"Those who have experienced Paris have advantage over those who have not. We are the ones who have glimpsed a little bit of heaven, down here on earth." - Deirdre Kelly






Thursday, June 09, 2016

nouvelle palette

"Life's like a painter's palette, just when you've got everything worked out the colours change." 
- Benny Bellamancina

It all began quite innocently - when my atelier's 15+ year old television finally kicked the bucket. For its replacement, I decided to splurge on wall-mounted/flat-screen/wi-fi/tv - and that's when things really got interesting...



blank slate

Since the 'tv-technicians' had to drill several holes, I thought: "The walls haven't been painted in ages, let's have that done too." And once the walls were done, my ravaged hardwood floors looked even worse - so we had them sanded. Of course, after the walls and floor were done, the room's time-and-use-ravaged furniture was quite glaring. So I had them painted and had the chandelier cleaned.

                 

the basics were completed just before Christmas. 
I couldn't resist adding a small tree ;-}

                
  
After all that, I realized that I had a fresh, clean slate - time and space to allow my imagination free reign. I've always been so reluctant to use color. But since I had this unexpected 'do-over,' I decided to indulge my self-stifled love for color.

starting simply, baby steps...

* An area rug in glorious teal, cream, yellow, white, with a touch of pink 
* Re-pourposing a brilliant hot pink pashmina, I got in Paris, on my settee (until I can afford to have it re-upholstered)
* My daughter's pink/purple tutu above the armoire

Touches of whimsy
* a modern faux-fur covered ottoman 
* Champagne and wine crates to store my school work
* And Peonies, must have those

blue velvet and silver sequins

Due to my budget and the fact that I absolutely love them - I've kept all of my original furniture. I only added four new pieces: the rug, the ottoman, a vintage cabinet with turned feet and a scalloped bottom - that serves a media storage for the tv. My favorite new piece is this Paris-Shabby Chic chair, upholstered in blue crushed velvet - topped with an old pillow I recovered with a remnant piece of silver sequined material. All that remains is choosing and hanging artwork - I'm thinking one or two huge canvases (bien sur, I'll share). 

But I wasn't quite done yet. There's a tres-petite deck attached to my atelier...

bringing the outside in...

* Mr. G spent an entire day painstakingly power washing every plank
* Eucalyptus wood bench and chair (World Market), hot pink solid and patterned pillows, large floral print outdoor rug - in the same colors as the indoor rug (Grand in Road
*I've had this outdoor chandelier for years and I still love it

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Temple Tip:  in early summer, stores drastically reduce their prices on all things summer - yay! 
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Coco approves


Vivre! Rire! Aimer!

Temple




No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...