2 Royal Purple Quirky Dining Rooms

Candadian House and Home purple dining room

I don’t think I own anything purple when it comes to home decor. I only own a few purple clothing items. I like the color but it is a shade I find intimidating to work with. I don’t know why. I’ve found 2 very fun and slightly formal purple dining rooms that help me see the potential of purple.

This first dining room is from Canadian House to Home. This room is a deep, royal purple shade. It feels light and airy against the white trim and the white wall. I love the mix of white accessories, including a thrifty white paper lantern. The colors paired with this royal purple make this color workable. I love it paired with that 70’s goldenrod shade and cool purpley cement gray. And and don’t forget the temporary pop of fuchsia from the fresh flowers on the table.This room is purple room that I can see easily replicated in a “real” home. Now to the other room…

The other room I found on the blog, Roomenvy. This room is a bit more “busy” than the Canadian House and Home one. I love a bold and obnoxious wallpaper. So does the owner of this dining room. There is purple printed wallpaper on the ceiling. This isn’t that innovative, being that is a very old-fashioned thing to do. And may I add a bitch to remove. It too us forever in our dining nook to remove layers and layers of wallpaper off a small part of the ceiling. Anyways, I like this dining room because it is over the top, right down to the royal purple rug. This isn’t fitting for my home and I’m sick of seeing bold colored shaggy things. Do you remember our blue faux fur covered cabinets? Well, I do and I’ll

Patterned purple dining room

never see shag as something quirky or retro again. So, this room isn’t something that I see easily being replicated in a “real” home but it is fun to look at. I could easily see a “real” dining room incorporating this bold print on fabrics and maybe having a yellow/goldenrod painted walls.

Sorry about the lack of posts lately. I’m doing what I can to wrap up some of these projects before I go back to work. That’s keeping me very busy. And they’re boring projects too. Like cleaning, scrapping, touching up projects. These aren’t those creative projects that I crave.

-Victoria

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Liking Lichen Green Living Rooms

Maire Claire Maison great room

I love a foresty lichen green. Perhaps because I like fungi? Could be it, but these two rooms are tops. This first rooms is from Maire Claire Maison. It was a cool article that took an unbelievably beautiful space to begin with and gave it 3 makeovers. I like the lichen green one for many reasons. Like I said, this was a great room to begin with. It has dark wood floors in immaculate condition. The ceilings are tall and the natural lighting is breathtaking. And there are great features such as millwork, the fireplace, the door hardware. I love the lichen green walls with the milk chocolate brown trim color. This is unexpected and a bit “moody”. The red accents make the green color pop. I like the room because it has a  cozy feel. Open shelves make books accessible and the large ottoman acts as table. And I’m a fan or antlers/horns. You put those in a room and I’m in love. This room has a very “exotic” feel to it because of the color combination and the mix of objects and textiles.

The other room, a foyer, was featured in Coastal Living. I love this room because the color combination is unexpected and I love this earthy green with wood tones. I also like this room because it is a coastal house that isn’t all light and white. I have been totally inspired by this room. I love the salmon door. I would love to see the exterior of this home. But, it looks awesome against the lichen green. I know what that color combo dominating some portion of my house. Lichen green walls and salmon painted thrift furniture or

Coastal Living lichen green foyer

salmon walls with lichen green fabrics…But, all of the colors work in here from the green to salmon to chartreuse to sky blue to sea pebble gray. I love it. Plus, the space isn’t too shabby with the all of the hardwoods. I also like steps playing bookshelf and the cool collection of pictures and how they line the stairs. And I love ship art. Especially ship art in a seaside home.

So, yeah. I’m liking lichen green rooms.

-Victoria

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2 Black & White Striped Bedrooms With Traditional Touches

Black and white striped bedroom

I love black and white stripes. I prefer things that are high contrast and you can’t get much more contrast than black and white stripes. Here are two bedrooms that I’ve stumbled upon featuring a simple color palette of black and white, but it has been jazzed up with stripes. And these rooms have a traditional, classic feel to them.

