Do You like empty Bedroom Walls?

Some people love minimalistic interior and others the contrary. The first one is often cold the second more often over-stuffed and cluttered. Both are not very helpful for a peaceful sleep I believe. Personally I don't like large rooms as a bedroom - I am more the cave type of person. My bedroom must be cosy, the bed should stand in the corner of the room with the wall directly behind my back. For protection - you know! You never know who could enter your cave to disturb your sleep and attack you. You need a safe place. This must be the remnants of evolutionary past?

What type of person are you? Would you be able to sleep in a wide open space with nothing behind and nothing in front of you and sometimes not even underneath? Let's say in one of those hyper-modern beds which are floating on a magnetic field? I could not sleep for the whole night for fear of drifting somewhere I cannot control.

Back to this example. As it stands this room is quite unappealing to me, too many squares and straight lines and the colour scheme is quite boring too. I would replace the armchair by something more colourful or at least upholster it with a different fabric.Then I would have something friendly and cheering to look at before I leave for the land of dreams instead of a dead brown thing that looks like a pile of dog poop.

And of course: the artwork is missing in this room. My suggestion would be to hang a large landscape on the wall that adds a bit more colour but fits harmoniously into the overall colour scheme such as this one:

The motif has been painted on pongé silk and depicts one of those breathtaking landscapes you can find on the Hawaiian Islands:

"Haleakala"

(from the Magic Landscapes Series)
silk, 21" x 40"
©Petra Voegtle

I have added Here are some details of the painting

The last picture shows a special detail. This couple of hikers is so small that it has been painted with a magnifying glass:

~~~ 

Volcano Landscape in a Moroccan inspired Living Room

Moroccan flair - what could be more inspiring than the colours, patterns and textures of Moroccan interior. I simply love the deep colours which bathe in an opulence that is always reminiscent of fairy tales and dreams of 1001 nights.

The colours especially touch the senses, purples, dark blues and then the shimmer of brass and silverware seem to emanate something vibrating that seduces you to forget about everything else...

 with courtesy of http://www.livingetc.com

While the vignette of this wonderful living room does not tell me how large the room actually is I feel I would add a painting on the wall, that repeats all those voluptuous colours:

The landscape is painted on silk which certainly would complement the brocades of the pillows.

"Haleakala"
(from the Magic Landscapes Series)
silk, 21" x 40"
©Petra Voegtle

This silk painting has been inspired by the breathtaking landscapes on the Hawaiian Islands, especially the Haleakala National Park. You can read more about it here if you like and what's so special about this painting.

~~~

Purple Elegance in the Bedroom should not be sinister

You know I love the colour purple and I absolutely love rooms where this colour is used in abundance. But when you decorate a room in a relatively dark colour such as this one you need something that adds an equipoise in form of something light. Bedrooms need not be sinister and dark! I really don't understand why a very dark room should help to find sleep easier than a light, friendly and serene room?

Everything in this room adds to a sinister feeling. The colours are a perfect match but everything is equally dark. So if this were my room I would lighten it up with some paintings which bring some airiness into these 4 walls such as these ones from the Pigeons series:

The paintings are painted in acrylic on cotton. The first is called Contemplation on a Feather, the second one The Rain Dancer. For both the same beautiful pigeon was the model.

 "Contemplation on a Feather"

(from the Pigeons series) 

18" x 26" acrylic

©Petra Voegtle

~

"The Rain Dancer"

(from the Pigeons series) 

18" x 26" acrylic

©Petra Voegtle

If you would like to know more about this series please check this link.

~

Obsessed by the Colour Purple

To be honest I don't care a bit about things which might be trendy or not, I don't care about fashion envogue or not and I could not care less about colours whether they are in style or not but I can tell you exactly what I like and what I dislike. And Purple is a colour that I am obsessed with - so it seems at the moment. In a couple of months or even tomorrow this could be history.

Currently I write a whole series around the colour Purple on my other blog In Terms of Colour, referring to various subjects but all around the colour and it is a lot of fun. I have realized that especially this colour (as defined by the RGB percentages) appears in so many variations which seem to belong to completely different hues at the same time as no other colour is capable of. Also the natural purple colours seem to appear in more variations than any other colour. I could be wrong though as I have no scientific proof for this statement but on my research through the internet I found far more natural objects in purples than in other colours so far.

Back to interiors.
The purple shades I especially love in interiors are the dark ones, the deeply saturated ones, the dusty ones as in the following example which is rather a rosybrown-tan-thistle-palevioletred-lavenderblush composition than real purple but it belongs into the range.

Besides missing some art other than those small objects on the wall (as in the original photo below) I virtually placed one of my photography works on the wall which would add some more interest to this room:

(original image source:shinedesign.blog124.fc2.com)

Now here comes an example which I really find exciting. The deep purple of the wall makes a statement! The only flaw in my opinion is the stupid hifi on the wall - this ugly little thing really does not fit with this exotic Chinese bed. What a room could this be with something else than that black thing. I replaced it virtually with another piece of my photography work - how would you like it now?

(original images source: blog.styleestate.com)

The next room is marvellous as it is in this vignette. I love that huge mirror with the silver frame which adds a touch of luxury to this otherwise quite simple room.

