When the Ocean Meets the Sand

While leafing through a recent Elle Decor magazine I couldn't help but notice that just about every product advertisement focused on a blue and taupe color scheme. Furnishings, floor coverings, tiles and home accents, whether it be a rug or a sofa, you would think there was a  manufacturers' conspiracy to dish out a version of this color combo.

It reminded me of a comment that I heard from an interior designer who was helping a couple decorate their living room.

A little unsure about the designer's fabric recommendation, they questioned if blue goes with beige to which the designer remarked, "Does the ocean go with the sand?" I absolutely love this analogy. It makes me crack a smile whenever I think about the question and the retort. The popularity of this color scheme in interior decorating has obvious psychological impact. The visual of ocean and sand offers a wide scale of moods that swing from calm to exhilaration - something to reach everyone's comfort zone.

This motivated me to look through our product lines and was happy to see that blue was plentiful in shades of light to dark. We have a lot of fantastic blue color combinations, but not quite anything that offered the blue and taupe package.

So I did a little tweak with our popular Tiki knob and pull in light sapphire and lapis. I substituted the olivine crystal with a light smoke topaz and was amazed at how changing this small detail brought me closer to the ocean/sand scheme.