Seeing green: color is optimistic, healing, calming

Wrenda Goodwyn • special to the Fort Myers News-Press/USA Today Network • June 4, 2022

It’s more than a passing trend.

 We’re seeing lots of green. And it’s no wonder. Green is believed to leave us optimistic and refreshed. It’s thought to have calming properties and it can be healing. And it helps to diffuse anxiety. In today’s stressful world, my take on it is that we need everything that green can bring into our homes. Right?

 It’s no coincidence that Benjamin Moore’s Color of the Year for 2022 is October Mist, a silvery green neutral that anchors a space and allows for other colors such as violet, yellows, blues and corals. And Sherwin Williams went for Evergreen Fog, with a bit of grey and blue in its selection for 2022.

Feng Shui teaches that green encourages new beginnings and renewal. Yes, please.

 It’s an easy color with so many choices from cool sage to bright emeralds and it can be used as a neutral or an accent. It’s no wonder it’s a bit of an obsession right now.

 The good news is that you can incorporate a little green into your decorating scheme without doing a major upheaval in your home. As an Estero-based interior designer, I have seen a noticeable increase in requests from my Southwest Florida clients who want to bring more green into their homes. Especially where the main color is a neutral. And why not? It’s perfect for our lifestyle.

 But like everything to do with your home, before you call the painter, you need a plan. Whether you want a lot of green or a hint here and there in your home, I have a few tips for ways of doing a little green refresh and making it look like you hired a designer to help you!

 ·       Feeling a little tired of gray? Some of the cool sage tones are good alternatives as a neutral color. And if you have gray as a neutral in your home, green is a perfect accent in the right shade. For a nice, neutral green, Benjamin Moore’s Soft Fern and Silken Pine are good options. And if you want to go a little deeper, consider Hancock Green and Hollingsworth Green. Check the recommendations in the chart in this article and with any paint color, please test the color before you paint.

An array of palm fronds, feathery ferns and other tropical foliage enliven this exuberant green botanical wallpaper. Imagined and hand-painted in Schumacher’s New York design studio, this large-scale three-panel set is 12 feet high, allowing it to spread across and up the walls of a room for a tall dose of breezy tropics. Photo Schumacher. www.fschumacher.com

·       If you want to go bold and are ready for a major change, consider painting the kitchen cabinets. If your cabinets are white and you want to keep them that way, think about a green or blue-green glass backsplash. And a powder room is the perfect place for a beautiful emerald green or a dramatic wallcovering in the same shades.

·       For my tastes, green is best not used in a big way. Like for an entire large room.   Consider a green neutral for a bathroom or office but not necessarily for an entire Florida room.

Give the laundry room an unexpected green refresh with Benjamin Moore’s Cedar Green 2034-40, in eggshell. Cabinets: Super White OC-152, Advance, satin. Trim: Super White OC-152, Advance, semi-gloss. Photo Benjamin Moore. www.benjaminmoore.com

·       The color by no means has to be on the walls. There are ceilings. Especially if you have coffered ceilings. Painting them a bold green and adding a beautiful light fixture is just enough drama for a room.

·       Don’t forget the laundry room. It can be the most boring room in the house but try a gorgeous green on the walls and add a little fun art on the walls and everything changes.  A green sofa (I have one in my Florida room) or console or accent table add a lot of color happiness to a room. 

·       If you have white shutters or blinds, pick out a beautiful fabric with greens, blues and corals and have valances made for the windows. 

We love the green shade but this ivy bookshelf light from Ballard Designs is also a unique task light made from a piece of solid marble with a swan neck and brass candle arm. A great (and useful) addition to your bookshelf. Photo: Ballard Designs. www.ballarddesigns.com

·       Just want a little touch of green? Paint the wall behind shelves or bookcases. A rug with blue-greens, a mural on an accent wall, framed botanical prints. Paint your front door. Green lamp shades or glass lamps. And there are always plants which keep our homes healthy and bring nature indoors. You can’t have enough of them!

 Wrenda Goodwyn is a Southwest Florida interior decorator, A.S.I.D. associate and gold member of the Interior Redecorators Network. She helps homeowners throughout Southwest Florida with timeless, affordable ways to create beautiful spaces and solve decorating problems. Her articles appear the first Saturday of each month. For more information, visit her website at spectacularspaces.com. Call her at 239-850-5800 or e-mail wrenda@spectacularspaces.com. For more decorating tips, articles and photos, visit spectacularspaces.com/blog

Tips for designing a home that brings the beach inside

Wrenda Goodwyn • special to the Fort Myers News-Press •May 7, 2016

If you're like me and your favorite chair is a beach chair, your favorite shoes are flip flops and your preferred color palette is the one in your beach umbrella, you likely love the beach and want to have a little of it in your home.

