Patterns From the Past

Are you renovating a very old home?  There will likely be layers and layers of “Charm” on your walls and floors.  Don’t let the patterns from your house’s past haunt or intimidate you.  This house had tons of charm, and I used elements of that charm as inspiration for the renovation. 

The once bright yellow, floral wallpapers from around the 1960’s inspired the Alabax, surface mount, light fixture, from Schoolhouse Electric that I used in the spare bathroom.

The lime green print from the bathroom inspired the floor color in the upstairs, as well as the risers of the new stairway we installed to eliminate the treacherous climb to the upstairs bedrooms/studio space and small office.  The original stair treads were only six inches deep.  Going up them felt like you were climbing an extension ladder and going back down them was well, just scary.

I used the teal linoleum that covered all the floors upstairs, and the hand painted, teal wall border, as a jumping off point for the area rug purchased at West Elm for the family room. 

Brown, taken from the 1970’s vinyl, kitchen floor, is the neutral color that grounds the living room.  It gave us the opportunity to use the drapes, sofa and chairs from our previous home, and allowed a room that is an axis point from all first floor rooms in the house, to remain quiet.  The dark neutral color doesn’t fight the elements in the other rooms but still has presence.

Please stay tuned, there is a lot more to come.

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