Jlc712, Are you sure velvet would be impractical? Mohair velvets are among the most durable fabrics out there (they were used for seating in movie theaters) and there a modern cheaper velvets that have high rub counts. Silk velvet is fragile, but you can make velvet out of any fiber, including linen. I think that pet hairs show, but otherwise I don't think that velvet is especially bad for showing dirt and I think the pile actually helps repel some dirt and stains.

Regarding the color, at least on my screen, that sofa reads as smoky greyish blue close to indigo, which I think works almost as a neutral.

What I'm really saying is, if would make you happy, make some room in your life for a velvet sofa, or at least a settee.

I've been thinking of sea life today, so that's the direction I went with my room.

Oh I LOVE that sofa. I may be designing all week. I apologize in advance for multiple posts.

auntjen, can I just move into that room?

No time to participate this week but where is that sofa from? LOVE it!

Anthropologie Orianna sofa :-) I love it so much.

DH thinks velvet is for grandma's formal living room, not our family room. Hmmm

Ooooohhhh! I just bought two blue velvet Lee Ind. chairs for the head of the dining table. I was planning on pairing it with golds and white so I'm very glad to see examples of that above. Looking forward to seeing more ideas.

i have had velvet sofas for years love them. currently have this color in a more modern style. 2 kids and a husband to clean up after. this color looks spectacular with chartruese.

Blue Velvet sent me off in cinematic directions.

Here's an attempt to put the sofa into a more casual space: a family room/game room. Not sure how well throwing color, pattern and patina at it works.

cawaps, clever!

patrickthedestroyer, I think you may have triggered my pattern-phobia. I like the rug with the sofa a lot, but the other patterns are just too much for me.

Here's another go at it, a bit Scandanvian-eclectic maybe?

By itself, the sofa wasn't enough for me to work with, so I picked a design seed to go with it which became the wall art.

Love the colors in crl's room.

Auntjen, the rug works beautifully with the sofa, and ties your designs together nicely. I like the textures of the chair and stone.

Crl_ #1. The blue/cream/gold color palette is very elegant.

Patrick: There's a lot going on in this room, but it works for me as a casual hang-out space.But you'd definitely need a high tolerance for pattern.

Crl_ #2: I recognize a lot of these elements from another board you did, and the sofa fits in nicely.

Annie, a very cheerful space. The yellow and chartreuse look great with the blue.

Mountain eclectic

That's part of the fun of the DATs is I get to decorate with colors I wouldn't use in RL. Chartreuse? Never!

Another thing I'm learning by doing DATs is how much time I spend picking the right accessories...seems like far more time than I do when I do a room in RL...perhaps I need to check my accessorizing in my home....

Mojomom, I'm ready to vacation in your room.

Just for fun, I kept the room layout the same but selected a different design seed.

mojomom, where to I get in line for that vacation spot?

annie, interesting. It looks cold in all blue, doesn't it? And I really like blue.

crl, yes I agree about the coldness. It's one reason why, even though blue is my favorite color, I've used little of it in my decor. It's also a reason why, while I know it's popular to use gray a lot these days, it's something I've always shied away from.

Auntjen, Great room,
love the variety of textures. I like how
it is clearly sea inspired without being over the top, so I appreciate your
restraint.

Crl_ This looks like a very calming and
comfortable sitting room.

Cawaps Your room is
certainly dramatic. It's strange how the
oddest things can set the tone of a room.
In this case I find the half drawn drapes and the suggestive black and
white pattern in the window, combined with the poster, give this room a really
foreboding atmosphere.

Crl_ on pattern
phobia. It's definitely a particular aesthetic.
Houzz had a decent article on what they call Maximalism over the
weekend. I do think that the mood board
format necessarily lends itself equally well to all styles, since it is
difficult to give a sense of proportion, scale or impact in a mood board and a
maximalist room done well seems to me to be all about execution. I actually
wouldn't do that rug and the sofa together in a more staid room, as I think
they look a little matchy-matchy.

Crl_ I liked that
rug and sideboard together the first time we saw them. I think the sofa fits in
very well.

Annie, on the yellow
room. I think this shows how well the
sofa color goes with rich colors, like the gold of the ottomans. I can also imagine it with bright pinks and
chartreuse greens.

