Wednesday, September 30, 2015

I want that hall!

Sweet Dreams Wallpaper Blackish ABC
I am seriously in love with the ABC comedy Blackish. Not only do I love the series and the cast and the characters they play, I love the house. Production Designer Maxine Shepard has done a super job of creating this house. The house is truly another character in the show and a big part of visually defining the Johnson family as a hip, upper middle class family. Though Bow and Dre probably make a good amount of money, they are raising four children. Therefore the decor is not super high end, but still classic and refined with a contemporary slant.


Blackish ABC
One of my biggest favorites spaces is the upstairs hall. Yup, the hall. There are so many aspects to this hallway to love, not the least of which is the expansive space! 


Blackish ABC

Seriously, does anyone else have a hallway wide enough for two people to walk side by side? With space between them, no less? If we tried that in my house, somebodies dyin' from falling down the stairs! Of course, I rarely have camera crews in my hall.


Though space is definitely part of design, my focus is on the decorative surfaces. Mainly because there is nothing I can do to widen the hallway without throwing a lot of money at it. Blow it up, start it over again, amount of money! And I. Want. This. Hallway. Or at least something close to it!

This space strikes a balance between contemporary and traditional. Everything in the space, the damask wallpaper, the subdued lighting, the chair rail, the beautiful wood flooring, the base molding and the neutral color are all traditional. Yet, each has a modern spin. 

Sweet Dreams Candice Olson, York Wallcoverings
For example, the wallpaper used here has a contemporary look. This is Sweet Dreams by Candice Olson produced by York Wallcoverings. It took me the better part of a day to find this pattern! I am blaming it on my search terms, which were not so successful to begin with. I am still not entirely sure which colorway was used.

Sweet Dreams Candice Olson York Wallcoverings
Jeld-Wen Doors HomeDepot


The bedroom doors are paneled and an upgrade from a plain slab door. The number and the shape of the panels creates a more contemporary appearance. They are square, rather than round and there are only two, not six. Either of the two doors on the left and right, above, would work, but the square panels lend a more contemporary vibe to the space. Fascinatingly, all of these doors are the same price yet the two left and right doors above look so much more luxe.



The door handles are a blunt rectangular lever style with a square backplate, repeating the square elements of the door panels. They look similar to the Kwikset Vedani, to me. I believe they used a passage door knob, rather a privacy knob, as nobody needs privacy on an actual set bedroom and the privacy knob / lever has a rather sizable hole for the 'key.'

The niche with the seat, reminiscent of a window seat, is a charming and homey touch. Another feature which is not practical for a redo in my house, again, unless my daughter gives up her closet, not happening!


Anundria, Lamps Plus


The lights, again, repeat the squares. These fixtures are similar. The one above is a plug in, the one below is hard wired.


Possini Euro Design Wall Sconce, Lamps Plus


The mouldings are likely compound, that is multiple mouldings combined to create the strong architectural statement that this moulding gives. For a smaller space than this hall, a moulding with a lower profile is appropriate. 




I found a similar moulding at architecturaldepot.com 


House of Fara Molding, Home Depot

and another at Home Depot. The set has what looks like a beveled quarter or half round atop the moulding, again, a compound creation.


Moulding Home Depot


The baseboard looks like it is a compound moulding, as well. Highly likely that the space between the top and bottom of the moulding is the wall. The top may be as simple as the moulding above, then wall space, and what looks like another chair rail at the bottom, it has a higher profile than most base mouldings, with a quarter round to finish it. Notice that the mouldings are all painted, that is, there is no cherry stained shoe moulding where the flooring meets the wall. This makes the wall look taller rather than making the floor look wider.


Cherry Stained Maple flooring, York Supplies

The floors may be a black walnut  or cherry stained maple or oak. These hardwoods have a more uniform appearance than actual Cherry. Every board has a consistent color, no board being significantly darker or lighter than another. 


Cherry wood floors, notice the variation in color, Houzz
Cherry wood has variations in color, which can be very distracting.


Black Oak Laminate Flooring, York Supplies

Of course, this is the smoke and mirrors magic of television, and laminate could be used which would take the traffic of cameras and equipment over the floors.

