Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

It’s the season for sugar plums dancing in your head and in your rooms too. Plum, burgundy, warm reds – whatever you want to call it are a beautiful color to add depth and romance to a room. Add a mulled wine color, warm pomegranate, or a deep burgundy to a room and watch it ground the room and a great way to add depth. While many think this color is hard to work with, re-think it. Plum is quite simply a mixture (mainly) of blues and reds, so what ever goes with those will go with plum.

If you are thinking of using brown or purple in a room, try a plum color instead. It works lovely with ivory, camel, and other soft neutrals to bring a bit of zip. Like any fun color the plum family works well as either the main color in a room, or in this case the accent. With a neutral sofa add an eggplant colored throw or warm raspberry pillow. Add nick-knacks and candles with this fabulous color and you’re on the right track. And of course, look for area rugs that bring this color into your room. Below I’ve gathered some nice examples of area rugs that can make your room dance with sugar plums.



How about a modern twist with this lovely wool area rug from our Nina Upson Home collection? It uses the trendy large traditional motif with a great color combination. This rug is also a good example of how easy it is to work with plum because it is made up of reds and blues. Look at the wonder blue accent in the middle of this rug.


This area rug is a more traditional way to add plum (in this case a dusty grape) to a room. The rug is also a good way to see how well ivory goes with plum. Kas makes this beautiful rug from New Zealand wool, and you can see that that it will easily add some punch to a more formal setting.


So let’s say you don’t have a modern or traditional house, but maybe something more rustic. You might not think that the plum family is the place for more rustic. BUT, this area rug from Milliken will prove you wrong. The rug is made from 100% Stainmaster nylon, uses plum colors through-out and has a very rustic motif. Don’t be afraid to use a more vibrant color in a more rustic setting. This rug proves you shouldn’t be afraid.


Finally, the most oriental of the oriental area rugs, this rug from Momeni. What’s so great about traditional oriental rugs is the versatility they have. You can use them in a modern setting to juxtapose styles, you can use them in a country setting because they are more old fashioned, you can use these rugs in a more casual style. Think of an oriental area rug as a pair of classic black pumps, they go with anything. Plus, this particular one shows you another side to the plum we’ve been working with.

Well, that’s today’s lesson on color, I hope I’ve given you some ideas to add a punch to your rooms and some rugs that give you examples of how to do that.