Yes, you CAN do blue in the mountains.

Let's step out of the box and consider a new and somewhat unconventional color scheme for cabins and rustic mountain lodges.

Brown is the decorating color of choice in so many mountain interiors. When color is added, it is often with the addition of red or mustard yellow in toss pillows or area rugs, but really, brown prevails.  I see it all the time...brown leather sofas, brown wood walls, brown hardwoods on the floors, brown beams and wood clad ceilings, brown wooden furniture. Brown, brown and more brown!

There's nothing wrong with brown really, but...

Why not choose a pretty color scheme?  Why not choose cheerful, cozy, enveloping and comforting colors?  Why not a color scheme that works during the heat of the summer as well as the cold of the winter?  Why not blue?

And just to show how it's done, here is a Catskills interior by Rob Southern photographed by Peter Murdock for Veranda Magazine.  

This is a beautiful room.  The colors are so welcoming.  The carpet and drapes soften the room and create an enveloping comfort.  So many clients do not want draperies when I first start  with them and I often have to work hard to convince them, but these photos show how much curtains add to the architectural impact of a mountain home.  Without them, this interior would seem much harder, colder and darker.  Where the room now has both pretty feminine and rugged masculine aspects, it would be more masculine, dark and handsome without curtains.  The curtains and carpet also create a sense of warmth that would be very welcome on a cold winter day and yet the fresh blue color keeps the room cool enough for summer.   

Rugged log detailing contrasts with refined furniture choices--my favorite combo.

In the dining room, not too fancy, not too lodge-y.  Just simple good taste.  

A beautiful place to sleep.  Again, the curtains are so pretty and I'm absolutely mad about the nubby carpet texture.  It's almost like a wonderful fisherman knit sweater for the floor.  Crisp white bedding, the perfect shade of blue paint on the walls, a few fantastic antiques and a gorgeous fireplace--what more could you want in a mountain bedroom?  

The house is beautifully situated on a sloping lot with brilliant views.  

A great big deck detailed with perfection in more blue and white!

So how do you feel about brown now?