Summer Flowers

White wicker on a porch with flowers. A classic.  My sister gave me the little yellow birdhouse and it is perfect in this planter.  I am eager to plant and weed now that the weather is warmer.  Porches and decks are the perfect way to bridge the gap between indoors and outdoor gardens.

Tripartite Wall!

You can imagine the dirty look I got from the painter when I told him I had yet another shade of green for the ceiling which you can not see in this photo but trust me, looked great. (We can discuss   working with contractors at another time.) The room was surrounded with greenery outside as if all the glass in the room provided yet another wall paper. The fern plant is a nice touch but it also has historical reference.  Nineteen century individuals of economic means (those who could afford it) were enamored of foreign lands.  Especially the British who were not only enamored with other countries but busy trying to concur them. And exotic plants that came from far away lands became all the rage.  If you ever get to visit a historic home from that time period - like Mark Twain's house - you will see rooms and atriums devoted to cultivating and keeping rare or warm weather plants alive.
The wall paper here is from the William Morris collection and designed by him. It comes in lots of colors.  I did not put any paper in the frieze (top part of the wall) and I chose greens that can be found within the paper.

Spring is here!   Well, this winter was a disappointment to those of us who enjoy the  blankets of snow,  But spring is always welcome and I started buying flowers already.  I need the colors.  But because of my deer friends, I can not plant them in the yard among the daffodils as I would like.  So I will have to make up pots and window boxes for the deck.

Three-part Walls

Common in the 19th century was the tripartite wall treatment.  Dado, fill and frieze.  Here, the frieze on top is an acanthus leaf pattern that rolls along and moves your eye around the room.  The fill is a small print paper from William Morris and the dado is a paneling stopping at around chair rail height.  This elaborate wall treatment is not often used these days.  But it is a good thing to know about in case you ever find yourself in a home that has the wooden paneling like this house did.  A contemporary room might benefit from a border or frieze - maybe paneling.  Stealing ideas from the past is one of my favorite ways to get decorating ideas.

a place for the fairies to live ...

This was the part of my garden I did not really tame.  I let the wild roses grow.  I had read somewhere many years ago that if you want fairies in your garden (and who doesn't?) you need to let a piece of it be wild.  I am quite sure the fairies lived here and were very grateful.  : )

Rules and Rooms

This is my living room, and I must tell you that I think I purr when I walk in here.  Especially when the sun is streaming in the window this way.  The french doors lead out to a little porch. (Which, by the way, needs some work and when I get it done, I will post a photo.)  Otherwise this is a great place to be alone for a nap or quiet reading or to with a group - and yes, that is a television against the wall beyond the fireplace.  I heard Bunny Williams speak once at a Ladies Club (of which I am not a member) and she said if you want people to use a room put a t.v. in it.  I could almost hear the doyennes gasp.  I wanted to kiss her.  Maybe you have the type of family that gathers to talk or play games (and yes, we do that in this room also) but having the option to pull the flat screen out to face the sofas and watch movies has been delightful.  Consequently, the room gets tons of use and is not just a show piece.
Notice the red Bokhara rugs - a very strong color.  There is little color elsewhere - only dots of red here and there, but still it is a warm, lively, and colorful space. (See other COLOR posts)

So people ask me now and then about rules of decorating,  There are very few - Because it is in the breaking of rules that new designs are born.  BUT if you want to hear a few things that should be avoided.... this room is a good place to discuss them.
1.  Avoid placing the back of sofa to be seen when you enter a room.  Sofa tables are made for this.  Done.

2.  Avoid having seating without a place to set a drink.  End tables and coffee tables should be available for each place someone sits.
3.  Don't make someone reach more than is comfortable - a table set about 18-24 inches away from the chair seat should be fine.
3.  Allow for walking space around furniture but major pathways need about 3 feet.
4.  Think about the room as a whole.  For example:
Look at the table behind the sofa that is against the wall.  The reason that piece is there is because the room is long and narrow.  If the sofa were against the wall, the coffee table (which is centered in line with the smaller sofa as well as the center of the French doors) would be too far away to reach when sitting there.  And if I pull the sofa away from the wall, the room is not wide enough to create a 3 foot walkway behind it - the small sofa and the coffee table would be way off center and the room would be unbalanced.
5.  Think about balance - not only left and right but high and low - you need some tall, some low pieces.  Not only size but color, and texture and pattern add visual weight.
6.  Don't overlap seating pieces.  In other words, the arm of one should not end in front of another arm.  Almost common sense but I see people do it now and then.
But the end result is that this room says, "Come in, sit, and for goodness sake, smile!"

