Amber B Design Studio

Interior Design & Decoration for the South Florida region

Soft Spring Colors and a Fun Announcement!

by Filed Under: blog, design, paint colors, personal design style


It is no surprise that I cannot wait for spring weather and to see the flowers start to bloom. There is nothing more exciting than seeing the green grass finally start to peek through the snow, after a long winter. So I was pretty happy that the chosen colors that are all a buzz this winter, just happen to make you think of spring! A while back, Pantone announced their color of the year, but this time, including two colors. Pantone’s colors of the year are Rose Quartz and Serenity, such soft and delicate shades.

 

A person standing in front of a window with a rose quartz and serenity color scheme.

 

I am feeling the rose quartz much more than this periwinkle blue {I’m a navy blue girl} and I can see it paired with so many fun colors and used in so many ways…

On a single door…

A person standing in front of a window with a rose quartz and serenity color scheme.

Via Pompeli

On drapery panels and paired with brown…

A person standing in front of a window with a rose quartz and serenity color scheme.Design by Anne Hepfer via Style Me Pretty Living

With emerald green, which is my favorite…

A person standing in front of a window with a rose quartz and serenity color scheme.Design by Katie Kime via The Decorista

And you can definitely add it with my favorite blue- navy…

A white couch with four pillows on itvia Caitlin Wilson Textiles

And speaking of spring just around the corner, I would love for you to join me this Friday, March 11th for a fun spring mantel series! I am teaming up with a very talented group of ladies for the next installment of Project Design, #ProjectDesignNow. We will be showing you ways to style your spring mantel and we will each come up with two different versions! Follow along on social media with the hashtag, #ProjectDesignNow and gather some great inspiration from these amazing ladies…

ciao! newport beach
classic • casual • home
Dimples and Tangles
Garden Home and Party
Katiedid
Lisa Mende Design
Lucy Williams Interiors
Rough Luxe Lifestyle
The Pink Pagoda
A gray circle with the words project design in it.
Here’s a little sneak peek into one of my spring mantels, photographed by Sarah Heppell Photography…
A close up of a clock on the wall
{With a little rose quartz in the background of this Pretty Smitten print!}

Moody Walls

by Filed Under: design, paint colors, personal design style


Even though spring is on its way around here, I have still been enamored with deep colors and moody walls. For the most part, I like to keep walls light and airy and bring color in through the accessories. But, there are some rooms that can tolerate a dose of a deep hue that is bold and dramatic. I think it’s a touch of the unexpected when you have deep walls in one room in your home. Dark walls can be great for bedrooms, offices or any space with a ton of natural light. Here are some great spaces where the walls take center stage. Without this deep wall color, each room would be so different!

I am a fan of dark walls in my own home and have painted our living room a deep brown color…
It’s Mink by Benjamin Moore and I love it! Designer Bailey McCarthy has recently used it in her home and I love how she wrapped the color on the window trim, too…
Although it might seem strange to be talking about such deep, saturated hues when spring is finally here, but these rooms are proof that it’s a chic look year round!
How about you… do you stick with light walls or do you like deep hues?? Do tell!!

I’m Feeling Blue Lately

by Filed Under: blue decor, design, e-decorating, e-design, paint colors, personal design style


That is, in design, of course! In many ways lately, I have been incorporating blue, either in small or big doses. Many shades of this color have shown up in my local and e-design projects, as well as in my own home! I thought I would dedicate this post to one of my favorite colors and why it continues to work so well in design…

With a coastal twist 

Blue patterned draperies
A statement blue sofa
Blue all over
Bits of blue sprinkled throughout
Blue as an accent

Amber B Interiors… that’s me!!  🙂
Subtle blue accessories


I have always been a fan of blue in all of its shades. I love that it goes with so many colors.
What’s your take on the color??

