Crimson and Blue

Last night, my alma mater, KU, beat Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl. Now, I’ve been to a couple Final Fours in my day, but football was never our strong suit and I spent a lot more time at the Wheel than Memorial Stadium.


But it was fun to watch the Jayhawks play football in January. We looked so snappy in our red jerseys with the blue helmets. I’m sorry to say, but Virginia Tech’s maroon and white combination left me a little cold. And, you might think this is shocking, but they seemed to be accenting their colors with a dash of orange. I know, try not to think about it.


But, in honor of the ‘Hawks and their bowl victory, today’s post is crimson and blue.

Possibly Jackye Lantham.
There are a lot of nautical images that could have been posted, but I restrained myself – only two.

I think this is Delphine and Reed Karkoff’s beach house. I think.


A couple of these might look familiar as The Peak of Chic did a little something on primary colors a while back.

Southern Accents on Color.

It’s a tricky combination to pull off and not feel like The Star Spangled Banner should be playing in the background.

Albert Hadley, The Story of America’s Preeminent Interior Designer.


Did you notice the jazzy blue stripe down the pant leg? Even the producer liked our colors better. What would you rather see? Crisp clear blue with a dash of red. Or white. With maroon. And a little orange. Sounds like an ensemble one of my boys would but together.

Farrow and Ball, The Art of Color.
I uploaded the images earlier in the evening, but I had to wait on the text as any reference might have been construed by Mr. Blandings as a “jinx.” You can never be too careful. If it weren’t so late, I might look for something with a little maroon, white and orange.





Photographer Oberto Gili’s farm in Italy, House and Garden, Nov. 2005.

Then again, maybe not. It would be so hokie.*

* We are, of course, sensitive to the terrible tragedy at Virginia Tech last year. If this post is, in any way, considered insensitive, I do apologize.
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14 thoughts on “Crimson and Blue

  1. My big brother went o Virginia Tech and is a “Hokie”
    I always loved visiting and going to the games.
    Love red and blue.

  2. I love that Michelle Nussbaumer library. It’s in one of my inspiration notebooks.

  3. I thought the colors of VA Tech were maroon and orange ( an AWFUL color combination!! ).

  4. Change – that is disturbing on so many levels. I knew I should have googled them last night.

  5. Whats even more disturbing is that me, a sports HATER who didn’t even go to VATech knows that! LOL I guess just because it’s a local school.

  6. Maroon and Orange… can there be a more hideous combination? Blue and red, now that’s a classic combination.

  7. Straight from the VTech website, “During 1896, a committee was formed to find a suitable combination of colors to replace the original colors of black and gray, which appeared in stripes on athletic uniforms and presented an image resembling prison uniforms.

    The committee selected burnt orange and Chicago maroon after discovering that no other college utilized this particular combination of colors.[Hmmm..for good reason maybe?] Burnt orange and Chicago maroon were officially adopted and were first worn during a football game versus nearby Roanoke College on Oct. 26, 1896.

  8. Mrs. Griswald – see what I would have found if I’d done a little research? Actually, the fact that that has been the combo since 1896 makes it a bit better. I’m a sucker for tradition. Straight men were clearly in charge.

  9. Mrs. blandings, upon further reflection my post came across a bit haughty. After watching the game I would have thought the team colors included grey for sure. I did laugh out loud when I learned the color change to maroon and orange was thought to be an improvement over prison stripes. That was the spirit of my previous post.

  10. Clever girl! Congrats on a victory and an collection of crimson and blue rooms to covet.

  11. Mrs. Griswald – I did not take your comment to be haughty at all – I was so glad to have the update!

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