2 Retro Inspired “Regency” Living Rooms With A Dash of Red

Mary Greetis living room

I am attracted to a Hollywood Regency style. I like for things to be over the top and costumey. Here are two living rooms that I have stumbled across that I like. The first room is a Mary Greetis living room. It’s pretty stark and really benefits from the pops of red orange. It isn’t very Hollywood Regency but it is quirky and fun thanks to the Jonathan Adler lamps. We have 2 picture windows in our great room this size and it is nice to see how others decorate with such a ridiculous aquarium windows.

The other room is from somewhere. I can’t remember. It is just a close-up of a mantel but I do like quirkiness of it all. It’s a good use of symmetry. The red really pops in this space as well. And I need to find a use for all of the silly 60’s-70’s Baroque style picture frames and mirrors that I have collected from thrift stores and spray painted over the years. I think that this display is a nice use of somebody’s collection.

I think this last room fits more of the Regency style. It’s symmetrical.

These rooms aren’t OTT Hollywood Regency but they do have a retro Regency “don’t take yourself too seriously” vibe.

-Victoria

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Our Great Room Lighting

Our great room lighting

I am aware that I complain about lighting frequently. I rarely find things that I like and if I do, it is expensive. I do feel that lighting is a nice investment since it adds so much character to your home. It may not make you money in the long run since it is such a taste game but it really does tie your look together. I can’t afford to purchase all of my dream lighting at once. Or maybe ever… The great room was difficult for us. We want a formal room, something creepy and stuffy. We also wanted to purchase antique period lighting but I couldn’t’ find anything to suit the home. The lighting was either too large for our 30’s suburban home or just too craftsman. Nothing seemed to fit our home’s personality. And I’m not paying $800+ for something that isn’t perfect. The room’s lighting was replaced by the previous owner with the ugliest and cheapest “spot” lighting ever. We had to get rid of it, quick. It was disgusting and only one light bulb worked. I wanted something nautical or octopus like, I can’t afford a Walacavage at this time. While rummaging through our Habitat for Humanity’s building salvage yard, I found this lighting. At 1st, hubby wasn’t having it. He thought it appeared too “normal” and “McMansion” or trying too freak’n hard to be affluent. I told him he had to trust me. And if he didn’t like it, we were only going to lose $8. I purchased globe vanity bulbs to make it look less traditional and to make it look more 60’s and octopus-ish. David put it up and really liked it. It goes well with our dark, cave-like room. And with bulbs and all, it was under $18.

-Victoria

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Chartreuse Garden Shed

"salvage" garden shed featured in Sunset

Since the weather is much nicer and we have had enough of winter, we’ve been thinking about our exterior and gardening way too much. I saved this pic of this “salvage” shed from Sunset magazine sometime ago, before we even purchased our home. I loved the fun chartreuse shade of this garden shed hidden in a PNW jungle. It is so striking and sooo West Coast. And this shed is in Port Orchard, WA,  our neighbors across the inlet. The article contained interesting info and listed the plants in this garden. They seem to thrive in our environment. Since I am a transplant, I’ve had to study what works here. Sunset magazine has been very helpful for that.

Anyways, I’ve revisited this article (here) over and over again because this really, really resembles our exterior colors. Our house turned out this green, not what we expected, but we will live with it and like it. Our trim is a chocolate brown just like this shed. The difference is that our house is much larger and taller than this quaint, cute shed and we have no landscaping. Our lawn is naked and neglected. The chartreuse shade of our house can be seen miles away, I think, or so the neighbors tell each other. No lovely hydrangeas are breaking up the green from the curb. When I look at this picture, I realize that our colors didn’t turn out too bad. We will work with it. It’s unexpected and chartreuse is my favorite shade of green and green is my favorite color. This article/feature makes me want to go out and dig, plant, and turn crazy things into planters. It also makes me feel good about our unexpected color choice. I liked it when it was featured in a magazine, why wouldn’t I like it for myself?

-Victoria

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2 Dramatic Dark Living Rooms with a Pop of Fuschia

I used to think that dark rooms only existed because they photograph well. I thought that “real” people didn’t have dark rooms because they didn’t look good in “real” life. I’ve painted a few rooms in our home dark. They look just as good in my working home as they do in pictures. Dark colors have so much impact and drama. This is why I’m attracted to the two featured here.