Embrace Color & Be Fearless

by Filed Under: design, paint colors, personal design style


There are some home renovations that stop me in my tracks and make me love the career of design that much more. Some spaces remind me of how much fun using color can be and how decorating and surrounding yourself with pieces you love, is so much more important than worrying about everything matching and being ‘perfect.’ I have been following Bailey’s blog, Peppermint Bliss, for a while now. And I think what inspires me most about her design work is her ability to be daring with color and go for it, no matter whether it’s a popular trend or not. She is a trendsetter in her own right, bold and just plain fun. Her most recent work was shown in Style Me Pretty Living and gives great examples of how being bold and having fun with design can pay off…

all images via style me pretty living, photographed by kimberly chau
Crazy, right? Are you inspired yet?? I think Bailey is the one who made pom pom/tassel fringe cool again! I seriously cannot stop looking at this home remodel. Often times (myself included), we can be a little safe with color choices, worrying that we may tire of it soon. This home feature reminds me to step out of my comfort zone a little and try something a bit more daring. To see more of Bailey’s fearless projects, including her own home, stop by her blog, here.

A Holiday Re Cap, Sneak Peek of Our Office & A New E – Design Project

by Filed Under: design, e-decorating, e-design, holiday, paint colors, personal design style


Phew… it seems like a very long time since I have written a post! I wanted to catch you up on a few things that have kept me busy these last couple of weeks. First up, we had a lovely Thanksgiving over at my mom’s house. It’s one of her favorite holidays to host and as always, she did a fantastic job…

The pretty dotted place cards come with a marker that allows you to erase and write again, so you can always change up the names for each party! The kids and I have started a tradition a few years back, where we make the apple pie and bring it to the holiday meal!

That might have been our best pie, yet! I have also been busy painting our office. It still had the builder grade white paint that wasn’t durable at all. I decided to paint it Halo, by Benjamin Moore. It’s such a gorgeous light gray/green color and is also what we used in our dining room!

If you follow me on instagram (amberbinteriors), then you may have seen these photos already…

After about a week of looking at the newly painted walls, I finally mustered up the courage to put new nail holes in them! I decided to install a full wall gallery wall in the office. It’s amazing how tall a room looks when covering a wall, head to toe in art. You might think that it clutters a room, when it actually has the opposite effect. I also just finished working on a client’s office space. My client uses her office to sew, draw sketches and create! She loves neutral grays infused with bright pops of color. This is the result…

She wanted a huge craft table in the space, so I found a way to create one to mimic the inspiration table in the middle of the design board. By using white Ikea expedit cubes and a white laminate counter, a custom craft table will come to life! There will also be a fun gallery wall in her space, as well…

I love the way Audrey Hepburn’s scarf ties the room’s color palette together. And I think that turquoise Chanel print will fit very well in this room!

So, that sums up two weeks, in a nutshell! I hope I have not lost most of you with my sporadic posting lately. I have been having a hard time creating a consistent schedule on the blog, over the last couple of months. I know we all go through a bit of a blog drought from time to time. But I am excited to be back in full swing this month, with lots of holiday ideas to share!

Snapshots of Our Family Room

by Filed Under: design, family room, paint colors, personal design style


In about one week, we will have our new horse print framed above the sofa! I cannot wait! I chose a gray driftwood looking frame, which will bring out a lot of the color tones in the picture and add to the rustic quality of the print. For now, here is what our family room looks like! I am excited about how this room is coming together. For some reason, it all of a sudden is starting to feel like us. We have done a lot of editing and moving things around lately, and this space is beginning to take shape and truly suit our style.

The coffee table is finally out of storage! We bought it when we lived in Germany. I was on my way home from teaching one afternoon, and there was a vendor outside on the side of the road, selling wood furniture pieces. I pulled over, and bought our first coffee table! It wouldn’t fit in my car, so the sweet older couple followed me home and delivered it themselves. I love pieces with special meaning! The basket and lantern vignette was on our dining table, but I think I like it here, instead. The coral runner brings out the pink shade in the suzani print pillow. Now, what should I do for the dining table?? Maybe a large vase of hydrangeas!?! We are entertaining for Memorial Day tomorrow, so the dining room will be full of food, anyway. That will buy me some time to decide what to do. Still to do for this space…

1. Pick up and hang the horse print.
2. Switch out the poly fill pillow inserts for some down inserts.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend, as we celebrate all that the Armed Forces does, has done and will do, to keep our country safe!

