Beach House Mirrors

Today's post is a continuation of yesterday's. (Debra's Beach House) I didn't address the large wall opposite the wall of windows. On this wall- I wanted to suggest mirrors. Your view is fabulous- so let's double it! I would use a set of mirrors- or collage of different mirrors. Remember that you are loosely trying to balance the large windows on the left, with large mirrors on the right. Don't go too small. I like the idea of using some interesting frames. The shell frame can give you that beach feel- or go with some ornate mirrors- like the others in the post. These are all from Oly- but sometimes you can pick up cool mirrors like these at flea markets or yard sales. You can get some bright gold frames- or other unwanted finishes and paint them. I can see them in different colors- pulling in the different tones in the rug- or all in white- or all bright yellow. Remember though- not too small- even if you had a large enough volume of small mirrors to give you balance- you lose your reflection- which we don't want to do. I can picuture your place- and it looks great! Now- I need to get myself a beach house!

Beachy Bedroom

Today's post is a continuation of this post- on the beach bedroom. Today I will be blue.

Christine,
We've been away and I just saw your response. Wow, we have a plan! I like the idea of a grasscloth wall covering! And the good news is that my son is completely on board with your ideas (I would've done them anyway but I would've had to put up with a lot of "this is going to be terribles" before it was all done). I'm very excited to get started on implementing your thoughts after such a long period of indecision, but I have a few questions. He has two windows and a closet (see below picture) - we took the doors off his closet because the doors are just too big and heavy and are thinking of doing a grommet type curtain thing. What kind of fabric and window treatments should we use on his windows and closet that will go with the wall coverings? I'd like to keep the honeycomb shades under the window treatments since they're such great insulators. How about a fabric like Duralee #42006, since he pretty much likes strong geometric prints? Without having both fabrics in front of me - I cannot tell if they would be a good match. However, in keeping with a beachy airy atmosphere - I would use a light linen fabric, like this white one below from West Elm. I would then add some blue to it. You could put a blue tape down the edges, or an 18 inch blue border at the base. I like the feel of the crisp white linen with the grasscloth. And I like bringing in a coordinating blue, without being too similar to the bedding. The white in the sheets will pop out.
I was also thinking of putting a mirror over his dresser, since he has the smallest bedroom out of our three kids and it would make his room seem bigger - would the mirror from Uttermost work above his dresser horizontally? I would not- the mirror would be wider than the dresser- go with one like below that is a better size for the dresser. I also noticed in the Tommy Bahama picture that the room has wainscoting - should we do that in addition to some crown moulding? Can we paint the crown moulding and baseboards black or some near-black color? Yes- you can paint the base and crown black- include the insides of the doors as well if you do. If you do this- I would not include wainscoting - as it too would be black, and that would not be a good contrast for the wood bed. I would only do wainscoting if you kept white mouldings - which I think would look great. The more woodwork the better in most cases. I have to say I am leaning toward white in this room, even though frequent readers of my blog know that I love dark baseboards... I forgot to mention that he also wants a ceiling fan, which I think would work with his beach-oriented room. He likes ones from Minka Aire and the Modern Fan Company. Should I get a new bookshelf, too? I like the streamlined look of their fans. This is a nice contrast in materials and keeps the room from being too themey with a woven material fan. Don't have this be the only chrome in the room. The lamp I selected for you - from Uttermost, $199 - combines your chrome with an earthy feel.
Below are pictures of his room and a scan of his floor plan (ignore the blue paint samples - they've been hanging there for almost a year!). The pictures were not in a format that I can use - if you'd like to re-send them in a j-peg file attachment - I would love to have them in the post. We have 9' ceilings, and the map over his dresser is 4' wide and 3' high (I put it there to see how big of a mirror we might need). Thanks so much for your help! We promise to send pictures when we're done (although it may take a while to get everything done!). As it does all of us... sigh..
Angie

Thanks Angie- Please send before and after pictures!

Christine

The Shore House Part III

Today's post is a continuation of this one and this one. Today I wanted to address the wall decor for the Shore House. Use a variety of wall decor. Sometimes people get in ruts and use too many pictures, or too many photos. I want to show you how I would do an area like this. You have a large wall on the dining room wall. How about getting one of each different kind of walking stick, from Wisteria - shown above, and hanging them on the wall. They add color, dimension, uniqueness, and they can always be removed and used. I liked this big whale. I would put it on your console table or a wall shelf. These little birds are so cute. I would get three small wall shelves and hang them vertically on a small wall.
This mirror is made of shells and oysters. I thought it was perfect for a "shore house" without being obvious and themey. (All items above are from Wisteria)

These shore birds would be great in your place - I was thinking in between the sconces by the stairs. The prints were a little small - but that doesn't stop you from framing them as large as you'd like.

For your TV area - how about this series of boat photos. I loved the colors that they brought in. They have six in the series - you could hang three on either side of the fireplace.

The shore birds and boats are from The World Art Group.

Happy decorating!

XOXO

Christine

Does anyone love those birds as much as I do?

The Shore House Part II

Today's post is a continuation of this post. I wanted to address this fireplace/TV stand. This home has such beautiful architecture - except for this area. With all of the many windows, you can see how the architect was limited on options as far as where the fireplace would go. And because of the staircase, the size of it is limited. However - times have changed since this was built - and today we can have very thin fireplaces and very thin TV's- which is exactly what this room needs. My plan is to remove the fireplace altogether, and add a slim gel fireplace, so that we can increase the width of this unit. It is so narrow that it is awkward, especially because of the TV box above it and its great height.

So - take the whole thing out - then make it only protrude from the wall a small amount, so that it can be closer to the staircase. Of course - we would need a flat screen over it - and then resurface the entire fireplace with reclaimed washed wood, like what we see on the walls in the room below. There you go! This may be cost-prohibitive, but would be, in my ever-so-humble opinion, the perfect solution for this wall. Keep it centered - keep it symmetrical.

SIDENOTE: OK- I am hating this blogger program- I cannot seem to move my photos around at all!!! Anyone have any ideas for me?