Hello Sheffield Students and Graduates,

We are pleased to announce a new feature on the Sheffield Forum, one designed to inspire creativity and foster conversation: the Design Challenge!

Each month, we will post a new design challenge open to all members. Submissions will be received within a set deadline and a winner will be selected by our staff. A different prize will be awarded each month.

This month’s challenge is “Autumn Hues.” All of you know that color is a central consideration of design: whether for a living room, a garden, or just the table linens at a wedding, color can make or break atmosphere, mood, and balance. In honor of color’s eminent role in Interior Design, Event Planning, and Feng Shui, our inaugural challenge has been crafted to test your color creativity.

We want you to create an autumnal color palette for the design of a space or of a seasonal wedding or event. Special consideration will be given to entries that include a short “story” explaining how you would use the palette. Don’t be afraid to experiment with colors and to be bold and self-expressive with your selections – everything doesn’t have to be orange and brown

The palette must include a minimum of three colors.

To help you on your way, please check out these two online tools for color selection:

http://www.brides.com/planning/receptions/colorstudio/
http://colorschemedesigner.com/
http://www.ficml.org/jemimap/style/color/wheel.html

The challenge will run from today until 11:59pm on November 1, 2009. You may submit a maximum of two (2) color palettes.

The lucky winner will receive an official Sheffield School tee-shirt, as well as The Domino Book of Decorating, a fabulous guide to “creating a home that makes you happy.” The editors at this beloved former magazine were arbiters of great style, and this book is a collection of their best tips and ideas.

Post your entries as responses to this challenge!

Good luck!

My submission for the October challenge is for a simple yet elegant guest bedroom. The colors I chose are light grey, cream, white, muted kelly green, and charcoal, to give it a cool and natural mood. The walls would be painted light grey with gauzy white curtains on the windows. The bed frame and nightstand are an unfinished light pine with charcoal rods (photo attached), with white linens. I would use green as an accent color in the accessories, such as the attached photo of a vintage clock and an opaque white vase of flowers with cream colored blooms. I would also accessorize the room with photos of woodland animals (photo attached) with charcoal frames. I imagine this guest room to be in a cottage in a small town in Colorado that I hope to one day live in.

My palette is for an October wedding or event. I love burgundy and jewel tone reds, and I also love chocolate browns. I think it is a good time of year to bring them into the spotlight as the weather cools.

My palette combines the classic reds and browns of Fall with a complement of navy blue and a counterpoint of pewter gray with touches of lavender. It is masculine with space for white, cream, and shades of gray-blue. The couple using this palette for their Fall wedding would have an old country theme, inspired by the Scottish Highlands. The bridesmaid dresses and ribbons on the brides dress and bouquet would be gray-lavender. The flowers and foliage would be red, gray, and white. At the reception, the linens would alternate in shades of navy and chocolate brown, the flowers would be red in brushed metal containers, and the plates and napkins would be white.

Here is my automnal color palette. I prefered to post the room to give you a better idea of how I will use the color in the living room for the floor, wall and window treatment, upholstery, paintings, cushions... I match the color of the room with the first painting on the right wall and I just add the purple to enhance the room, and give a sense of harmony.

The Whitney Museum is currently doing a retrospective on artist Georgia O'Keefe, so my inspiration for my Autumn hue palette is from her painting, Black Iris. The colors are mauves and grays. I also added silvers and jewel-tone purples to provide punch, creating a sophisticated look to any room in the house.

My submission for the October “Autumnal color palette” could be applied in the large living room.
The colors I choose are welcoming the fall. They are crimson, purple, plum, mauve, and chartreuse green, raspberry with golden details in order to show all luxurious gifts from the nature.
The walls could be painted in light mauve or light lavender color with the exception of one wall that will be covered in purple tissue, with golden “fleur de lys” or floral patterns.
Curtains will be transparent and in purple color as well.
The furniture will be combination of modern and antique pieces…..
I will include wardrobe painted in mauve and “Commode- buffet” Louis XV, painted in “dark plum” with “chartreuse green” interior….Carvings will be painted in mat-golden color.
Modern “raspberry” sofa will be the central piece in the living-room together with Willy Rizzo table.
I would also accessorize the room with 18th and 19th century stools, mirror, paintings, candlesticks and lightening. Beautiful crimson chrysanthemums in light-pink vase will be combined with green ivy and will make a perfect contrast. Instead of ordinary carpet I will take a beautiful "Bosnian kilim" (rich in color, featured with traditional Bosnian patterns), that is de facto the base of my “autumn color palette” and I picked colors from it to create the room's final scheme...

My choice for this autumn is a piece of wood use as furniture or as a sculpture in the space ( att.001 ) and accordingly an entire spectar of brown colors. Beside brown, the other colors are peacock blue, sunny yellow, warm red and of course inevitable trendy purple.
Although every one of those colors perfectly goes with the others, my choice would be as att. No.002 which completely fits the style of solid wood which I prefer in this autumn scheme. In this shape next to sunny yellow loveseat I would put a peacock blue couch or a small armchair. Than the rest of the colors could be used only in details, like a vase, pillow or just a bouqet flowers on the table ( att.003 )

For the October Design Challenge, I was inspired by a picture that I had taken at the New York Botanical Gardens this past spring. The palette would include deep purples, accented with lighter shades of purple and ivory. The color scheme can be used in a fall wedding or event, for someone who wants to stir in a different direction from the usual reds, oranges, browns, and yellows of fall.

My color palette is designed for a very elegant Halloween party. There is no black or orange, not even in the pumpkins! All the pumpkins, actually, are white or ivory, as is most of the decorations. The secondary color is a bright, solidago yellow, simple but bright and eye-catching as a contrast. As an accent color, I would use a metallic gold to add a touch of elegance and interest.