Friday, February 18, 2011

Dining In


Just one more, technically not from the bulletin board, but inspiration just the same.  These may be my favorite dining room walls.


This house wants green and blue (and maybe a dash of red.)  It does.  It has no affinity for yellow, though it holds no personal grudge.  This house shrugs at yellow.  This house would walk by yellow in the hall and say "Hi, how are you," but would never stop to hear about the horrific drive to work.   It may also be a little vain as it cannot seem to pass up a mirror. 

A little mirror, a little fretwork.  I just keep wondering if I could do it myself.

Images from Charlotte Moss's A Flair for Living, photography by Pieter Estersohn.

25 comments:

  1. I loved that one too. Wasn't it the Lorton home from Tulsa?
    The fretwork was devine and makes the room, along with that gorgeous wallpaper.
    I think I remember the story, and the home is fabulous!
    L.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Exquisite! I think the dash of red makes it - but really just a dash, a soupcon. And I'll bet you could diy - I couldn't - I'm hopeless in this category - but somehow, I'll bet you could!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. With the right carpenter you could!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi- I saw the book " Mr. Blandings builds his dream house" in a store. Do you have a copy? I am sure you do by now but if not would be happy to pick it up for you. Cheryl

    ReplyDelete
  5. One of my favorites as well. Would love to have that mirror.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yoda's advice is applicable here: there is no wondering, just do! You will love it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Leslie - yes, this was the Lorton's house, fun Tulsa trivia and, yes, Cheryl, I do have a copy, but thank you so much for thinking of me.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Any woman who can move a 5000 ton desk while wearing stilletoes and eating Triscuits can, Yes, put up a mirrored wainscot with fretwork overlay. Yes she can.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I bet you could, and I bet you don't even need a carpenter. A good pattern, a small saw, and a glue gun could do the same thing. I think you should. I'd also paint the back of the fretwork black to cut down on the reflection.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I like the fretwork but have to say my first impression as I scrolled down through photo was of "Z-brick" due to the color of the reflection and the shape & size of the geometric pattern. Also be careful of mirror height and how chairs are placed so you don't end up with the reflections of all your dinner guests seats....

    ReplyDelete
  11. You really are a wonderful writer, and much as I enjoy the pictures you post it's your writing that makes me turn to your blog first.

    Love the dining room! And of course you could do it - or most of it - yourself. Can't wait to see, and read about, your continuing efforts on the new house.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Some wallpaper and fretwork!!! I am a chinoiserie addict and this room feeds my habit. It is gorgeous. Thanks. Mary

    ReplyDelete
  13. After doing that dotted wallpaper for your boys? I am pretty sure you could do that yourself!

    All you'd need is a miter box and a whole lot of patience.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I am sure you could do it Patricia!
    Are they de Gourney, Gracie?

    xoxo
    Karena
    Art by Karena

    ReplyDelete
  15. I truly love your blog--it keeps me smiling! This post reminds me that when I was a kid, I used to give everything a voice and a gender! Yes, my bookcase was a boy, but my side chair was a girl. A frilly girl actually. So is your new house a boy, a girl, a man, or a woman, or...??? (Or am I just too weird for words?)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh, to have a dining room (or any room for that matter) papered in hand-painted Chinese wallpaper, whether from Gracie today or antique. Lovely. I would have thought this dining room was in England, and am happy to learn it is in Tulsa, which gives one hope that such sophistication would spread East, rather than the other way around. Reggie

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh how I love Chinese wallpaper--especially with birds! I'm all for mirroring above or below eye level, too, particularly in a dining room; it creates such lovely, flickering movement in low light. It is a beautiful room. My one concern about so much fretwork over mirror, gorgeous as it is, would be the cleaning: imagine getting into all those little corners without popping the moldings off the glass. Antiqued or cloudy mirror might be more forgiving, though less dramatic. Or maybe settle for a tall, beautiful cupboard with fretwork-over-mirror doors?

    C.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Green and blue with accents of red is exactly where I am right now, and three of the images in the previous post are in my personal files, too.

    Can't wait to see how this project evolves.

    ReplyDelete
  19. White is shrinking quietly away into a corner? Yes, of course YOU could pull it off. I, on the other hand would probably end up with some rough, ugly plywood looking thing.

    ReplyDelete
  20. That simpering sound you hear is just me sighing with longing...what perfection

    ReplyDelete
  21. This dining room is in a junior Lorton home in Tulsa. (The parent's fabulous home was decorated by Mario Buatta). It was inspired by the dining room created by Parish-Hadley for the San Francisco home of Ann and Gordon Getty which had bevelled mirror fitted into the openings of the fretwork, a labor-intensive but particularly effective detail.

    ReplyDelete
  22. What an awesome dining room! I am new to your blog and I have really enjoyed reading over your posts. Look forward to reading more.

    ReplyDelete
  23. But of course you could, but if you could not, I would come and somehow we would muddle through with tools, brushes and paint create a pretty little room that would be the life of the dinner party.
    pve

    ReplyDelete
  24. Perfection, both those rooms. That second picture was on the back cover of Southern Accents and its been long placed in my inspriation folder, just fabulous..that chinoiserie is a home run every time!
    Please visit me at my newish blog (less than 2 months) all about the building of our new home and my love for decor/design. Always a treat coming here....
    www.theenchantedhome.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to leave a message. I am quite willing to publish remarks that criticize me, but will likely delete disparaging remarks targeted at someone else.