Color Inspiration: Give Me All The Pink!
Welcome to the first installment of my color inspiration series! As I mentioned a few days ago, almost all of my time that I spend on Instagram is spent in search of colorful room inspiration. I scroll quickly past the endless stream of neutral rooms, and as soon as I find something colorful, I stop and savor it and save it. I’ve been hoarding these pictures for quite some time now, and since so many of you answered on the reader survey that you enjoy general decorating inspiration even when it has nothing to do with my house or projects, I thought I’d start sharing some of these inspiring photos that I’ve been hoarding for myself all of this time. 😀
I don’t know that these posts will always have a theme, but today’s does because my obsession with pink seems to be growing. So let me show you some of my favorite rooms with pink…
1. Amazing pink and white striped bathtub with matching pink and white striped wall, from @catchpoleandrye
This is one of those pictures that I scroll across and my first response is to gasp with awe. And then I wonder, “Would I ever have the nerve to actually do that?” I love it so much, and I think if I were a single woman who lived alone, that would be my bathroom, and I’d decorate the entire house around it. 😀
But whether or not I’d ever actually do that, I think it’s such pure eye candy that I couldn’t NOT include it in a post about decorating with pink.
2. Living room with gorgeous pink and green print upholstery from @blakelyinteriordesign
I’m a tad bit obsessed with the fabric on those chairs. It’s just so light and bright, and the pink pillows are perfect with the printed fabric.
3. Pink shower walls from @pinkhouseliving
If you are on Instagram and enjoy color and whimsy, you really should be following Emily at The Pink House. As the name would suggest, she decorates with a lot of pink, plus other colors. I think pink, blue, and green are her favorites. I mean, she even has a pink shower. AND a trapeze in her living room. 😀
4. Dining room with pale pink walls and hot pink chairs from @shaunaglenn
Shauna Glenn is another favorite of mine when it comes to decorating with color, and this dining room is one of my favorite spaces from her. Those pale pink walls with the hot pink chairs are a perfect combo. And the large scale colorful abstract painting is the icing on the cake.
5. Colorful outdoor poolside area with hot pink chaise cushions and pink umbrellas from @tobifairley
Tobi Fairley is one of my all-time favorite designers. I’ve followed her work for years, and am always inspired by her traditional style infused with loads of color. This outdoor poolside space is one of my favorites of hers with the hot pink chaise cushions and pink umbrellas. Isn’t it incredible?
6. Bathroom with soft pink vanity and pink and white wallpaper from @kate.h.design
You don’t have to be a little girl to love a pink bathroom! Heck, I’d love to have this bathroom by Kate Hutchison for myself. 😀 The light pink on the vanity is such a pretty and feminine color, and I love it paired with the pink and white wallpaper that has a more modern feel to it.
I’ve really started to love pink more and more over the last couple of years. Matt always says that I can do pretty much anything with the house that I want to, but his one standing rule has always been “no pink walls.” I can have pink curtains. I can cover my studio wall in a very pink-dominant wallpaper. I can wrap my books in pink dust jackets. But I can’t paint the walls pink.
You want to know what’s funny about that? Matt is partially color blind (not that that’s funny at all), but he can’t see light colors. So in reality, I could actually paint the walls of my house the very light pink that’s on the Shauna Glenn dining room walls, and Matt would never know. 😀
I don’t know how often I’ll do these posts, although Thursday is the perfect day for them since Wednesday is the day that I have lunch with my family and then relax. It’s officially my “day off,” so I almost never have project progress to share on Thursdays. So y’all can let me know if there’s some specific category you’d like to see! Like I said, I’ve been hoarding colorful room pictures for quite some time, so I’m bound to have inspiring pictures to fit into just about any category you can think of. Green living rooms? Blue bathrooms? Bathrooms with wallpaper? Colorful sofas? I’ve probably got them all. 😀
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
i loved those flowered chairs. were they a dyi by someone or for sale on a website.
Pink and blue were not even genders signifiers until the mid-1800’s. I say we return to the says when pink was just appreciated for being a lovely color and not considered an attack on masculinity!
i loved those flowered chairs. were they a dyi by someone or for sale on a website. oh and the pink/white outdoor furniture. you may be turning me Kristi
I don’t know the source, but you could click over and DM the designer on Instagram for more info.
Love pink too! Could you do some “before and after” rooms? Also, green living rooms and blue kitchens. Love you’re blog, been a fan for years!
