An affair with a room

I happen to have an affair with bedrooms lately, because I am so tired of my own, which has seen clearly better days and calls out for help every time I set foot in it.

Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely room with a huge four poster bed,


some old roadside finds of two dressers, a hand me down mirror,


a very old TV on a small green painted table, and yes, two different paint colors...


a bench belonging to our old dining set and some of the smallest closets to be found in this country... It's cozy and according to hubby nothing is really wrong with it, but I have an urge for change. Maybe it's my profession or the tendency to change thing around once in a while and certainly after 10 years of the same lovely place there is a time to move on.


I do like eclectic, but this room has become the catch all for left over furniture, partially born out of necessity and partly because I hate to through things away.
The red crackle finished dresser was the labor of love for my daughter's first bedroom in this house, more then 10 years ago.


This bedroom has a serious split personality disorder, Indian crossed with country .... kitsch!
But what direction to take?
Here are my thoughts: I am frugal, so some of the old pieces should stay, but which?
Where should I splurge, where could I cut some corners? I am for painting, changing, re-doing...
I do not have problems finding solutions for my clients, but in my own house I stall sometimes.
I would like to make it more modern, but cozy, I like that in a bedroom, we are readers, light is important and the comfort of a king size bed is indisputable.


My thinking goes towards a upholstered headboard, with clean lines and perhaps some nail head details.


There is a nice dark hardwood floor. So far we did not have a carpet, but I love to have something soft underfoot, when I get up in the morning. Area rug or wall to wall? No way, I hate wall to wall! Or maybe? Colours? Wallpaper? Dramatic or serene? What about the windows? Ohhhh....
We also have a horror of a "master bath room", merely 6'x 6'...which needs big time changes in the near future. Needless to say, this will have to come first.


But I want to get a plan in place for our bedroom, to be tackled most likely within a year!


I have a couple of ideas and would love to bounce them around with you a bit.


love this bedding

love the comfort and colours

love the crispness...

I like it timeless, not too trendy, as not to have the need to redo it within the next 10 years...

I would love:

a soft area rug under the bed,
new window deco, shades plus curtains,
new wall paint or wallpaper,
new bed side lamps, but good reading light is needed,
extra storage for clothes and linen,
maybe a new bed, maybe work with the existing one,
maybe a flat screen TV,
new bedding.

As you may know, I do love colour, I am not afraid of patterns and do like a cozy atmosphere. I want to make it a retreat, a haven for my husband and I, the place to find refuge after a hard day's work and the place to hold court for the family on Sunday mornings...playful, yet grown up!

I am thinking ... and all ideas and your input are very welcome!!!


XX
Victoria


Pictures by V.Zlotkowski, via Anthropologie, Westelm, Restoration Hardware, House of Turquoise blog, House and Home, House Beautiful and some magazines, which I do not all remember...

Valentine

by William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.



Happy Valentine's Day!

XX
Victoria



Artwork by V.Zlotkowski

A little book talk

Did I ever tell you how much I love reading and not only that but that I am craving beautifully done editions? That I judge a book by it's cover and take an immense pleasure out of a lovely binding? That fine print gives me a high and gold cut pages fulfill my bookish desire?
There has been a lot of talk about the latest Penguin Classics linen covered edition.
Coralie Bickford-Smith has designed gorgeous covers, much acclaimed and well received! I have not heard so much about a book edition in a long time. You can read an interview with her about her ideas and approach to book covers here.


Today I began my own collection with a copy of Thomas Hardy's 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'.



The first page...



The edition comes with an extensive introduction, which I love, since I know little to nothing about the book and it's author.
And I have my eyes already on a few others in this collection:





Aren't they just so gorgeous?

Talking of beautiful editions, lately I have been reading Helene Hanff's '84 Charing Cross Rd.' a small book with a collection of letters, exchanged between her in New York and 'her' bookseller in a small bookstore in London, from the late 40' until the late 60's.


This charming and heartwarming correspondence was practically all about beautiful books and first and rare editions, the philosophy of reading and the way we learn through the discovery of writers. At the same time it's a slice of history, taking you back to a time after the Second WW, the hardships of the postwar era, especially in England. This small volume moved me to tears at times and made laugh, all I want in a book.
Her feisty character and the humour in their letters made it so worthwile to read.
Since I love to immerse myself in a story and all what comes with it, I watched the movie with Anne Bancroft in the role as Helene Hanff, Anthony Hopkins as the bookseller and Judy Dench as his wife. Made in 1986 the movie has the feel of a old classic, slow, quiet and seemingly old fashioned. But I loved it anyway, since the characters of the book came to life in a sweet and true form.
The New York Times wrote her obituary and you can read it here. She died at age 80, on April 9Th, 1997 one day after my daughter was born...