I wish I knew where this 1st room came from. This bedroom is amazing and I’d love to take a tour of the entire house. This room is traditional. The furniture is immaculate and the pictures are interesting.  The striped wallpaper only makes it better. I’ve considered painting stripes on our walls. However, we have knock down lathe and plaster and it would look stupid. And I don’t have the patience for it. Wallpaper would be nice, but do I have the patience for that either? And our walls are in great shape for 30’s lath and plaster, especially considering its been through some earthquakes. I shouldn’t cover it up. How quickly I forget the process of wallpaper removal!

Looking for bold black and white striped wallpaper? I wish I was. Lots of sites have this type of paper; it’s popular. So popular that The Home Depot carries it for about $35 a bolt.  Don’t read their write up. It’s so lame. You would think that wallpaper was only a product for the young moderns. It actually says, “Today wallpaper is the hip, new approach to

Canadian House and Home bedroom

cover your walls”. OK, maybe read it.

This other room is something that I could do. It’s a super neutral color palette of black and white. Of course it always helps to have awesome architectural details in any living space. This room has great bones. It is from Canadian House and Home. This room incorporates the visual pleasure of stripes with linens. OK, so I can’t get this plantation like room in my house because I don’t have shutters, custom windows, or that ceiling. But, I can buy a striped duvet. I like black and white stripes because they appear to be a more sophisticated alternative to zebra print. And they are so Dorothy Draper glam.

Looking for black and white striped bedding? I’m having a difficult time finding black and white striped bedding that I like, especially for a deal.  It’s all too contemporary or “junior”. It seems so Swedish farm house style that I thought Ikea would have something. They have the fabric but no duvets. Dwell Studio has the “Draper” (told you so). It’s nice but not exactly what I’m looking for…sometimes things just aren’t black and white 🙂

-Victoria

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2 Robin’s Egg Blue & Chartreuse Living Rooms

Living room from Elle Decor

I love robin’s egg blue and chartreuse both as accents but I have came across 2 rooms that use both of these colors as more than just accent colors.

This first room is from Elle Decor magazine. I love the powder blue walls with monochromatic trim. This comes across as a very 60’s Regency look to me. It looks like something that would have been in a swank 60’s hotel in a tropical locale like the Philippines . I love the “classic” accessories such as the lighting and mirrors. I also love any space that displays underwater finds such as coral. The chairs really make the room. OK, so they aren’t quite chartreuse, more acid yellow, but they really add a fun and quirky touch to this otherwise stuffy room. It’s the only “real” color in the room and I like it.

This other room was featured in Cottage Living magazine. Once again this is a “formal” living room that is made fun by the choice of color: robin’s egg blue and chartreuse.

Cottage Living living room

This room also has the addition of a vintage golden orange. This room also puts off a 60’s Regency vibe. I love these colors together. They are bold without being obnoxious.

I really love “icy” shades paired with bold ones. I love a combo of powder blue and chartreuse, pale lilac and grapefruit, mint sorbet and fire engine red. These are those great retro color combinations that I feel many of us “young moderns” overlook.

-Victoria

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Books & Drama: 2 Black Libraries

I’ve been a blogging slacker! I do apologize. We’ve been neck-deep in projects. We have made progress and since we both have 2 weeks off, I will update! I’ve had time to revisit decorating. A few months ago that was not exciting and too overwhelming. I just wanted a clean, dust-free place to eat. I didn’t care what I ate on. Now that things are starting to look like a “real” house, I am feeling rejuvenated again. I feel like I can do this and perhaps even finish it…well…maybe not to my personal standards but it can be a “presentable” place. This week we have been working on the glamorous dining nook that we gave up on in September.

Badgley Mischka dining room

Anyways…today I have been inspired by these moody and dark rooms. We painted the “great” room and it is dark but less moody than I want. So, I am going to take a few pointers from these 2 rooms.