Yes, please! 😊
Such a delightful post! Thank you for sharing all of the wonderful Instagram folks! Fun!
Have you checked out Rebeccadiy on Instagram? She was on Making It Season 2. She and Jo from season 1 also have a You Tube Chanel. It’s called For the Love of Color. They just did a pink mural wall for a bedroom. I thought of your love for pink when I saw it.
I don’t follow her, but I must follow Jo, because I always see their videos. I was excited to watch the one about the wall mural!
I love a soft, subtle pink as a neutral background. I would love to see a post about how to incorporate things like family treasures in a design. I have several “country” items … a huge round butcher block, a washstand, a big black rooster wall hanging (metal) along with smaller items from my parents. I love them, but I don’t want a country farmhouse look. I hope that explains what I’m asking!
I love pink! My husband would follow in Matt’s opinion though. I would love to see a rooms decorated in a turquoise color (SW Rainwashed or SW Sea Salt are two of my faves!). I feel that this represents enough masculinity and femininity that would please us both.
I too love the turquoise, sea glass, teal, blue/greens. Those colors with a soft dove gray are kind of my dream if I ever get to decorate a new home. (I LOVE Kristi’s kitchen cabinets, but because of husband I could probably not go quite that far!) But, I LOVE color so Kristi is my one to watch. By the way, I really loved this post – what beautiful ways people chose to use pink!
I’m a lover of green – most any shade, so seeing some green rooms would be cool.
I’m another green lover and I’d love to see rooms that center around green too!
Would love green inspiration!
I love that striped bathroom and agree with you: I f I lived alone, something like that might crop up in my house. (on the other hand, I definitely prefer not living alone and not having a pink striped bathtub :)) Thanks for making these fun pictures available, it’s a fun read (ahem, eye candy)!
I love this post. I love pink. Getting ready to paint my fridge pink. Need to get a sprayer like Kristi’s so I’ll have a flawless finish.
A pink fridge?! I want to see pictures when it’s finished!! 😀
Racheal @banyanbridges just did her fridge pink!
Awesome PINK in ways I could never had imagined!
Love stripes and the outside pink umbrellas setting is fabulous!
Please post ALL THE COLORS!!! Love this so much! Thanks!!
What she said! ❤️
What do you think is that shower surface? It looks like painted drywall! I can’t get past that.
That was my thought too! What in the heck is that on those shower walls! There’s no way it could be painted drywall but I have no clue what it could be.
It is most likely a concrete board like Durock or Hardi board. That’s what my Dad put in our tiny shower in the 50’s. Paint with an exterior oil based paint and you don’t have to tile it! Dad did plumbing, electrical & gas installation for a living. He was NOT a tile setter!
Ha! I have no idea! I’d bet money that it’s not drywall, though. 😀 She’s posted about the shower several times on her Instagram feed, so she may mention the material on one of those posts.
I love this! I went to her instagram and saw another picture of the bathroom and that sink! Oh my goodness, it’s to die for!
I did a little investigating, and she has a hashtag on her bathroom pics that says polished plaster. Is that a thing in a shower? Because these walls continue from the shower and go throughout the entire bathroom. I don’t know much about plaster, though. It’s not really common here, so I don’t know about all of its applications.
Polished plaster is like what they use in Morocco. Hand done, and a very specialised trade. Gives a stunningly beautiful finish and impervious surface.
Not a huge pink fan but that striped bathroom was so cute! I loved it and it would be very whimsical for guests.
When I wear pink blouses I feel playful and youthful, but I never thought I could incorporate pink into my decor. I see the allure from these pictures.
I never knew how much I liked pink until I saw this post! Thanks for inspiring me once again to think outside my comfort zone.
Love those photos!
Question for Kristi or readers. When we moved into our newly built home, way back in 2003 it was all beige. One of the first rooms I changed, was my young daughter’s bedroom. I sponge painted it two shades of blush pink, sort of similar to the bathroom with the white counter top above. Because it was so much work, she knew she couldn’t change it.
All grown up now and gone, if I now paint over the sponged effect, will it show all the lines? Do I have to sand then entire walls? It is still so pretty, but doesn’t fit with the rest of our house, which is orange, lol.
Prime it first with a tinted primer. Base the tint on the color you plan to paint the room. I actually prefer to use oil based primer because it blocks everything from showing thru.
Without actually seeing it, it’s hard to say exactly. But since it’s a sponged design and not a design that you taped off and painted, are there actually any lines? Or do you just mean that the sponging process created more of a texture?