Design Sponge living room

This first room was featured on Design Sponge. I love the slap in the face of hot pink. It is stunning. Not much more to say. This is about the color of our living room, or at least the color that it appears in pictures. We have a bust of Napoleon painted that shade of pink on the built-ins. Napoleon really adds something. I am all about contrast anyways. That’s why I like black and white floors, zebra prints, and wild trim colors.

Anyways, I love this room. The colors are amazing. It is sophisticated but still very “young” feeling without being too perky. It has a certain moodiness. Oh, and great lighting too. The thing about dark rooms is that you need many, many different light sources: overhead lighting, windows, floor lamps, table lamps, sconces, candles, anything that gives off light. Different light sources transform the room and makes so many different “moods”. This room also uses texture nicely. You have a glossy hot pink coffee table, painted floors with a sheen, fuzzy maize throw pillow, mysterious silky purple throw pillows, and matte walls. It all works so nicely together and adds so much interest.

The other living room was featured in Homes and Gardens. It has the same feel of the Design Sponge room. It’s dark with these shocking bold colors and diverse textures. I assume that this room is hand painted but it may be wallpaper.

Homes and Garden living room

I don’t recall. This room is all about the walls. Of of the colors are taken from the design on the walls. I love chocolate brown and chartreuse together. The fuchsia adds so much too. The textures are so luxurious but the colors are a bit unexpected. Somehow this room has crushed purple velvet chairs but it doesn’t look like a blaxploitation pimp decorated the room . (Actually the room would probably be much more fabulous if it was decorated by a pimp character actor). Anyways, I love this room because it takes so many “me-maw” elements such as throw pillows, “wallpaper”, glassware, “slipcover” upholstery, and this formal living room still looks “young”.

These dark rooms do have something else in common: they are both large with tall ceilings. I think this is another reason why these rooms don’t feel claustrophobic.

-Victoria

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More Cute Jewelry Storage

I have such a jewelry storage issue. I have many cute things that I often forget about. My jewelry storage solution that I have had for the past 5 years is a cardboard liquor box with different plastic baggies filled with vintage brooches, Etsy finds, and silly costume jewelry. This is a mess. I never wear any of it and I don’t even know what I have. I’ve been on a jewelry storage expedition. Since my life is a bit more permanent now that I’m not renting, I feel it is time to unpack the accessories. I’ve looked at jewelry armoires. They seem to be very practical with spaces for everything. However, I don’t wear earrings and the craftsmanship of such armoires seem to vary. I’ve missed all of Target’s mega jewelry armoire blow-outs after Christmas. Argh! I could of got a decent one for $30! Oh, well. I also want something cuter than the generic mass retailer jewelry storage solution. I would love to have an old piece of storage furniture from a pharmacy or something. That will take some time to find and it is costly. I really like this jewelry medicine cabinet that I found on marthastewart.com. This idea doesn’t hold too much but it would be nice for necklaces and brooches and hat pins. I always find cute 30s era medicine cabinets at our local Habitat for Humanity salvage outlet. I always want to pick them up but I can’t think of anything to do with them. Now I can. I could line it with a luxurious fabric and use adorable fleur de lys pin hooks to hold necklaces. I also come across metal cabinets. All I would need for those are magnetic hooks. This would also be a cute storage option for delicate fragrance oils. I would say that I could easily do this project for under $30 sans my valuable time.

-Victoria

Oh, and Happy Nowruz! We’ve had a great sunny, Saturday!

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Will Our Retro Kitchen Ever Be Finished?

