Guest Post! { Stark Contrasts: Light & Dark }
Here is the awesome guest post from Joanna at Arcadian Lighting!! 🙂
Hi y’all! I’m Joanna, a home décor writer from Texas. I write daily for Arcadian Lighting guest posting on blogs such as this one. Arcadian Lighting offers lots of information on light fixtures and lighting trends. I spend my days searching for and discovering some of the most beautiful interior design images and décor ideas on the web and then sharing them with blog readers like you. Thank you to Make Mine Eclectic who’s gracious enough to let me share with you today.
When you think of contrast in terms of light and dark do black and white immediately come to mind? Apparently it does for me since the majority of rooms I’m sharing with you today are variations of light and dark, black and white. I love seeing images of these rooms, I just don’t know if I could live with it every day. What about you?
The dark wood flooring might be too much in this room were it not balanced with medium shade furnishings and white walls. The clear acrylic table is a nice touch allowing light to filter and brighten the floor.
Ink black walls contrast heavily with pristine white floors, furnishings and fireplace surround. A small touch of black on the twisted chair legs and modern black table legs offers some balance to the space.
Boastful black lacquer walls are not for the decorating faint at heart, so try a small bit of black before going all the way. Interestingly the designer kept the molding around the door and around the floor white. I love the bright little wall sconces.
Purple at the stair rail and red on the steps contrast nicely with oyster walls and concrete floors.
Lately, I keep running into black and white claw foot tubs—I’ve haven’t found one I didn’t like. The contrast between white porcelain inside a black surround is bold and beautiful. I was going to suggest more lighting fixtures for this large space, but I do believe those are clever wall sconces flanking the mirror.
A black egg chair and striped sofa pop against a fuchsia rug, a pendant light, and white walls. Contrast can also be found between the modern furnishings and traditional architecture of the room.
This room offers an eclectic mix of light and dark, old and new, part shabby chic and part men’s club.
A built in china cabinet gets a boost of personality from a simple addition of black paint in its interior. The black chair makes a nice silhouette against the pristine white paint. Images 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
What do you think of these contrasting rooms? Visit Arcadian Lighting for more inspirations and a gorgeous selection of lighting fixtures!
House Tour Continued: The Rest of the Downstairs
Finally here to finish the (inside) house tour! Coming from the living room tour, next you would walk into the “office” room. This room was already red, and I owned a lot of red furniture. It is wild in there. But, soon to look a bit different. This room is so handy. We have room to do computer work, crafts, store paperwork, and lounge. There is also a closet and plenty of floor space for kids and toys. Since it is connected openly to the living room it would be easy to keep an eye on little ones playing.Â
This is the one room that we have a box left to unpack. You know, that one pesky little box that has nowhere to go?
And next, the dining room! You can see there is that shelf in the way still…
The table and chairs we bought from the seller.
The window is a view into the sun porch we saw before. The stained glass door on the other side is the same as the sun porch door, but leads to a storage closet, which has proven to be super handy!
This is the door we use most frequently, but it is actually a side door. The little screened in porch is out that door and there is a big circle driveway there.Â
Directly the oposite direction of this picture is the kitchen…
Isn’t the arched doorway adorable? There will eventually be a small table under the window.
Yes, the curtains are currently mismatched. Soon to be fixed, when I can make up my mind!
I also love the rustic cabinets! The little silverware drwaers are like cigar boxes!
The ceilings are low, but its cozy. Out the door by the window is a stairway to the basement and a storage woom we lovingly call the “dog room.” Unfinished and super ugly, but this area is a life saver!
Now to backtrack into the dining room. The door next to the dining room entry is to a 1/2 bath and a laundry room. Oh, how a mainfloor bathroom is wonderful!
Not fancy, but perfect to us!
Well, what do you think? That is pretty much the whole house, flaws and all! I can’t wait to start making chnages and show you all!
Farm House Tour- The Upstairs
I have been wanting to show a mini tour of the new farm house, and finally got started! These are “semi-before” photos, as we already have our things moved in, but these our not our paint colors and mostly not our curtains. There will be many more changes to come, and I wanted a way to show the progress and changes. So, lets start with the upstairs!
Here is the view at the top of the stairs.
There are some frames in the hallway and the book shelf I redid…
At the end of the stairwell is an old antique wash cabinet from my granparents…
The view back towards the stairwell…
Next is the room on the left of the stairwell, next to the old wash cabinet. We call this the “kid room,” which used to be a little girl’s room…
The other side of the room…
And on the wall by the door there is a chalk drawing of Dora! lol
The door in the last photo goes to what we call the “baby room,” which will one day be a nursery…
The other side of the room has chalk spiderwebs, which were for a little boy…
Here is the view back towards the “kid room”…
Next is my walk through closet that leads the master bedroom. This is across the stairwell from these rooms…
I still can’t wait to have the time to paint the closet the dark navy I have picked out!
The jewelry area…
Next you walk through the closet door and into our sunken bedroom…
The walls are currently yellow, which is fine, but we plan to paint them a nice gray at some point. The little white shabby dresser was found in the back of the house and makes a perfect TV stand for us…
The wooden shelf above the chair is a barn board we found…
Recognize the blue chair from the old office? It was too big. The next photo is of the antique dresser from my grandparents that matches out bed…
Our bed…
The shelf by my side of the bed we made out of another barn board that we call the “cow board,” because its front is smooth and wavy due to cows rubbing on it…
Our stained glass window and exposed rustic beams…
Next is the main bathroom. This shot is a view in the doorway from the closet…
The blue and flooring aren’t really our first picks, but they will make due until we can paint and spruce…
Well, thats the upstairs. What do you think so far? A lot to do, but so far we love it! 🙂
An Inspiring Blog
“Ultimately your home is so much more than just a decor style, it’s a life style,” as said by The Paris Apartment (a new favorite blog.)
Her quote comes from a clip of her book. I find inspiration not only in her quote and the rest of the clip of the book, but also in each and every post and photo she posts. Check out these gorgeous rooms and then check out her blog here: www.parisapartment.wordpress.com
Read the rest of the book excerpt here:
http://parisapartment.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/going-by-the-book/
A Bit of Rustic
I happened upon this home, home of Danish designer, Henrik Busk, over at Poppytalk today. I’m really loving the rustic feel of the floors and walls mixed with whites. My kind of place.Â
Inspiration for today!
Make Mine Eclectic 