This first room is from the master of romantic, glamorous design: Badgley Mischka. I am obsessed with his old Kentucky home. I adore this black library/dining room. I keep scaring myself away from doing the house in dark colors. We painted the “great” room a dark liver and I love it. Dark adds drama, it photographs well, and it isn’t scary in real life. I am a bit sad that I didn’t paint my built-ins black. I was too overwhelmed at the time and couldn’t make such choices. I just needed a place to live. Back to this room…I love every accent. One can’t go wrong with horns and pewter. Badgley is the only man on the planet that I know of that can make an old, rustic Kentucky home look dramatic and glamorous while still keeping that certain rural “charm”.

The second room is a more feminine and something that I found on Southern Accents. This black library is just as dark and moody but it does have plenty more knick-knacks (less books) and girly touches. I swoon over that light fixture as well. I love the metals in this room. Pair these colors with something chrome and you’ve got something that looks too

Southern Accents black library

player/bachelor.  My only complaint about the room is that I hate hanging textiles as decoration. It looks too “dressing room”.  That is just a personal pet peeve.

Well, now I am second guessing my design choices of my remodel. I want something dark. Dark really works if you have lots of interesting stuff. For years, I’ve tried to stay away from stuff but I am finally giving in to my personality fault. I love to spend weekends at antique and thrift stores. I just have to learn how to do it “right”, how to have stuff but not to look like a pack-rat and a clutterer. It’s coming along.

I guess I should start helping David sand the plaster down in that dining nook. Aren’t our vacations just pathetic? Happy holidays.

-Victoria

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Toad Stools: Mushroom Seating & A Cute Parisian Apartment

It is almost my favorite time of the year: full fledge fall. I have always loved autumn because of fall fashions (love layering), falling leaves, the smell of decay, cooler weather, pumpkin spiced lattes, and mushrooms. David and I are mushroom hunters. This keeps us outside when the weather is less than perfect. It’s actually fun to be out in the misty rain with decaying leaves just to spot their strange shapes, odors, and colors. We eat what we know is safe, very obvious ones, but mainly I just love mushrooms for their strangeness. (And when I say we hunt mushrooms, I must add that we are all about the non-psychotropic types). It is almost prime mushroom time here in the forests of Washington. We went out today and saw a few. It was nice to see after the dryness and hotness of our freakish summer. Since we are mushroom fans, we are always happy to spot mushroom decor. I’m always on the “hunt” for mushroom home items. I love this toad stool found at Velocity. It’s a bit costly at $297 and many local artists in the PNW can create one of these for much cheaper. But, anyways, I love these but I didn’t know how to use it without looking too cheesy, nerdy, hobit-ish or make it work with what I like. I found this Parisian apartment online and fell in love with it. It is very whimsy, but still classic and functional and totally what I am in to.

Parisian apartment

It is a very inspiring room for the fungi fanatic. Every detail is so interesting. It’s classy and a bit unexpected. This is how I want our house to be. A bit stuffy but with a sense of humor. I love the beach pebble lilac grey walls of the sitting room/dining room area against the contrast of the pickle green wallpaper. (I must add I adore the dog paintings, wouldn’t it be cool to have Gig paintings over a formal sofa like that?) I feel this space is so charming and functional. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to have a location in Paris, amazing woodwork, perfect hardwood floors, and towering ceilings.

It’s nice to think about decorating again and not the boring stuff of a renovation such as peeling wallpaper, popping staples, demolishing walls, and restoring hardware.

