A Few More Celadon Inspiration Rooms

I found these at beautiful pictures at Swedishdekor.com:

A kitchen fit for a QUEEN!  Do you happen to recognize the rug???  I cannot be 100% certain, but I think it is the same one that I bought at Overstock.com -- just in a different size.

This room is too over-the-top for me, but it's absolutely beautiful.  Loving the floor, do not like the malachite green (or whatever stone that is) on the countertops -- too green, I think it spoils the overall effect of the lovely blue-green celadon tones.  I think the glass mosaic back-splashes are overkill in this space as well.  But hey, that's just me.  I like lux - but not too much!  Notice the use of terra-cotta piping cut to size for use as wine storage!  Very cool.

Master bedroom scene.  You can see that the same stone flooring was used through the entire house, covered by various rugs.  I love these night stands/side tables.  That is the color I am looking for in my accessories for the family room redo.  The oriental bifold screen hung on the wall is gorgeous - they are very expensive (I have priced some of them; even the least expensive ones are way beyond my means).  This rug would go perfectly in my imagined redone family room...

Another view of the master bedroom. This photo gives a good idea of all the different tones of celadon/blue/green that were put together harmoniously in this space.  I am digging the wall color, particularly.  Good feng shui principles have been put to work in this room for the most part, except that part of the candelier is hanging over the bed.  That's a no-no.  No mirrors overlooking the bed at all.  That is a good thing.  Head of the bed is in a good "command" position - one can see the door but one's feet are not pointed directly at the entrance/exit.

I keep thinking maybe I need to paint my long family room wall the same celadon color (or something close) used on the wall in this master bedroom, and use the medium-to-dark taupe on the other upper walls with the white lower wall. But since I already purchased 2 gallons of Family Tree (the Dutch Boy taupe color I'm using) the celadon wall will be put on hold. Solid headboard backs the bed.  And do I really want to go with three wallcolors in my family room???

With the new area rug, Mr. Faux Tang Dynasty Horsey, and a few perfectly-colored accessories, along with yet-to-be-purchased curtains in just the right shade of blue, green or celadon, hmmm..... I thinking my family room is going to look so fine!

Family Room Re-do: Curtains!

It seems the Goddess of the Hearth, Hera herself, is smiling upon my fledgling project, as yesterday's paper was filled with lots of different pale blue, green and aqua in varying shades.  I was looking specifically at curtains.  Here are some candidates:

Target:  Home Faux-Silk Pieced Colorblock Window Panel - Rocky River/ Brown; $20.99 - $24.99
The brown looks very brown, definitely not dark taupe!  In this image the "Rocky River" color looks light blue but in other images on this computer (and the office computer where I online window-shopped during lunch hour earlier today) it looks more like an aqua color, which is more of the color I'm going for.

J.C. Penney:  Studio Trio Grommet-Top Drapery Panels - Brushwood multi; $35 - $60
The blue looks pretty light blue (but a very pretty color); the other two colors looks like a cream and a light taupe.  I like the sheen but they are pricey.

Penney's has other candidates - too numerous to put up here (besides, I'm tired after a long hard day at the office and The Voice is on right now :))  I think I need to make a trip to the nearby Mall and check out the actual colors in person.

K-Mart: Jaclyn Smith Faux Silk Panel - Mineral; $10 each (wow).  This color is deeper than I was looking for, but it is so gorgeous!  It is a true blue-green and has an irridescent shine to it; the panels are not made of thick material and so light comes through, almost like they are a semi-sheer, which would also help to "lighten" them up (maybe...)  The price is certainly right!  Could just be the real POP of accent color the room needs and would bring drama to the window wall.

I will keep looking.  I see there is a shopping trip coming up this weekend.  Sigh.  Did I mention how much I hate shopping?  Well, yes, I believe I did, a post or two ago...

The Look for Less!

I am so happy to see that Budget Wise Home will be doing a weekly feature on how to get a look for less!  YIPPEE!

This is the kind of practical "show me how to do it" advice that I want and need.  Did she read my blog post last week?  Nah, probably not, LOL!  Just happy inspiration or whatever occurred to Heidi Smith, mom and interior designer who writes Budget Wise Home and she will be doing this feature!  Gee, I wonder if we have ESP together or something...

Here I'm linking to her DIY post.  She picked a beautiful photo of a home office (it is Jewel's home office) to show us how to get the look for less.  Frankly, I don't follow how to transform the nightstands and/or dressers from Ikea into the desk other than painting them and putting a top cut to size on them, maybe a drawing would help me as I'm spatially/visually challenged...