The follow up story to '84 Charing Cross Rd' is 'The Duchess of Bloomsbury Rd' and when you liked the first one, you practically can't wait to read this one too! Which I did!

Remember I had posted here on letters? It's still all in the spirit of reading letters and writing some of my own!

I hope you enjoy a good book these days!

XX
Victoria


Pictures by Victoria Zlotkowski and via Penguin.com

Snowy day

Just to delight you with some images from around here, some 20 miles north of New York City!








They do look a bit like black and white pictures, but they aren't...

I hope you are enjoying your day!

XX
Victoria

Pretty against the storm

Now it's official, we are waiting for a snowstorm and the children are having the first snow day this winter! All we can do is to sit and see what's coming, all though I am still not fully convinced. The kids are giddy with the prospect of an extra day for fun and games!
Anyway, I had bought the most delightful lilies and they brighten my days and scent the air. Well, competing with the aromatic fire place...at night!


My window ledge catching all the sun available...



This beautiful tray fitting right in...By Fringe - Peacock glass tray seen at Bloomingdales.com



And yet...perhaps sledding tomorrow, hurra! And hot chocolate in the morning, sleeping in and letting nature take it's course!

XX
Victoria


Pictures by V.Zlotkowski and via Bloomie's.

Some more blue love

The sky above the roof of our house...


Some pretty plates from MacKenzie-Childs


This lovely Scottish gal from 13threads has spun me in her web of gorgeous fabrics and dresses and I consider a commission...


A bird pillow from here


My own work - Fields of blue -


So much lovely blue all around me...

Have a wonderful week ahead!

XX
Victoria


PS:
The new Elle Decor (all in blue) stared at me in the bookstore earlier today, my subscription has not arrived yet and I had to hold myself back not to rip it of the shelf and browse through it! My March issue from House Beautiful comes beginning of February, but this one way after the release in stores. Strange...& maddening!

Pictures and artwork by V.Zlotkowski, Etsyseller 13threads, Westelm spring collection

Of art and birds and gentle colors

Creative inspiration...

Jean-Honore Fragonard's "Lettre d'amour"

Where do we turn to to fill our minds with the impressions we need to transform ordinary life into something inspired? Where do we find the angle, the new twist, the idea to move forward in our work? What makes us creative? Does it have to be new? Or do we take it from everything we have internalized over the years? Memories?
Old books and new books, paintings and sculptures. And the many inspirations we receive from others.



Caspar David Friedrich's "Kreidefelsen auf Ruegen" - Chalk cliffs on the island Ruegen in North East Germany. They are still there, a World Heritage site.

My answer usually is life itself and all above.... My inspirations come from all kinds of sources around me. From my past to the now. It is constant and moves on from one thing to the next. A endless woven tapestry of life.




Not only lovely images, but the thoughts which surround them. Getting inspired starts for me with ideas about the way we live.


Renoir: Friend's conversation in his studio

Thinking, conversations with friends, the books (and blogs) I read, nature I wander through and all the people, who fill my live with love. To open my eyes to everyday wonders, the seasons, the growing of my children, the creatures around me. Music and dance, movies and theater and opera...On the other side the wars and conflicts, the hunger and diseases, natures cruel strikings.
Absorbing the reality and lacing it with dreams and hopes, desires and fantasy.





Nature has inspired me as long as I can remember, I have a collection of birds and butterflies, nests and stones, shells and fossils.




The colors of earth and water, the formations of the sky, the light and sunshine through leaves, the fog over a lake or the gentle breeze over the ocean, snow covered landscapes... all this transforms into objects and spaces, textures and colors. All at the playground of the imagination.




The winter is coming to an end - slowly - and we all yearn for spring - warmth, colors, and new life. Some of my inspirations...








.

May the world inspire you!

XX
Victoria



Pictures by V.Zlotkowski, images as indicated and via ABC Store (top), 4 bird plates by John Derian, Anthropologie (dresses on mannequins), Westelm (chairs,bed and tablesetting with ceiling fixture), Mitchell Gold (red side board), Etsy seller 13threads, china in (red) coral via Reynauld and green white place setting by Kate Spade. Bird trays via Bloomingdales.com and the last image of the Haymarket Hotel in London.