-Victoria

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Funky, Retro Floral Wallpaper Rooms

I’m back and I finally have Internet connection! I so went through serious withdrawals, but I’m fine now…It’s been a super crazy week and I’ll share pics of the house as soon as I’m able. That means not checking all my junk email and social networking…

After all the time I have spent removing wallpaper, it is going to be a long time before I can wallpaper. However, I do love the look. It is quirky and fun. Wallpaper is great. I’m talking about clean and in good shape wallpaper, not what we inherited.

bedroom in Marie Claire Maison

I love this little London bedroom found in Marie Claire Maison. There are so many prints and colors! It’s just a fun, quirky room. I love all the different shades of blue and pink.  All of these prints make it a thrift store fantasy room. I have a few of those Russian boxes. They house cotton balls and stuff like that. They are cheap and take a beating. I like this room because it is small. That’s what most of us have. We don’t have these huge magazine perfect rooms with amazing architectural detail. This room is small but still fit for a magazine. It utilizes space and has lots of storage (too bad we can’t see the closet). I love how this room houses all these treasures and little collections. Somebody has spent some time at thrift stores, flea markets, and yard sales and still looks put together. And who would of thought that rose shade would actually work with cobalt blue? Well, it does.

The other room or rooms photographed by Paul Raeside (if I had a restaurant this is the man that would be snapping it), I should say, are very special because of the mix of prints/wallpapers. It’s an airy and whimsy space. The lighting is romantic and the entire space is just so darn girly. However, I don’t know if you notice but the 1st thing I noticed other than the prints in my face was that the ceiling is need of some repairs. Geez, even I can repair that, what’s this home owner’s excuse? It sure isn’t money.

Cute home photographed by Paul Raeside

Anyways, the floor could use some cleaning too 🙂 And the loose porcelain door knob. Maybe all of this a part of the elegant, whimsy, cottage mansion style.

It really does sadden me that there is no more wallpaper in the home. Wallpaper does so much and then you have to do so much to get rid of it. Bummer. Don’t tell my husband that I am thinking of adding it to one of the bathrooms.

-Victoria

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On The Horn: We Need A Horn Chair

Elle Home bedroom

I love horns and antlers in decor. David brought home some antlers yesterday. It did make my day. Oh, the things I can do with those! What I have always wanted has been an antique horn chair, a trophy chair, whatever they are called. They are so menacing and true works of art. It’s sick, I know that. But, it is tradition. Even Lincoln was into it.  Well, I can’t prove that. I can just prove that he received one as a gift.

I have always admired these chairs. They are rugged, primitive, morbid. So, they are super expensive and controversial, like many animal products.

You have to watch using them in decor. It can look a bit too lodge-ish. This is something I have to avoid here in Washington. A lodge look has a place, it’s kitschy like a beach home. But, I don’t want that for me. That’s why I try to limit myself to one antler/horn item per room.

This Elle Home bedroom really uses the horn chair nicely. It’s a lovely, solid white bedroom. This keeps the chair from looking too morbid. This chair is what makes this room. Yeah, this room has tall ceilings and a crisp white painted hardwood floor, but that chair kicks it up a notch. It is a reminder of nature and it’s life cycle in the middle of an otherwise “heavenly” and pure space. Well, that’s my closet goth interpretation. Also, I just love this room. It’s my kind of taste in antiques and the kind of style I like. It’s the perfect bedroom, guest bedroom I suppose.

Anyways, it will be sometime, if ever, when I get one of these chairs. I want a simple one, nothing exotic, no leopard hide, and even those retail for $1200 to $12000. I want an American Victorian era longhorn one. That should be easy to find.

-Victoria

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A Moody Black Bathroom:

Marie Claire Maison moody black bathroom

I love black and really dark rooms: squid ink, aubergine, merlot, soot; however, I think these rooms are only photogenic. I don’t know how they would feel in real life. Every time I see one in a magazine or decorating blog, I fall for them. They are dramatic, rich, deep, moody. In middle school I had a friend who’s parents let her paint her bathroom a deep steel shade. It looked like crap. They didn’t use primer and it just looked uneven and felt very claustrophobic. I imagine that dark shades do take much work to appear even and true to color. You can’t be lazy while applying these pigments. Since I am in renovation mode and totally overwhelmed, I have decided to admire dark rooms from a distance.

