I went very simplistic with the room. The walls were dark green and brown (bleh!)  I painted it the same color as the sunroom (Valspar Sugar Shortbread), I loved the creamy (slight hint of pastel yellow) hue.

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Somebody felt like relaxing in his Christmas clothes.

A fun Victorian Macabre style look to my mantel

I went with a Victorian Macabre look for Halloween this year on my great room mantel.  I have so much Halloween decor in the shed and garage,  but no time this year to go all out.  Hope you all have a wonderful Halloween!

Care for some poison? :-P

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I also wanted to bring in some texture against the smooth statue, so I included a couple of my aged antique books that are beautifully falling apart (lol). You can't see in the photo, but the book colors really compliment the colors in the area rug underneath.

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The 2 tier candelabra was brass.  I painted it with bronze metal finish to get the color I wanted (priming it first to avoid rust.)  The setup has different levels to it to create visual interest.  But at the same time, everything is way below eye level while sitting on the couch, so it does not obstruct one's view of the television.

I got the coral and bust at the sponge docks.  The bust is similar to the one on my fireplace mantel:

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That's it, but before I leave-  Let me show you a couple other random photos I took around the room.  I thought it would be fun to take some closeup shots.

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That's it for now.  Keep an eye out next month for the holiday issue of Romantic Homes Magazine.  They are doing a spread on my home from last Christmas. :-) Happy decorating!

If you are interested in learning more about my YouTube videos, you can do so at www.vprincess.com

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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:

BeforeBefore
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.

 

I love them, but I know I can only have them out for special occasions.  Our cat is just dying to roll around on them!

Happy New Year!

For the front parlor, I wanted to go with deep tones of gold and deep crimson red.  The red looks brighter in these photos than it is in person.  The tree is 12 feet tall.  

First, I'll share my favorite photo with you.  Someone managed to sneak into frame lol.

The red flowers are hydrangeas, the flower of the Old South.

And here is a shot during the day.

I also put up a smaller tree (6.5 ft tall) in the dining room.  

For the Dining Room tree, I went with the colors white and platinum.  I wanted to incorporate some old fashioned flare, so I hung some pieces from my antique cameo collection as ornaments.

I'll work on sizing some other photos I took. In the meantime, please comment and let me know what color scheme you did on your Christmas tree this year.

The top part of these crystal candle holders where the crystals are hanging from is actually a piece from one of the old chandeliers in the house.  The piece is rounded so it sit perfectly right on top, and the candles fit perfectly through the hole in the middle.

Thanks for stopping by!