Whether you live steps from the beautiful Gulf shores of Southwest Florida or just wish you did, you can design your home interior to reflect the colors, feelings and hues that will make you feel the tranquility and beauty that only the beach can provide.

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WHIMSICAL CLOWN FISH ARE FROM COLE & SON'S ACQUARIO FORNASITTI II. THE WALL COVERING CREATES A DRAMATIC BACKDROP FOR AN ENTRY TABLE STYLED WITH FAVORITE BEACH-INSPIRED PIECES. PHOTO: COLE & SONS.

Beach house decor style is about a lifestyle. An attitude. It's about living with nature and capturing the essence of a long walk on a beach. Striking that balance between casual and a touch of formality. Collecting driftwood and shells. And finding a way to bring a piece of it home.

As a Southwest Florida interior decorator, many of my clients want to incorporate at least some aspect of our environment into their space.  Whether you live in an apartment, condo, single family home or an Airstream travel trailer, it's easily doable. And fun. Check out my favorite tips, pick one and get to work!

Bright and white

Take advantage of the great tropical lighting that we enjoy in this area. You can't beat a white backdrop for your walls. One of my other favorite go-to-colors for a beach cottage  look is Benjamin Moore's Silver Satin. And use Benjamin Moore's Decorator White for trim. Just enough hue and sparkle and has that "old Florida beach cottage" feeling.

Classic coastal color palette

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Vintage Ship door sits atop pilings and holds glass layered with sea glass. Photo: Wrenda Goodwyn.

Accessories, fabric, accents are beautiful when done in sea glass accents. Seafoam green/blues. And remember: a bit of turquoise in every room. Even if it's just a bowl of shells mixed with sea glass.

Beach-inspired kitchen

While my favorite kitchen is one done in all white, you can add contrast to white walls with pale grey/blue cabinets. Or bead board (so easy to do this and a great look) in a sea glass tone around the island or bar. Stainless appliances.

 Style a coffee table or entry table

If you don't do anything else, this is the one. It sets the tone of your home. This is where you display your favorite nautical elements: seashells, driftwood, glass jars with seaglass, art, books. I love working books into the mix. Some of my favorites: Island Life by India Hicks and Key West: A Tropical Lifestyle by Leslie Linsley.

Accent walls

For a little beach drama, select a wall in the entry or in a powder room. Cover it in one of the beautiful grass cloth wall coverings or something similar to the whimsical clown fish Cole & Son's Acquario Fornasitti ii. Place this behind your styled entry table or a gorgeous mirror and you don't need anything else to bring the beach home!

Windows

White shutters or light linen drapes are best.  When using drapes, I like to trim them with fabric tape in a sea glass hue. And remember, always hang drapes from just below the ceiling for as much height as possible.

Furniture

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Style a bookcase or shelving with a tropical theme. Incorporate white furnishings, white walls and a jute rug. Photo: Pottery Barn. 

It's all about casual comfort. Cushioned or slip covered sofas and chairs will get you the look but you don't need to redo your furnishings. Just add a couple of bamboo chairs and maybe a stool with tropical or white cushions.(Bamboo can be painted: think flea markets). Add a couple of colorful garden stools. These can work as side tables for extra seating. Add colorful pillows.

It's 5 o'clock someplace!

Style a cart with a tiki bar theme. Include artwork on the walls behind the cart and add some of your favorite pieces along with beachy glasses and a plant or two. I like to include a colorful cloth awning over the cart to set it apart.  

Artwork

It's all about color and this is where the room comes to life. I have my clients look through magazines and on Pinterest to seek out paintings and photographs that speak to them and we work it into the mix. One of my favorites: take some your own favorite photographs and stretch them on canvas. This style is perfect for a casual look and is a great memory of someplace you have been.

Flooring

Sand would be perfect for a beach lover but it's best to incorporate natural fiber rugs such as sisal, jute or seagrass. They look great and some of the modern styles have a contemporary look, allowing for trim in coastal colors. Think: coral.

Design your bookshelf

This is one of my favorites. First, pick a sea-inspired color and paint the back of the bookcase or the wall. Creatively, arrange and showcase your artwork, books, driftwood, shells and other elements to give it that "just washed up on the beach look."

Accents

Display your shells in jars and bowls. I like a bowl of shells in every room. There is one by my computer as I write this article. They make me happy and take me someplace else when I have to work can't get to the beach!

Incorporate Capiz mirrors and lighting fixtures.

Purchase bamboo flatware and sea-inspired dishes to use every day.

Add a couple of palm trees to your decor...large or small. They say "tropical" and are good for the air quality in your home.

