I know a lot about white spaces.
I work in a white-walled space. ย Blank canvas.
I bake from white bowls. ย Blank canvas.
I type words into a white page. ย Blank canvas.
Working in white can offer a sense of freedom… like anything is possible. ย Working in white can also be overwhelming… like, whaaattt the heck do I do?
Where do we pull our color inspiration from? ย That’s a big question right? ย Let’s talk this out.
I’m talking about whites because, for the first time, I’m taking my office space from white to not white… and I definitely need some help. ย Where do you go from white?
Going from white to not white requires loads of inspiration.
Inspiration abounds. ย This cabin in Ojai surrounded by big green, and purple speckled brush?
Maybe green is the way to go!
Maybe greens will remind me of the time I got to make wildflower bouquets with my friend Andrea.
Maybe deep greens will remind me of my friend Whitney’s summer birthday party.
Maybe my deep greens should be paired with bright pops of warm color like pinks and oranges.
I’m surrounded by palm trees. ย This green is gorgeous!
But wait… do I really want to commit to green walls? ย Maybe I just need to find a potted plant (that my cat won’t eat). ย Hm… this is hard.
I know where to find inspiration.
I mean… really. ย All of my color inspiration comes from the kitchen.
Clearly I should paint my walls watermelon colors… with the the melon stripes… because how gorgeous is that!?
I love the way this deep peach plays with the dark grey tones.
Food for thought.
Whites and tans and texture.
Dreamy! ย And the coconut is so snackable right out of the oven.
Brights and grays inspire!
Always and forever… something with color sprinkles!
With all of my color and photo inspiration, I headed over to My Colortopia to get some guidance from Michael Wurm Jr. ย It turns out that I hit the jackpot when it comes to turning photos into color inspiration. ย Michael showed me how to upload my food photos into My Colortopia tool My Image Inspiration and pull out actual paints colors that could help me transform my space from white to not white!
Michael didn’t even bat an eye when I tried to find a paint color inspired by my kitten’s orange fur… yea.
I wanted to work a bit of geometry into my transformation, and Michael helped me find colors that would feel edible, fun, unique, and just… me! ย After some quality time with some painter’s tape, rollers, step stools, and gallons of paint… I LOVE my away-from-white wall! ย I can’t wait to share it with you. ย Soon!
75 Responses
This is so well written! Amusing and interesting. Love it.
Beautiful! I am a fan of the “blank canvas” — and am still afraid to paint my walls. Maybe someday I’ll go for full on watermelon walls (love that idea). Props to you for being more daring than me!
Looking forward to see the result! Although I love white… I also love colour. I am always in a conflict. Our apartement has many walls in hues of warm yellow. Very nice, but now I long for something more “quiet”… maybe next time it will be shades of white? Or maybe green?… I can’t make up my mind… :o)
I agree with the first comment that the darkness – the absence of light. White is interesting, but there are so many different colors!
I can’t WAIT to see what you chose! I’m a color junkie. We have three rooms in our downstairs all painted a different color–sunny yellow kitchen, sea breezy living room, luscious green dining room. I wouldn’t have it any other way. :)
Can’t wait to see what you end up with!!
Came here for inspiration while staring at my own glaring white screen. I think this is one of my favorite posts ever, thanks for being you!
-Cara
Love the blog, over the paid advertisements. Yikes.
That is brilliant to have all of your color inspiration comes from the kitchen! Love your blog xx
i just repainted earlier this summer. we’ve been in our cottage for 12 yrs and when my girls were little our colors were really vibrant – yellow kitchen, sea green and yellow living room, orange bathroom (!), bright green bathroom. the repaint is much calmer. soothing grey just about everywhere (like white, but calmer, and grey turns blue, lavender, white, depending on the light of the day). and one very tall wall in living rm is turquoise, like the caribbean sea. it’s so beautiful next to the grey. our colorful artwork looks lovely on grey too. i paired the grey with cream in the bathrooms -it’s very spa-like and luxurious. it’s amazing how much color affects your outlook. with teen girls, bark-y dogs, squawking hens, and a calmly yelling over the top of it all mom, we need something soothing. can’t wait to see what you came up with Joy. i know it’s going to be amazing!
i’m still thinking about your orange bathroom!
