Views from a Paris window   +  Violet

La couleur violet- A Glimpse into My Life

Well, as you could tell from last week's post over violet, that I have some kind of affection for this color. When my husband and I (actually my husband and his father) began remodeling our house (which was built in the late 19th century) we wanted to make one room in our home European chic and funky like Monica's apartment on Friends. Well, we got as far as the color and that's about it. It just takes a long time to find the right objets d'art, bedding, etc to create the image you have in mind. Not to mention, that now this room is also our baby girl's room!

I will buy decorative things for my home from ANYWHERE as long as it's what I want and fits my style. Walmart, the dollar store, Ebay, Goodwill, yard sales, in a garbage dump... It doesn't matter to me. This little bundle of velvet violets came from the flea market (I paid 50 cents for them). I doubled some orchid hemtape, tied a bow and tucked the flowers in the bow.

On page 74 in Claudia Strasser's book, The Paris Apartment, there is an image of this beautiful turquoise room where the ceiling is painted two or three shades darker than the walls and separated by lightly painted trim. I just loved this idea and requested that we do the same in this room. My husband was okay with it; however, he admits that when he began painting the ceiling a dark shade of periwinkle, he thought "Well, we've committed ourselves and I sure hope she knows what she's doing!"

The fabric for these drapes could not be any more perfect. I wanted silk drapes that puddled on the floor, and luckily I found the perfect fabric at JoAnn's on clearance for $3.00/yard. Looking back, I know now how incredibly rare that is- to find exactly what I was looking for (fabric content, style, color), to find enough fabric for the project, and to find it at 90% off! Needless to say, I snapped up the 9 yards of fabric needed for these draped with a huge smile on my face! And to give credit where credit is due- my mother made these (not that I couldn't, I am just... intimidated)

The fabric on this chair is the only quirky, funky thing in here. I found this remnant of vintage fabric at a yard sale down the street for $1.00! Yeah, another exciting moment!

I could not get the lighting right when I took this photo. The wall is washed out and the pictures look yellowed. So use your imagination... I have been searching for oil paintings, particularly in shades of lilac, blues, periwinkles, to cover this wall for several years. These are what I have found so far... until...

I found these two oil paintings last Friday at one yard sale. I had already begun planning for this post and Voila these two little jewels ($2.00 each) were waiting for me amongst a garageful of oil paintings. That is a rarity around here!

Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions for hanging this type of painting without a picture frame? These are painted on the flat, cheaper canvases (not stretched over wooden frames).

For now they are shoved in between the mattress and the footboard of the black iron bed!

I purchased this miniature park bench at a local flea market while I was pregnant with our daughter. The Beatrix Potter book was an Easter gift given to our daughter by one of her aunts. And the little charming patchwork pillow came from a yardsale for 10 cents. It fits perfectly in her little bedroom!