Paring down inspiration folders

Do you have inspiration folders that are specific to looks you want to recreate or that contain elements you would like in your home?

I'll show you a few of my inspiration images along with how they have turned up in my house.

I wanted the painting above to be in a casual family space in my house.

my house

Can you whittle down a massive folder of inspiration pics to one or two per room?

I absolutely had to pare down the inspiration and have one file of ideas I will use and another, massive file of images I really like.

Dining room inspiration #1

Dining room inspiration #2

The images I choose offer general style cues for me instead of an exact look to recreate.

My dining room

Most of my rooms are a work in progress. The dining room needs more on the walls and perhaps an artful setting to fit the look of the inspiration pics. My living room is waiting for items to arrive but in the mean time I have put together my inspiration for the room.

inspiration from Lonny

Lonny had a wonderful image of a bombe chest with a modern painting above. 

My bombe chest

My vignette will include the painting shown, above the chest flanked with Brno chairs.

My huge file of images is still a go to when I just can't think of a way to put something together.
Keeping these photos of other people's houses helps me to define what I like, love, and absolutely hate in decor.

Slowly but surely

Bit by bit, things are coming together. My dining room is mostly back together. 

The curtains are back and a few pictures hung.

There will be more on this wall. When I hung the mirror, the first time, the old and brittle wire snapped. It hit the chair rail knocking a hunk out and gouged the wall. Luckily I was standing there and caught it before it hit the floor and shattered entirely. The wall had to be painted a fifth time! 

I was thrilled that my pillows arrived for the family room and...

The walls really are pink

the living room.

The bombe chest arrives today and nearly a year (10 months actually) after moving in I feel like my spaces are closer to my goal.

The end is never really the end. I'll always be tweaking this and that but my goal was to have a cohesive look instead of a white box with furniture in it.

How long did it take you to decorate your current house?

sneak peek

We are finished painting the dining room --YAY!

It sucked in such horrible ways. If you enlarge the photo above you will see the painter's tape yet to be removed behind my antique chandelier, that I adore.

It beats the hell out of this boring thing

The walls are not what I had hoped. I wished for a lacquered look but got glossy paint with orange peel texture due to a bit of bad information. It all works because my inspiration photo (below) includes oodles of pictures, prints and paintings in frames.

I am totally covering as much as I can with stuff. Good stuff.

Stay tuned.. Dining room out of commission for living room paint job.

This is my liv room moodboard with the "dragonfly" chair's new fabric as a background. The wall color has changed to SW Faint Coral  (from the one pictured inthe moodboard) and the coffee table is still undetermined. Lucite...somewhere.

I have purchased the Bombe chest and wish to put a pair of modern vases or tiny lamps to complement the painting to be announced by an artist you all know!!!

Thinking rust colored silk curtains to shout "Hooray" next to all of that ivory, black, and pinky peach.

Yes?????
Anyone, anyone?

Insert your favorite expletive here ____!

One coat after sanding

This is the current state of my dining room. $#!#!!!

I loved the Sherwin-Williams store in my podunk Pennsylvania town. Everyone there new their stuff.

Some numbnuts told me that a foam roller was the way to go with glossy paint to achieve a lacquer look.

I had high hopes even with this primer that was tinted too light.

Don't worry, I'm so annoyed that the chandelier will meet a horrible death as part of my evil plan.

See that texture? That is what we sanded off. I hope. One or two more coats plus a coat of clear gloss acrylic is what I am hoping will do the trick.

This is my hell.

Updates soon.

Founding Father's Chinoiserie

Gunston Hall is an 18th-century Georgian mansion near the Potomac river in Virginia. It is the home of founding father George Mason.

It's Chinese room offers a unique look at 18 th century fashion and taste that is a close cousin of current Chinoiserie fashion.

 

The Federal style dentil molding is coupled with Chinese-esque motifs.

Note the pagoda shapes around the room.

It is particularly interesting to me that we were taught through films and other history lessons to think of colonial American decoration in terms of staid, conservative colors when in fact very vibrant colors were the norm.

Lack of differentiation between paints on the walls and molding and the absence of softs, i.e. curtains and carpet, are the most noticeable details that set it apart from contemporary rooms.

The lemony yellow color works nicely with the blue and white china.

 

I'd kill to have a dining room like this, wouldn't you?

Patrician dining

When I think of formal dining rooms, I conjure images of

deep colored walls, heirloom furniture and sumptuous fabrics.

A less casual place than is used everyday that seems worthy of special occasions.

I prefer the English Country House look with leather, tartan fabrics, silk drapes, and bit of equestrian chic thrown in.

My own dining room is far from recieving the style infusion I am looking for.

The walls are still white and and I'll need to start searching for new pieces.

I will need new chairs and I am a huge fan of plaid and mixed styles and fabrics.

To be honest, I'm looking to create something a little stuffy and uptight.

I'll save the whimsy for another room.

Tasty dining rooms

This fabulous Belgian look is big right now.  I'm a sucker for silk taffeta like those drapes.

This American colonial look is a classic but hardly 

a hot trend. I really like the classic look. I do think that the blue on the walls is more suited to a room in which you might want to relax, like a TV room or bedroom.

My ideal dining room is on my mind because I do not have a formal table and chairs. Instead I have a French country looking thing that will be my everyday spot once I move.

I'd really like something like this Duncan Phyfe style pedestal table. I love satinwood banding around this one.

The overall look that the room will have is the thing I'm thinking about. Again, I love the classicism here but the walls are hurting me.

Walls hurt, hate the crown molding color. Love the chairs.

I don't really want a creampuff.

I like this but I think it is more casual than I want. The lamps on the sideboard are something I need to keep in mind.

This is lovely. I think the stripe on the chair that goes side to side is clever and of course I must have silk taffeta drapes. Pink? I just think the boys in my house would protest.

This is the breakfast room ( as opposed to the very formal and very green dining room)at George Washington's Mount Vernon. It is getting to closer to the look for me. The huntboard is a must-have.

Close too. Love the blue and white yet I equate that with something more casual.

This Miles Redd room has the drama I'm looking for, just not in green.

Totally '80s window treatment!

More '80s. The rug is too small in this room.

Love the RED!!!! Add my fox hunt prints and I think this is it, but no fringe please.

Check out this post on Willowbrook Park about red dining rooms. The dining room at Althorp really captures the English country house look that I want to emulate.