V

Vintage Kitchen

This hutch was very pretty.  I designed it to look like the cabinetry that was in the butler's pantry in an old house we restored.

 It looked like a free standing piece of furniture - which is what I wanted - but it was attached to the wall.   I put marble on top of it and wall paper around it and it had great personality and was great storage.

The challenge was to create a kitchen that felt vintage but was clean and bright and colorful.  This photo shows how well that worked here.

Speaking of Chairs....  I bought this chair at a neighbor's tag sale for $10.  Scary as it looks in the top picture I thought it was interesting.   I had wanted to refinish the wood - hoping it was mahogany but the woman I brought it to said she tried to bring it back but it was not great wood.  The red tones must have come from paint not the wood.  So I painted it white and re-upholstered it in a fabric I knew would go in many different rooms.

More Chairs

This little chair cost me $8.00 at a tag sale many years ago.  I thought that was a lot considering the condition it was in, but like a puppy in the pound, it had grabbed my heart.  I painted it white and got this eyelet white cushion for it and it has been in my bedroom, bathroom, and now, at least for this photo, my foyer.
Since we are in the foyer, I wanted to talk about this wallpaper.  It was one of the first things I did to this house when we moved in.  The whole house had been covered with off-white paint - obviously a realtor had told the seller to make everything neutral and the whole house was SO neutral and boring that it sat on the market for more than a year.  It should have been presented as a colonial-revival Cape from 1930 with tons of classic charm and details.  Instead, it had been white-washed into neither modern nor traditional and had lost all its personality.   My mission has been to restore the charm and feeling of the time period.  And this wallpaper set the mood for me.

My husband built the book shelf into what was an empty hole in the wall where a radiator had once been.  When the heating system was updated years earlier, the radiator had been removed, and the metal cover had been put back into place.  Because of the radiator hole, this shelf only sticks out into the room a few inches but the depth of the shelves is more like ten inches.  Finding that hole to me was a chance to add character to the foyer.

Wallpaper is actually out of style, if you want the fashion scoop.  I don't care.  I love it, and this room seemed to beg for it.  I wanted that outside feeling of an ivy-covered  English cottage to follow you inside.  I think it gives the feeling of another time but is still fresh and interesting.  

"Stick to the things you love.  An honest room is always up to date."  Billy Baldwin

Chairs

I have a real problem with buying chairs.  I used to bring home chairs like they were stray cats that needed a home.  I think I have rarely met a chair I did not like.  The thing with chairs is that they are sculptural and iconic, and if only one item needs to be chosen to illustrate a design era or concept, it is often a chair.  To me, they have personalities and I love to draw them.
I drew this chair - based on the French fauteuil - Louis XVI - or Neoclassical in style.  The legs are one of the main things you look at to determine style.  These legs are like a saber -  yup, that pretty delicate look is actually a military design.  And the back is a shield design.  Sigh.  Men.  Well, it still gives the impression of a pretty little chair that Marie Antoinette (wife of Louis XVI) would upholster in pink silk and use in her bedroom, doesn't it?
Fauteuil is a French term but all kinds of countries took the idea and made it their own - you may see Italian, Swedish, German, English to name some.  Despite the military references, this is one of my favorite designs.  
Chairs are sort of my hobby - so I draw them from real life, photos, or from my imagination.  I will be sharing lots of my drawings of chairs and their settings.

Golden Tones

The wall paper used in this hallway is a design by William Morris.  Notice that the paper goes up to a picture molding and then there is paint above.  The golden tones of the monochromatic paper and the reddish tones in the wood made this hallway a place to linger.  Not only was the paper accurate for the style and time period of the house (1900 arts and crafts) but it was also quite stunning.

Who knows why one image grabs you and another doesn't?  I drew this stone pillar a year or so ago.  It sat by the side of the road in a layer of fresh snow with a simple green wreath and red ribbon.  I think the fact that you could not see the house from the end of the driveway was part of the intrigue. I could only think that if the lamppost was this tasteful and lovely, the house must be beautiful.  I may never have a house that merits something like this at the end of the drive, but I took the image with me, and with it, lessons on rustication, proportion, natural materials, understatement, and quiet elegance.

