Okay, so it wasn’t just because of the paint colour that this large master bedroom went from drab to fab.
However, when we paired Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore with Cloud White & designed this space with exquisite fabrics, various textures and custom furniture, this room was indeed transformed.
In this video, you’ll not only see the dull ‘before’ photos of our Burlington clients’ master bedroom, but also the inspiring mood boards, as well as the 3D concept renderings we created for the space.
Plus, no makeover would be complete unless you saw the final reveal of the extraordinary after photos!
If you would like all the information I discuss here plus additional colours to pair with Revere Pewter, I have the perfect companion. Take a look at my Perfect Colour Palette. A must-have for any colour enthusiast or design professional.
In this video, find out the undertone of Revere Pewter and the best white paint colours to use with it.
Below, I walk you through the design process. You’ll see exactly how I created this bedroom design as I go into details about the custom treatments such as the drapery, the built-ins and the beautiful bed with upholstered headboard.
Custom Cabinetry in Cloud White by Benjamin Moore.
Custom upholstered headboard by Claire Jefford.
Bedroom painted in Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore.
Clients’ Custom Master Bedroom, by Claire Jefford. Photo by Stephani Buchman
Pendants hung from above allow for more room on a bedside table.
Custom cabinetry painted CC40 Cloud White by Benjamin Moore.
Accessories on Cloud White Cabinetry.
Perfect for Pinning!
Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore with custom fabric
Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore with custom drapery
Cloud White Cabinetry CC40 Benjamin Moore
White Dove & Revere Pewter Colour Combination
Convenience at your fingertips
Remember, it only takes one mistake to take your home decorating project from divine to disaster. Don’t let the paint be what stresses you out!
Choosing Paint Colours
Revere Pewter is one of the Perfect Colour Palettes I have created to inspire you. I share with you the undertone, the best whites to pair with Revere Pewter and 10 gorgeous colours that go so well with this versatile neutral. Check it out here.
Not every marketing strategy for your Interior Design business is going to be a success and that’s okay! You will still learn from every experience and grow as a person (and as an entrepreneur) when you try different things.
But remember, just because one tactic didn’t work for someone else, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you, or vice versa. I don’t consider strategies where you tried and failed as wasted time, but rather I see these as opportunities to learn, share and grow.
Today I’m sharing an easy way to create a colour palette that’s almost always guaranteed to have super satisfying results for any interior decorating project.
Sound too good to be true? I promise that this is the real deal!
Every interior design project needs to have a ‘jumping off’ point. By this, I mean either a striking piece of artwork, or an area rug with a distinctive look, or it could even be an intricate tile design in a bathroom, kitchen or front foyer.
My favourite way to get inspiration for colour and style when decorating a clients home, tends to come from fabrics. About 90% of the time when I’m curating a design, the fabrics are what I seek out first.
To create a beautiful colour palette for your next project, try colour matching a fabric like I show you in this video with the unlikely pairing of a new IKEA fabric with Farrow & Ball Paint colours.
Even if these colours are not your taste, there is no arguing that this is a pretty colour combination!
To watch the video, click on the image below.
If you decorate a space by randomly choosing furnishings & fixed elements without having an actual plan in place, it’s likely not going to come together in a way that gives you the look that you desire. You will probably also end up wasting a lot of money along the way, and that’s never a good thing.
By having a plan, you will save money and ease the stress of any renovation or decorating project.
Are you into these warmer colour tones that are coming back to interior design? Comment below to let me know if this is a paint palette you could live with and love in your home.
Farrow and ball paint palette created from IKEA LIEKNY fabric
More gorgeous colour combinations from Farrow and Ball below.
Farrow and Ball ‘Fresh’ Colour palette
Farrow and Ball ‘Camouflage’ Colour palette
Farrow and ball Modern colour palette
Want help planning and choosing colours for your next Interior decorating project so you don’t waste time or money? Contact me here and let’s do this!
You know when something delightfully suprises you when you least expected that it would?
(Like an electric blanket & a quality iron….yeah, as I get older these things are of utmost importance to me. LOL #kiddingnotkidding)
In today’s vlog, I’m sharing ideas for marketing strategies that cost very little, yet resulted in many great clients and opportunities. That is much more exciting, isn’t it?!
This marketing idea landed me my first ‘real’ client for a custom decorating project, with a healthy budget. How did this lovely interior decorating client find me? Watch my video below and I’ll tell you!
Here is episode #2 of my YouTube video series, Marketing for your Interior Design Business.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel here for more proven strategies and helpful advice for running a successful interior design or interior decorating business.