The wallpaper samples are on their way, out for delivery as I post! After they arrive, the paint choices are next.



Saturday, September 26, 2015

Here we go again!

Well now, this was awesome. 
As I was writing my post today, Pepco lost power again. Big Surprise, not.Turns out there was a brush fire near a substation. Big Surprise, not! 
Though the fire didn't reach the proportions of 2011, it certainly caused concern. The power blip took down the internet, meaning much of the necessary research for today's post had to be delayed. I really miss my linksys modem which stayed up when these things happened!
Smoke from Pepco fire in 2011
Not to mention the fear of needing to bug out in case the situation warranted. 

**Le Sigh**

No damage, no panicked bug out, not even smokey skies, just two ladder trucks and a helicopter patrolling the park. 
No smoke in the skies, but Thundercloud Gray is coming!
Tomorrow is another day! 
Benjamin Moore Thundercloud Gray 2124-40

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Back to Black

Lisa Mendes Design
High Point, North Carolina, 2015 Designer Showhouse
Traditional Home

I go through at least five or six design obsessions weekly. I am currently obsessing on cabinet color. In my creative area are yellow oak cabinets which need painting!

I have gone from black cabinets with white counters, to white cabinets with black counters...

Wm F. Holland, Architect
 website



To all white cabinets and counters ...




Lisa Mendes Design
High Point, North Carolina, 2015 Designer Showhouse
Traditional Home

Now I am back to black again.
**Le Sigh**


Saturday, September 12, 2015

Danke Schoen

It has been a Long, Long, Long, Stressful couple of weeks.
Thanks House and Home for this fabulous feature.



BRB...

Friday, September 4, 2015

Guggenheim

via Homebunch

I was searching the web for photos of cabinets painted with the no longer a secret combination of 50% linen white and 50% decorators white. The above picture is not it, it is linen white only. I know that once in Traditional Home, this charmingly awesome 50-50 was used and actually named as such. So often when a mix is listed in the Resources, it is just listed as Custom, grrrr!

Admittedly I have made some spectacular beige / off white paint colors by mixing all the left over paints together. Yup even some intense colors, mixed together with a bit of white will make beige. And, no, I couldn't come up with a better name than "custom" either. How do you say, about a quart of a gallon of some perfectly awful green that just never quite worked, about 1/2 gallon of brown that the previous owners left behind, 2 quarts of some sort of red, trial colors for the accent walls, a gallon of atrium white which was over the top stark, and a half a gallon of soapstone which a pinkish off white for the ceiling in the room with the Schumacher wallpaper.
Edgecomb Gray Decorpad 

While wandering I found an article on the New York Times site dating from 1989, with a discussion about whites, including the newly introduced Atrium White! Benjamin Moore's Off-White, with the number #76, which was really a gray, was only being kept in the line because of the name, off-white. I wonder how close that gray was to Edgecomb? I'm sure it was close to the stunning ET-69 or was it ET-71, which we used in our first house. I remember those colors being very close to Revere Pewter and Edgecomb Gray. I am pretty sure that #76 was in fact an ET, which stood for earth tone, color. 


Atrium White Cabinets via Decorpad


Atrium was one of the most stark whites I'd used to date. 

Pottery Barn, Benjamin Moore Spring in Aspen #954 on the walls OC-117 Simply White Trim
Benjamin Moore Spring in Aspen #954 with White Dove OC-17
Benjamin Moore Spring in Aspen #954 with Brandon Beige # 977
via Pinterest

From the article, it seems that the Guggenheim was painted OW-8, which was renamed #954, or, by its name, Spring in Aspen. To me, the Spring in Aspen works better with a brighter white for trim, such as the OC-117 in the top picture or the Brandon Beige in the bottom picture. White Dove, which I love is too near the same tone. If a monochromatic look is desired, just use the same paint in a different gloss, say satin, for the wood work.
Pottery Barn,
Benjamin Moore Berber White, 955

Benjamin Moore's Berber White, its neighbor on the fandeck, was very popular when it was part of the Pottery Barn color selections.

I'll keep looking for that elusive 50%-50% Linen / Decorators white photo, in the meantime, I have some plans up my sleeve for that boring builder bathroom!