What I am Pinnning: Black is the new Black

Habitually Chic's latest posting and pins caught my eye with the hash tag #blackfriday. I definitely concur. We accidentally shopped on Black Friday and have steadfastly avoided it since then! Though shopping on Black Friday is off my list, posting and pinning black rooms and other inspirations is on my do list.

This beautiful table setting from Smitten Studio topped my list of pins. I pinned a few things, some in Dining and some in Style, when I realized I needed a new board dedicated to 'Black'. Why not? I have 'Color'. Why not a pin board devoted to the absorption of all light and therefore the absence of color, aka Black.

I found a lot of black cabinets to love.

Pretty soon, I began to notice a bit of a recurrence in my pins. These black pendants are stunning. I am conspiring to test out this DIY:

I have always loved this bowl from Ikea, used for the DIY. Pretty annoyed that it seems not to be available in the US anymore.

Looks like the dish is the only thing available, at least for now.

The gold / brass and black combination is a classic, whether in fashion...

or in furniture...

or interiors.

I found a lot of inspiration pinning on this #BlackFriday. What inspires you?

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Happy Thanksgiving!

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Popular

I have quite a few pins which are very popular. They pop up so often that I have to say, I begin to wonder what makes them so popular? 

Sure, Katherine Ireland's door is a serene shade. But is it any less lovely than Miles Redd's stunning front entry?

Some pins command attention...

While others have a sophisticated and effortless beauty or a quieter sense of drama. 

Then there are pins which, when they are repinned, make me smile. They may have been repinned only a few times but they have a certain elegance and sophistication about them. 

Then there are the poor lonely souls with no repins at all.

They are quite lovely, but so unappreciated.

Some popular pins make a bold color statement 

While others, less pinned, are more subtle

One popular pin has high contrast and a lot of energy

This serene beauty is not so popular

This very popular pin is dark and glamorous

Though these equally dark and dramatic spaces are where I'd rather work

No matter how popular, or not, these beautiful bedrooms inspire me

And as for this one, Suzanne Dimma's gorgeous black slate floor, 

I totally get it why it is so Popular!

My Tiny Living Room

I wish I had a large living room.

Living in a tract house built by a regional builder means I have a tiny living room. Its dimensions are Lilliputian, being only 10'6" by 11'9". I could have been smart and combined two rooms to make a larger living room as Sarah Richardson did.

Sarah Richardson from her site

But I have two dining tables and a buffet a deux corps both of which require some space. Plus, I like having a formal eating space and our plan doesn't have a second dining room as the one Sarah Richardson modified.

Though it would be nice to have a room large enough to have a Baby Grand Piano...

Just having a room large enough to house a Christmas tree, without having to make major furniture arrangements, would be nice.

Vanessa's House At the Picket Fence

Our living room has evolved since we have lived here. We didn't have a formal space in our house in Tulsa, so there was little furniture to put in the room. Paint, Benjamin Moore Ashwood, OC-47, moiré taffeta drapes, a couple of Martha Washington chairs and a skirted table on builder grade carpet was the starting point.With only one switched plug in and one lamp, there was a serious lack of lighting in this room. The pelmets were placed nearly a foot above the tops of the windows, which emphasized the ceiling height.

Majolica fabric pelmets and a leaning Christmas Tree

The drapes were changed out for wooden blinds, which added more privacy.
 

Preparing for new flooring

Structural concerns, i. e., replacing the lowest-end-builder-grade carpet with maple floors was next on the agenda. And yes, Mr. Kitty proceeded to claw the chairs sending them back to their original state nearly the moment the chairs came back in the house after being reupholstered. With just two chairs, the room barely functioned and looked even smaller.

Old Dominion Showhouse 2005

I fell in love with egg prints from the Old Dominion Showhouse. I knew that I had to make room for those in the living room. I found antique egg prints on eBay and, after matting and framing them, they were installed in a symmetrical gallery arrangement on the main wall.

I like to create "matelots"  using my home design software and Photoshop. I looked at several options for a sofa in this room. Given the dimensions, there were limitations for how big it could be. Putting a table at either end would take about 40-60" out of the room, leaving about 66-86 inches for the sofa.
I was having a Jeffrey Bilhuber moment, and decided to try an orange ceiling for the space, at least in the images! Lots of hemming and hawing and back and forth then one of these lovelies came up on sale at the Restoration Hardware Outlet! 

This settee in a gray finish won the settee challenge. Now there was paint, window covering, and two chairs in the room. I tried slip covering the chair which worked, sort of, but not really well. If you are getting the sense that this room was mostly used for Christmas, you would not be wrong. That was another issue to resolve: though it also functioned as a music practice room, the room was used for very little else. This room was the one we passed by on our way to somewhere else. 


I decided to quit fighting the chair upholstery issue and buy new ones. Though it may seem that I was just throwing another gauntlet down in the cat clawing showdown, I noticed that the cat only liked to claw shred chairs that other cats had clawed. I also vowed to stay on top of trimming his claws. Yeah, right, it could still happen! After a lot of thinking and pondering, these chairs were chosen from Overstock.
The detailing around the arms and back won me over and tipped the balance in their favor. Rounding out the furniture was bamboo tables from Joss and Main,  a black metal table found on ebay, and Cyril Glass top table with a Warren Platner look to it, another Overstock purchase,

 







 ...and then another thing happened. Our daughter finished Law school and moved home to study for the bar exam. Of course,her furniture came with her. An Ektorp Jennylund chair, two parsons tables, a Strind side table, two lamps purchased for her living room from HomeGoods, and a Target lamp were incorporated into the room. 

Wow! That's a lot of furniture for a tiny room! It feels larger now. Nothing delicate or diminutive was used in the tiny room. Lots of small furniture just makes a small room cluttered.

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Linking to Inspiration Monday