The blue room is
equally well executed, but I agree feels cold.
I wonder if more pattern, perhaps a patterned wall paper, could warm it
up without leaving the color scheme.

Mojomom, Great room.
In some ways I think this is the room that puts the sofa into its
natural habitat the best. Stylistically
I think the sofa is English Country, so it makes sense to put it with leather,
exposed wood, antique rugs, stone and hunting trophies. I was thinking of putting a room together
that featured hunting prints, but its all been done now.

This looks like so much fun! What programs do you use to make up the boards?

I just use keynote on my mac.

And I just used the mood board app on my IPad. It's not as good as Annie's way, but it works. I just used my inspiration room as the custom background and pasted in with my elements covering the origional furnishings etc.. Sometimes I need to save an image in my photos and crop it before pasting it on the board,

Anyone using a pc?

I use olioboard, which is a web based application, on a PC. If you search the forums, there's a guide to olioboard in one of the early DATs, but its pretty easy to use.

jlc712. Great use of color. Looks like a room someone put together in the 19th century after their world tour or career in the colonial service. Nice job finding so many complementary fabrics.

Mojomom, I read your other thread on you mountain home before I saw your design on this thread. With apologies to your husband, I prefer the version with the blue velvet sofa to the more conservative and rustic choices in your board in the other thread. I like the juxtaposition of the antler chandelier and rustic floor lamp against the elegance of the tufted velvet. And that the blue in the sofa picks up the blue in the rug.

Annie, Blue. You don't really need anyone else to say that it's tasteful but cold (but I just did, didn't I?) Including the plants was a nice and appropriate way to break up the narrow palette, but it needs more. I think that doing something unexpected and vibrant with the artwork, rather than reinforcing the same colors, would change the feel of the whole space.

Patrick, regarding the view out the window. In keeping with the film noir theme of my board, I wanted a winter view of snow on bare branches. I ended up finding a painting rather than a photo, and the painting is a bit stylized (could be a wood block print, but I'm not sure). The effect is a bit disconcerting.

Jlc712. I think Patrick nailed this in his comment as the result of the 19th century world tour. It very much has the eclectic mix of "oriental" (from the Middle East to China) that was popular in Victorian interiors. Love the mix of blue/green/vermilion. I find the patterned chair a bit jarring, though--I can't put my finger on exactly why. I adore the green curtains.

jlc, love the rich colors...very warm and welcoming.

Jlc712, I love your room, especially how you mixed colors and patterns.

Thanks Daisy, you just took care of next week's DAT for me, yay! That will be so fun here, I love F&B, and imagine how great it would be if one of us won!! I also really like Lauren Liess.

The contest ends on the 31st (!!!). According to Lauren's last paragraph, you need to "share a moodboard on Instagram featuring a Farrow & Ball paint or paper, hashtag it #myfabmoodboard , tag it with @farrowandball and follow them by August 31st." While I'm happy to do a mood board, I'm to much of a Luddite to figure out what that bit of social networking jibberish means and actually enter the contest.

Auntjen, I love the blues and greens palette! Especially with the stone and white textures. Very nice!

Crl, you always come up with such serene, peaceful designs! Very elegant.

Cawaps, very moody, makes me think of a dark city apartment and does evoke the feeling of the movie, which i loved! Hence the title this week. Dennis Hopper was so creepy & bizarre :-)

Patrick, that is a ton of pattern, but I like it, and can see it working in a big loft space.

Crl #2, again very subtle and pretty, and it reminds of the Great Plains/northern prairies for some inexplicable reason!

Annie, it was fun to see the bright yellow with the sofa-- I would never have thought to go in that direction, but it's fresh. The all-blue is very somber, isn't it? It's a good thing for me to remember, that blue really benefits from a little bright color.

Thanks for the nice comments. I think that may be my favorite moodboard I've done so far. It really is my own personal taste and combines things I really like and would love to live with. Even if the antique Persian rug would cost months of my paycheck :-)

Ugh. Perhaps I should've read the rules first! I don't hashtag or tweet or follow or Instagram, and don't have time before the 31st! Boo, I was excited, but that's not happening :-(

I know! I even asked my teenager to help me and she didn't know how!