Ojai Farmhouse Interiors: Simple & Bright

The whole point of having a little getaway is to relax.  

Life is full of so much stress sometimes, I'm surprised that we all haven't completely lost our marbles.

We are trying hard to keep this place pretty simple.

 The yard is actually the "work" part of our weekends but I'm not sure planting vegetables and raking leaves is work.

 My husband can fill an entire pickup full of oak leaves in about 3 hours.  We take them to the local compost company, about a mile up the road and pay him $15 dollars to dump it.

That's not work is it?

  I picked this great bouquet from the garden on Easter:  tulips, ranunculus, Iceland poppies, lilac, sweet peas and freesia.

  I love the bight colors in that bouquet and think this house needs a bright interior with plain white walls as the backdrop. 

The pillows on the couch (pottery barn) are from old rag rugs and I just started collecting little aqua McCoy pots for fun. 

The lamps are vintage ice cream maker buckets and the wicker table is from Williams Sonoma Home

I really haven't ever used colors quite this bold but I think it will be great in this little house.  

My inspiration came from a wonderful historic house up the road from us, known as the Libby Stables. Designer Kathryn Ireland owned and completely renovated it.  She chronicled the process in wonderful book called Creating a Home and her interiors throughout the house were bright and fun and comfy.

 

While the style of the two homes are completely different, what they have in common are the surrounding country side, filled with old majestic Oaks and wonderful groves of citrus.  The Ojai stone we used in all of our walls is a cornerstone to the look of our little farmhouse, as it is with the Libby Stables.

So here are some of my new ideas, different from Kathryn's  yet somehow similar:

The 3 swatches across the top will be for drapery for the living room and adjacent dining area and a few pillows.

  

I purchased a vintage Suzanni shown in the center and will be using it to cover cushions on the little wicker ottomans (2 side by side) for some extra seating, from Mainly Baskets

The final item is a small Moroccan inspired side table to use near the couch or perhaps between the striped chairs.  The table is by Wunderley and I got it for $119 dollars on One Kings Lane {thanks Brooke : ) }

I will have this all pulled together in a couple of weeks and will share the finished product with you then...so stay tuned 

In the meantime:   here's to keeping it simple!

~*~

kelley

Master Bedroom Fabric Choices: Botanical Inspiration

I really enjoy using fabric both new and vintage in different ways and I strive not to be to "matchy-matchy" but not too busy either.

I have collected a pretty large number of hand tinted botanical prints and I used the colors in the florals as a starting point in choosing the fabric for this master retreat.

The chairs were purchased first.  They are from Quatrine and are a modern wing chair with a flanged welt.  The fabric in both the subtle neutral stripe and the tiny green paisley is  100% linen.  All of Quatrine's furniture is slipcovered and pre-washed and is very well made.  It's not real frilly or stuffy furniture so it goes with many different styles of interiors.

It compliments nicely with the vintage ticking pillows with a black woven stripe

Here is a shot of the four poster bed from Ralph Lauren.   The lamps are from Circa Lighting, I think they were called SoHo.  The shades that came with the lamps were paper but the lamps themselves are really great.  The bases also light up!  The side tables are reproduction chinoiserie in a soft yellow with green and orange detailing.

Here is what the lamps are like now with there new shades in the same small paisley from Quatrine.  I had the edges trimmed in a soft green grosgrain ribbon.

Adjacent to the bedroom is a lovely sitting area where I placed the wing chairs.  This is an octagonal space so I thought it would be fun to do grass cloth wall covering (Phillip Jeffries) in just this area of the space to set it apart from the rest of the bedroom.  It also has a nice little fire place with a natural grey limestone surround.

A little wet bar with a fridge (behind door) is a nice addition to any master.

Just off the bedroom is a small balcony with just enough room to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee.  It's usually really warm and sunny in that spot and my dog Millie likes it more than any one!

The pillows are done in more vintage fabric and rag rugs.  The bed linens are heavy Belgian linen from Liebeco and the woven window shades are from Conrad.

A nice space and not overly "matchy"& I think the botanicals were a great place to start!

 It hard to compete with the sunshine and a beautiful blue sky here today so I think I will head outside for the rest of the afternoon.  Have a wonderful and happy weekend.

best~*~kelley