Thursday, August 9, 2007

Gray Chic

“Real elegance is in the mind; if you have got that the rest comes from it.”
Dianna Vreeland

The use of a gray color color scheme gives a very sophisticated, upscale feeling to a room. I like to combine grays with creams, or gray with white. Dark brown wood tones are a beautiful accents in gray rooms, as are touches of black. (I think that every room should have a touch of black.) Natural materials like sisal carpets or warms tones in leather can warm up an otherwise cooler gray color pallette. Gray rooms have a timeless, refined, elegant quality to them.

Fox Nahem Design

Fox Nahem Design San Franscisco townhouse

Fornasetti Wallpaper from Cole and Son I am wanting to use this wallpaper in a Powder Room. I think it would be a lot of fun.

William Haines He was known for his lamps and his fetish of having no cords showing. A feat for a lamp in the middle of a dining table.
Phyllis Morris Marrakech Gate Wallpaper
This wallpaper reminds me of Maryam in Marrakech. Hi MaryamBarbara Barry via Studio Annetta
A very sophistocated bedroom.

S R Gambrel What great coffered ceilings in these 2 pictures.

S R Gambrel
West Elm I love the ceramic stool at the end of the bed.
Kelly Wearstler Do you think she used a West Elm bed?
Gracie Wallpaper I love this dreamy wallpaper. It fits in so well with the canopy bed and the tufted sofa. I could live forever in this bedroom! Interior Design by Greg Jordan
Gray and white cabinetry designed by Steven Sclaroff via Peak of Chic This room makes me want to sit down and cozy up with a book and a cup of tea and enjoy the crackling fire.

Mary McDonald bedroom via Peak of Chic Very fresh and very Chic..

Kelly Wearstler

Elegant Neutral: Gray is a neutral, balanced color. It is a cool, conservative color.


Nature of Gray: The lighter side of black, gray is a cool color seen in storm clouds and some metals.

Culture of Gray: Like black, gray is used as a color of mourning as well as a color of formality. Along with blue suits, gray suits are part of the uniform of the corporate world. Dark, charcoal gray carries with it some of the strengh and mystery of black. It is a sophisticated color without much of the negative attributes of black. Lighter grays are similar to white.

Using Gray: All shades of gray can be good, neutral background colors. Use lighter grays in place of white and darker gray in place of black. Taupe, a grayish brown neutral is a conservative, slightly earthy, warm shade of gray.

Gray Words: These words are synonymous with gray or represent various shades of the color gray. Charcoal, slate, iron gray, ashen, lead, mousy, gunmetal, silver, dove gray, powder grey, oyster, pearl, taupe, sere, Payne's gray.


Some of my favourite Benjamin Moore gray paint colors:Gull Wing Gray, Cement Gray, Silver Lining, Nickel, Smoke Gray, Pewter, Steel Wool, Shadow Gray

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Wednesday, August 8, 2007

The Fountainhead

Julie Snow Architect Koehler Residence New Brunswick, Canada


“Most people build as they live - as a matter of routine…..

But a few understand that building is a great symbol.

We live in our minds, and existence is the attempt to bring that life

into physical reality, to state it in gesture and form.

For the man who understands this,

a house he owns is a statement of his life,

a visible shape for his life.”
Ayn Rand The Fountainhead

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Follow-up on Gambier

In my last post I talked about my Island property that I purchased 1 1/2 years ago and have not been to since. So on Sunday I set sail with friends and got to see my little bit heaven from the water.
Leaving Vancouver Harbour and setting sail for my Island .

Approaching Gambier and locating my property from the water...

There it is behind me. I am so excited to be able to see it from this angle. It is a totally different perspective than approaching it via land. There is the creek bed that leads into a small protected cove, where I plan to have a dock.
This is my waterfront and the property goes up to the top and (maybe) over the mountain.
A close up view of the creekbed, it needs to have a few fallen trees cleaned out of it and it looks like there is a nice flat spot up on the top of that rock cliff which would be perfect for a gazebo for seal watching. I think I am seeing a couple of fruit trees?? If so I have no idea how they got there.
This is a view directly across at the mountain range. The peak with some snow still left on it is a famous Vancouver landmark called The Lions Heads. The highway to Whistler runs along
the lower section of this mountain range.
My neighbours on Gambier coming to greet us.
The end of the day and we are returning to the marina and passing under the Lions Gate Bridge. It was a perfect day!!