Wednesday, November 27, 2019

The Elephant Room

The Elephant Room, done in Breakfast Room Green
Tamarind wallpaper by Thibaut
 You might remember my post about one of my favourite Farrow & Ball colours: Breakfast Room Green, which we've used in our guest room/ dressing room for MrBP.

This was an exciting room to decorate because we went a bit crazy with a strong wallpaper pattern.  It was also one of the first rooms to be completed, as our painters were working towards a particular deadline: the day of the wallpaper hanging!  This was done by a British fellow named Luke, what a character, and judging by his accent he was from Wales... full of stories he was.

Let's look at the room as it was when we bought the house:
BEFORE

BEFORE
 There were great bones to this room, but the wall sconces were mismatched and the plaster needed some repair.  The sink was in fine condition especially considering its age, I found a stamp on the back of it dating it to 1902.  Apparently the sinks in this house (as well as the clawfoot tub in the main bath) came from a local hospital, the Homewood Health Centre, and were certainly added at a date later than their manufacture.
Paint Going Up
 The colour went on beautifully, in about three coats, and while we decided to paint the chair rail in our green, we kept the trim the same Wimborne White as the rest of the house.

Wallpaper Is Up!
 The day we brought the furniture into the house was hectic to say the least, but I knew exactly the pieces I would use in this room.
 The rug is very old, and it came to Canada with MrBP's grandparents when they left Austria in 1938.  MrBP's grandfather was a soldier for Austria during the First World War, and brought this rug with him when he returned home from the war.
The colours in the rug are wonderfully faded and bring out the sepia tones in the wallpaper.
 The mirror above the sink came from my father-in-law, provenance unknown.  The little antique marble topped table (French) is a great useful piece, really sturdy and with lots of storage.  I bought it for our ensuite bathroom in our last house.
 The bed and nightstand also came from my father-in-law, the gingham sheets in navy are from Pottery Barn and the quilt is from LLBean.

I really wanted to put a dresser in this space to further organize MrBP's clothes.  Fortunately I didn't have to purchase one, this wooden dresser was in our daughter's room in our old house, painted grey with an attached mirror and crystal knobs.  I removed the mirror and knobs and painted it Oval Room Blue (which is the blue I've used in the main bath) and added some brass knobs.
 There is lots of storage in this room as it turns out.  The cupboard above the door is really large and perfect for holding suitcases.  I had the interior of it painted Dix Room Blue (the same as the closets) which I'll show you in a future post about closets (you know I love talking about closet organization).
Cupboard above the door.
The cupboard doors were wallpapered and the trim painted green.
The closet is to the right of this door.
 Speaking of closets, here is a sneak peek at the decorating scheme in MrBP's section of the closet.  The wallpaper is part of the same grouping as the elephant paper (Tamarind by Thibaut).  The walls were painted out in Dix Room Blue.
 The closet holds a laundry basket and a wooden ironing board, which I found at Williams Sonoma.
 The shelves hold ties and pocket squares.
 How about out of season clothes?  That is the function of the large pine chest at the bottom of the bed, currently MrBP's summer clothes and jackets are tucked away in there.
Old pine chest at foot of bed.
 I'm really pleased with the way the sconces turned out with their new shades.  The shades are not precious, I bought them at Home Depot for about five bucks each.
Wall sconce above bed.

Sconces above sink.
 This is the room where our daughter Gabby stays when she is home visiting from Toronto, so of course the horse bookends had to have a spot on the dresser:
 The little marble table holds all sorts of grooming supplies for MrBP.  I like to corral vitamins in a little dish to avoid having the ugly plastic bottles on display, and ditto for mouthwash.  A giant plastic bottle of Listerine is not so attractive, this Kilner glass bottle holds plenty of mouthwash and is far more pleasing to the eye.
Vitamin dish and Kilner glass bottle. 
 The last accessory of note... an elephant pillow of course!
Elephant pillow.
Next up in the series is the other green room in our house, the family room/den, which has been decorated with Farrow & Ball's Ball Green.  I hope you'll join me for that.
xoxDani