Summer Bed

In summer, we often sleep in the downstairs bedroom, as it's much cooler.

The room has great soft light and is very small and cosy. It has a great wall of bookshelves, as reflected in the mirror.  It is decorated primarily in white and blue (the walls are painted in Skylight by Farrow & Ball).

I like to put a thin quilt on the bed in summer.  It doesn't match the room (ivory-cream) but it is so old and soft that we like it very much.  Sometimes an imperfect thing is better than a perfect-looking thing.

Biscuit likes to sleep on the bed:

I am showing this photo in particular because of the knitted peach afghan (blanket) that my late Grandmother (Dad's Mum) made for me when I was in university.

She was quite a prolific knitter, but with 12 children and 23 grand-children, I was not first in line for a time-consuming blanket.  We were lucky to get socks and mitts when we were kids.  But in high school, I requested a knitted blanket and a couple of years later, I received this lovely double/queen-sized blanket for Christmas.  The colour was her choice (I think I was hoping for blue at the time).

I really love the colour now, as it adds a much-needed dose of comfy-cheeriness in my otherwise quite neutral home.    

She was a wonderful, kind lady who always sat down for tea when you came to visit and never seemed in a hurry.  I have so many fond memories of her and they often come to mind when I see this blanket.  What a gift!

Happy summer.

Moments in the Bedroom

Hello darlings! I thought I would share some of my favorite decorating moments in our master bedroom (in case you thought I meant something else...). We don't sleep in this room in summer as it can be warm (and nobody here has air conditioning), but sleep instead in our cool downstairs guest room.

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I really adore certain elements of this room, like the silk-linen-wool blend drapes I had custom made right after we moved into the house. I also love the tiny Florentine mirror I picked up at a favorite antique shop:

The bedroom isn't large, so I needed a narrow console table to place against the wall opposite the bed. I found this gorgeous asian altar table quite unexpectedly at a consignment store - it's one of my favorite things in the house:

An antique (1915) Doukhobor fruit-gathering basket sits on the floor

This table serves as a prominent place for my "to do" list. A tray on the table corrals pens, electronics, and papers of pressing importance.

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At the other end of the table are a few favorite objets. The bronze cat statue acts as a paperweight. A cream porcelain bowl holds business cards, loose buttons and papers. The ikat bowl, in my favorite gray-brown colour, is from Anthropologie. The photograph, a favorite of mine, captures a lonely copse of trees in northern Italy:

Before I move on, I must show you my wonderful new giant canvas bag (from Restoration Hardware, $39 on sale). I LOVE matching my wardrobe with my decor (which David says I do already, as I dress mostly in beige and white and blue). This bag is perfect for lugging things to and from the car, and carrying yoga and gym gear:

The bedding in the background is new and very inexpensive (labelled simply "100% cotton"). I usually buy higher quality bedding but could not pass up this delicious duvet cover and pillowcases, with their lovely neoclassical chevron/leaf pattern:

Excuse the green sheet - my previous very soft, very old fitted white sheet just ripped down the middle!

I usually only have a thin quilt on this bed, but have now added the duvet for evening naps and for when we sleep here when we have summertime guests.

I posted my side table before, with its neoclassical theme:

I hope you've enjoyed your visit...!

Today

Today I accomplished nothing. My flight arrived rather late last night and we got home after midnight - naturally I had a brutal headache (part of the reason I hate flying). To mark the end of my idyllic vacation, I was very migrainey today and spent much of the day in bed. Luckily, I had some company:

Biscuit keeping guard over sick Mummy.

After a lot of sleep, I visited with David and then read the new "House Beautiful", which was waiting for me at home. I also picked up an interesting book at the airport called "Nurture Shock" by Po Bronson (more new philosophies of child-rearing) which is very interesting.

My trip home was excellent. Basically we did lots of visiting, talking, and eating. Some exercise was done, I finished the first Edith Wharton novel, and got to watch the final episodes of Oprah and American Idol with my Mom (she's a fan and I called it that Scotty would win months ago when I saw his audition!). We visited my Grandma lots at the nursing home. A perfect family holiday...

Here is a close-up of the bedroom shelves I stared at all day from my post in bed:

The little swan came from Vancouver (it's antique Goebel). The horse is from a Paris flea market. The paper-covered books and box were made by my friend Noel. The tiny picture frame is from Holland. "The Remains of the Day" is a favorite book, as is "Dwellings" by Sills and Huniford.

The walls in this room are painted a dreamy Skylight by Farrow & Ball, made up by BM.

Hope your day was as relaxing as mine, minus the headache...! I've missed you all.

