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i have posted this before, but her thread prompted me to repost it.
My style is : colonial willamsburg meets "the day I got to spend in an english lord's house"
if you have ever been to colonial willamsburg, that's my style. I have a dining room the color of the vivid prussian blue ballroom in the governors palace with rich crown moulding and chair railing. (the same turquoise color as the stairwell in powderham castle)
My master bedroom is pepto bismol pink after a georgian/federal home in washington DC. maple furniture, 4 poster bed, etc. think gwyneth paltrow's emma-- the pink bedroom.
I used to be all "matchy matchy" until something happened that broke me of that. Americans have this "thing" about everything being new. I used to freak if the furniture got used or scratched.
What happened was, when I lived in london, my ex-husband worked for halliburton and shared an office with "Bob". Bob invited us to luncheon at his home on a saturday. I had no idea...
we go to Bob's house. Turned out he was Lord Bob, british aristocracy, but living under modern economic constraints. His wife ran the estate while he worked for a living. he owned all the land as far as you could see.
The room we entered in the estate was the medieval part of the house, back in the days when a grand house was a large hall with a buttery and a bedroom off to the side for the lord and lady. firepit in the middle of the floor. this hall was used as a library. then you entered an elizabethan addition which was the entrance hall, grand stairway. timber framed, with a fireplace you could walk into.
the georgian wing which was the official "front of the house" was outstanding. Long and rooms connected by doorways, typical of that period. circular drive in front with a sweeping view of kent.
The 1950s wing had a working kitchen, central heat, and bathrooms with plumbing. In that house, if you wanted a bath, you had to go to that wing in your jammies and robe.
i got to spend an entire day in this glorious house.
the whole point of this diatribe was that it broke me of the american thing of everything had to be matchy matchy and new. This house had battered 500 year old table next to the slipcovered battered chippendale sofa, next to the jacobean chair, next to the 1960s sideboard. everything was slightly askew and nothing was level. gleaming with wax.
so now my home is slipcovered, used, battered, and well loved. I am so lucky to have had that opportunity that day. i don't come unglued anymore if everything isn't perfect or exactly matched. None of my furniture was bought from the same place. side of the road finds, with thrift store finds or furniture my ex-husband made.
My style is : colonial willamsburg meets "the day I got to spend in an english lord's house"
if you have ever been to colonial willamsburg, that's my style. I have a dining room the color of the vivid prussian blue ballroom in the governors palace with rich crown moulding and chair railing. (the same turquoise color as the stairwell in powderham castle)
My master bedroom is pepto bismol pink after a georgian/federal home in washington DC. maple furniture, 4 poster bed, etc. think gwyneth paltrow's emma-- the pink bedroom.
I used to be all "matchy matchy" until something happened that broke me of that. Americans have this "thing" about everything being new. I used to freak if the furniture got used or scratched.
What happened was, when I lived in london, my ex-husband worked for halliburton and shared an office with "Bob". Bob invited us to luncheon at his home on a saturday. I had no idea...
we go to Bob's house. Turned out he was Lord Bob, british aristocracy, but living under modern economic constraints. His wife ran the estate while he worked for a living. he owned all the land as far as you could see.
The room we entered in the estate was the medieval part of the house, back in the days when a grand house was a large hall with a buttery and a bedroom off to the side for the lord and lady. firepit in the middle of the floor. this hall was used as a library. then you entered an elizabethan addition which was the entrance hall, grand stairway. timber framed, with a fireplace you could walk into.
the georgian wing which was the official "front of the house" was outstanding. Long and rooms connected by doorways, typical of that period. circular drive in front with a sweeping view of kent.
The 1950s wing had a working kitchen, central heat, and bathrooms with plumbing. In that house, if you wanted a bath, you had to go to that wing in your jammies and robe.
i got to spend an entire day in this glorious house.
the whole point of this diatribe was that it broke me of the american thing of everything had to be matchy matchy and new. This house had battered 500 year old table next to the slipcovered battered chippendale sofa, next to the jacobean chair, next to the 1960s sideboard. everything was slightly askew and nothing was level. gleaming with wax.
so now my home is slipcovered, used, battered, and well loved. I am so lucky to have had that opportunity that day. i don't come unglued anymore if everything isn't perfect or exactly matched. None of my furniture was bought from the same place. side of the road finds, with thrift store finds or furniture my ex-husband made.