If it’s just a texture, then I would imagine it’s not much, and you could just paint over it. It’ll just look like a slightly textured wall.
Now if I’m misunderstanding, and you actually did tape off some areas on the wall to sponge, then those areas where the tape was will need to be sanded first, because the lines will definitely show through. I’ve made the terrible mistake of rushing through a paint job and skipping the sanding on a previously taped off and painted design, and I’ve always regretted it.
I also never use primer on walls, unless it’s never-before-painted brand new drywall, in which case I’ll use water-based primer for drywall. Or if I’ve used something like a Sharpie marker (e.g., my music room walls) and want to paint over that, in which case I’ll use oil-based primer. But if it’s just a previously painted wall painted with latex paint, I’ll just paint right over it with the new color. I almost always use Behr, and have never had an issue. Even in the condo when I painted the second bedroom black, and then decided to paint it white, I didn’t bother priming. I just painted two coats of white, and it covered perfectly. So that may just depend on the brand of paint. There may be other brands with which priming is necessary between colors.
Thank you so much for your response Kristi. Yes, it was just a sea-sponged effect, with the second pink colour of Behr latex paint thinned with glaze. (I am also a Home Depot fan and am fortunate that the one in our city is very close to my house).
I think the room might look good with a “textured” wall! But it is hard to paint over the pink and remove the beautiful pink wall sconces (from Ireland) realising that your little girl is all grown up.
The texture is definitely going to show through. If you’re okay with that, then okay. Otherwise, going over everything with an electric palm sander lightly to medium will remove any texture that the sponge and paint created. Be sure to dust the surface after that first with a dry cloth or mop, followed by a damp one.
Kristi, my comment has nothing to do with your post. You mentioned Wednesday is your day off and that you have lunch with family. Since you instigated that because of burnout I was wondering how taking a day off out of the house was working for you.
Thanks.
It has been AMAZING for me!! When I don’t get out of the house, it’s hard for me to go a day without working on projects. I had gotten to the point where I was working seven days a week, and that’s not healthy at all. It was great for my blog, of course, because I had much more to blog about, but there’s no way I could have kept that up. I tried slowing down last year to rest more, and while I did in a way, there was an unsatisfying element to it because my downtime wasn’t filled with anything that actually rejuvenated me. So filling that time with family time has been so amazing. My family is such a blessing, and I love spending time with them. I always come away from that time feeling energized, refreshed, and ready to go back to work the next day.
And the added bonus is that it gets me away from Matt for a few hours every Wednesday. I promise, I don’t mean that in a mean way. But being a full-time caretaker for a disabled person can be so draining, so if I never get a break, it can really affect my mental well-being, which in turn, can have a negative effect on the way I interact with him. So it’s almost the whole “absence makes the heart grow fonder” thing. Those few hours away from the house, away from Matt, and with my family, allows my mind those few hours free from being full-time caretaker, and that has made all the difference in the world. I feel like I’m consistently in a better mood while I’m home, and I feel like Matt and I laugh a lot more now. Our home has always been filled with laughter, but I feel like that light, happy attitude is more pervasive now, with much fewer bad mood/irritable/exhausted responses from me interrupting the positive atmosphere in the house throughout the week.
Not sure if that made any sense. 😀
Good for you Kristi!! So many people inquire about the cared for person, but not the caregiver. As I was going through my cancer treatments I had a lot of people ask how I was coping or if I needed anything to just ask. And I appreciated it. My husband took care of me, housework, cooking, laundry etc. as well as his usual activities…luckily we are both retired, but still he is a Scouter, volunteers at
church and belongs to organizations that help others. He did it well (and even kept some household jobs) but add the worry about me, and it is a heavy load. But they didn’t ask how he was or if he needed anything. Give my good wishes to Matt and to you as well. God bless.
So happy to hear it is working!
I don’t really think of myself as a “pink” person, but I do like it in combination with other colors. Off the top of my head, I’d love to see small entry ways, small laundry/utility rooms or areas, and garage storage ideas. I also like seeing ideas for multifunctional spaces and multifunctional furniture (home office/guest room, craft room/playroom, Murphy bed/desk, etc.)
