So, I am in the midst of designing a massive master suite for a client. The fabric she chose off the bat was a gorgeous ethereal lilac and beige floral linen, and we committed to doing extra wide drapery panels throughout the room, which takes over 50 yards of fabric! So, knowing that this would adorn the windows, how do you build a palette around it that is interesting? It would have been very easy to pull all shades of purple from lilac to lavender and plum, flaxy linens, creams and beiges into the mix. And make no mistake, that would be very pretty. But to me, that was a bit of a snooze.

Another predictable move would have been to bring in green, as the combination of purple and green is as old as the hills. Again, great looking, but how to do something more alluring with the palette? Something yummy.

I knew I was onto something when I pulled the candy colored cut velvet from Stark called Bimini Road in Potpurri. This gave me license to pull aquas, mauves, blush, delft blue and even salmon into the mix. I am not done yet, and there are still surprises in store, but don’t you think life is much more fun in candy color?