summertime blues

I have a confession.  I’ve never decorated with blues in my own home.  Yes, I’ve used aquas, greens, and a whole lot of white, but not the blues that you typically associate with coastal homes.  I’ve certainly used them in other projects but I guess I felt it would be too obvious in a Santa Barbara house.

And then I won a pretty African Indigo pillow on Instagram from One Tribe Co.

I was going to give it my daughter but she wasn’t quite ready to change up her studio apartment.  I loved the pillow, and since I do have paintings and art with different shades of blue,  I placed it on my sofa.  Below was the more neutral way the living room looked before the new pillow…

As you can imagine, the blue pillow looked a bit lonely.  I bought a solid linen pillow from RH in a pretty French blue and a lovely cream and blue pillow from my IG pal Jody at IndieBungalow who I’ve featured here before.  That sweet friend included a lovely blue batik and white mud cloth pillow that was gorgeous! The beauty of having a neutral sofa and walls, is the ability to change your accessories on a whim (or when you win a pillow)!  I then added a small blue linen throw on my safari chair and here was how it looked…

I love it!  But now it seemed strange that in our open concept home, this was the only place there was any indigo or darker blue. Taking a cue from my large bowl of sea glass on our dining table, I realized I could add just a few bold touches of blue to the rest of the soft colors…

Enter West Elm.  I had noticed in their catalog some beautiful blue vases and votives. They have quite a selection beyond the ones I ended up buying and they look beautiful with all the aqua and green glass I already own.

In our entry hall, my denim jacket and a striped canvas bag add a small touch of blue as does the fabric cord on the California sign!

So if you’ve never been comfortable with blue or if there is another color you may have been afraid to try, it’s very simple with a few small accessories to make a change.  Next week I may be back to neutrals or maybe even black and white, but for now I’m enjoying the summery vibe of my new blues!