Fine Find: Urn Lamps for the Master Bedroom

I've been hunting for urn-shaped lamps for my bedside tables. I had a pair picked out online but they were so expensive that I simply couldn't justify buying them.

And then I made a serendipitous find at a home decor store the other day! I love unexpected finds. Here is my bedside table with one of the new lamps:

Wall colour: Benjamin Moore "White Down" OC-131, drapes custom

They came with a really ugly square shade and I almost looked right past them! I promptly replaced the shade with white silk English barrel shades, which were more expensive than the lamps!

The lamps look like carved wood but are made of resin (i.e. fake, sorry). I think they are nice replicas however. I love the little leaf detail at the bottom:

In the photo below, I turned on the lamp to show you how bright white the shades are. I love a crisp white shade in this north-facing room. The little framed print on the wall is a favorite of mine, called "Swan Rush and Iris" by Arts & Craft-era artist Walter Crane.

My bedside table is the first antique furniture I ever bought, at a store called Wisteria, back in 1991 as a student at McGill in Montreal.

Here is the other (mismatched!) side of the bed. I have a custom hand-built Mission style bed (below) which I bought many years ago after I started working (along with a matching high boy). It doesn't perfectly align with my new decor tastes, but is a really nice piece of furniture. Some day I may move it to a spare room.

The little lamp is classical, but I think it all looks fine together and adds some softness to the rectilinear lines of the bed. I am looking for a good antique table to replace the old country table we have here:

Redwing and Medalta No.2 pottery from my collection

Talk about mixed styles! My romantic bedding is "Rossini" by St-Geneve and is 100% Giza Egyptian cotton, woven in Italy and made in Canada. It is gorgeous. It was also a first decor purchase before I really had my colours worked out. But luckily it is historical and suits my style, if not my current pale-neutral colour palette!

I recently moved my beloved blue Al Barker seascape painting as I think it looks nice with the orange:

This room is proof that you can mix and match styles and incorporate new things you prefer now with old things you bought before you knew what you were doing!

Gaga for Goforth

Ever since Joni blogged about Ashley Goforth back in August (here) I have been madly scouring the internet looking for more of Ashley's work. Since Joni's post, Ashley has updated her website with more photos of her ~ u t t e r l y ~ stunning work (here). I am awestruck.

I can't put a finger on precisely why I love her rooms so much. We all see so many beautiful rooms, but Ashley's strike a perfect note and seem to gather all my tastes up into one perfect box. Isn't the bedroom above gorgeous? I am nuts about it.

All her rooms are clean and uncluttered, lightly layered with beautiful and interesting things. She finds a lovely balance of modern and traditional elements. And her colours - Ashley has already mastered the most beautiful colour palettes, my favorites being those with plenty of white and grayed out blues and browns.

I also *L O V E* the balance of dark notes (exquisite antique furniture) with pale walls (which remind me of Darryl Carter and Mariette Himes-Gomez).

I think we can all take a lesson from her restraint and her beautiful palettes.

I am very sorry to gush, and I also hate re-posting items others have already discussed. I try to keep my content mostly original and personal, but I am so inspired by Ashley's rooms I just had to share them (in case you missed Joni's great post, where she featured several of Ashley's projects).

Ashley's work reaches right into my heart and filters my tastes to a "T". Of course, there is a side of me that loves academic clutter in a room, romantic country florals, and other styles, but Ashley certainly sums up the side of me that likes classic elegance.

I honestly can't get over her rooms. So perfect. And she's so young! I wish I lived in Houston (if I did I'd probably say to hell with engineering and go into interior design for a living). Ashley makes me want to toss out everything I own and start over (with her on retainer)!

Thanks Ashley for sharing your beautiful talent with us and taking the time to email me!

Light Fixtures In the Bedroom

I was going to title this post, "In the Bedroom: How Big is too big?" but I didn't want to attract a different kind of reader.

My question is just that, actually. But it pertains to light fixtures. How big a light fixture can I use in my guest bedroom?

Here is my little guest bedroom, with its pretty white notes, patterned drapes, and little neoclassical-ish tables (on the opposite wall, which you can't see, I have some little urns, b&w sketches and classical accessories on the shelves):

The overhead flush-mount fixture is not centered in the room (and I cut it off in this photo because it's ugly!). Rather it is located in the far left corner. The new fixture (a chandelier or lantern) will hang more or less over the left bedside table.

Since I have pedestrian 8 foot ceilings, there is not much vertical height for a tall fixture. The room is small too, so I don't want a too-large fixture to dominate the room's proportions.

There is 45" clearance between the table lamp and the ceiling (unless I hang the fixture low-ish over the table and remove the lamp...).