Heidi suggested using two of Ikea's RAST 3 drawer dressers (after she realized that the RAST nightstands she suggested at first were a little too short to work well):

The price is right.  Each dresser is like $35, but you'd have to pay shipping unless you live near an Ikea store and can haul them home yourself.  Not an option for me, the nearest Ikea is in Illinois and I don't drive.

I think these would work -- the dresser is 27.5" tall and with a plywood top added to that, say 1/2 inch thick, that would raise the height of the desk to say 28" plus another 1/4" for a glass top.  But that's kind of pushing it.  I measured my favorite desk in the living room and from floor to the desk top it is a smidgeon over 30" tall; the part where I scootch the chair under and my legs rest is about 28" tall.  The jerry-rigged "desk" that I've got tucked behind the sofa in the family room was too short to use as a desk - I couldn't get my legs underneath it without raising it up on books under its four legs. (A temporary solution until I figure out what I want to do with the table once I paint in here and possibly rearrange the furniture).  I measured it and it's about 28" tall and the space below the bottom edge of the table is about 26-1/2" tall.  I'm about 5'-3" tall and the chair I use with this table is short, so I can scootch up to and my legs fit underneath it comfortably.  A taller or a larger person might not be so comfortable at my work spaces, I'm thinking.

The RAST dresser is 27.5" tall x 24-3/8" wide x 11-3/4" deep.  So, I'm figuring if you want to face the drawers toward you, your desk is right away going to be nearly 49" wide without even making room for a "knee-hole".  And it would only be 11-3/4" deep!  Not much of a desk top to work on. This sofa table I'm working on is maybe 18 inches deep and it's not nearly wide enough to give me enough work surface to spread papers out.  So, if you only want to use two dressers, I would want to turn the drawers to the side to get a 24-3/8" wide work surface.  That would mean in order to use the drawers for storage you would have to get up to use them. Not exactly convenient.  Even if one ordered a larger plywood "top" you can't have an overly-deep overhang - the proportions of the desk would look cock-eyed and if the overhang was too large, you might run the risk of cracking off the part of your desk, say, if you put a lamp and some books or a weighty piece of sculpture or decorative objects near the edges.  Also, you would not want a deep overhang in the front, in order to be able to conveniently reach the drawers.  Right?  So, how exactly does this desk go together? You see what I mean about my spatial/visual thing... I think I'm missing something, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is I'm not getting about designing this desk.

Since I'm challenged when it comes to building things anyway (I cannot even hammer in a nail straight), I'd probably buy a used desk and paint it up.  Or better yet, buy one someone else had already done up.  Melissa over at Shabby Loco has done up several gorgeous desks that would be perfect for the look:  check out Mr. Fancy Pants and Chippy LOCO that I just love, except I don't get the chippy paint look.  All that work and then you screw up a perfectly beautiful paint job?  Well, she thinks I'm nuts and I think she's nuts.  I admire her greatly BTW.

Anyway darlings, I haven't been doing "getting the look for less" exactly, but I have been pricing area rugs as you can tell if you scroll down some posts.  I am looking for one with a "seafoam" green/blue or blue/green or a pale aqua field, also with taupe in it.  There are gorgeous and outrageously expensive rugs out there that I'm not even wasting time looking at because they're just not in the budget.  My budget is practically non-existent as it is!  So, I found some rugs online at Bed, Bath & Beyond that are my starting point for more or less the "look" I want and those rugs gave me a baseline range of prices.  Now I'm shopping to see if I can find something that will still give the look for less $$$, or give me even greater value for the same money.  For instance, the two rugs I found at Overstock.com are 8-1/2 x 11 and would not cost anymore than the mid-price 5 x 7 rugs I found at BBB.  I like the looks of both of the larger rugs and since the room is large enough to take an 8-1/2 x 11 rug, and it would cover up some of my old but still in good shape taupe carpeting, why not go for bigger for the same money???  Well, I'm thinking about it...

So pretty!  This is described as a "seafoam"
field at Overstock.com and is about 8.5 x 11
for about $196. 

This morning was our investment club meeting and I introduced the ladies of the club to Mr. Celadon faux Tang Dynasty TJMaxx Horse to show them where the inspiration came from for the accent color that I knew I needed and couldn't seem to latch on to until I saw Mr. Horsey on pay day (the 15th).  They all just love his Celadon color.  "But how do you know it will go?" Gayle asked.  I showed her my scientific method for determining whether colors will go together.  I took Mr. Horsey and one of the pillows from the couch and I plopped him on it on the dinette table where we were all sitting.  Oooohs and aaaaahhhs!  Yes, it will definitely go, all agreed.  Then I pulled out the little paint samples and slapped them upside Mr. Horsey's butt (his largest part) and more oooohs and aaaaahhhs!  It all works!

