Inspiration

Here are some things that inspire me. I'm not sure that I can or would use them in my own humble abode but one never knows where ideas come from. . .

Love, love, love the blue linen effect on the wall. I know this paint treatment is far from new but for some reason in this dark inky blue it really sings to me. . .

Mirrored paneling??

I've been toying with the idea of doing some kind of mirror treatment for at least some of the walls in the dining room. I know that there are at least 2 layers of hideous wallpaper on there and getting it off million year old homosote isn't an option. Painting it would be easy but not necessarially the best looking idea. What would you think of some sort of mirrored idea? What about this pretty mirrored paneling with just plain paneling on the other walls? Thoughts??

The Mah-ster bedroom

More like the Monster bedroom!!! Yikes! (I can't figure out why these pics show up so tiny- could the blogging God's be trying to save you from having to witness this horror in detail??)

But maybe we'll help it to look like this:

What about a nice white tufted headboard? What if I channel Kelly Wearstler and do it in white Patent Leather??

Focusing on the kitchen

I am tremendously, unbelieveably inspired by this kitchen. In fact, I'm presently in danger of shorting out my keyboard because I'm completely unable to stop drooling like a fool.



And thus, I am going to re-create this kitchen if it kills me (and possibly all around me). Now it looks to me like those floors are painted. And that's a good solution but I'm not 1000% sure how that will hold up at the beach. We have a lot of sandy feet shuffling through our kitchen daily. Also, I'm not completely sure what is lurking under the absurdly hideous (and even burn/melted in places) 1970's vinyl floor we have now. I'd cut to a shot of it and somehow blend in that terror music from the Shower scene from "Psycho" but I'm not that technologically advanced and by now it's probably shrieking in the back of your head anyway. . .

So, any-whooo, I have come up with an alternative in case my painting doesn't work. The most lovely company called Amtico (I have a perma-crush on their vinyl Teak and Holly yacht flooring which is weird b/c I'm not your typical vinyl floor type of gal) has a product called Polar Ice Vinyl. It's 12x12 glue down vinyl squares that simulate glass tiles. You can get ones that look like 12x12 tiles or beveled to look like 1"square tiles. They are gorgeous- just look.

Now the color I need is actually called Polar Glass Pacific and I think I'd go with the big 12x12 tiles I don't have a shot of them in action but here's the color. I think its spot on.

The only thing is that they're expensive. Like really expensive. Something in the neighborhood of $9 per square foot (which is not the kind of neighborhood I can afford to live in) so let's hope the painting works out. :) I can live with the so-so white appliances I already have and I can paint my cabinets etc white but I will not go on without that floor. Period.

Project Dining Room

So, here is where we are now- 1950's land. But fear not my dear friends, we are going to take this place from horror show to opening night!

What if we applied a little high-gloss white paint to the furniture? Maybe we channel these little lovelies?

Do we paint the walls and trim all white to highlight the view outside? Or do we try a cool paint treatment like this?

What about wallpapering over the current stuff with this mod paintable wallpaper?

Ideas? Comments??