Our unfinished kitchen

I think it is only appropriate to show such a “moody” picture of the kitchen. This is how this kitchen makes me feel. I feel we made many gains quickly and then it stayed in this shape for 4 months. If you need a refresher, I’ll give you one. All of our cabinets and drawers were covered with blue faux fur, think Cookie Monster here, underneath the custom van complex addition, there were layers and layers of paint. This included an adorable mint green with the cutest vintage rose decals ever, too bad that couldn’t be. I think David spent 3 months just removing layers and layers of paint off of the cabinets/drawers. Oh, and Trappy’s Pepper Sauce (rehab homes are not easy may I remind you). Months later and we are still waiting for the fresh coat of white paint to dry on two doors. It then took me a couple of months to find the perfect vintage hardware (not seen in this pic). I did find the perfect hardware and that is a post soon to come. David redid the floor with eco-friendly (I couldn’t resist) and vintage fabulous marmoleum, the white tiles have been salvaged. We ordered the black. The original floor was a wreck, once again, a post in waiting. We did keep the original fixtures. I adore my faucet and my light fixtures and my shallow, long sink. I worked with my pink with gold flake counter top. I do love that as well and would get it new if I could. The walls are painted a ’57 Chevy teal or a milkier Fender Strat in Taos Turquoise, of course not seen in my moody pic.

It’s not the best picture. But, this hasn’t been a picture perfect renovation. It is going to take some time to get there with us both working full-time. I just thought I would share some of the progress we’ve made and to also complain a little about how I live. At least we have a stove and fridge. We lived off of a George Foreman and a mini fridge for many, many months. I guess I shouldn’t complain that one can see my spice collection, tea library, and bare white dishes. There used to be a dead muppet on the doors in there and a wigs worth of crazy bachelor’s hair. Oh, and I forgot the shagadelic, mod felt faces wallpaper!!!

-Victoria

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Chartreuse & Pink “Formal” Living Rooms

Ahh, spring.  Well, maybe not “officially” spring yet. The weather here in the PNW has been so nice (well, for the time being). It’s been very mild and we’ve had more sunny days than usually. The Sound has been beautiful, plum trees are covered in romantic white blossoms, and the days have been so clear that I’ve been able to see snow-covered mountains from many different parts of the house. I have spring fever and it is showing up in my “home” inspirations. Once again, I’m liking the colors we’ve chosen for the house both interior and exterior. I’m liking that we have pinks throughout the house. I’m loving these 2 chartreuse and pink rooms that I have stumbled across. It reminds me of plum blossoms and new spring growth.

"Pink" living room found in Country Living

This first room was found on Country Living’s website. I love the excessive use of petal pink mixed with gilded golds and luxe chartreuse. This room is formal and somehow it manages to be fun. It’s much more “cozier” than the usual formal living rooms/sitting rooms that I lust over. I also like the wallpaper, or at least I think it is wallpaper, covering the back of the built-in bookcases. Our bookcases in the great room look just like these sans the nice touch of wallpaper. By the time we got to the great room, we were both too tired to do anything too creative. Maybe one day…

This other room was found in House Beautiful. It is much heavier on the chartreuse but it still has the same vibe of the living room found in Country Living. The walls are vibrant and I would say I bit unexpected for such a formal space. I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of seeing pea green. That’s a good thing. Our exterior color is a pea green (by accident) and I’m just going to learn to live with until our funds get replenished…Anyways, back to the room. I like this color combo used in what seems to be a small space. I didn’t know such a small space could look so luxurious.

Green sitting room found in House Beautiful

It’s the curtains. Overly long curtains create a luxe effect.

I’m off to go plant some wheat grass for Nowruz and to tend to our little seedlings. Our dining nook has turned into a green house. We really have to work on some curb appeal. But, I’ll save that for another day.

-Victoria

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Our Bedroom Lighting

I don’t really know what I was going for in our bedroom. I just wanted to use the ceiling medallion that we got for $3. I wanted a bit more of a “gothic” lighting fixture but I didn’t want to spend $600. I purchased this faux colonial one on overstock.com for under $40. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted but it is a nice compromise. When doing a big renovation like this, you have to do that unless your pockets are lined with gold. As you can tell, the chain hasn’t been trimmed yet. Don’t judge us, this is a work in progress 🙂  This room is a bit silly, being that I have a robin’s egg blue painted 4 post bed , a ceiling medallion, a “chandelier”, satin curtains, etc. I did try to balance it with worn out leather doctor’s bags, luggage, and army trunks. Anyways, I just thought I would share some of the little progress we’ve made and my under $50 lighting.

-Victoria

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