​With the stroke of midnight on December 31st turning the clocks to 2021, the sighs of many who hope for a better, brighter year echoed throughout the world. Many people are optimistic that this new year will hopefully bring an end to a year that no one will forget. When it came time for the trendsetters to predict the coming year's fashion, design, color palettes, and trends for the new year, they agreed that uplifting, yet soothing themes would be the right balance for this year.
The 2021 paint colors of the year reflect that trend of tranquil relaxation for the home where everyone is spending more time, turning our homes into a haven. In combination with that trend is the need for energizing and refreshing spaces that rejuvenate the homeowner as they enter the new year with fresh hopes and dreams.
This year’s color palettes do not disappoint.
Pantone’s color of the year is actually two colors- Ultimate Gray and Illuminating. They wanted the combination to echo the soothing, yet invigorating vibe to bring a new perception for 2021. We are loving this combo together! It brings just a touch of energy without going over the top!

You can see from the following pictures what an outstanding color combination this is and just how it sings! 

The ​Sherwin Williams color of the year, Urban Bronze is a beautiful, sophisticated color that updates any style. Its moody vibe enhances any color combinations and any style.

Sherwin Williams also adds four additional palettes for the year: Sanctuary, Encounter, Continuum, and Tapestry- each one offering a blend of unique colors that focus on soothing and uplifting ambiance.

Sanctuary and Encounter’s palettes are muted colors that bring in the tranquil tones of nature.

​Sherwin Williams' Continuum and Tapestry palettes offer more pastels and well as saturated colors that are relaxing, yet also revitalizing. Here are a few of our choices with those palettes.

​Benjamin Moore’s beautiful color of the year, Aegean Teal 2136-40, is perfect for a calming, yet dynamic room! It reminds us of a soothing ocean! 

​Benjamin Moore also has a color palette for the year. Their mixture of relaxing and invigorating colors is meant to inspire beautiful spaces in your home. The following are our choices of their amazing color combos.

​PPG Paints' color palette of the year is three-fold. This palette, which includes Transcend, Big Cypress, and Misty Aqua, creates a nurturing, comforting space that really resonates with us. We like the calming with a punch combo they use by mixing warm tones with that punch of cool.

​PPG includes a coordinating palette to those three colors that resonates with us. We love their color choices!

​Behr’s color palette consists of 21 richly diverse colors, ranging from sweet pastels to saturated hues, creating a palette that makes it difficult to choose our favorites from Seaside Villa, Canyon Dusk, to Euphoric Magenta. Choose we did, and here are a few of those colors.

​As you can see, it was an exceedingly difficult job picking our favorites out of so many color choices! All the companies did an amazing job in their selection of 2021 colors. They all represent an oasis for the home that allows nurturing, calming yet energizing vibes. These new refreshing hues will usher us out of a very tiring and anxious year into a more hopeful and exciting new year! 

A beautiful window treatment complements a room by adding style and color, while finishing off the room’s design. But, not all window treatments are equal. To create that high style, polished look, a custom window treatment is a must. There are several reasons why that is the case.

Most store bought window treatments can come in standard sizes, but it is often the case that the windows in your room are each slightly different in size. Because of that, a standard pre-made curtain never fits the window exactly. Customizing your blinds and shades to the correct size not only offers more coverage, but gives you a tailored and more sophisticated design.

Custom window treatments are considered an investment, like a sofa or piece of furniture, because they are meant to last for a long time. The fabrics and materials used in custom window treatments are higher quality and add to that upscale ambiance and design.

Custom designs help tailor each window treatment to your unique style. The fabric can be matched to your walls to blend right into your room or you can pick from hundreds of colors, designs, and textures to create your own look that makes a room stand out. The window treatment can also be more neutral, bringing in more of a textural feel to the room.

Masking problem areas around a window is another great reason for using window treatments. For example, certain window treatments can help with energy efficiency if your windows are older. Also, if your windows are short and you want a little more height, the drapery can be raised above the window frame to make them appear larger. In the same way, stacking the drapery from the window frame outward can give the illusion that your windows are wider than they are, giving the windows more presence in the room.

Custom window treatments are great options to enhance the quality of your room’s design, but also add warmth and polish to a room. With the unlimited possibilities in style, design, colors, and options, the sky’s the limit to creating a sophisticated, well-thought out space.

To learn more about different drapery treatments and to ask your window treatment questions, join us on Wednesday 10/7 at 6:30pm as we go LIVE in our Facebook Group, Inspired Design with Blue Dahlia Designs, with our drapery expert, Cindy.

Sometimes you just need to stop and take a moment. Putting aside the endless pile of paperwork that has become a part of my new normal, I take a look around my store--a store I was told for the past 10 years was nothing but a pipe dream. Taking this moment, I let myself feel the excitement of our upcoming first anniversary this weekend. I am blown away by how fast this year went and where it has taken us! We always knew the first year of opening a business came with its own struggles, but boy were we in for a year.
 
For those of you who might not know Blue Dahlia Designs’ history, this store had been a crazy dream of mine for 10 years. It always felt so unattainable, and often I found myself fighting doubts and insecurities as well as many tears and sleepless nights. Alyssa and I consulted with many, many people in order to learn everything we could to make this dream successful. One of these people told me it would take “family, friends, or fools” in order to make our dream come true. And you know what, he was right about 2 of the 3! Without our friends and family, Blue Dahlia Designs would not have been possible. We were flooded with words of encouragement when doubt threatened to take over, our ideas were met with genuine enthusiasm which validated our hopes, and when it came down to it, they were there to pick up hammers and paint brushes alongside us. Like I said, NONE of this would be possible without them, and we will never be able to repay them.
 