Keep these types of posts coming! I love pink too! I grew up with a pale, almost pearly pink bedroom with purple shag carpeting. The only window in my room faced east and the room would just glow with the sunrise. The purple shag really had a dramatic effect on the wall color too. So fun. Oh the good ol’ days. I wouldn’t be able to pull that off in my current house. It’s a hard no for the hubby. I also had orange painted kitchen cabinets in my college apartment and I just loved how cheery they were in the mornings. Also a no from the hubby. Funny how pink was so “in” in the 50’s.
Love the color post and happy to see more in any color!
Thanks for sharing some of the pictures that you find inspiring. I really enjoyed the post and look forward to others in the future.
I too would like to see a multifunction room. I need office/guest room ideas. I want to use a horizontal Murphy bed because the room is only 10×10 with 8′ ceilings. I am probably as far away from your taste as you can get (modern, muted, and sort of masculine), but good ideas are always adaptable.
Looking forward to the “design with color” posts. I like a lot of color but I’ve made a lot of mistakes in trying to incorporate more of it in my house.
I would like to see ideas with interior doors painted in something other than white. In my case it would have to be a color that would work well with light creamy yellow walls.
Oops…meant to make a new post…not reply to this one.
Love the color inspiration post! Thanks for sharing them with us.
Question! Is there ANY way, that would be easy for you and also still enable you to give credit to the original creators, that you might be able to post inspiration in your blog without it being directly from Instagram? Reading your blog is my lunchtime work escape, but our company has blocked all social media sites. If not, I understand. Just wondering 🙂
Are you not able to see the pictures in the post? Help me understand the issue you’re experiencing. And if you can’t see the pictures, did you happen to open the blog post before 12 or 1:00pm (central), click away, and then revisit?
The reason I’m asking is because (if I’m understanding the problem correctly), I had originally embedded the pictures directly from Instagram. So if your company blocks social media sites, you probably wouldn’t be able to see those embedded photos. But right after we ate lunch, I changed the photos by downloading them and uploading them directly to my blog, but keeping them linked to Instagram. So as they are now, they’re just like any other photos that I use in my blog posts. BUT, if you happened to open the post before I made that change, then clicked away, and then reopened it, it’s possible that the original format (with the pics embedded directly from Instagram) is in your cache. So you might need to clear cache to see the updated post.
From now on, I’ll be doing these posts this way instead of embedding directly from Instagram. I have a feeling that having so many pictures embedded from Instagram in one post might cause some coding conflicts at some point. It didn’t even dawn on me that some people read from work where social media sites might be blocked!
I think I must’ve opened it before you changed the format. I can see them now! Thank you for doing that! 🙂 They’re all such great inspiration!
In the late 1950s-early 1960s, my grandparents’ kitchen was medium PINK! Refrigerator, range, & sink. I’d never seen anything but white in a kitchen so I was really surprised.
In the 1980s I painted my living room, hall, dining room & kitchen (almost open concept) a pale pink called Ballet Pink. It was a very light peachy pink. The sofa was a floral teal tapestry & the chairs were coral-pink. I loved it. Still have the sofa & chair. My bedroom was various shades of pink/berry with black accents for years & master bath was black paper with rose & lace design. Country-traditional (no geese or ducks though! whew!)
I’ve gone more neutral background over the years but I still like color. Our kitchen is blue-green walls with SW Foggy Day cabinets…a pretty blue-ish gray.
Really like all the colorful ideas.
Their kitchen sounds like my dream!! I’m always hunting for old colorful appliances. 🙂
I’m kind of tempted to share pictures of my place with you now, lol! Even though I don’t love quite as saturated of color as much as you do, and all my DIYs are sloppy, my place is filled with pink and aqua. 😉 Love pink!!
The chairs in the second picture are to die for!!! The fabric is by Manuel Canovas and it $$$$! I have 2 small throw pillows in one of his other (similar pattern) fabrics and I’m in love with his patterns!
The striped tub bathroom is adorable as is the outdoor space! I’ll love all the color posts…just not enough to stop loving neutral walls!
I’m right there with you! I’ve been stalking the Clare Paint website and I have been swooning over their pink swatches! No idea how to execute it in my house but but a person can dream, right!?
Tobi Fairley is one of my favorites too! My stash of guest room fabrics that I have been holding for 10 years are pinks and spring greens! I’d always wanted to do a room in those colors but no one in my family likes it. I had the chance to get the fabrics when our store was sold. My boss let me buy whatever I wanted for $10.00 a BOLT!!!!! I bought about a hundred bucks worth of my favorites that day, and kept buying every time I saw something I liked over the month long closing. I’ve used most of it, but still have the green and pink.And I might add that I also love photo #2! Those chairs, that sofa on the left – wow – my kind of space!