I am really looking forward to Budget Wise Decorating's new format which will have a different "theme" each day, including a once-a-week "the look for less" and D-I-Y videos.

For my own contribution to "the look for less" I offer up the real deal from Throckmorton Fine Art, Inc. -- an earthenware Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 CE) horse with what looks like a celadon finish:

He's big!  28-1/2" tall by 24" long.  Of course there is no price listed.  Fine antiquities usually don't have a price put on them unless it's an auction estimate.  As you know, if you have to ask, you can't afford it so don't bother asking...  I would expect a piece like this to go for, geez,  half a million dollars.  There is just something about these Tang Dynasty horses that gets me -- can't explain it.  I find them so incredibly beautiful.  This one is exceptionally finely rendered.

And here is Mr. Horsey from TJMaxx for $19.95:

He's about 12 inches tall (to the top of his head) and about 12 inches long (from tip of nose to tip of tail, trying to measure straight across). 

Now, I know Mr. Horsey doesn't show to his best advantage in this photo, but actually the mold from which he was cast is pretty darn accurate as far as depicting a real Tang Dynasty Chinese-bred horse.  There had always been contact, of course, between the far East and the West (goes back thousands of years), but under the Tang Dynasty and the willingness of its rulers to explore and open their insular society, cultural contacts and exchanges really flourished alongside the long-established trade that took place along the Silk Road routes.  Chinese courtiers fell in love with the tall, slender-legged and swift Arabian-bred horses and many statues and sculptures of horses from the Tang Dynasty depict these imported horses (the Chinese called them "Celestial horses").  But the original Chinese horse was a horse from the steppes that bordered China's territories to the far west -- the same kind of sturdy, powerful horse that the Mongols rode as they swept through and conquered eastern Europe.  That is the kind of horse depicted in the earliest Tang Dynasty statues and sculpture.  They were shorter than Arabian horses, and had powerful muscular legs, particularly their haunches.  Sort of like percherons but not as tall. 

Okay, end of history lesson.  Sorry about that.  I do get carried away, I admit it :)

A Couple of Celadon Inspiration Rooms

The first two images are from a New York Social Diary interview with high-end (WAY high-end) designer and socialite Clare Fraser.  I couldn't even afford to rent a stair of the building she lives in, darlings!

The description for this photo says that the "Louis XVI chairs are covered in celadon silk from Scalamandre."  The walls are shiny and smooth, probably lacquered to perfection.  When I saw images of this room before I tracked down where it was from, I went DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL OOOOOOOOOOH.

Obviously not in my price range, and I'm not going to attempt to do "the look for less" either, let me tell you!  But the wall color reminds me very much of the color I picked out for my humble family room.  The celadon Scalamandre silk upholstery is perhaps a bit more green than I want, but I love the Chinese accents, which are continued from room to room in this glorious New York apartment.  This is how people with inherited money and possessions from many generations live.  I think they need to pay more income taxes, darlings.  I mean, Really!

Check out the coffee table, which according to the article was made out of a panel from a Chinese screen.  Imagine breaking down a Chinese screen just to make a coffee table.  Guess that says it all, doesn't it?

Here is another coffee table that cost it's owner $10 at the time (2007) from E-bay.  Now this is much more my price comfort level, and it's a lovely, comfortable room as well.  I came across it at "Becoming Home" and it is a blog update from August 6, 2007.  The blogger was furnishing/decorating their very first home!

The table color is just spot on what I want!!!!  I want it, I want it!  I'm not sure what the wall color is, didn't read back to when the walls were painted.  The window behind the sofa is covered in a damask print that looks like a sage green color, so perhaps the walls are a tan/green.  The paleness of the "blue-green" celadon table definitely works well in this space!  It's hard to believe that the blogger transformed this table simply with a coat or two of paint:

Despite the obvious discrepancies in price points on the objects and furnishings filling these rooms, I see many similarities between them:

(1) Ceiling color
(2) Wall color
(3) Trim color
(4) Mirrors used strategically
(5) Comfortable squishy sofa seating
(6) Comfortable squishy throw pillows
(7) Light-colored window coverings that let abundant natural light come into the room
(8) Celadon as an eye-catching accent color on furnishings
(9) Oblong/rectangular coffee tables in classic styling (oriental and Italian provincial)
(10) Lux fabrics - lux-looking fabrics (silks, damasks, brocades, velvets)
(11) Overall classic (traditional) styling of furniture and furnishings

Good taste isn't limited to those who can afford to buy uber-expensive furnishings and finishes or priceless inherited objets d'art and gold-leafed framed oil paintings.  Always a good lesson to keep in mind.