Get more CLAIRE-ITY in your business by checking out what’s on offer in my on line shop here.
Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel here for weekly inspiration and advice on all things related to colour & interior design.
Whenever I meet with clients for a colour consultation, I always take my 125 large painted colour boards with me. In fact, I rarely leave the house without my bag of boards any time I have an appointment related to interior design or decorating.
I’ve been using Maria’s painted boards for 6 years and when I’m looking to coordinate a neutral with tiles or stone or fabrics, 95% of the time, I can find the best colour within these samples of her Benjamin Moore Core Collection.
Large painted boards with floor tile
Painted colour boards Benjamin Moore Core Collection, get your set here
Love my large painted colour boards and want your own set?
To gain even more colour confidence, Maria also teaches her systems on understanding undertones all across North America. I attended her Colour workshop in 2012 for the first time and then again in 2018. Not only is investing in this hands on workshop fabulous for gaining confidence in specifying colours, but the course is also a wonderful opportunity for networking and meeting other colour enthusiasts from all around the world.
I recently interviewed Maria about her colour course. If you are thinking about attending her class, watch the video here to learn more about what’s involved.
// DISCLOSURE: Thank you for trusting me with my truthful and reliable opinion on any future purchase you may make. I always disclose affiliate or sponsored information when it is the case. If you purchase Maria’s boards, I will earn a small commission from the sale. This doesn’t affect you in any way, the price remains the same regardless. Thank you for supporting me and entrusting me to be your go-to for all things Colour and Interior Design!
In my new video series, I’m spilling the beans on my most effective strategies for getting yourself known in your local area and solidly booking your calendar with clients.
If you know me, then you know that I can’t help but be totally transparent. After all, it’s who I am. It’s also the only way we truly learn from each other. Otherwise, what’s the point right?
Not only do I share with you my secrets on this forever trending element of any interior design business, but I also disclose actual results and some strategies that continue to get me clients every single month.
With so many gray paint colours out there, it can be difficult to determine which is the best gray paint colour for your home renovation or interior decorating project.
Gray Owl, OC-52, by Benjamin Moore is a go-to for many interior designers. But is it the best colour with the right undertone for your space?
This week, in Episode #4 of my paint colour reviews, I walk you through Gray Owl and show you a commercial project where we used it. You’ll see why it was a perfect choice for this space.
In this colour review video of Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore, I share:
Undertones of Gray Owl
Colour Comparisons to this popular Benjamin Moore paint colour
Best Whites for Ceilings, Doors and Trim to pair with it
Fabulous Colour Combinations
After you watch the video, if you would like all this information conveniently laid out for you in one place and have even more paint colour combinations to use with Gray Owl, take a look at my Perfect Colour Palette.
A must-have for any colour enthusiast or design professional.
Are you ready? Let’s do this!
Colour Review of Gray Owl
Undertones:
This calming gray has undertones that are blue-green. Whether it looks bluer or more green, will depend on what you pair it with and what your source of lighting is.
Gray Owl OC-52
Colour Comparisons:
Take a look at the image below. Gray Owl is the painted colour board in the middle.
Stonington Gray HC-170 is on the left and Wickham Gray HC-171 is on the far right.
Colour comparisons to Gray Owl
Stonington Gray HC-170 & Wickham Gray HC-171
If there was a ‘true gray’, for me it would be Stonington Gray. In fact, that’s often how I refer to it when I’m showing colour comparisons with my interior design clients. You can check out my review of Stonington Gray here, and click here for my review of Wickham Gray to see more comparisons.
While it has a slight blue undertone, it’s not nearly as obvious as the other two grays.
Check out these popular gray paint colours that we used in three different home design projects below.
Stonington Gray
Stonington Gray on walls in our clients custom kitchen banquette
Gray Owl
I used Gray Owl here in a Dental office in my home town of Burlington, Ontario.
There is a hint of blue within the stripe of the carpet floor tiles we selected for this space, and Gray Owl complimented it beautifully.
Dentist Office waiting room with Gray Owl walls and light gray chair fabric with the slightest hint of blue.
Wickham Gray
On the walls in my Grimsby clients living room, Wickham Gray took on a more of a blue-green tone.
It’s very subtle, but you can see that right? As an FYI – the custom cabinetry I designed is painted Cloud White by Benjamin Moore.
See more of this project, including our clients’ elegant dining room painted Pashmina by BM, here in our portfolio.
Wickham Gray by Benjamin Moore on the walls. Custom cabinetry painted Cloud White.
