one on each side of the bed, all matchey-matchey cuz the hubster likes it that way.  Thank god my boobs are symmetrical.  The shades sit on top of two practically edible white milkglass lamp bases handed down to me from my great-grandmother.  (pics will follow!)  I also have a white chenille bedspread that I'm not in love with, "temporary" white linen curtains that are actually table cloths I got on the clearance aisle at Walmart three years ago, and white crown molding around the room.  Where to go from there??

What about my 30% color being a kind of dusky sea blue... like the blue on this image of the Tom's Shoes label?

Or this barn, but greener (the brown horse could represent my bedside tables):

I have some fabric to cover an as yet un-located headboard, and would also come up with some pillows and maybe the curtains should be white but with a design or stripe in a shade of the blue?

Then what to do for the 10%? What about this??

I'm kind of loving it. That chair is allegedly from Target?? What the WHAT????  It needs to be in my bedroom right now!!!  So, that's a combination of colors I don't think I've seen before.  Sure, turquoise and yellow, purple and yellow, but not all three together, right?  Oh, and I might even be willing to sacrifice my ceiling fan if I could get this little piece of bedroom jewelry:

I'm typing cross-legged to keep from peeing my pants.  It's that cute. *sigh*  

What say you??