For The Love Of Collecting Antiques – A Swedish Interior

 

“After about seven years, I could buy a really nice piece of furniture once a year,” she says. “I was reading Architectural Digest, World of Interiors and every shelter magazine and design book I could get my hands on. I was just enthralled with design. The spectrum of collecting was appealing to me.”

She began what she calls “guerrilla hunting” for antiques to furnish her own living space. In New Orleans, she found a European ambience in step with her affinity for European antiques, renovated the first of two Victorian cottages and turned her collecting pastime into a wholesale business that immediately had legs via word of mouth. She sold her first container of antiques in front of a mini storage space in 10 minutes and quickly became a valued resource to well-known interior designers.

Along the way, she opened a warehouse on Camp Street, started her own line of European antique reproductions — Tara Shaw Maison — designed homes for a list of clients that includes celebrities, and inked a lucrative licensing deal with Restoration Hardware that allowed her to cut back on her travel schedule.

Read more at nola.com

Decorator Tricia Foley’s Signature White Interiors

Tricia FoleyTricia Foley  by recent settlers on Flickr

If you love simple, white interiors, you will love decorator Tricia Foley.  She has authored 10 design books, and has been featured in national and international magazines.  Her white based interiors and  simple approach to interior decorating is a look that never gets tiresome. If you like the Scandinavian crisp bright interior looks, neutral color schemes and soft color palettes,…….you will love Tricia’s style.

Here are a few of Tricia’s signature looks which often appear in her interiors:

– Stack Clear Glass Plates –  You can easily find affordable collections of clear glasses, and plates at flea markets, thrift stores, and garage sales.  Pulling together a collection of glasses and plates is an affordable way of improving a dining room hutch, or decorating the shelves in your kitchen.    Consider using wood shelving on the wall, and stacking your glassware out in the open.

– Work with All White China- White porcelain and ironstone, no matter how much you have appears clean and organized.  You don’t need a lot of a simple pattern to make an armoire look pretty.  Space out larger pieces to draw the focus on individual pieces.  White dishware is also a very easy find in many thrift stores no matter where you live.  Even the most rural locations has plain white bowls and platters.

– Work With White Walls– White walls and layers of pattern through textiles, furnishings, and accessories will allow you to change out your style through the year.  Add pops of bold color through the spring and summer, and work with the browns, deep yellows for the winter time.  By working with white, you are free to change things out as you find something new to feature or display.  Consider changing up your throw pillows, art work, and linens for a nice change from season to season.

– Working With Grays Can Be Soothing – Using a simple palette of antique white with soft
powdery shades like gray can allow your space to have a calming effect.  If you work in a stressful environment, there is nothing like coming home to a space you can relax in.  White also makes your home appear larger, so painting the wood work, and liming wood is one way to open things up.

Tricia has a book coming out this fall of 2015, called Tricia Foley Life/Style: Elegant Simplicity at Home- where she reveals her romantic Long Island home where she showcases a number of  outbuildings along with her eighteenth-century farmhouse.  Her signature white look is paired with  natural materials, vintage furnishings and collected antiques.  Consider also getting her At Home with Wedgwood: The Art of the Table-  which shows off 250 years of the company’s beautiful collections and how readers can integrate Wedgwood pieces into their homes.

Links:

Tricia Foley

At Home in the Country – Tricia Foley

Blog – Tricia Foley

Tricia Foley on Pinterest

At Home With Tricia Foley: Interview with an Interior Designer

Tricia Foley | Facebook

At Home with Wedgwood by Tricia Foley | Hollyhock

 

Tricia Foley

Tricia Foley’s Chicken Coop Found on triciafoley.com

Tricia Foley

Basket with berries, Found on triciafoleyinthecountry.blogspot.com.au

White painted barn host of Tricia Foley's New General Store

White painted barn host of Tricia Foley’s New General Store, Found on gardenista.com

New General Store, Tricia Foley

New General Store, Tricia Foley, Found on facebook.com

Taupe & White. Tricia Foley's book, At Home With Wedgwood

Taupe & White. Tricia Foley’s book, At Home With Wedgwood

At Home in the Country Tricia Foley

At Home in the Country –Tricia Foley Found on triciafoley.com

Tricia Foley's Home Photographed By Jeff McNamara Country Home September 2004 issue.

