The Morning Room - Coastal Victorian Decor
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 03:11PM So I've been saying for a long time that I'd do a post on the morning room. I haven't had a chance to take more pictures, so I just thought I'd put up the ones I have.
According to Wikipedia, a morning room is a nineteenth-century designation for a sitting-room, often with east-facing exposure, suited for daytime calls, or the middle-class lounge, a late nineteenth-century designation for a room in which to relax.
This is the only room in the house that we didn't paint. I wanted to go with a coastal look, and the walls were already a light sand color which was a perfect backdrop for the punches of blue I had planned. For this room, I was inspired by a painting I had called "Beach at Trouville." As shown below, it depicts the beautiful french coastline during Victorian times. It's another Claude Monet, like the paintings in my diningroom.
If you look around the room in the after photos, you can really see all the colors in the painting. The blues and yellows are in the stripes of the sofa and loveseat. The sand is the color of the walls, the turquoise on the staircases can be found in the vintage bottles on the mantel, and the brick color on the buildings match the brick of the fireplace.
And now for the before's and after's:
Before
Before
Before
After
I found the victorian fireplace screen on ebay. It was originally black and I spray painted it white to have that victorian lace look.
The mantel displays lots of vintage bottles, old nautical-themed books in different tones of blue, and a ninteenth century toile vase from England.
And the room most certainly wouldn't be coastal without some shells... :-)
I'm not typically a fan of tassels on drapery, but I wanted the window treatments to embody both the airiness of a beach house and the elegance of the victorian era. So for the drapes, I went with a light blue and white striped sheer from the Martha Stewart collection. And I went with the white tasseled valances, because they reminded of me of a victorian lady's parasol.
In decorating, I just kept picturing young girls picnicing on the beach in their victorian dresses and dainty parasols to shade them from the sun. Add lots of beachy accessories and you have what I call, Coastal Victorian.
AfterYankee Candle of the room: Beach Walk.
This post is part of Met Monday.
beach houses, coastal homes, victorian in Coastal, Cottage, Victorian Houses
Reader Comments (9)
Simply stunning! How beautiful is that room, you have definitely created a beach theme. Amazing before and after pics. Wonderful job my friend. Diane
Beautiful. You've done a wonderful job of decorating the room in a beach theme. I love the crisp colors.
Debbie
What a truly lovely room. I love the lightheartedness of it. The sheers are perfect for a morning room. Your decorating is so tasteful. You've created such a beautiful room. I've been visiting you for some time now and am now a follower.
Blessings & hugs, Sherry
This is charming! So relaxed and welcoming. Like the colors as it makes you smile. Nice job!
You've done a beautiful job with you Coastal Victorian. It's hard to beat blue and white!
I especially like your firescreen, mirror and the pretty curtains.
This a breath of fresh air. I love your room, very welcoming. The sun beams through those pretty curtains and you just can't beat the stripes. Crisp and classy.
Linda at Beautiful Ideas
Is that an original Monet or a print?
Can you tell me what the paint color is on the walls? It looks so much like BM's Rich Creme that I have in some of my rooms.
Beautiful interior. the house looks very nice.
Andy