Hooray for color! And if you hate it, just can’t live with it, want to scream, just can’t stand it… you can go back to white in a snap. But I think it’s going to be gorgeous. Can’t wait.
Oooh intriguing..! I’ll be staying tuned to see what you come up with!
That’s a great way to eat toast! And as much as I love the color white, it’s definitely an intimidating blank canvas! xk
let’s just talk about toast… totally!
When you find that plant your cat won’t eat please let me know. We go thru about 2 plants a month in my house with the only survivor being an orchid that is inside a super tall glass vase…
I’d go a neutral. Think seashells, stone, burlap – it’s an easy transition. Some people like to go with statement walls from white. I think that might be too shocking. But, hey…to each their own.
What is that gray surface that you are using? Love it!!
Hi Joy!
… off topic add question- but what kind of desk are you using? It looks refreshingly sturdy….
love from a wobbly Ikea, seeking stability
Teagan, I don’t know what she is using, but if you want to get a sturdy desk for an Ikea price you should definitely go to Estate Sales. My fiance found me a desk worth $500 for under $100 just because it was one of the last days of the sale and they didn’t want to try and sell it elsewhere. Estate Sales are way better than garage sales for furniture searching.
totally a good call, Lauren! the desk i am using us just a giant piece of butcher block that i got from a wood salvage yard. i have it proped up on a few ikea filing cabinet type things.
I’m so excited to see what you paint it. Your foods are always so bright and fun, pulling inspiration from them is definitely the way to go. I want to paint some of the walls in my house, but I haven’t painted a wall before and I’m a little terrified I’ll ruin it… or the carpet underneath it!
Something about white space is so refreshing and inspiring. I’ve been having a tough time choosing a color for my work space as well (afraid to disturb the tranquility!), so I will be waiting in anticipation to see how yours came together :)
Oh, what a dreamy little place you live in, can’t wait to see the transformation.a
As much as I have loved the whites I have been sensing the time has come for some change as well. I am really looking forward to seeing what you will decide on;-)
white is so good, right!? but so is change (most of the time).
I love your blog. Have made your big berry cake (super yum) , granola and waffle recipes (super super yum) :-)
Look forward to see your colour filled study…
Here’s where i go for colour inspiration — https://design-seeds.com/
Love,
Ambika
Ah, I want to see the new walls!!!!
We dust our plants with chili pepper to teach Dizzy not to eat the plants. We started fairly young with her, so it works alright. ‘Just a tip :)
whoa! chili pepper… really!? i’m 95% sure my cat would eat through the chili pepper, but i appreciate your thoughts!
Cannot wait to see the finished product!
can’t wait to see the finished product! maybe it will inspire me to move away from the “tan”….
Painting is stressful. I regret not taking that home design class in high school. I really should have taken that instead of child development. Oh well. Can’t wait to see your new space :)
I’m super excited to see the final product :)
I have one red wall as an accent that gives the sense of a dining space, at the entrance to the kitchen. Everyone loves it, very Parisian. The other walls are a dark cream( Ralph Lauren makes like 50 shades of white)my small hallway is dark bronze( Ralph Lauren metallics), again some drama, but not too much. It took forever to choose. The light source is different in every space, so what looks good on the chip, could look awful in your space. The bedroom is cream, I painted it at least twice, still not sure…..
ahhhh – looking forward to the final product! you’re such a bright person, so it’s fitting you would have bright walls!!
i appreciate you!
Strangely I found this a really inspirational post, and I’ve been tempted to think about change and trying new things I wouldn’t have tried before! All your photography is incredible, thank you for sharing! x
Sooooo excited to see the finished product! Maybe you’ll inspire me to paint my entirely white walls!
omg, that’s SUCH a CLIFF HANGER!!
Love those shots, love when you expand beyond writing about food, or in this case, take the food beyond the kitchen.
I like it.
I’m psyched for the next post.