Wrenda Goodwyn is a Southwest Florida interior decorator, A.S.I.D. associate and certified gold member of the Interior Redecorators Network. Home Inspirations appears the first Saturday of each month. Visit her website at spectacularspaces.com. Call her at 949-1808 or e-mail wrenda@spectacularspaces.com. For more decorating tips and photos, visit spectacularspaces.com/blog 

Home sweet rental home: Make it yours and keep the landlord happy

Wrenda Goodwyn • special to the Fort Myers News-Press • April 9, 2016

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Colorful adhesive tiles from Mirth for an entry, bathroom or kitchen.  Photo  Courtesy of Mirth.

Renting. It's a lot like moving into a home that you own. Almost.

You want to repaint the walls. Replace the carpeting.  Hang some artwork.  Update the kitchen. Get new window treatments. Toss out the grungy switch plates. And a lot more.

In other words: you want and need to make the space your own.

But there is the landlord to think about.

Changing drawer and cabinet pulls to personalize your rental decor. Photo courtesy of Anthropologie.

Maybe you have sold a home and have temporarily moved into a rental space until you decide what to do with the rest of your home-owning life.  Perhaps you are a boomer and plan to free yourself of the responsibility, throw caution to the wind and travel for the rest of your life and keep a rental apartment as a place to come home to. As a Southwest Florida interior decorator,  I've had clients in both rental situations. And many more.

Eventually, we all seem to end up in a rental home for the long or short term.  And the fine line between making it your own and crossing over to where the landlord decides not to give you the deposit back when you leave...well the lines can be a bit blurry.

Before you paint that red accent wall in the entry, you may want to consider a few rental-friendly tips that will have you saying "home sweet home" in no time. And even if you never plan to rent, these tips will serve you well if you are in a temporary situation or just don't have the budget to do everything right now.

It's only paint

It an accent wall or a bathroom with color on the walls will make you happy, do it. Just be prepared to paint it back in a neutral tone when you leave. This alone, can make all the difference in how you feel about your rental space.

Accents

Drawer and cabinet pulls will change your kitchen and bathrooms. Replace them with something that you like and take them with you when you leave. And while you are at it, dump the old switch plates and replace them with new ones. Favorite: the colorful Nannette pull from Anthropologie. 

Change the flooring (some of it).

Peel and stick floor tiles have been around for a while but today, you can find a selection that is colorful and fun. And easy to apply. Sources: Mirth Studio and Home Depot. Try this in an entry, bathroom or kitchen to completely change the look.

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Pottery Barn's Lucianna Medallion pole pocket drape  is a great "fix" to add your own look to windows or sliders. Photo courtesy of Pottery Barn.

Window treatments

These are often the worst part of what a landlord leaves for tenants. At best, you may have not so attractive blinds. But this is where you can put some fabric and color into your decor. Invest in some drapes. Or at least drapery panels to give your rooms a little love. One of my favorite, inexpensive go to sources:  the Moorish tiles drapes at Pier One. Or the Lucianna medallion-pole-pocket-drape from Pottery Barn. They come in a variety of colors and great for a temporary fix.

Kitchen backsplash

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For a tile look, Tic Tac adhesive tiles. Photo courtesy of Tic Tac Tiles.

This is one of my favorite fixes. Since I always spec a neutral backsplash for my clients when redoing their kitchen, I love the fact that you can do the same thing with Tic Tac adhesive tiles or the Smart Tiles from Home Depot. Completely change the look of your kitchen and remove them when you leave.

You won't believe it's removable wallpaper

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ReUsable wallpaper tiles by Hygge and West are removable so you can take them when you leave your rental or enjoy them for a long time. Photo courtesy of Hygge  and West.

You would be surprised to know how many of my clients use this in part-time homes or if they just aren't sure about using wallpaper. And the result: spectacular. You can find these in Target, Bed, Bath and Beyond and other big box home stores. They vary in quantity and in price depending upon how much you want to invest.  My favorite is Hygge and West.  These removable wallpaper tiles can go with you and are reusable. And you will want to reuse them. Beautiful colors and designs that are ideal for renters and temporary installations. A game- changer for a rental property.

Lighting

Overhead lighting may not be the best in your rental home. So invest in a few floor lamps that warm up your rooms. And they will go with you to your next home. If the builder's grade lighting in the bathroom is not working for you, try a lamp on the counter to tone down the glare. Or invest in inexpensive lighting over your mirror.

Wrenda Goodwyn is a Southwest Florida interior decorator, A.S.I.D. associate and certified gold member of the Interior Redecorators Network. Home Inspirations appears the first Saturday of each month. Visit her website at spectacularspaces.com. Call her at 949-1808 or e-mail wrenda@spectacularspaces.com. For more decorating tips and photos, visit spectacularspaces.com/blog