Viola! The living room is now the drawing room
Well during the crazy new year cleaning spree I moved all my furniture out of my living room to clean and instead of moving it back in, I rearrange it and turned it into a cozy reading/drawing room. The inspiration came from the Pelham Hotel, they have the coziest little drawing room that my husband and I love to take our evening Pimms in when we stay. The designer of the Pelham is Kit Kemp, she is fabulous, not afraid of color and very whimsical...which I LOVE. But I digress...
The two custom wing chairs I found at market years ago-now I see them everywhere, but I still love them. The way I see this space used; is my husband and I having coffee in the morning, reading a good book,the light is perfect for reading in this room--I love the light in this room--during the day it is bright and sunny and at night it has a warm glow to it because of the brown in the yellow walls. Then at night we can have a glass of wine and talk about our day. During the day you can come over for some tea and we can drink it here too.
I love color and how they play off of each other. I love the mixing of color...I have tried to go neutral and to edit my collections...but I like color and stuff and I had to make my peace with it and say that is just me...it brings me joy! This is another great part of being over 40, you finally stop looking to trends and instead, look to what speaks to you. What is your own personal style? Mine is English Country mixed with French and then throw in a little whimsy and some junk and I am at home!
Books, books and more books...we do love our books around this house!
We especially like old books, classics, the kind that smell musty with age.
One of the best things about this post war house (1951 to be exact-which in Phoenix is old--I know--ha, ha!) is that we still have the wonderful original plaster walls. Can you see the texture where the light hits? I LOVE this about my house...no drywall here.
In true drawing room style I have the piano...it reminds me of a Bronte or Austin novel where the "accomplished" women would play the piano forte in the drawing room.
I also moved the settee into the breakfast nook and put some art on the wall. The two paintings on the right my daughter painted for me, the pink flower one for Mother's Day and the one of the Eiffel Tour was my 40th birthday present.
Here is another picture of the breakfast nook. The new drawing room is just to the right.
We have some changes we are going to make to the kitchen--nothing big--we are keeping the 1950 galley but just making it more functional for our family. This drawing room conversion is part of that evolving process. This is what I love about home design. It is always changing as our families change to meet the needs of those who occupy it. It is not static around here!
PS. I just read on a blog about living rooms being in for 2011--good thing I don't follow trends anymore!
Have a great rest of the week!