I can’t deny that I love this Marie Claire Maison black bathroom. It is so dramatic, moody, and elegant. It has a slight purple tinge. Black bathrooms are scandalous. We are so used to seeing them stark white or light and airy sky blue. There is something very rebellious about a black/dark bathroom. So, I love it. I love to look through books of the homes of Old Hollywood stars. Many had these luxe OTT black marble bathrooms. I will never forget the elegance and drama of Valentino’s black marble bathroom. Of course the pictures were black and white, extra dramatic. But we all know that black marble looks good pretty much all the time. However, the more I look at this bathroom with its pop of harvest gold, milk chocolate clawfoot, and jade green floors, I get more of a 70’s drug lord vibe.

It's very Scarface in design.

Umm, I’m thinking Scarface in his office surrounded by blow. Don’t get me wrong. I love Hollywood’s perspective of drug lords, especially their girlfriends with their Halston dresses and head scarves, I love the style that Hollywood gives the “gangster”. It’s a bit Studio 54 and  a dash of Dictator Style. When I watched Pacino in Scarface I was more smitten by the fashions and tasteless but expensive Rococo like decor than the story or message. I wanted a bit of Scarface design in my home. There is nothing wrong with self-absorbed, self-obsessed, and tasteless design in the home. Maybe I do want a black room after all? Actually, there has been a change of plans and the bathroom is going all out moody, dark deco, but I’ll share that a different day.

-Victoria

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Who Doesn’t Want A House That Looks Like A Caberet?

I love oddities and curiosities. I also love old things. My dream home would be a mix of the Cabaret du Chat Noir in its prime and a bit of the Addam’s Family. I’ve always wanted a haunted Victorian to fix up. Well, I’ve got to start somewhere and this ’36 pad will do. Plus, I need many more years to collect my rarities. Such as that strange cougar/fish taxidermy thingie hanging from the ceiling of the Cabaret du Chat Noir. Geez, could you imagine being there in its prime, wild times. It even had a piano! (Scandalous. Illegal at the time, haha).

A curious home in Florence.

I found this cool antiquarian home in Florence, a antiquarian shopping landmark even after the floods of ’66. One of my favorite rooms in the outstanding home is the living room. I hope that one day my home will have this polished but creepy vibe. Currently, the home we are renovating is creepy, but for all the wrong reasons. Washington really knows how to raise some spiders, hairy-legged spiders crawling up the basement walls…ughh, ick. Anyways…I love this room. It is very traditional but obviously the homeowner has a great eye for the odd and bizarre. I also love the smoky oyster shade of the walls. It’s the perfect backdrop for any collection. The carved arms/hands are the creepiest things ever. So, I’m going to make a list of things that I need to make my home creepier and polished:

–crystal ball with an amazing stand, nothing cheesy and “goth” with chrome dragons with faux ruby eyes. I’m talking something used in Victorian occult. Victorian Trading Co. has a great one here.

–Antlers, horns, and more antlers. These can be used anywhere to add some creepiness. I’m talking even those awesome antler mirrors or chandeliers. Horn candle holders, at least one antler/horn per room. I’m pretty sure this category also includes bones.

–Taxidermy from land, sea, air. Need I say more?

–Intricate birdcages without birds to provide a bit of a morbid feel.

-Apothecary jars filled with various objects from oyster shells, seashells, sea glass, sand, beach pebbles. Anything in an apothecary jar is just creepy.

–Hourglasses and scales. This symbolizes time, judgment, you know all those creepy reminders of life/death.

–Bird nests, hives, feathers, sticks, and stones. Every house needs creepy, natural elements. You want your home to look like you spend time outdoors, exploring. Even have bunches of dried herbs. Just the aroma of dried fennel is spooky.

–Mirrors and mirrors.You know vampires don’t have a reflection. Ignore that Twilight crap.

Same room, different view

These are the basics to a creepy home. Of course we all have our own special interests. I’m looking for fragrance antiques: chunks of exotic woods, ambergris, etc. I also love stereoscopes, viewers, and items related to vision. David loves maps and old recording items, what a nerd! It will take some time but I predict we will get our interesting house, someday it will be mine, oh, yes, it will be mine.

-Victoria

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