Past Perfect

I was inspired by a comment made yesterday on my "Which would you prefer?" post, here, by Leigha Oaks, of the inspiring Elle Oh blog. Leigha favors "ridiculously rough walls" over a more refined look.

Here are a few different ways to feature the spirit of rough luxe.

This is an 18th century home in Saintonge, France. The warm, mottled off-whites of its worn plaster walls, along with the gorgeous stone floors, create its welcoming warmth and invite you to run your hands over their smooth surface. I love the door, too. 

Simply Contemporary by Henrietta Thompson  Photo by Solvi dos Santos

This Norwegian bedroom wall faces the sea. To protect the home from the extreme elements, the wall was covered with old sails (probably canvas) and then painted. The wonderful craquelure that developed would be very hard to duplicate with anything new.

 

Simply Contemporary by Henrietta Thompson  Photo by Solvi dos Santos

As this Italian home was renovated, the fresco was discovered and left in place. The whole setting is charming.

Italian Style by Jane Gordon-Clark  Photo by Simon Upton

These beautifully textured walls are part of an old warehouse building in Marseilles. The inhabitant, painter Francoise Martinelli, created the collage, which becomes the room's focus on the white-ish walls.

Simply Contemporary by Henrietta Thompson  Photo by Solvi dos Santos

In this bedroom, interior designer David Kaihoi and his wife, Monique Simard, found a tattered pile of hand-painted, 18th century Chinese wallpaper at an auction. They found three scenes, placed them on the walls and filled in the gaps with bits and pieces.

House Beautiful  Photo by Ngoc Minh Ngo

Breathtaking!

House Beautiful  Photo by Ngoc Minh Ngo

The natural, raw patina of the walls compliments the homeowner's hat display. I would like to see the curtains up close.

Elle Decoration UK  Photo by Jean-Francois Jaussaud

What is your take on raw walls? Do you like their natural patina or favor a more refined look?

Get Rid of Wallpaper Once and For All!

Off with the wallpaper! Here's what Frank Faulkner did:

Frank Faulkner is a Top 50 New York Designer, according to NY Spaces Magazine. He not only is a fabulous designer, but he is also a very talented artist. One of Frank's recent homes is now featured in the March 2010 issue of NY Spaces Magazine. The circa 1870 home is in Hudson, NY. Having removed the old wallpaper, Frank decided to leave the living room walls "exactly as they were when we tore the wallpaper off, he says, cracked plaster, patination, and all."

I was recently at a client's home where the wallpaper had been stripped. Personally, I loved how the walls looked without anything further being done to them. It's a matter of taste... wallpaper be gone!

Here are a few shots:

"Au naturelle" walls close up

 

Walls left "natural" after wallpaper removal

The Studio in Photos

For those of you who have asked to see what the Great Lakes Decorative Arts Studio looks like, here it is!

The Studio is located in the former Lake Erie Screw Factory in Lakewood, Ohio. It is a 2  minute drive from I90. The wonderful old factory houses over 50 various sized artisan studios. We hold an Open House twice a year, which is when most of these photos were taken. The studio is divided into two areas, the classroom and the work room. I keep the work room private; it is filled with products, works in progress, tools, ladders and anything else you can think of!

When I moved in...

After a little lime plaster and rust

Welcome to the Open House!

Coming into the classroom area

Here is the wall of finishes... in several pics

Finishes...

Wall of finishes- two

Wall of finishes- three

Wall of finishes- four

The other long wall

In an upcoming post, I'll tell you a bit about that gorgeous Art Deco screen that you see in the first photo.