Sneak Peek of Our Finished Basement!

by Filed Under: basement, design, paint colors, personal design style


The time is finally here! The construction part of our basement is finished!! I named this post sneak peek because the carpet still needs to be installed next week. But, I couldn’t resist showing these pictures, since it now looks so much like a regular space. I will do a proper before and after once the carpet is in, but for now, here are the almost complete after pics…

We will truly have more storage than we know what to do with, but I am sure it will fill up quickly. Baskets are a wonderful thing, because anything can fill them and no one would be the wiser! We kept everything super light down here with the paint colors, since it can be a rather dark basement. The support posts are painted the same pale blue/gray as the walls, to help them blend in and fade away. In person, there is a definite difference between the wall color and creamy white trim, although it’s hard to see through the pictures. We have chosen a sandy/camel color for the carpet, which will work with our furniture and be an overall neutral choice. All of the doors and the stair railings were painted a dark gray/black. I love how that came out! The contractors doubted me on that decision, but in the end, they loved it! They might not think I am that crazy, after all.  🙂 I am over the moon excited to get this carpet installed. I am even more excited, though, to start using this space and make it our own. Count on many basement posts for the future, as I style this place up! To catch up on the beginning of this project, visit here.

Dark, Moody Rooms

by Filed Under: design, e-decorating, e-design, paint colors, personal design style


I recently wrapped up an e-design project where we went super dark with the master bedroom walls. The chosen color was Graphite by Benjamin Moore, and it’s gorgeous!

Since this client has a ton of natural light in this space, it was just the moodiness we needed without it being too much. Just picture this color with ivory and brass accents! Here is Graphite in other amazing rooms found via pinterest…

And here is the Master Bedroom e-design board I created for this client…
{Click on board to make larger}
Can’t wait to see it all come together! How about you… have you painted any walls super dark??

Creating Contrast in Your Rooms

by Filed Under: design, paint colors, painting, painting tips, personal design style


I received an e-mail recently from a reader, asking about my dining room transformations and how to choose the best color in your space. I thought it would be a great post to present on the blog and open up the discussion with all of you! My original paint color in the dining room was Bungalow Gold by Eddie Bauer. While I enjoyed the color for a while {7 years, to be exact!}, I needed a change. So, I decided to stencil one wall, after receiving a free stencil for a product review.

While the stencil was fun and something new, I still wasn’t feeling it. I realized the main reason why, was because there was not enough contrast in the room. The oak floors blended with the table, which blended with the walls. I have been meaning to make some of my spaces lighter and brighter, and I knew this was the room to start! This space did not need another warm tone… it had too many, already. What this space needed was some contrast. It needed a cooler color in the blue/gray/green family. Fast forward to my decision… and we have Halo, by Benjamin Moore. I love that it appears almost white when the sun is shining, yet provides that cool tone of gray/green that this room needed. I know I have already shown the dining room reveal here, but I thought it was also worth mentioning why this color was chosen and how to achieve contrast in your home. Here is the new paint color:

For me, adding a cooler color helped to break up all the similar tones, and I am so much happier. The paint brush can be put down, for now!

How about you, do you like more of a contrast, or similar tones throughout?

Our Dining Room is Painted- Here are the Afters!

by Filed Under: blue decor, design, paint colors, personal design style


Here is a sneak peek into our dining room transformation. I am so excited to be done before the holidays. If you missed my recent post, I decided to add one more thing to my to do list and paint our dining room before company arrives!

Here is the after…

The color is Halo by Benjamin Moore and is a soft green/gray color. It’s lighter and brighter and quite a change from the previous dark golden brown walls. If you’re wondering why the Christmas decorations aren’t up, it’s because I have news! Part of this room will be on a fun web site soon and I had to take photos for the article! I think it will go live after the holidays, so no decorations for now. I will post a holiday themed room soon, when I get it all back up!

Still to do {At some point}
– Hang the curtain rods near the crown molding and install silk drapes.