Tuesday’s Textile Mix: Sea Salt by Benjamin Moore

Okay…rumor has it that Sea Salt by Benjamin Moore (pictured below) is one of Joanna Gaines favorite colors.  My personal decor style is not farmhouse, but I love good design when I see it and she definitely has an eye for good design. The woman has the magic touch.   So this week I thought I would do a little textile mix with Sea Salt and show how I would mix in some fabrics to go with this stunning color.

If you are new to the textile mix and you want to see my method, check out this post.  It’s the starting point.  I’ll wait right here until you come back.

Okay, so this is my VG (visually graphic) fabric.  As soon as I saw it I loved it.  It says “fresh” to me.  I think it is the combo of the bright colors mixed with the gray.  Plus there is something about that mustard color that draws me in.  I love it in clothes too.  The turquoise just screams possibilities.  I like options.

Waverly Classic Curves

I love the unexpected mix of colors in this fabric.  If I was going to break it down, it would break down into these colors.  The paint swatches from the hardware store I think would have a richer color than what I can create on my computer, but you get the idea right?  I knew you would.  All my readers are super smart.

An oddly strange mix of colors, but that is what I think is so cool.  This fabric could be paired with lots of turquoise for a very coastal vibe, or, it could be paired with the darker golds and greens for a more Traditional look.  When moving forward with a fabric I always look at what the manufacturer put into the grouping.  This particular grouping, called “Lush” has some great options in it to pair up.  I would use this bold stripe in a heartbeat.

Something about this color combination just seems cheery to me.  Now, I’m going to show you the rest of the storyline from the manufacturer, Waverly.  Although they are all very lovely fabrics, using them all in the same room together, to me, makes it seems too matchy matchy.

Pretty.  But too much of the same thing makes it move into feeling “old” rather than modern.  So, what else should we mix with these two fabrics?  So far we are done with step 1, 2, and step 3.  Now, step 4 dictates we must find some small to medium prints.  Let’s look for a geometric that feel fresh to throw in the mix.

Cotton Trellis Fabric

Now it’s time to throw in a few x-small and small prints.  I found a few that may see unexpected.

Waverly Surat Stamp

 

Mint Gingham Fabric

Lastly, pull in some solid colors to ground the space.  Here’s what I would choose.  I like this gray because it pulls the gray from the Sea Salt color.

Groupie Dove Fabric

Kravet

I would use a healthy dose of the white in the room as well.  There is a little bit of white in the VG fabric and I would pull that out.  Several of y’all asked to see this technique in a room.  When I want to be inspired with textiles I turn to the guru of fabric mixing, in my opinion, Sarah Richardson.  I would travel all the way to Canada to talk textiles with her.  Let’s play a little game.  How many textiles do you see in this one photo of her cottage master bedroom?  Remember, solids count too.

Five if you don’t count the quilt.  Plus this is only one little snippet of the room.  Let’s look at the other side of the room to see the full range of fabrics, shall we?

I see three, maybe four more if you count the scarf on top of the dresser.  This is a prime example of taking a more reserved approach to the fabric mix.  The big pieces (chairs, curtains) are solid colors.  The chair cushions and ottoman are a little more bold and the real hints of bold are found on pillows on the bed.  So now that we’ve seen a prime example of the expert use of fabrics…let’s look at the whole picture of what I pulled together.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out the Mix this week!  If you have a paint color you want me to work with leave it in the comments below along with what kind of style you want to have and I will pick one for next week.

Have a fantastic day!

Nancy