I really like this romantic fixture from J.Covington Home which is 10" diameter and 19" tall:

Because the fixture isn't "airy" I wonder if it will take up too much visual space and over-scale the little side tables? It also leans more to my feminine side than to the historical-slightly-more-masculine look I've been favoring lately. I also wanted bronze to relate to the table's knobs, rather than silver (although I do love silver).

I also like this mini-chandelier from Shades of Light, again a little more feminine:

It is silver too, and a little taller (22") and wider (13"). But it's nice and airy so it doesn't have as much visual weight. I like the elegant look for this room. I am also considering this fixture for my master bedroom which has rectilinear Mission furniture that could use some softening up.

Another option is a lantern, which keeps the lines a little cleaner. This little Rococo-inspired number is nice, although I am not crazy about shiny brass (and it's sold out!):

What think ye?

Any thoughts on scale and style for my bedroom fixture?

The New Blue Room: In Progress (Help Wanted!)

I thought it was high time for me to reveal my new blue guest bedroom!

Earlier this month, David and I painted this once-green room a very pretty shade of Farrow & Ball-inspired blue.

  

I originally chose F&B's "Skylight" for the room, but wanted a lighter shade of that colour. Knowing that F&B doesn't do custom blends (and not trusting my paint mixing skills), I got Benjamin Moore to make me up a custom batch of "light" Skylight.  It is a truly gorgeous porcelain blue with a hint of grey.  The photos don't do justice to this graceful blue: 

As you can imagine, painting this built-in bookcase was an almighty nightmare.  First, we painted the entire frame with two coats of Benjamin Moore's "Cloud White".  Then I taped around all 26 back rectangles (groan) and we painted the blue rectangles (two coats!).  In all, painting the bookcase and the rest of the room took us three weekends, with prep and taping and moving things.  I have a terrible back and was laid up for two weeks afterwards, I swear! 

Here's the bookcase pre-painting (filled with cookbooks and clutter!).  The room was a pretty but dated green:  

I think the blue and white is a vast improvement:

Here's a closeup of a quickly-styled shelf (Suzanne Kasler would be proud - she loves a soft blue room):  

I have not filled the shelves yet as we still intend to sand and paint all the ugly brown trimwork in the room.  I'm also planning to move the utilitarian books and clutter and make this a more beautiful display area.

David and I sleep in this room all summer, as it is partly sub-terranean and delightfully cool!  So I want it to be lovely for us as well as guests.

This room still needs a lot of work. I have big plans but a small budget.

Besides painting the brown mouldings, I intend to buy:

1. a beautiful antique night table (this could take a while!)

2. an inexpensive window treatment

3.  new closet door hardware

4.  a new light fixture and table lamp

5.  all new bedding!

6.  a headboard, maybe home made

Here's where I need you.  I am totally helpless when it comes to this window:

As you can see, I left the existing valance structure in place (previous owner), thinking that I might replace the valance with a simple white linen one (the previous one was Velcro'd on, for easy switching), and just leave the blinds.  We like having blinds as they block the light well and David opens the left window sometimes at night, so having separate blinds can be helpful, especially for opening and closing in the middle of the night!  

I would love a single white linen Roman blind.  But the double blind setup is practical and these old ivory metal Hunter Douglas blinds work like a charm.  New blinds never have mechanisms as good as the old ones!  Economically, it doesn't make sense to replace them, although white would be nicer if I wanted to simply replace in-kind. 

I would actually love some softness here but how do you arrange curtains at a window like this?  The ledge is quite deep (6") so curtains will not hang to the floor. I've been thinking of draping muslin neatly across the valance and then down the sides, but don't want a Shabby Chic hippie look!

Any suggestions for this crazy window?

In the lighting department, I think something simple and classic would be best, like this affordable fixture from Hudson Valley:

Oddly, the light fixture in this room is in the corner, to the left of the window, so a slightly narrow tall fixture would fill the space nicely.

I also love this French-inspired chandelier from online retailer Goldenage Chandeliers.  It would lend a welcome French feel to the room, but I think it's a little too glamourous with my humble "oatmeal" berber carpet (that isn't being replaced!).   

Something simpler might be better-suited.

P.S.  And yes, the bed is snug against the wall on one side.  The room is tiny and this works best...I find it very cozy.  If the bed is moved out, there is almost nowhere to walk and it makes the room really cramped.

I'd love your suggestions, especially on my window (light blocking is a must!).  

I can't wait for your comments!

Duvet or Not Duvet?

My favorite bedroom from Ideal Home magazine

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately contemplating bedding.

No, I'm not contemplating the usual dilemma of how many pillows.  Nor am I thinking about how to make it look nice.  I am thinking instead about making my bed FEEL insanely good.  I want it to be almost impossible to get out of in the morning!  Considering I am not a morning person, this could be a dangerous proposition.