These two rooms have given me a ton of inspiration! 

Now, I am actually looking forward to tearing down the old pink-gold-grey wall paper and border and covering over the old tri-toned sponge painting and stenciled ceiling border!  For now, walls will be finished as originally planned --- unless I get a brain storm or have another dream-vision about how I need to finish them.

Shopping for Celadon II

Oh Oh.  I made the mistake of going to Overstock.com just to "look" at the area rugs.  I haven't even begun digging around there and already I found two beautiful BIG rugs for great prices (about 8 x 11 more or less and under $200 each). 

This is a Loomed Free-form Aqua Rug -- I chose this photo because I think it shows fairly true colors of the "shades of aqua, ivory and brown."  The other two photos of the rug were much more pale.  These colors, however, would really go with my planned color scheme of medium to dark taupe walls (Dutch Boy's "Family Tree" on upper part of wall and Dutch Boy's "Superhide White" on the lower part of the wall -- that was the plan and for now it is staying the plan).  According to comments I read the measurement is about 8 x 10' 7" more or less.  It doesn't have fringe - that is a good thing.  Fringes are very hard to vacuum!  The blue-green (or is it green-blue?) color is lovely.  The "brown" could very well be my "Family Tree" medium to dark taupe color.  The price is $175.09.

This is the only photo available at Overstock.com of another Loomed Free-form Area Rug in Seafoam.  If this photo is accurate, the field color is just about spot-on -- it's not blue and it's not green, it is a true combination of both.  It's difficult to tell what the other colors are really like, though, from this image.  The description says that it has "shades of seafoam, ivory and brown."  The described size on this rug is 7' 9" x 11' 12" and it's priced at $196.  One reviewer said that this was more "green" than "blue" and it was what she had been looking for.

For the size (would more than fill the seating area in the family room, leaving a nice border of the underlying medium taupe carpeting), both rugs are a great price.  The reviews were mixed on both. 

Okay, the only thing to do at this point is to keep on window shopping, and I will see if I can find other images of these Loomed Free-form rugs. 

Shopping for Celadon

Hola Darlings!

I am waiting for the gloom to blow over before heading outdoors to start backyard clean-up.  Oh my, what a mess back there after a winter's accumulation of blown-down branches, twigs, leaves and what-not, including probably a hundred pounds worth of nut and peanut shells from my feeding the squirrels and critters.  Actually, I should be working out there right now because it is not raining and the sun is clouded over so it's warmish but not hot.  The weather people have promised hot for later today 78 F -- in SE Wisconsin this time of year.  I watched the complete forecast on tv last night (rarely am up that late, LOL!) and so far in March, we are 11+ degrees above our normal temperatures.  That is just absolutely mind-blowing.

I've been internet window shopping instead, looking for pale blue-green or green-blue celadon rugs and curtains.  I haven't found the right curtains but I did find some very nice rugs at Bed, Bath & Beyond:

This is a Safavieh rug light blue and ivory in the Lyndhurst collection.  It's not "celadon" but I didn't find any color like that for rugs at Bed, Bath & Beyond.  However, it is lovely, particularly the close-ups.  With a new paint job in this tired old family room and the old side panels and sheers stripped from the window, it would give it a totally different look without changing another thing.  Wow!  That is as mind-blowing to me as this crazy un-winter we've had.  Of the four area rugs I saved, this was also the least expensive, at under $110 for roughly 5 x 7.

This another Safavieh rug in light blue and cream from the Majesty line.  It is $188 for a little over 5 x 7 size.  The close-ups are beautiful.  The field has a particularly delicate and beautiful thin thread of gold shaped in a Goddess spiral shape that would be oh so perfect for my home.  It is always difficult to tell from a photograph, of course, but this light blue background looks more on-tone with my celadon horse from TJMaxx. 