(original image source: modern-interior-decoration.blogspot.com)

The following "dining" room would earn the undertitle "bohemien" and I love it. It's not only the dark shades of purple that make my heart swing but that kind of uncomplicated and casual decoration that reveals a lot of personality.

(original image source: harmonyandhome.blogspot.com)

The next room is ridiculously unrealistic - made for Hollywood film sets - but surely not for the "real world". I love to look at these amenities though which seem to be populated only by very beautiful and very sophisticated people. I wonder how it would feel to sleep in a bed such as this one? Like a princess? But then I would have to go back in time many many many years...

(original images source: arhzine.com)

And here is another crapulence in purple and zebra which might foster a hearty belly laugh - I thought I should not deprive you of this fanciful design...

(original images source: besthousedesign.com)

Any comments on this one?

~

Purple - the Colour of the Senses

The colour purple means something special for me. On one hand it is the colour of the holy, spiritual and was reserved to be worn by royals only and the high ranking clerical staff. In some countries and way back into history purple was and is the colour of mourning.

According to Feng Shui rules purple should not be used too often and especially not on walls because it could trigger blood diseases. The only possibility to use purple in a room is for healing purposes - remember the amethyst being one of the strongest healing crystals. Purple has alway been associated with mystery.

But purple has also been connected to poison and rage, it has been an attribute of homosexuality, is associated with contrition and all kinds of extremes. Btw - Dior created a perfume called "Poison" which was filled into a wonderful dark purple glass bottle. I find these components of psychologically tinted attributes extremely interesting. This might also be the reason why the bourgeois, the bores and deadheads of this world consider purple being flagitious, voluptuous, euphuistic and simply vulgar - at least in the times when I was a child. Purple was not a colour a decent girl would be wearing. Today a ridiculous interpretation! Thank heaven the times have changed...

But some tiny bits and pieces of this former interpretation may have survived in a rebellious mind because I find this colour extremely inspiring and juicy. Isn't it the forbidden that intrigues us most? And what do you think about the colour purple?

 original image source and with courtesy of 

http://www.livingetc.com

And what would go best in this room with the wonderful purple sofa? One of my favourite paintings Haleakala, inspired by Maui's dream landscapes.

"Haleakala"
(from the Magic Landscapes Series)
silk, 21" x 40"
©Petra Voegtle

This silk painting has been inspired by the breathtaking landscapes on the Hawaiian Islands, especially the Haleakala National Park. You can read more about it here if you like and what's so special about this painting.

More room examples you can find here.
 

Views, Views, Views - Dining with all Senses...

Rooms with a breathtaking view do not need much decoration but how about enhancing breathtaking views with another impressive view on a painting? Again I replaced the original art virtually with a silk painting that would perfectly match the colours in this room...

   original image source from http://www.getdecorating.com

This silk painting has been inspired by the breathtaking landscapes on the Hawaiian Islands, especially the Haleakala National Park. You can read more about it here if you like.

"Haleakala"
(from the Magic Landscapes Series)
silk, 21" x 40"
©Petra Voegtle

~

Here and here are more room examples for this painting.

Colour Coordination...

I actually do not know anything about the owner of this house, nor where it is, whether it is a private home or a hotel - as you cannot say from this photo. I chose one of my paintings just for fun and colour coordination. Maybe you like this composition - maybe not. Only another potential scenario and a simple play with colours.

Btw - this is actually one of my favourite silk paintings. It is inspired by Maui's breathtaking landscapes around the Haleakala volcano range. Additionally I tried something new with this painting, namely adding a humouresque part in form of two hikers in this painting which are so tiny that you can only recognize them if you look very close. I have painted them in fact with a magnifying glass and it was a whole lot of fun. I added a close-up of the part of the painting.

You can see more details under this link.

original image source from http://www.getdecorating.com/Cynthia Aiken Interiors

"Haleakala"
(from the Magic Landscapes Series)
silk, 21" x 40"
©Petra Voegtle

Haleakala-detail
.

A purple Bedroom

I am absolutely in love with this colour and I think quite a few people are. Here is a link to a website/blog which gives the colour purple a whole different meaning:
Chintz of Darkness The blog belongs to Seraph and Splendor from Seattle and their images about the colour purple reflect a whole new world in purple. Both say of themselves: We are

"two fallen angels that have landed in Seattle, Washington. Our days and nights are spent designing and collecting objects of beauty. Many of the masks, draperies and pillows featured in our photographs below have been created by us. Chintz of Darkness is celebration of dark decorating and other diversions, including our favorite books, artists and illustrators." (from their blog)

There is a lovely decadence in anything both are creating and very inspirational for people who look for something different.

Let's begin with a bathroom in my favourite colour for today:

Wouldn't this be the perfect complement for the following bedroom I found to be so wonderfully rich in purple colour.

Personally I would have added much more "chintz" to this one - I find it screams for more velvets, silks and brocades - doesn't it? But in order to keep it a bit more "subdued" I have just added those 2 silk carvings on the wall from the series Angkor's Faces. The two little sculptures are called Fragments of Angkor and refer to the magic apsara sculptures in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

original image source from http://www.getdecorating.com

"Angkor's Fragments"
( from the Angkor's Faces series)
silk carving, 2 pieces
©Petra Voegtle

Please check out my blog In Terms of Colour for the articles I posted about the colour purple specifically - you might find a bunch of inspirational ideas and what the colour is all about...