Kristi, my favorite colors in the world are sea colors — all shades of aqua, turquoise, sea-glass greens and blues, teal, seafoam, mint green, etc., like to the point of being obsessed! I have a lot of aqua/turquoise stuff like pens, water bottles, post-it pads, etc. that I use at work, and anytime someone sees something aqua, they automatically ask if that person got it from me, or if “that’s Kimberly’s pen” LOL!
So seeing your pink post today is funny because I know you are also a lover of blues and greens, and then *plot twist* PINK shows up, but I can relate because for some reason I’ve been really gravitating toward shades of pink and blush lately.
I wish I had the money to have my own home or condo, I’d pay you to design the perfect pink bathroom for me! As a single woman, I’d love to have pink in my place and I’m trying to incorporate more of it now — and I promise I’d let you get your pink stripe fix by using that set up in the top photo in my new bathroom! How dreamy!
Re the pink shower room, you can indeed paint the walls the colour of your choice (onto bog standard plastered walls), and then seal the paint with at least three coats of acrylic varnish. This makes the walls completely waterproof, and the varnish is scrubbable and able to take strong cleaners, including bleach.
All you need to do for maintenance, is lightly sand down the surface approximately once every three years, and give it another coat of varnish.
This also has the added benefit of being able to change the colour any time you want, without having to retile the entire wall. A great bonus for those of us who love different colours and also love change!
I have done this for years, as l loath cleaning tiles.
My next house will be a symphony of yellows.
Can’t wait!
Thank you for sharing color! I am so done with what I call “builders’ beige!” walls and ceilings and cabinets. I would love to know what works best for ceilings when one paints walls a color. I painted my powder room and pantry ceilings the same color as the walls, but am hesitant to do that in larger rooms. Also, what about sloped edges between ceiling and walls? To paint or not to paint?
LOVE curated instagram pics! There’s so much out there that I don’t have time nor inclination to scroll through, so I’m going to love these posts. Agree about the pink/white bathtub, delicious eye candy.
I’m just crazy about the fabric on those 2 barrel back chairs too! I can SO see that in your house. My husband is also partially color blind with red & green. I have no idea what color he actually sees when he doesn’t like something but he always sees the undertones perfectly. Really comes in handy when I’m choosing neutral paint. I’d like to see a color inspiration post on orange & mustard in an otherwise neutral bedroom. I only have 1 neutral room that is for my little grandson when he visits, it’s in a Westward Ho theme and I really struggle with pulling it all together.
Such beautiful decor….I am amazed at what colour can do!!! And you can “DO IT” with colour too. Funny how people are drawn to certain colours more than others. I myself LOVE RED!! I mean…obsessed! Can’t get enough of it. I try and put a little bit in every room. (I even drive a red car..haha). So “IF” you ever feel like doing a post about Red Design; I would be greatly appreciative. (I know you are ‘not fond’ of the colour yourself).
BUT you keep doing YOU…because WE LOVE YOU!!1
I don’t know that deep blue or navy is very colorful in your world, Kristi. BUT, for me, one who never did much with blues, it has become very grounding and peaceful to me after all the stresses with my husband’s health and strokes. My decor has become more minimalist and thoughtful with various shades of light gray and cream… no matchy-match… along with the deep blue. The funny thing, I started using blue because it was my husband’s favorite color (actually it’s purple… but he reserves that for special things like his custom bike). In the end it was perfect for this season of my life. ALSO I was happy to see that classic blue is the Pantone color of the year. 🙂
p.s. I’m not a pink girl, probably I got it all out of my system when I was young and had pink wall paper with ballerinas and a bathroom with all pink fixtures. (I’m amazed my parents actually let me choose!!) BUT… that pink striped tub and floor is to die for!
The conversation around the untiled shower has made me look up my favorite shower waterproofing – lo, and behold, Schluter-KERDI can be plastered over! I foresee a bunch of arguing with my husband about the next bathroom…but saving so much money, since I can trowel plaster myself! (learned how on YouTube, from SeeJaneDrill)
I’m still fairly new to instagram and not really sure how it all works, but could you give me an idea of what search terms you use to find the rooms you are scrolling through? Thanks much!
The farm house I grew up in, my parents room was pink…as in Pepto Pink. It stayed that way for years. I don’t know what my parents were thinking when they painted it pink or maybe it was that way when they purchased it in the mid 1940’s.