Best White Paint For Ceiling and Trim
Cloud White by Benjamin Moore looks wonderful with Gray Owl too. You can see them side by side here on my large painted boards.
Cloud White CC-40
Cloud White with Gray Owl. Creamy and dreamy.
Simply White OC-117
Simply White by Benjamin Moore with Gray Owl
Chantilly Lace OC-65
Chantilly Lace is a bit brighter but still looks lovely with this blue-green gray. It looks quite blue in the graphic we created below my paint board comparisons.
Chantilly Lace – more than just a pretty face. haha!
Fabulous Colour Combinations
Creating timeless colour palettes with Gray Owl is easy.
Below I’ve paired it with a fabric that we used in the clients living room shown earlier in this post where we painted the room Wickham Gray.
But as you can see here, the Gray Owl pairs nicely with it too and I pulled out the darker neutral in the fabric to show you what it looks like with Anew Gray by Sherwin Williams.
If you are looking for a Benjamin Moore colour that is similar to Anew Gray, you can try Revere Pewter or Pashmina.
Anew Gray by Sherwin Williams shown above here with Gray Owl
Dill Pickle 2147-40, Peacock Blue 2049-40 & Burnt Ember
CSP-120
A more bold and fun colour palette is shown here
As a side note, we actually used that fabric for a teen girls bedroom on her cascading roman blind window treatment -see below.
Peacock Blue Walls shown here in a teen girls bedroom
Okay, back to Gray Owl!
You can see below how you can warm it up and cool it down at the same time.
Hale Navy HC-154 & Edgecomb Gray HC-173
Edgecomb Gray, Gray Owl and Hale Navy
Inspiration Photo
My clients already had their bathroom done and painted in Gray Owl when I arrived on the scene to create the master bedroom of their dreams.
If you want to get all my Benjamin Moore colour guides in one place, look no further than my Benjamin Moore Ultimate Collection. All 20 of my Benjamin Moore guides in one handy collection.
Remember, it only takes one mistake to take your home decorating project from divine to disaster. Don’t let the paint be what stresses you out!
Perfect For Pinning
Take my Colour Quiz to see which Colour Palette best suits your style.
Want my Large Painted Boards?
Love my large painted colour boards and want your own set?
// DISCLOSURE: Thank you for trusting me with my truthful and reliable opinion on any future purchase you may make. I always disclose affiliate or sponsored information when it is the case. If you purchase Maria’s boards, I will earn a small commission from the sale. This doesn’t affect you in any way, the price remains the same regardless. Thank you for supporting me and entrusting me to be your go-to for all things Colour and Interior Design!
I LOVE HEARING FROM YOU!
If you’ve used a paint colour that I’ve reviewed or you; want to ask a question: or even if you have a different point of view to mine, please comment below to let me know.
For colour advice, please note that I can’t always give advice based on simply reading about a scenario. If it were that easy for me to recommend the perfect paint hue, without knowing more about the specific space; the lighting situation; what other fixed elements to consider etc, then I really would be even more magical than I already am. HAHA!
Nine times out of ten, I will always recommend that you either seek advice from a local Colour Professional or I might be able to hook you up with an online colour consultation.
Hale Navy, HC-154, by Benjamin Moore is one of my absolute FAVOURITE colours for interior design and decor!
I am super excited to share more details about this colour and a couple of client projects where I’ve used this sumptuous colour.
LET ME SHOW YOU:
Colour Comparisons to Hale Navy
Best Whites for Ceilings, Doors and Trim to pair with this dramatic and moody colour
Fabulous Colour Combinations
My Favourite Applications of Where To Use Hale Navy In Interior Design
Are you ready? Let’s do this!
Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore
The choices one has for paint colours are infinite. Selecting the best colour for your home and then choosing additional colours to compliment it is a daunting task, but it doesn’t need to be anymore.
My Perfect Colour Palettes are an incredibly helpful tool for homeowners and designers alike.
Click here to learn more about what every PDF download includes.
We are adding new colours all the time so be sure to check back often! My Hale Navy Perfect Colour Palette was one of the first ones we created as it’s such a hugely popular colour.
Hale Navy HC-154 by Benjamin Moore
Hale Navy HC154 Benjamin Moore
Colour Comparisons:
Forgive my tattered large colour boards, they have been very well used!
Below you can see comparisons between Black Pepper 2130-40 on the far right and Flint AF-560 to the left. Both colours are a blue-gray with Black Pepper being lighter and bluer than Flint.
