From the Inside Out

The deluge continues from dark skies here in what used to be known as my sunny little beach town and being that I tend towards the melancholic side of life sometimes -

I don't mind the grey.

I actually long for it sometimes -- the grey -- on a soul level. It, like everything, requires a precarious balance for the perfect outcome. Too much, and it's gloomy, too little and it's not moody enough for my liking.

Balance.

photo credit Philip Newton

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I love moody rooms. I need them. My aesthetic environment is extremely important to me because it directly and deeply affects my mood. My state of mind. It needs to embrace the grey in me. While I love different elements, the base of my surroundings need to be substantial - earthy, organic, but interesting, and while broody -- not dark. While I like airy, for me, personally, it needs to be in the form of an ethereal mist-- surreal, dreamy - not in the bright and cheery sort of light.

Saladino Estate from the book, Santa Barbara Living

I love simplicity, but not simple.

Elements of perfection for me from Elle Decor --

if those curtains were less weighty, it would be pure perfection.

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Take these walls below for instance - simple tint and sand equals an exquisite, textured wall of perfection. It's broody but far from gloomy and certainly not stagnant. The light moves over, around, in and out of the peaks and valleys created by the coarse sand - making it anything but simple. The substantial size and weight of the mantle, the table, the beautifully carved wall hanging, the furniture, the candlesticks - it is everything that I love. The metal, curvy ethereal chandelier keeps it all from seeming too heavy.

From British H&G via Atlantis Home

Click to enlarge and see how gorgeous the room really is.

The feel of it is lovely to me - and that's always what I'm after, not always the specific elements -- for example - the wall texture is delicious to me, but the color is a little dark for my house. I tried to get something more like the color palette of the floors shown above, and it still needs a little tweaking. Also, as much as I love the look of (off)white sofas, they are me in theory , but not so much in practice -- they aren't practical in my world -- not with my teenager and 2 Siberian huskies...

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I love the feel of this room below, too - while it and the room above are different, it has much the same, in regards to feel, to what I'm always after. To get where I am in my thought, you have to ignore the walls in the photo below - so not me. While beautiful, it's too light and too cool for my taste. I love the weight of that mantle - the aged patina of the oversized and non-fussy armoire. I love the soft washed grey color and velvet of the sofas and the organic and ancient elements of the coffee table. The interesting lamps behind the sofa, made from antique corbels are fantastic. Yum.

Bruxelles Antiques via the blog of Country French Antiques

I am totally a creature of comfort. I'm sorry to say that if it looks good but isn't comfortable - it's out. Well, maybe not for everything, I suppose. I could suffer a few gorgeous and not the most comfortable side chairs ...but at least give me one down-filled, oversized, velvet covered, sun-washed hued place to sink into.

John Saladino website

As much as I keep thinking I need something new - a different look - for my new house - I have lead myself down the wrong path in that thinking. I love what I love -- and there is a difference between what I think is lovely, and what I think is lovely for me, and for what I want to live in - be surrounded by - and hands down - it's what I've known all along.

I don't know why I fight it sometimes --

Being moody can be, and is a potentially very beautiful thing.

Indeed.