We need a few new things in this department.  But I am torn between buying a new duvet and duvet cover, or getting us a good woolen blanket or two.

David prefers heavy blankets and layers.  So oftentimes in winter, I make up the bed with a couple of blankets (I have a good cotton one and some inexpensive fleecy ones), a quilt or two, and maybe even our little mini-duvet topper on top!  It is very cosy, but I move around a lot in bed (I have a bad back) and cannot stand heavy layers.  

I am a duvet girl.  The fluffier and loftier the better.  I like a duvet with a flat sheet under it so you don't have to wash the cover all the time.  And duvet covers are much faster to make up for busy working girls!

For winter, we currently use a king-sized duvet (turned sideways) on our queen-sized bed.  I bought it because I couldn't stand how queen duvets seemed to barely reach over the edge (12-14", although Pottery Barn's and some others have a 16" drop) and my flat sheets were always showing underneath (I don’t like having to tuck them in!).  

The king duvet seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I think a king-sized duvet is a little unwieldy on a queen bed.  For one, it hangs down too far at the foot of the bed when we turn it 90°.  When we turn it the correct way, it hangs down too far on the sides and seems to drag heavily off the sides of the bed and not puff up properly and conform to your body.  

So now I am contemplating a queen-sized duvet again.  My last one is a feathery mess and it's time for a new one.

But I also like quilts.  I bought a wonderful silk quilt in Paris (a European size 100”x100”, meaning it overhangs the side of my bed by 20”, which is a little too far, but it just looks more like a bedspread/coverlet).  I would like to use this all year round, but it’s thin, so I really should invest in a new blanket or two.  I thought  a good wool or alpaca blanket might be a nice investment.  A baby Alpaca and merino wool blend blanket goes for about $200 here, minimum.

 So now I’m conflicted.  Easy duvet or heavy blankets and quilts?

I really hate all those layers but Canadian winters are cold and we keep it slightly cool at night, around 62F (17C) and sometimes have the window open for a nice chilly draft!

I am not the kind of person who wants 10 sets of bedding.  I already feel like I have too many odds and ends and it drives me crazy.  I would rather just have one good duvet and cover and a couple of good blankets and a quilt or two.  Not all these mismathced things.  But that is life, I suppose.  It is the nature of humans to gather more and more stuff.

In the meantime, I was curious to know what your preferred bedding is.  

Do you prefer duvets or stacks of blankets?  Do you use appropriate sizes for your bed or go oversized?  Do you use a featherbed (I want one!)?  What kind of blankets do you like (cotton, fleece, wool, synthetic)?   Where do you buy your bedding?

And last but not least, what are your bedding true loves and pet peeves?

 

Perhaps we can discuss pillows in a future post!  I know that is always a hot subject.

Photos: 1,2,9:  Ideal Home

Photo 3: Pappas Miron

Photo 4: Art & Decoration

Photo 5:  David Oliver

Photo 6: Windsor Smith

Photo 7: OKA Design

Photo 8: Shoot Factory

More Guest Room Ideas

An inspiring concept for my guest room!

It's been a very busy week, and my decorating mind is rather unfocussed.

I'm still considering a look for my guest bedroom but can't seem to make progress.  I'm soul-tired after work these days and also joined a book club (silly me), so with gardening and other home projects, I don't have much left at the end of the day.  

 I also think I'm slow to start this room because it needs so much work.  Not only does the room need painted, it sorely needs new lighting, window coverings, a headboard, and a new nighttable.  Even if I find budget versions of all of these, it's still a lot of time and effort and I honestly don't feel like opening my pocketbook either.  Maybe I will have to hit some garage sales (wink)!

I did find two pretty light fixtures, from Thomasville Lighting.  The room has regular 8 foot ceilings and the light fixture sits off-center (near one corner, over the bed), so a chandelier won't work and is too fussy for me anyway.

But these two options are simple and pretty:  

The room has a weird window/ledge, so I think I will be forced to replace the existing blinds and use a valance for decoration, as much as I love the look of curtains.  Custom valances cost a mint, so I may have to haul out the sewing machine and my grade 8 Home Economics notes.  I love the pretty valance below and the crisp white blinds:

And maybe I can disguise my old side table with fabric.  Oh dear, more sewing.  I think I might need a glue gun.  Isn't this pretty?:

Surpringly, I also found a super-affordable cotton-slipcovered headboard at Home Depot which might suffice until I find a bed I truly adore.  A bed looks so much more finished with a headboard at least...

I shall keep you posted on my snail's pace progress and will post "before" photos when I'm ready to start painting!

Room Photos:  1. Houzz, 2. House Beautiful, 3. House Beautiful