A Beautiful House

House Beautiful, a favorite magazine of mine and my mothers, has featured a beautiful house in Illinois of designer Annie Brahler and supplier of "Euro Trash" a company that imports old furniture from Europe and not fussing "about fancy-pants provenance," the furniture and accessories that people have used and don't want anymore.

 

The dog looks like Seamus

 A hall of mirrors

Annie's use of mirrors and chandeliers give this house elegance, the use of whites keeps it simple and clean and enables the use of gilt and crystal without going over the top. A beautiful balance of lighting,  color and design.  The use of white with brown, gray and touches of gold. I like how she is not afraid of using mirrors, they always lighten up a space. The hall of mirrors over the stairwell looks fabulous.

Brown, Gray, Taupe, and a Little Gold

Nuanced and subtle color schemes need texture, raw silk, knitted wool, velvet and plain patterns, stripes and plaid. The textures invite you to touch and feel, they are warm textures, good for living rooms in the middle of winter.

Neutral color schemes, brown, gray, taupe, black and white are the base and background for many rooms. This one in progress.

Brown, White and Gold

 

 Sir Christopher Wren was responsible for the design and building of 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1669. There is another church he designed, St. James's on Picadilly, now a major thoroughfare and at the heart of the theatre and entertainment district. When this church was built in 1672, it was the outskirts of London. 

I went into this church on my way to see friends in the Design Blog Collective this week and had to take a few minutes to admire the building. When I walked in and saw the light and space, then the beautiful decoration in brown, white and gold I was uplifted and reminded of how satisfying Classicism can be: Proportion, balance, symmetry. And the color, wow, Sir Christopher Wren always amazes me.