I’m surrounded by romance at all times in my life. It’s not
just that I’m married to a great guy, although that helps. (Thank you, Dean!) I
have elected to let my home decorating reflect my love of all things
romantic.
At first, I guess I went the romance route with my décor
because the experts say our homes should reflect who we are. Communicating my
love of romance became simple enough by hanging a few of my book covers on the
walls of my office. Pretty and personal, right?
But I was so encouraged to see those book covers that I
thought I’d take it a step further. When
it came to decorate my living room, I decided to display the kinds of images I
never get tired of seeing. Frank Dicksee’s Romeo
and Juliet was an easy choice to hang on one wall. I liked it so much I
snagged a larger copy of Godspeed by
Edmund Blair Leighton to hang over the sofa. 
After a few years, I realized that I wasn’t just showcasing
who I am by displaying these romantic images. I was also actively inspiring
myself. As I sit down to write books, my eye is drawn to these paintings and I
end up thinking about story ideas. So I invested in another interesting piece
of artwork in a different medium. I love all the images from the Limboug
brothers’ paintings for the duc de Barry and I liked that the January image for
the Book of Hours is so well populated. There’s so much to see!
If my husband is tired of my romantic decorating aesthetic,
he hasn’t said anything yet. I snuck a copy of John Everett Millais’ Apple Blossoms over my stairs. My office
is now crowded with Waterhouse paintings and a huge version of his Lady of Shalott. The author in me loves
to think about the stories behind the paintings while the homeowner in me
enjoys the play of light and color.
**What about you? Did you have a theme in mind when you
decorated your home or did one emerge as you collected things you love? Chat
with me this week on the boards and I’ll give away a copy of my new Blaze, HER
MAN ADVANTAGE, to one random poster.
Joanne
www.joannerock.com
***Joanne's winner is Eli Yanti! Eli, please email me at totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing info. Thank you!***
***Joanne's winner is Eli Yanti! Eli, please email me at totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing info. Thank you!***
28 comments:
I had colors in mind, but not really a theme. I guess that came over time, but I think I spend more time decorating my bedroom than the rest of the house. Because things have gotten crazier over the years I've slacked on decorating and it's now more about functionality that appearance. Sad, but true.
yadkny@hotmail.com
No theme at all. We bought cheap pine furniture over a period of time. The good thing is that it all matches. I do tend to go for blue & white when I purchase, so it actually looks pretty good with the pine.
I found that I can't work unless I like my physical space so decorating becomes a high priority whenver I move! Once, we moved into a house in Ohio and the colors were so jarring I couldn't do *anything* until I painted the walls. Nitpicky? Yes. But I'm at the mercy of my Muse and apparently she's mega fickle!!!
Very classic, Marybelle! I wanted to do something blue and white in a FL house we bought once, but I kept finding my old decorating style creeping in there in spite of my best intentions. I had to keep the blue and white in one room and go back to my tried and true everywhere else!!
I didn't have a theme in mind when I decorated my house. I tend to lean toward earth tones and sea tones when I choose colors.
Hi Crystal! I'm mostly burgundy and golds, but I think I snagged my colors from the paintings I liked to hang. The walls are mostly cream though... I painted them that color while I thought about what wall colors I wanted. And I decided to keep the cream in most rooms. My sons' rooms are blues and browns though. I think they were trying to send me a message to keep all my romantic paintings out of their domain!!
I am just in the middel of redeorating... The painters start next week. I am doing the wall in the living room a creamy biege colour and my new sofa is a Sage Green.. So the accent colours I pick to so with it will be perfect... My old sofa is a rose colour, and for now the chair that matches is going to stay until I find an accent chair I like.. I am going to replace the side tables and the coffe table too.. I am not sure yet what I want yet.. I have a cherrywood TV console and my wall unit is a very dark oak.. The kitchen is being painted and it will just be a freshing up of the same colours. Then the bedroom is getting a new dresser in a rich dark maple and my accents table by the bed in a cream colour... I also bought a new lamp in that has a bronze sheen to it.. My colour scheme is lilacs, purple and lavender for my bed... I just go with what I like...
I have no theme here but if I did it would resemble yours. I love all the paintings you have and The Lady of Shalott is a favorite of mine. I just recently changed my avatar and it was TLOS before. I also love Godspeed and The Accolade. If I had my way the entire house would be decorated medieval. My DH did cave and let me hang my swords in the dining room. He laughs at me because since I discovered Pinterest, I've used that to compensate for not being able to decorate the house that way. I'm constantly arm chair traveling and have turned into a pinning fool. I have such a love for the history that sometimes I think it seeps from my pores.
I decorated in English Country style. Dark red and cream with light wood and lots of plants.
Hi Leah! I need to check out Pinterest one of these days! I'm sure I would find lots of over there. And how fun you got the swords hung! What a great conversation piece. Mostly, I think it's just nice to surround yourself with things you really enjoy :-). Thank you for posting!
Sounds lovely! I have a few French Country pieces mixed in, especially in the kitchen. Very clean and pretty! Thank you for checking out the blog! I'm posting a winner for the thread on Monday...
Wow, Kathleen! What fun! I find decorating tricky and a little overwhelming, but even so, it's really exciting when new furniture arrives and things start to take shape! The purples in the bedroom sound so pretty. I used to have a lavender room as a teenager. Then it was pink for years after I got married (bless my husband for not minding!). Now my bedroom is raspberry, but I'm probably due for a change. Only now, I've got to decorate around the paintings I've hung. They're going to be a constant! Good luck with all the changes, Kathleen! I hope it turns out even better than you envision!
ouch.. i love seeing decoration but i dont expert even dont have any imagination to decorate my room :(
This is when it helps to have friends input! I asked friends and family for their advice on what to do with various spaces when they came over to my house. You might be surprised how helpful they can be!
Enjoyed reading your comments. I had a decorator give me advice on how to use the few antiques
I trybp to makevitn. Simple , netrual colors hot covervwhoo
I like it straight and simple, not much fuss. I have a colour theme for every room but besides that I'm not too concerned about it. :)
I'm still working on repainting a few rooms, and have to finish some decorating touches (like hanging pictures. I got a very pretty picture for my bedroom - it's a young woman in a long blue gown (I think perhaps Georgian). I like a pretty touch, but don't want to have too many dust-catchers around. In the main areas I've got shades of gray, but the dining area has a wall in razzle-dazzle raspberry.
Neat! How fun to have an expert opinion. I like reading decorating magazines or seeing shows where they ask multiple decorators to design the same interior and they all submit plans... Cool to see what different visions different folks bring to the same space!
Thank you, Kim!!
Claudia, in my mind, I think "no fuss" too. But then I end up fussing in spite of myself :-). Thank you for dropping by the blog!!
Hi Di! Sounds very pretty! Good luck with the picture hanging... that's a process that gives me fits, but I'm always happy when I've done it :-).
Blog winner!!!! Congratulations to Marybelle, winner of the thread prize! Marybelle, I will email you privately, but all you need to do is email me at jrock008@gmail.com and let me know a mailing address. I'll drop a signed copy of HER MAN ADVANTAGE into a package with a few other goodies and ship it right out!
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