Tricia Foley’s Home Photographed By Jeff McNamara Country Home September 2004 issue

Tricia Foley

Empire Furniture In A Simple Setting

Tricia Foley

Tricia Foley, Found on mariliforastieri.com

Tricia Foley Collection-

Tricia Foley Collection- Found on triciafoley.com

Tricia Foley Colors

Designer’s favorite whites, neutrals & grays. Designer Tricia Foley’s Benjamin Moore favorites. Great picks! Found on colorchats.benjaminmoore.com

Tricia Foley Laundry Room

Tricia Foley Laundry Room, Found on colorchats.com

Seen on Martha Stewart

Tricia Foley

Tricia Foley – Found on remodelista.com

Tricia Foley Throws Boots

Tricia Foley’s General Store – Found on triciafoley.com

A Dallas, Texas Home Decorated Around The Swedish Style

4611 Arcady AVE, Highland Park, TX Briggs Freeman

Featured twice in Veranda, this utterly unique home contains 1610 square feet, decorated in the Swedish, Nordic decorating style.  The current owner transformed this cottage into a Swedish oasis in the heart of West Highland Park, Dallas, featuring fabulous finishes and extraordinary workmanship.

Calcutta marble adorns the open kitchen and bathroom, while antique French stone mantles create a warm ambiance. Large French doors with double-paned glass add to a light and bright interior. Several interior doors were specifically picked out in European antique markets and imported. The kitchen was designed for serious cooking and includes top appliances with room to entertain guests. The brick patio was built on pier and beam foundation for future expansion, or to be enjoyed exactly as it is.

This property is listed under 4611 Arcady Avenue, for $879,000, MLS #12170512 at Briggsfreeman.com

 

4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 2 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 4 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 5 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 7 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 8 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 9 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 10 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 11 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 12 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 13 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 14 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 15 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 16 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 17 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 18 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 19 4611 Arcady Avenue, Dallas Texas 20

 

200 Gustavian Pictures Ideas For Your Swedish Home

Gustavian Pictures

Elements of the 18th century Gustavian style still find their way into our decorating magazines some 200 years later, and have been said to be the most beautiful interior design period throughout time.  Interiors were designed around light, colors were muted, pastels were at their height in art, and the furniture was drop dead gorgeous.  White painted furniture is still the most popular trend in home decor.  So where did this all start?

Gustavian style was named after King Gustav III, whose design style was inspired by the neoclassical designs he saw in France.  Gustav traveled to France as a young man before he became king, and spent many years at the French court where he observed a lifestyle of richness beyond comprehension.  At the time, Versailles was one of the largest palaces in the world.  France was determined to make a statement of it’s wealth without saying a word.  The best furniture, drapery, upholstery and architecture was bought and displayed, and Gustav found himself captivated by the  grandeur associated with the court.

Gustav III came into power after the death of his father and ruled in Sweden from 1772 to 1792. While 20 years doesn’t seem like a significant period of time, this king left an artistic mark in Sweden that hasn’t ever been forgotten.  While Sweden couldn’t compete with the vast wealth of France, they adopted many of the styles seen in France in their own way.  Wood was plentiful in Sweden, and woodworkers were able to reproduce much of the fashionable furniture seen in France.   Other decor elements such as marble were costly, so faux painting produced these same looks for less.  Natural fabrics such as linen were used for upholstery instead of silk.  Lighter woods were used instead of mahogany and painted.

Early Gustavian styles were clearly inspired by the French Rococo movement.   The floral fabrics, and the bombe chests, and Louis XV rounded back chairs were marks of the Rococo styles found in Louis XV’s reign.  The neoclassical design which moved in after were seen through Louis XVI’s reign.  He adopted some of the same ornamental designs seen in furniture, yet changed the overall frame to ones that were square or rectangular.  Later with the excavations at Pompeii, classical design further left it’s mark on this style. In Italy they had unearthed the ancient cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii, and a interest in art and design spread like wildfire through Europe.  Gustaf III himself visited the ruins in 1783-84, near Naples.   The late Gustavian style was heavily influenced by the English models clearly seen inspired from the chippendale chests and hepplewhite tables.  A combination of all three of these design styles can be classified as Gustavian, and are seen all mixed together much like our modern homes today.

Gustavian interior designs in Sweden were practical, yet pretty even in the tightest of spaces.  Swedes needed to bring in as much light as possible, as the winters seemed long and dark.  Lighter paint colors were seen inside, with bleached out wood floors. Pullout sofas functioned as a place to sit in the day and as a sofa and a bed at night.   Round demi lune tables were pushed against the wall through the day, and assembled together when needed.  Beds were built in the wall, much like an over-sized closet with a curtain which could be pulled across for privacy.

Get the Swedish Look For Yourself- Here Is How:

– Furnish your home with straight legged furniture.  Consider bleached wood, or white, or light gray painted furniture.

-Exchange out your silk fabrics for something more lived-in and natural.  Linen, raw silk, simple checked cotton, or natural duck canvas are great choices for drapery and upholstery.   The use of floral patterns were also quite popular in the Gustavian / Swedish style.

-Gustavian style is marked by gray painted furniture, pastel colors and lots of whites and creamed painted interiors.  Consider painted furniture with clean simple lines and fabulous lighting.

– Remove the clutter, less is always more with the Gustavian styles.  Showcase collections in a simplistic manner.