At the Window No. 10 - Portiere

What a beautiful treatment over a doorway or an entrance to a room! Portiere is a Victorian-era treatment that, lightened up for today's home creates a fabulous room entrance or divide.

The architecture of a home will define where the portiere is appropriate. While the interior design of the space will define the perfect fabric for the treatment.

When I recommended a portiere treatment for a design project, it was also to meet a need for the client. A reading room off a Master Suite could be enjoyed even while an on-call professional slumbered.

It is important to keep the design element of the portiere treatment at the forefront. Both over-dressing or under-dressing a doorway or room divide can happen if one gets too wound up in the selection of the materials for the portiere treatment.

The portiere can be an elaborate Victorian-inspired treatment, while a simplistic version can be just as dramatic. Don't make it messy!

There is a romance and lure into the space the portiere frames. Could be one of the best welcomes into the spaces of our home.

Just as an archway beckons, so too can the portiere treatment. It just might be that last layer that finishes and frames the space. The best piece of "framed art" for the room.

I'm seeing doors coming off their hinges in your home! Take your time and do it right!

Image Sources: McAlpine Tankersley, John Saladino, Pinterest, Tumbler, Cote de Texas, Lucinda Giannetti, Kathryn Stoehr, House Beautiful, House and Home

Color Palette No. 13 - The Newstand

In the wee hours of the morning our cities start the day with routine being the dictator.  Preparations are put into action to inform us, hydrate us (with caffeine), nourish us, and transport us even before we rise and begin to shine.  The days news in printed stacks await their delivery, even in this era of tablets and smart phones the printed news lives on.

So in homage to an endangered routine I offer the color palette inspired by the newspaper. A pretty intriguing read indeed.

A room edited to perfection!

Loving the room divider!

And as news would have it - loving the contradiction of colonial gentleman painting 

accompanying the animal print sofa.

Just leave me here to read and be inspired!

Reads like front page news.

Loving what Charlotte Moss did to hold daily reading materials!

Society page at its best.

Yes, as the old children's riddle goes, "what's black and white and read all over?" The newspaper... full of inspiration as a color palette in our homes.

Image Sources:  Elle Decor, Charlotte Moss, Architectural Digest, Traditional Home, Veranda, The Gifts of Life