This is also a Safavieh rug in sage and brown from the Majesty line.  It's not pale celadon green but I find that green color - at least in this image - quite beautiful.  The brown - meh.  But in close-up views the border looks black, which would tie-in perfectly with my present big black case goods and sofa table/desk tucked behind the sofa.  Quite a contrast, though, from the light blue and cream/ivory rugs above!  I would have to eyeball the rug in person and take the celadon horse with me to see how they go together.  That's assuming this rug would be in stock at one of the local Bed, Bath & Beyond stores.  Did I mention that I hate shopping???  The price point for this rug is the same as the rug above for the same size (a little over 5 x 7), $188. 

This was the most expensive rug I looked at, from the Shaw Century Collection, Lenox Vintage Blue.  For a 5' 5" x 7' 11" (so somewhat larger than the rugs above), $300.  The blue field in this rug is more grey-blue, at least in the photographs, and perhaps not quite as good a match color-wise for what I'm looking for.  But it has much to offer in terms of other colors that could be picked out. 

Did I mention that I hate shopping (again)???  I could look forever and not find the "perfect" area rug at a price I'm willing to pay.  I'm not willing to pay $300 when the $110 rug might "read" better in the room.  Rug #2 is a very close second in terms of look/feel.  Would I be willing to up the ante by $70???

I've Seen the CELADON...

Hola darlings!

I visited TJMaxx today during lunch hour in search of candles.  I found what I was looking for - and also this:

It is a not-so-great rendition of a Tang Dynasty horse, but representative of the genre.  I am partial to Tang Dynasty horses.  I didn't see this fellow during my sweep of the store, and I'm wondering now just what it was that led me to walk through that particular aisle just one more time on my way to the check-out at 12:45 p.m.  When it caught the corner of my eye I made an abrupt turn and - there it was - standing in front of me.  The only one of its kind on the shelf. 

The price was right - $19.95.  But it was the color that grabbed me.  I bought it without thinking twice.

And - on the walk back to my office - I had a brain storm.  Literally!  KA-BOOM!  That pale celadon color.  I'd had a dream of it a few nights before.  I kept seeing a wall done in a -- not sure what, exactly because the vision was blurry (damn!) -- but perhaps it was a damask print in very pale colors, close to but not white, in shades of greyish-blue and blue-greens and green-blues; or perhaps it was a large paisley print...

After I had that dream I confess, I wasn't so sure any longer about the colors I intended to paint the family room.

But tonight, after I hurried home and quickly took the photos of my new faux-Tang Dynasty horse treasure, I took the paint cards I had selected (posted about previously) and put them up against the pale celadon of the horse and it was like magic!

So, now I know I'm going to go from absolutely safe neutrals - fresh painted and new but still - boring - neutral -- to something with just a bit of a color twist that I had not ever considered before.
Until the dream of that long solid wall in my family room covered in a magically colored paper a few days ago, and until today, when I was walking through TJMaxx and saw this horse!

Pale celadon.

Celadon is a very difficult color to describe because sometimes it shades a bit to blue, and sometimes it shades a bit to green; but in its lightest versions, it looks nearly white - but with breathtaking undertones.  The thing about celadon that is most wonderful is that almost all of its various tints and tones go together very well, from the palest to the deepest.  They look fabulous against dark taupe, black, chocolate brown, and white. 

Pale blue celadon

Pale green celadon

Palest celadon.  Is it green?  Is it blue?  Somewhere in between? 

WHATEVER IT IS, I WANT THIS COLOR. 

Okay.  That means at a minimum ditch the current area rug and replace it when I can afford it.  New curtains will be required but there is only one window (albeit rather large) and if I can find the right kind of tablecloths, sheets or on-clearance curtains, it's doable.  I can sew, too, although I'd rather not.  The throws can be removed and replaced if I can find something with the right celedon accents and/or color.  Everything else pretty much will stay the same, as was the original plan.  Light to medium taupe furniture stays.

The only issue will be WHAT colors to put on the walls.  I believe that Dutch Boy's "Family Tree" medium to dark taupe will work on the upper part of the walls. Should I follow the vision of that dream from a few nights ago, and go with the most noticeable wall in the room done in a great grand heavenly-colored pattern that coordinates?  I seem to remember shades of what looked like silver and palest blue, as well as white tones...

Should I introduce, instead, a subtle stripe in the lower portion of the walls I'd intended to paper in patterned anaglypta and paint Dutch Boy "Superhide White?"  Woodwork will also be painted in Superhide White, BTW.

Or instead of wallpaper, paint the lower portion of the walls in that mystical pale celadon?  How could I ever hope to get something not too green and not too blue, but the perfect balance of borth?

ACH!  HELP!