Welcome to the Mars Family Home, low country remix style. In case you don't know, the "low country" refers to a geographic and cultural region along the coast of South Carolina, including the Sea Islands. This lovely little pocket of the state is a gorgeous subtropical paradise! Which means much warmer weather than we're used to and apparently, flowers bloom year round. Not to mention beautiful beaches. It's my guess that the close proximity to the beach is the inspiration behind the colorful walls inside seemingly every home around here. Let me be the first to say, yellow is NOT my favorite color, but we're currently renting and we're not allowed to paint (otherwise these walls would be whitewashed in a jiffy). Each room in this house offers a different bold color, some more neutral than others, as you can see our bedroom is anything but. By now, we've cycled through several different strategies of decorating to try and minimize and compliment this loud shade of yellow most effectively. Finally we've settled into something we like. Quite honestly, I've grown very fond of this bright sunshiney color, it's even become one of my favorite rooms to photograph, but it's certainly taken some adjustment.
The number one thing I've learned is, don't fight it. At first, I had myself convinced that the right mix of complimentary colors and decor pieces would somehow make the yellow magically disappear. Obviously, that's impossible. At last, I've surrendered to the yellow, by adding even more yellow to the room. That's right, more yellow, in varying shades, like our darker yellow accent chair. Mixed in with lot's of aquas and turquoise, like our closets, which have curtains instead of doors, made from SoulMakes vintage kantha blankets. We chose to add lots of this complimentary shade through out the room, in the form of blankets, pillows and the like. We went with a fuchsia duvet, which is so unlike us, but when you're stuck with this kind of yellow, you've really gotta go all the way! The deeper pink actually helps to balance out the colors of the room and it helps that it comes in a large dose. I've also learned that larger pieces work best to decorate any brightly colored walls, instead of my usual collage of smaller pieces of art littering every inch of the walls. I went with my favorite painting by Hannah Chloe, a surfboard that I refinished and painted myself and of course a big selection of SoulMakes wall hangings. The large version of our Wonderland Wall Hanging looks perfect behind our bed and the Sugar Magnolia wall hangings add the perfect punchy colors in small doses. Lot's of little crystals scattered on every surface and candles too! We also went with more clean lines in our furniture selection, lots of ornate details in a bright room like this seemed to only add distraction and confusion. The midcentury modern look is very calming and simple, and we added a few rattan/wicker pieces (our head board and peacock chair) for a touch of texture.
The furniture is all thrifted. We aren't loaded, we can't just go out and buy a houseful of new furniture every time we need to decorate a crazy bright yellow room. We have some seriously AMAZING thrift spots in the area. We picked up a working record console, which in addition to the turntable, has AM/FM radio and 8track player, for well under $100, it also makes a great table top surface. Our awesome headboard was found at a habitat for humanity restore for a whopping $10. The dresser was a craigslist find, which I think was something like $10 as well. It was actually covered in a a really shotty painting job, so I restored it as best I could and I love the blonde wood. It is, however, missing a drawers, we plan to remedy that by making another drawer for it, one day when we have time. The key to thrifting is to find a few good spots that you like and check back frequently. It takes time and patience, but we love the hunt. Also, if you want cheap finds, be willing to do some work on the pieces, sanding, painting, staining etc.
Obviously, this isn't the only way to do a yellow room. I had to brush up on color theory a bit before attacking it and surprisingly the internet didn't offer me many "how to decorate a crazy yellow room if you're a renter and you can't change the paint color" articles.. So here, I've added my experience ;)
Stop by the shop and pick up a few pieces to make your place feel more like home!
Love,
MacK Mars
