Apartment Therapy Style Cure, part II: Fave Things At Home

Hello Lovelies!

Another home decor post here today!

Nate Berkus reminded me of that simple truth, lately: your home decor is all about you, and who you really are.

I found this photo of a room he redecorated for Corin, the producer of his TV show, and it helped me understand the whole idea behind the statement "your home decor should reflect who you are".

image source

So I found great ideas in this photo and its comment on Style at Home, here are the highlights:

"use decor items that reflect who YOU are. the art on the walls is a reminder of where you're from (Californian living in NYC, in this case), as well as plates decorated by the owner's sister (you belong to a family). the decor palette, textures and style is inspired by how the owner dresses. here: lots of navy, black and grey with bold gold accents. And also by her free spirit - rock n' roll! - and designs she likes"

So what would that mean for me?

I know I am a woman raised in the Middle East, now living in France - and I want that reflected on the art I put on my walls. I am a visual artist related to other artists (one brother is a photographer, another is a movie editor-in-chief).

My future decor palette, especially for the bedroom, will reflect the way I dress:
dark grey, pale blueish grey, navy, white with Art Deco inspired sparkling objects in silver. Like these:

Deco necklace / hat / shoes can be found on this Art-Deco inspired board.

AM-PM brand has wonderful and affordable mirrored square end tables that have my name all over them. These mirrored cubes will make great bed sides for my room.Here they are:

Sizes begin at 30X30X30cm, and prices started at 80€ a piece. source

I am attracted to Japanese objects that are sleek and modern in their design. I am also hyper-creative, and I want that variety of artistic interests to be reflected in my decor. Whjat I really like about Japanese objects is the contrast between very clean lines of contemporary design and the well-crafted air of traditional object-making. Though French, I like these ceramics for their "Japanese" feel:

Ceramics I bought this summer from young ceramics artist, Cédric Mataix. photo, my own.

And how about YOU? And YOUR home decor?

-Alix of TeaButterfly

Apartment Therapy Style Cure - part I

Hello Lovelies!

This is the color scheme that inspires me - paint chips from Farrow & Ball (link). 

More inspiration here.

As I mentioned earlier on this blog, I am doing the Style Cure hosted by AT. Yesterday was day 8 of the Cure, which means it is time for an update. To review day 1 (aka my starting point, please read here).

So, this is where I stand for the Style cure - day 8:


First, picking the room to cure.

 image source via

The room i picked up for the Cure is: a very large room that is mainly a living-room with its "social triangle" by the chimney (read: two-seated sofa and two vintage French old chairs), plus a large wall that will become a rotating personal art gallery (complete with shallow and narrow white metallic shelves wehre I can display my own art as as my small personal art collection) and a nice corner that serves as a home office, complete with desk, lamp, shelves and two bookshelves.

example of shallow shelves for a rotating art gallery at home: image found on a tumblr blog.

Then, determining your own style - I wrote about this before. And i have a pinboard about this.

Also, taking measurements and drawing (hastily and by hand in my case) the floor plan. you can see my sketch here.

And now, After much hum and ho, picking the right colors for the room:

Example of the paint color i want to use: "Elephant's Breath" by Farrow & Ball.

Main color for the room is inspired by this color theme: http://www.flickr.com/photos/teabutterfly/9452299040/

So, I will paint most surfaces in a warm off-white paint (inspired by the Farrow & Ball range of whites, maybe "Elephant's Breath" or "Blackened" the former having a greyish and pinkish undertones, but reproduced by my local paint shop).

Ceilings look OK to me right now, but if after the paint job is completed they don't seem clean in comparison with the freshly repainted walls, I will paint them a bright, pure white.

Since my room is lacking *a lot* in terms of visual depth and cohesion, i will need an an accent color on the wall that faces the street and has two high French windows. I will paint it in a color inspired by F&B "Dead Salmon". The windows will get covered in sheer white drapes and a second layer of thick anti-cold and anti-noise thick off-white ( a warm shade of white anyway) drapes.

More varied textures will be found in a new cover for existing sofa (think: satin velvet cover in medium to dark grey), pillows (I will work with the many pillows I already have, occasionally buying fabric that will best fit the color scheme and the upcoming cold season to sew inexpensive new covers for existing pillows), woven baskets for books & mags storage, I need to buy a new reading lamp, too.

image via

The color scheme used for these accessories will be matching shades of pale grey, dark grey, rich brown, off-white and a touch of zesty mustard yellow. Maybe i can contrast warm and cold shades of grey.

 

spiky origami pendant lamp available here

shopping list:
"Elephant's Breath" and "Blackened" sample paint pots
"Dead Salmon" sample paint pot
off-white paint inspired by "Elephant's Breath"
medium greyish taupe paint inspired by "Dead Salmon"
new dark grey slipcover for sofa in a shiny dark grey satin.
repair reading lamp and buy a new patterned lampshade for it
a pair of sheer white drapes
some patterned fabric in graphic grey/white/brown/yellow for covering up pillows
place existing woven basket - i have only one - in the room

shopping list for later in season:
some more patterned fabric in graphic grey/white/brown/yellow for covering up pillows
a couple more woven baskets
a pair of opaque curtains
new reading lamp (optional)
a graphic origami chandelier to hang from ceiling (I found a great shop on etsy - Zipper8Lighting - for that, my budget for this can go up to 150€). link is: https://www.etsy.com/fr/shop/Zipper8Lighting the seller is extra friendly and helpful!

I foresee that the whole painting job will take over a month, though! But at least i'll have a direction with this project and a precise to-do list!



Wanna see more? Check this out.

-Alix