Black Bathrooms

Beauty is what beauty does! Meaning, in this case, that not all bathrooms need to be white in order to be beautiful.  When dark, good and exotic materials are utilized and mixed with brass, light washed wood and a lot or just enough mirror the opulence of a dark bathroom is not only unique and normally unexpected but, it's also seductive.   I'm in love with the Chinoiserie vanities of the bathroom above.  I also love the rustic unpolished floor and the detail of the different colore and size marble in the shower below.  It's a total dream, isn't it?  The bathroom, first and second images, belong to Kim Herbert, Harper's Bazzaar uk editor via Elle Decor.  Enjoy!

 Mixed with golden details is pure richness.

bathroom above by Ilse Crawford

images from Miles Redd, House Beautiful.

Vava-Voom...

Waiting for paint at Lowe's yesterday while flipping the pages of Veranda, I was splashed with a freshness of color and drama from a Water Mill, NY home designed by Thomas Britt and Valentino Samsonadze.  The global chic and collected feel of the house is breathtaking and unique.  I think the incredible size of the house lends itself to the feel of drama and grandeur.  Enjoy!

This living room is sunshine perfect!

Moldings precisely painted to evoke more drama.  Look at the ceiling.  I didn't get the chance to read the article fully but the dining room walls seem to have a Chinoiserie trompe l'oeil that continues to the ceiling, even covering the moldings. 

This global chic bedroom is full of colors and texture but magically feels soothing and comforting. 

Snippets of my home

There was a little bit of misunderstanding with yesterday's post.  Apparently some lovely people thought that the first image was part of my home, it's not.  I found the image at New York Social Diary.  The post was intended to inspire a different way to approach Christmas Decoration.  I apologize for the confusion.  For that reason I decided to post a few images of our home, which I don't do much because we all know that magazines would not be interested in featuring somehing that's been already published.  This past Saturday the photographer Marco Ricca was here and took many lovely pictures of two of our bathrooms, the guestroom and Lucas' room.  For the guestroom above I wanted to create a magical space that was cozy, inviting and dreamy.  So my first thought was the movie Amelie.  Since I love French movies for their lightness and happiness underlined I designed our guestroom inspired on Amelie, hence the whimsical and unique wallpaper and the color scheme.  The wallpaper is Champignons by Brunschwig and Fils, the side tables are designed by a Karl Springer apprentice.  I don't remember his name.  The handle is one sculptural gorgeous thing but you can't appreciate it much unless you click on the picture an zoom in.

This is a niche in our new master bath.  I wallpapered the inside in a chinoiserie wallpaper, also by Brunschwig and Fils.  I framed it myself with a reeding wood border (to relate to the custom vanity)  and added the rosettes to the corner blocks.  I finished the wood to make it look old and the rosettes in white.  I love this little space in my bathroom.  It's my contribution to the feminine side of it.

This is our cutie pie, Lucas' bedroom.  You've probably seen this room before.  Since then, the mattress has been lowered so our already three year old boy can hope in and out.  But to be honest with you, that is not happening yet, so we have to put the bar up at nights because he moves a lot.
All photos by Marco Ricca.