Color Planning by the Seat of my Pants

Color planning a rug has never been my strong suit; there are colors which I like and definitely know it when certain colors just don't jive together.  But as for pulling colors together to make a great rug and not just an 'okay' rug, my skills are lacking in that area.

Today I chose some wool for the crown/crest and am thinking about mixing these two textures you see together.  I didn't want a bright red so have chosen a red/brown texture and a dark texture which has brown, red and orange.  But before I start hooking it might see what else could work and might take another picture just so I can see it on the monitor.

In Barb's hooked version of the rug she had chosen two different colors for the saddles so figured I'd do the same but didn't want one of mine to be a pink/purple wool.  So thinking the saddles should be different in my rug too, chose a more orange texture that you see in the photo above. 

A hooker friend suggested that perhaps both saddles and bridles should be a green.  So pulled out a couple different greens to see if I want to pull out the saddle and bridle on the right and replace with one of these wools.  And now I see it does provide a triangle for the eye to follow so that idea does have merit.  There is this green texture which is similar but different wool than the leaves on the bottom and different than the saddle on the left.  Louise, must admit it is softer on the eye, thanks.

There is also this over dyed texture below but feel this is too bright compared to the other saddle and leaves.  And frankly believe the green on both saddles is better and makes the eye glide around the rug but my choice would be the wool above. 

Would welcome everyone's thoughts on the saddle colors and frankly would enjoy your ideas on the crown/crest color ideas.  Thanks for dropping by. 

Saundra