From left to right: Flint AF 560, Hale Navy & Black Pepper 2130-40 All colours are from Benjamin Moore.
Flint & Hale Navy & Black Pepper Comparison
See these three paint colours used in different projects we designed below.
The image below shows our clients secret Xbox room with this blue-gray colour on the ceiling.
The walls are painted an even lighter blue-gray tone, Boothbay Gray by BM.
Secret Xbox room, walls Black Pepper by BM. Photo by Stephani Buchman
Graffiti wall and shag rug with blue velvet couch
To check out that incredible 3000-square-foot contemporary basement design, click here.
As I mentioned in my video, here’s my own living room (shown below) painted Flint by BM. You can see how much darker it is and also, how much more gray it is when compared to Hale Navy.
Living Room Painted Flint by Benjamin Moore.
More recently we used Hale Navy in my sister’s beautiful kitchen renovation, click here to see more photos from this stunning project.
Best White Paint Colours
So many whites work well with this sensuous dark blue tone. You’ll see below how you can use it with either a creamy white or a crisper white depending on the direction you wish to go and, of course, being guided by the fixed elements within the space.
Hale Navy with White Dove. Both Benjamin Moore Colours.
Hale Navy & White Dove
White Dove, OC-17, is a creamy white. This white works wonderfully with Hale Navy, offering a soft, yet rich feel. Check out my colour review of White Dove in this post.
Colour combination of White Dove with Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore.
Here are some other great whites you can use for ceiling and trim in your next interior design project with Hale Navy:
For a more crisp pairing, you can use Chantilly Lace OC-65 or White Diamond OC-61, of which the latter has a slight blue undertone.
FABULOUS COLOUR COMBINATIONS
Creating striking paint palettes with Hale Navy is limitless really.
Think about it, what doesn’t go with dark blue jeans??? That’s what’s so great about dark blues like this, they can essentially work with pretty much any colour.
Hale Navy and Fawn Brindle SW 7640 by Sherwin Williams
Hale Navy & Fawn Brindle
Gray Wisp CC-670 by BM with Hale Navy
Hale Navy & Gray Wisp
Here’s a couple of gorgeous paint colour palettes…
Hale Navy with Sea Salt SW 6204 by Sherwin Williams
Listed paint colours shown here with this beautiful geode patterned fabric
Hale Nav HC-154, Sea Salt SW 6204, Early Morning CC-818 & Montpelier AF-555
On a side note, can you guess what that large black square is above those fabulous patterned chairs & stainless steel fireplace?
It’s a water fountain feature!!
Before my clients hired me, this stuck out so much that this ‘black square’ was the focal point of the room.
By painting the wall Hale Navy & adding some beautifully patterned chairs in front of the stainless steel fireplace, the frame of the fountain was less ‘in your face’ and not so much the focus of the room.
Here’s a before…
Here’s the before photo
Okay, I digress. Back to paint colour combinations with Hale Navy.
When decorating a space, in order to have flow, you need to repeat some key colours from room to room.
For example, in our clients’ dining room where we painted the niche wall & ceiling Hale Navy, we repeated the dark blue in the accent pillows and the custom window seat. See the full portfolio of this stunning project here.
Custom bench seat with soft accents in dark blue tones.
This colour palette graphic shows you how flawlessly all these hues look together.
White Dove and Hale Navy pairs nicely with Classic Gray and Sea Haze.
Hale Navy & White Dove & Sea Haze & Classic Gray
HAVE YOU USED HALE NAVY OR WOULD YOU USE THIS COLOUR IN YOUR HOME? COMMENT BELOW TO LET ME KNOW.
My Favourite Places to Use Hale Navy
As you can see from the professional photography of my work, I love using Hale Navy as an accent wall or to make a bold statement on a ceiling. We are also finishing up another clients dining room where we used this dark blue on all the walls and it really is striking and dramatic.
I also ADORE Hale Navy for cabinetry in kitchens, bathrooms or on an antique piece of furniture. And did I mention that I love to see it on other millwork such as wainscoting and stairs?
My Hale Navy Perfect Colour Palette is a great resource. You’ll have all the info right at your fingertips plus more gorgeous colour combinations.
If you want to get all my Benjamin Moore colour guides in one place, look no further than my Benjamin Moore Ultimate Collection. All 20 of my Benjamin Moore guides in one handy collection.
Here are the Perfect Colour Palettes for some of the colours I mentioned above:
For colour advice, please note that I can’t always give advice based on simply reading about a scenario. If it were that easy for me to recommend the perfect paint hue, without knowing more about the specific space; the lighting situation; what other fixed elements to consider etc, then I really would be even more magical than I already am. HAHA!