A Room with Personality

There is something very lived-in and comfortable about this room.  The colors are warm and the furniture is all very comfy, albeit eclectic.
I had a friend in high school and her mom and dad were so cool.  They were both professors and their house was old and big and filled with books and artifacts and old comfy furniture.  I went there one night for fondue - I thought it was so Bohemian!  I guess that house had some impact on me.  This room captures that feeling.  I am not sure I am explaining it very well but I find this room interesting -  a lot to look at and you just want to walk in, sit down with your feet up, grab the throw blanket and start reading.
Another interesting thing about this room is the patterns.  I count four or five patterns just from this view and I know there were more in the room.  The reason I think it all works is that, as an eclectic space, it appears to have evolved over time - and it did to some extent.   All the patterns have a similar color palette, and the red and green pillows pick up the rose tones and greens. The antiques, the overstuffed chairs, the mirror - they all have a story and it all makes the room alive, warm, interesting, and unique.

Glimpse of White

I love color, but I think there is something soothing and spiritual about white.  This is a little corner of a sun room I had once.  I found the hanging wicker lamp thrown in a corner of a furniture store and I think the sales man was laughing at me when I bought it.  This room was lovely.  I try not to dwell on the past or on rooms I've left, and I try to live in the present in the rooms I create today but...this was a room in a million.

Color 102
Continuing the color discussion....
In Color 101, I talk about letting one color win.  To this end, I have placed complimentary color cards from Sherwin-Williams end to end and...ta da! The colors that match up next to each other are all very nice combinations.  With the exception of the center of the cards, we can easily imagine these colors as a basis for a room design.  The center colors would work together too if you include neutrals and allow one of them be the dominant color.  Again, think about nature (and there are few color mistakes in nature) and the colors of a cherry tree - predominantly green with dots of red or pink.  Exquisite!
Now imagine the two darkest colors together (intense!) and, if used in equal amounts, they will fight one another.  Your eyes can't handle it and you will find it uncomfortable.  Pairing the two pale colors will be less about fighting each other and more about having very little impact.  The middle green with the lightest pink would make a nice springtime combination or one of the middle pinks with the lightest green.  Rules are not really hard and fast here - so have fun and look for colors that make you want to smile inside!

Purple

I designed this apartment on a budget for a friend of mine.  She really loves purple which was a challenge.   Purple is considered the hardest color in design.  I used lots of neutrals in the space and the room works well.  I love the little armless chair in grey with the lavender pillow.  The chandelier is a Juliska globe - and I was pleased with the light it gives off - it feels like being under water and somehow echoes the swirls in the rug.

Boats at sunset

I took this picture without a fancy lens or filter.  I just pointed and clicked.  The  colors amaze me.  But let's talk more about training the eye and imagine the photo without the leaves in the foreground.  I do not think this photo would be nearly as interesting or well-framed without them.  The leaves in the foreground inform the viewer about the position of the photographer, and so we get more information and a frame not only for the photo but a frame of reference.  The contrast of the black leaves against the purple sky also adds another color dimension.

Color 101

Let's talk about color.  Choosing color seems to send people into panic mode.  Let me just say one thing:

You aren't marrying the color. 

Experiment.  

Things to consider- Combining colors can change them.  Day light or lamp light can change them.  Colors look different in north-facing rooms from south-facing rooms.  Paint colors look different on wood than on sheetrock and different still in semi-gloss and flat.

Now let's discuss Christmas. Its all about Red and Green - great at Christmas, but put them together any other time and you want to vomit.  That's because the red and green of Christmas are the same intensity and are used in the same amounts.  If you want colors to work together, one color needs to win.  Either in intensity or in the amount. Green with small amounts of red (think apple trees) works.  Red with accents of greyish-green (like my flower above) also work.  If you pit colors against each other they fight, and the eye gets tired and wants to look away.  Study fabric designs that you like and I bet you will learn something about color combinations, intensity, and the use of neutrals.  

Neutrals are colors we really can't identify as a color on the color wheel.  So beige, creams, greys, whites, blacks - can act as great ways to mitigate or soften the intensity of colors. 

So if you really want a red sofa, consider a beige rug and white walls.  Or if you have deep blue carpets consider off-white sofas or cream walls and consider using other colors very sparingly. 

And remember...let one color win.

The Flowers of Summer
It's only February but some days I long for the flowers of summer.  These giant hibiscus are as big as a dinner plate.  Each bloom lasts a day, and the petals are as soft as wet tissue.

This garden was one of my favorites, and these giant hibiscus were one of my favorite flowers.  I have included them in every garden I have had since then.