More of the Maine Beach Cottage

I wanted to share with you more of the photos Jamie Salomon of Salomon Photography, sent to me of Interior Designer, Francine O'Donnell's wonderful Beach House in Maine. Of course the blue ceilings in some of the rooms really caught my eye, but it's the whimsical, vintage decor that kept me wanting to see more.

From dining room above you can see the kitchen (and the beautiful blue ceiling) through the doorway. Notice the fabulous door moulding.

I like the use of the garden table with marble top and a mix of two different chairs. The addition of old chippy garden urns and the crystal chandelier adds to the warm, relaxed feeling.

Here you see a better photo of the table. Adding a thin stone piece on the radiator creates an instant shelf and display area for the owner's garden urns. Painted antique desk continues to enhance the cottage feel.
What an incredible eye O'Donnell has! She truly has a gift for combining vintage objects into beautiful vignettes.

Here is a closer look. Urns, statues, marble, painted tables, iron furniture, distressed mirror!! Fabulous!!

An old stove becomes a table for two antique garden chairs!! So many great ideas!!

Here is a great shot of the dining room looking in from the living room and beyond into the kitchen.

Gray walls continue from the dining room into the living room and provide a great backdrop for the interesting artwork. Clever mix of florals and painted antiques continue the cottage vibe.

Another view shows more vintage mirrors and books.

Another stone piece creates a radiator shelf.
Garden statue brings additional whimsy to this room.

The bedroom has a gorgeous antique iron bed.

Again we see a garden table base topped with stone - I love the artwork.

One of my favorites is this whimsical ampersand "framed" with two vintage frames. So creative!!

Finally the bath with industrial cart holding bath products and towels. Above vintage hand mirror becomes an art piece on the wall!

Francine O'Donnell's Maine Beach cottage is filled with great ideas for bringing a more whimsical flair to your decor!! Thank you Francine and Jamie for sharing this great home with us!

Blue Ceiling Beach Cottage

My friend and wonderful photographer, Jamie Salomon of Salomon Photography, recently sent me photos of this beautiful beach cottage in Maine. The home is the spectacular retreat of designer, Francine O'Donnell

The home has a traditional beach house decor with a bit of whimsy. I love the stools and the center island. What is most striking to me is the color palette. Take a look at this kitchen - taupe/beige cabinets and trim with creamy walls, but the most interesting is the soft blue ceiling. An area often overlooked - so let's have a closer look ceilings in this beach cottage.

Here is the kitchen from another angle. The ceiling color is much paler in this shot. This is a common occurrence when you use pale colors, in some lights the color actually washes out. With ceilings my preference is always to go on the paler side. I like to feel the color with out getting overwhelmed by it.

Here is a closer shot of the same space and you can see the blue ceiling more strongly. I love the whimsical signs - this particular sign adds such personality to the kitchen. Vintage style light fixtures and pale floors also add to the ambiance.

Moving to the family room we again see the use of blue on the ceilings. Notice how the color does not make the ceiling seem lower, but actually makes the ceiling almost disappear.

The same room from a different angle. You can see the patch of blue (like the sky) in the top left side of the photo. Again the SEA letters, life ring and assorted wood signs add a happy lightness to the room. I adore the beadboard walls. Also notice the slanted wall area - often times it is painted to match the ceiling - in this case it would have been a mistake. Keeping it white allows your eye to travel up and adds a feeling of openness to the space.

Here is the Family Room again from another angle. I love the slouchy softness of the big throw covering the chair. This a room where you can really kick back and relax.

The upstairs hallway continues with blue ceilings. Also notice the gray/blue painted floors. I love the doors - clearly they are original to the house.

A peek into the bath - which seems to have white ceilings but wonderful sea glass green walls. More of this beautiful home to come next time!!

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But for now just a quick tour of a great beach cottage which was enhanced by painting a space often overlooked - the ceiling. Have any of you taken on the ceiling??

(all photos Salomon Photography not to be copied with out permission)

Quick Updates & Giveaway!!

A quick update about what's been happening at Willow Decor!!

Thanks so much to lovely ladies over at Material Girls for featuring my home renovation on their wonderful new post: Design Bloggers Homes Unveiled - Part II - Make sure you check out all the other fabulous renovations!! And check out Part I, here, to see even more inspiring spaces from both bloggers you know and some new blog discoveries!! The response to the GIVEAWAY of the gorgeous Antique Vellum Book has been overwhelming! If you haven't yet entered please go visit Kym Fraser at 3 Fine Grains and then come back here and comment what item makes your heart sing. Click here to visit 3 Fine Grains and here read more about the GIVEAWAY and to leave your comments!!
Have a Great Day!!

Antique Vellum Books & Our Most Exciting GIVEAWAY Ever!!!

Antique Vellum Books have been used as gorgeous accents in extraordinary rooms for years. Vellum is a fine parchment made from the skin of a lamb, pig or calf. Primarily it was used in the 15th and 16th century to bind books. The skins were stretched over boarding in a way very similar to leather. The luminosity, texture and beauty of Antique Vellum has made it a favorite of designers.

(Architectural Digest via Cote de Texas)

Of course Vellum books have always been popular with the wonderful Furniture and Interior Designer Rose Tarlow of Melrose House. Here in a photo from Architectural Digest in 1991 you can see her love of these precious books.
(Architectural Digest via Cote de Texas)
Here is another angle of the same room. Notice the bookcase filled with Vellum books.

(Architectural Digest via Cote de Texas)

A shot of Tarlow's bedroom, notice the stacks of vellum books. Read a wonderful post about Rose Tarlow and her design aesthetic by Joni Webb of Cote de Texas here.