Nine times out of ten, I will always recommend that you either seek advice from a local Colour Professional or I might be able to hook you up with an online colour consultation.
Contact me here to see how I can help you transform your home.
If you’ve been hesitating to raise your fees because you are unsure of how to tell your clients, I’m here to share ideas on how you can effectively communicate this to your past and current clients in a way that could actually result in landing more projects.
These lovely clients recetnly hired us back to do their front foyer. Design by Claire Jefford. Photo by Stephani Buchman
Sound too good to be true? Watch my video to see how this can be a win-win situation for everyone AND how it doesn’t have to be an awkward conversation.
Click on the play button above to watch the video.
The one thing that I will caution you on though, is not to raise your rates shortly after taking on a new client. That would not be fair to increase rates within a few months of a relatively new project.
So, there are times when it’s not advisable. Sometimes I like to throw things back at myself, asking the question, ‘How would I feel if roles were reversed?’.
Consider This
If you’ve been working with clients for a couple of years and the project has dragged on due to delays in the decision making process at their end, this can be detrimental to your business for a couple of reasons:
#1) You have likely reserved time in your busy schedule to work on their project until it’s finished, thus turning down or putting off other potential work until a later date.
#2) We all know that products can become back ordered or discontinued, not to mention the changes in dye-lot for various items such as tiles and fabrics. The longer it takes to make final decisions on moving forward with sourced items, the higher the possibility of needing to re-source items for a project.
This can inevitably affect the overall project, compromising other ‘pieces of the puzzle’ that you already had nailed down. Thus, in some circumstances, resulting in having to go back to the drawing board to ultimately start over again.
With a 3000 square foot project, there’s not time for delays. See more of this modern basement here. Photo by Stephani Buchman.
This is why I always stress how important it is to have these conversations with clients at the very beginning of the project. We cannot assume that our lovely clients know what we do everyday. It’s our job to educate them on the process, in order to manage their expectations.
See This As An Opportunity
It’s perfectly normal for pricing to increase over time, there’s nothing weird or strange about that at all. It’s called inflation and it’s part of any business.
Instead of feeling nervous and hesitant to notify clients of a fee increase, see it as an opportunity to reach out to them and discuss possible future projects and further collaborations.
If you decide that you are overdue in increasing your rates and chose to give yourself a pay rise on come January 1st, 2019, here’s what you can do.
Inform current clients you’ve been working with for some time, that your rates are set to increase on January 1st, 2019. Let them know that as a preferred client, you will be keeping your current rates as they are, until March 1st, 2019. This way, the increase doesn’t come as a surprise and you’ve provided them with ample time so that it doesn’t feel like something that just happened over night, with no advance notice.
Past Clients
This is the perfect chance to connect with your past clients. You can include this type of business update in your Interior Design monthly newsletter to clients, as well as sending them a separate email or letter to make it more personalized.
Draft an email template that reads something similar to this:
“Dear Past Client
I hope that everything is going well with you and your family. Are you all still loving the beautiful (insert here the space you designed / decorated for them) that we worked on with you (insert approx date you worked on the project with them)?
This January, I wanted to let you know about my new rates for services. As of January 1st, an initial consultation will be $XXX and hourly services for design will be $XXX. Project pricing (if this applied to your service offerings) will be…” then add in the appropriate new pricing per package.
“As a preferred client, whom we would love to work with again, I would like to provide you with the opportunity to book a consultation meeting and possibly pre-schedule time in for an upcoming project on my current rates. To take advantage of this VIP pricing, please contact us by ‘INSERT DATE HERE’ and we would be happy to arrange an appointment to discuss your next project. “
It’s always a good idea to set timelines, as this makes you accountable for sticking to a date and it also instills a sense of urgency for booking an appointment. I mean, if a store is having a sale that never ends, what’s the rush to go there?
Lastly, I was thrilled to be a guest on this terrific podcast, hosted by the lovely Darla Powell. Click the image below to hear my interview with Darla and Natalie and for my tips on how to kill it on IGTV – that’s Instagram TV.
Cheers ladies for having me, I had a great time!
WINGNUT SOCIAL PODCAST INTERVIEW RE – IGTV
If you are not heading to Highpoint next week (boo hoo) then be sure to follow me on Instagram for the latest in Interior Design and Decorating trends.
Claire's Guide to Services & Pricing
FREE DOWNLOAD:
Interior Design Services and Rates Guide
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