From the first time we turned the key to the building that would be my store, every moment has felt surreal. When Alyssa and I first saw the space, we were both able to envision its potential. Looking back at what the space used to look like before our build out, it is pretty crazy that it’s the same space! We had such a fun time during our Grand Opening and all our fun events that followed! We have received so much support from the community and our customers, it was everything we hoped for! We loved interacting with everyone and helping our customers with their design questions, custom floral arrangements, and gift giving.
 
Then COVID came and put a huge damper on all that! We have worked more hours and slept a lot less climbing out of this, but hopefully soon we will see this part of our journey behind us! We miss our customers and hope to be able to see more of them soon, as well as have more of our fun events that we loved so much last year. We do feel blessed to have such amazing customers who have supported us through this challenging time by shopping our online store, sharing our social media posts, using Curbside Pick-Up, and being the first in line when we were finally able to open our doors! We are so grateful.
 
Even through all of this, the concept of what I dreamed the store would be 10 years ago was and still remains a place where customers could come and be inspired in their living and giving, while being surrounded by a friendly and home-like atmosphere. I hope each of our customers still feel that way every time they visit. We hope, God- willing, that we have many more years to strive to achieve that every day.
 
Thanks again to everyone who helped make Blue Dahlia Design’s first year an awesome journey! From the bottom of our hearts, we truly appreciate you!

Come out and celebrate our 1 Year Anniversary this weekend, 8/21/2020-8/23/2020!

Fall is my favorite season, so it comes at no surprise that I love decorating my home to match it's changing colors and cozy atmosphere. This year we are bringing nature's color palettes into the store. This texture rich collection will truly transform your home and  bring the season to life.
​- Alyssa  

Our Fall Collection will transform the store starting Tuesday, August 11th. Stop in or shop the collection online at www.bluedahliadesigns.net.

Be the first to see our Christmas Collection.

We decided to take you along and show you our process of styling one of our bookcases in the store. Follow these steps and send us a photo of your newly styled bookcase!

Clear off your bookcase to start fresh. Pull together the items you want to use. Include some sentimental pieces in order to make it feel personal.

Place your books first in order to space them apart on your bookcase. We want them to become part of the decor so try to arrange them nicely. Try using corbels as bookends, stack like colored books together, or even put your books at an angle. Putting all of your books on one shelf pulls all of the visual weight to only that shelf. Spreading them out will help balance that weight. 

Choose some larger pieces to fill out your bookcase without making it look cluttered. These pieces should balance out your bookcase even before you fill in with smaller items. Try to find some pieces with texture. On this bookcase, we used woven lanterns, a custom floral arrangement, metal cubes, and a porcelain floral vase. 

This is your last step! Fill in any gaps on your shelves and don't forget to layer some items! We layered by adding a bird and a votive to the top of a stack of books and a floral orb in front of the sign. These last touches complete your look! Enjoy your styled bookcase! 

This month we were definitely ready for a new design challenge, and we had a lot of fun with this one! We decided to style a room around one of our favorite pieces in the store, our Tanzin Wood Wall Panel. Again, we each picked a different room to style so you can see how versatile this piece really is. Just like last month, we each designed our rooms separately in order to utilize our own personal style and inspirations. 

The Tanzin Wood Wall Panel retails for $699.98 and is available in our store for purchase. Call us at 314-274-8717. At this time, we are offering Contactless Curbside Pick-Up.

This year, Sherwin Williams announced their color of the year was SW 6244 Naval. When announcing the rich navy as their pick for 2020, they explained their choice as, “Naval is the new, approachable neutral that goes with everything.” We couldn't agree more! Navy is such a timeless and elegant color choice and works well with almost any design style. To prove this, both of us have created our own inspirational mood boards for two different rooms in your home- each with a touch of our own personal styles. Check out what we designed below and let us know which room in your house you would love to decorate using SW 6244 Naval.  

​Wow! I can’t believe the holiday season is behind us! Even though we've had Christmas up at the store since the beginning of November, Christmas itself seemed in the distance. Now, suddenly, it's in the past. I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of Christmas decor that I put up for the holidays, and because of that, I have to pack away a lot of my everyday decor. As I start to take down my Christmas, I am left with blank walls and empty shelves. This stark contrast to the normal actually helps me look at my room as a blank canvas. My painted walls look chipped, marred and the rooms look tired!
'Tis the season for taking stock and revamping my home. My spring cleaning usually happens in winter, and usually right after Christmas. January, February and March are to me cold, boring months. I love warm beautiful weather, so these cold months have me raring to refresh my house.

If you agree but don’t know how to start, here is my of way of doing just that.

I usually start in one room and work my way through my house. It doesn't matter which room you tackle first, whether you pick the most difficult room in your home or the easiest. Just start.

This last step is where things get more fun! Take the time to decide if you still like the overall style of your room and the items in it. ​Do the walls need to be repainted or would a new color liven up the space? What pieces of furniture still work in this room? What pieces need to be replaced or what new items are needed? Could the room use new lighting?
​
Once decisions have been made, here is where your style and your personality comes through to your space. Artwork, mirrors, home décor items, lamps, and personal mementos are the next layer. Adding these items dramatically transforms your room, creating a cozy and warm space.

You still haven't figured out how they keep their house looking so immaculate, but you know they have the perfect spot for this stunning piece.