(Cote de Texas)

Above is a beautiful room from Antique Dealer and Design enthusiast Kay O'Toole. Notice the stacks of antique vellum books on her table. Cote de Texas once again did a wonderful post about O'Toole and her home read more about here.

So imagine my delight when Kym Fraser of 3 Fine Grains contacted me about her new venture into the world of Antique Vellum Books. Apparently, several months before a famous actor had contacted her. He was impressed with her love and knowledge of antiques coupled with her wonderful designer background.

An avid antique collector and design enthusiast himself, he had become the largest collector of Antique Vellum books in the United States. He had designed an exquisite room in his Malibu beach house and filled it with over 800 books. But, unfortunately he was moving and would she be interested in connecting the right designers and antique lovers with these wonderful books for him? It was important to him, that the new owners appreciate the beauty of these rare treasures.

Kym Fraser currently has over 600 of these gorgeous books. They range in age from 1572 - (yes, that is not a typo -books from the 1500's) to the late 1800's. Most books are in written in Italian, French, and Latin, and even some in Hebrew.

The books are varied and all are vellum. Some have ribbed bindings and some flat. Some are embossed in gold and some also have colored leather. Some have marbleized covers and hand painted pages. They are a varied and beautiful collection.

Most books are singular but Kym also has many sets including the most expensive in the Collection - a rare set of encyclopedias from the 1600's. This set of 9 is $13,500.

Of course, they range in price from $150 up - and interestingly the price is not determined by size, but by a variety of markers; including condition, content, outside embellishments, etc.

The photos show just a small sampling of the Vellum Collection.

Perhaps the most intriguing book to me is the one above. Stamped with the date of 1572, this book includes everything that is important to a collector. The book is a collection of the most celebrated passages of Euripides poetry. It has a gorgeous hand tooled cover, and beautiful writing on the ribbed bindings .

Add to that the incredible hand forged metal latches, patina and outstanding condition. This is a very rare book and retails for $5,500.

Here is another book with latches. This beauty is part of Kym's personal collection. She says it reminds her of her beautiful German Grain sacks. Notice the hand painted page edges in blue -Lovely!

Now here is the exciting part!! Kym has offered this wonderful Antique Vellum book to a Willow Decor reader. This book is from 1626 in Venice, Italy. Can you even imagine the Villa it resided in so many years ago??

Written in Italian, the book becomes even more valuable, because of its wonderful condition and the the exquisite flourish on the binding. This antique book retails for over $600.

Here is how to enter to win this antique treasure. Visit Kym Fraser's store, 3 Fine Grains, let me know what other items besides, these wonderful vellum books, that make your heart sing. Leave a comment back here at Willow Decor. For a second chance to win, be subscriber or follower of Willow Decor (you can sign up on the right column).

Next Sunday I will announce the winner! Best of luck!! And a huge thank you to Kym Fraser of 3 Fine Grains for such a generous giveaway. Click here to go check out 3 Fine Grains and then come back and leave your comments. Good Luck!!

(all photos property of 3 Fine Grains unless noted and not to be copied with out permission)

Araucana Blue Inspiration & A Big Surprise!!

With Easter Sunday right around the corner I wanted to share with you some beautiful Araucana Eggs. A few years ago, a friend who raises Araucana chickens presented me with a gift of a dozen Araucana eggs. They were the most spectacular soft shades of blue, green and beige. I admired them for several days then blew them out so I could display them and preserve them forever.

Aracuana eggs have always been a favorite of mine since I first saw them in Martha Stewart Living. This is a similar photo of what my eggs looked like, before my new puppy thought it might be fun to play with them and crushed them. Notice the pale shading and incredible colors.

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Inspired by these eggs Martha Stewart created the Araucana Collection of 22 soft shades of blue, green, beige and brown through Fine Paints of Europe. Though the paint deck is no longer available, I still have it and still love the soft palette she created. In honor of the Araucana Collection I wanted to share several rooms painted in those lovely shades.

(All photos from Martha Stewart Living) Above notice wonderful pale blue on the walls. I think it is interesting to also notice that the small demi lune table is painted in a very similar shade as is the urn below. So often we are afraid to put similar shades against each other, but if they are in the same color family the result can be beautiful. I also love the bleached wood floors. Beyond our blue room we transition to a wonderful beige tone also from the Araucana collection. Beautiful antique chairs draw your eye through the hallway and into the next room.

This is the far room we see from the above photo. Araucana Sage is a gorgeous choice to highlight these antique chairs, linen and pedestal. Again floors are pale and windows are unadorned.

This photo is from Martha Stewart's Turkey Hill home. This room is at least 7 or 8 years old. It is a testament to the fact that good design is truly timeless. I love the color of this room. Again notice Martha's repetition of color with the plates on the wall. Antiques add patina and texture to the space. I may be mistaken but I believe the ceilings are also painted very pale blue.

Finally a beautiful bedroom in another Araucana pale blue. Slipcovers and white bed coverings pair beautifully with the drab painted floors. What a soothing bedroom.

(pinkwallpaper)

This photo, though not from Martha Stewart, is also wonderful mix of subtle shades to create a striking effect. It reminds me of the beach and where I am heading to enjoy sun this holiday weekend.

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Finally the big surprise......Stop by on Sunday night for a fantastic (and extremely generous) GIVEAWAY!! Our wonderful friend, Kym Fraser of 3 Fine Grains, has selected the most fabulous new item for you - It is the most valuable treasure we have ever had in the history of Willow Decor so don' t miss it!! Until then you can visit 3 Fine Grains or click here and see if you can guess what fabulous surprise lies ahead for you!!!

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To all my readers, I wish you a wonderful and relaxing weekend! Happy Holidays!!

xx-Gina