And I hope you have a fabulous week. =)
(Coloring via kitties is SO normal. We’ve got 2 and they’re SO beautiful, 24/7, why NOT copy?)
Can’t wait to see your new walls! I love changing up space. Also, I love your desk!
my kitchen is green…..slightly grayed-green light walls with darker green(s) quartz counters…they have flecks of black, gray, and almost white quartz, too! i couldn’t love my green space more! (black appliances and oil-rubbed bronze hardware, if you wanted to know…..with a soft gray ceramic tiled floor.) you can accent almost any way you like when you use greens…and i’m a purple girl! of course, spring cries out for some pinks and yellows…..and then winter wants some serious red action (and i like a little black in there, too)…..and all the fall colors blend in well…..and whatever floats your boat works through the summer months!! you can’t go wrong with green!
greeeen!!
You might think about adding wood frame to your windows. Ours looked just like yours with white wood blinds. They now look so finished and paint color against the white wood trim looks beautiful!
the windows do look unfinished, don’t they?
Hope I didn’t offend you! Our windows were like that for 20 years and we had our painter add wood trim. Such a difference! It’s inexpensive to do too.
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CT1jRAZ6XPs/Tda-B35ywPI/AAAAAAAAABs/2R2vA4RILhc/s320/yellow-grey+living+room-+lg+grey+wall+art.jpg
I love finding a fun wallpaper and using it in an unexpected way. On the area behind your desk only would be cool!
I also live yellow and grey both warm and cool
We just had our living room painted a pretty light moss green this past weekend. I love it! No more all white walls! Will warm it up with oatmeal colors and dark mahogany. Good luck :)
Just this weekend I transformed my vanilla kitchen to Beefsteak Tomato Red. It was a very empowering and liberating process and I love the results. Have fun!
Oh, I can not wait to see the finished product! And since my husband and I are moving into our first apartment this weekend, I love the decorating inspiration. :)
congratulations on your first apartment!
How fun! I cannot wait to see the end results!
Joy! Oh I can’t wait to see what you did with the final space. Holding my breath here.
thank you for all of your help, Michael!!
Exciting!!! Can’t wait to see what you come up with. I fell in love with the color of an egg once. I took that pale green chicken egg to the paint department and they put it under their little color detector and created the perfect paint color for our guest room. Now its so calm and serene in that room that my hubby wants to nap in there everyday.
Yay! I have the same issue at hand in my apartment, my sacred space, but not MINE-mine, for now, making do with color pops in pillows, curtains, paintings, & plants (no vegetarian cats here, haha) but its an in-between step for now, before going all out and painting or texturizing. I will live vicariously through you, cheers! Looking fwd. to seeing transformation!
Clearly, you chose the colors of bourbon and dark chocolate….. right?!
Looking forward to seeing the “after” pictures!!! So exciting to totally redo a room.
Squeeee! MUST SEE FINISHED PHOTOS.
I love home transformations. I have taupe walls. It has always been hard for me to commit to a color on the walls.
I know what you mean! Straying away from white can be hard for me too. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Ooo! Cannot wait to see the final product! Food colors + office space + geometry. . . very intriguing!!
No fair, share it now! ;)
i’m such a tease. i’m sorry!
It’s all about the colored sprinkles, but love your away from white wall :)
i love love love geometric patterns. and i loveee food inspired colour. Can’t wait to see!
I cant wait to see the final outcome. My office is all white, very clean and bright. Great for a working day.
I cannot wait! Making a change like that is really a commitment and a serious life experience. I mean, you have to live with that everyday and work with it since you take pictures. All the best!
I totally get the white walls thing, they act as a canvas definitely, however, I also get that a change is as good as a rest!
Oh, I can’t wait to see it! Especially excited to see if you use a cat shade!
I can’t wait to see how it works out. We rent, so we can’t even put holes in the walls. My living room is decorated with stick on mustaches. I wish I was kidding. Your office is going to be so rad. Looking forward to seeing it here.
i rent too. i know how challenging it can be!
How exciting! Room/house makeovers are so fun and very excited to see what you chose and how it looks! Michael has such a great eye and I’m sure between the two of you, you came up with something super fun!