Tea Room Mood Board

I've always wanted to design a tea room. This room would be highly meditational and would exude gentle, quiet calm. It would also be a romantic place where people only speak in whispers. Over the past few days I've been obsessing about grey, silver and low-scale furnishings. These would be perfect elements for a tea room. Here are my mood boards for this room.

Images clockwise from top left: tea tray and tea pot from Le Souk; Buddha fountain from Z Gallerie; tea cups from CB2; ottoman from West Elm (would need four of these to place around the table); rug design my own; low Japanese table from jtansu; Noguchi lamp from Room and Board - I think two of these in the middle of the table would be cute; I would buy various sequined slippers from the dollar store and line up by the door in put in a basket; salt and pepper shakers from CB2 - I would buy one for each setting and fill with cinnamon or chocolate. Anything that would be yummy in tea.

Various silver pillows carelessly thrown around the room. Clockwise from top left: top two pillows from Ebay; pebble collection from Brocade Home; Glamorama pillow from Pangaya (Pangaya also has beautiful floor pillows, and I adore their sea glass dishes even though they are pricey - but hey, they are art!); Sterling pillow by Phoenix at Super Comfort; pillow cover from Direct Silver Plus - omigosh only $9.99!). There were many more beautiful pillows, but I think you get the idea.

Now what about the wall color? Moody, romantic. Soft chocolate brown? Soft peach or salmon? Soft pink? Something flat from Behr, of course. Ahh. Another color to consider. My favorite way to occupy my mind.

I Love Prefab or My Virtual Home

I have a confession to make. I love prefab housing. I've never really liked Elizabethan or Tudor homes, they just aren't relevant to our times. I am a purist when it comes to architecture and prefer that ornate or embellished architecture be reserved for temples or churches. I adore lofts and 50s style ranches. I dream of a simple white house in a pure, geometric shape. All the walls and floors would be white. It would be nestled in trees and have lots of windows.

When I discovered the work of architect Rocio Romero, I flipped. Here is my fantasy home. The LVL. I adore it. It's simple, gorgeous and extremely functional. Look at those windows!

I've been so obsessed with this home, that I've even been thinking about how I would decorate it. Since it is so simple, anything would work, except clutter of course.

Here's a mood board for my new home. Since the walls and floors will be white, I will go with simple, low scale pieces. Lots of white with saturated pops thrown in. It would be so fun to accessorize this simple home with pillows, lamps and pottery. The accessories would sit on the floor, as I would keep the scale low. No high bookcases, no dressers. It would be modern and simple, yet beautiful and romantic.

For the living room.















Chill sectional by Stine Engelbrechtsen at apt.com, silk pillows from OrientalLifestyle.com, Hella Jongerius vase to sit on floor, available at Ikea. Lamp and tea tray from Le Souk. Pouf from Tazi Designs.

For the dining room.
Low Chinese or Japanese table. Like this one from Oriental Furniture. Or the one I wrote about here from JTansu. On the table would be this prosperity bowl from Cheryl Williams available at the Artful Home. I've been meaning to devote a post to Cheryl's work it is so lovely. Around the table would be these floor pillows from Target.



For the bedroom.

Global bedding from Target. Silk lamp from Om Gallery.
One of the bedrooms would be my studio. It would be wonderful to paint with the light from those wonderful windows! I would create very simple paintings.

Now, let's get Jetsons for a minute. Wouldn't it be cool of we could decorate entirely with holograms? With just a touch to our laptop, we could change the color, lighting, accessories and even the furniture of our room. We could change it with ease for every mood, and it would be a snap to move. No more spring cleaning, because we wouldn't need stuff. No more filling the landfills with unwanted stuff. We wouldn't even need physical paint. As for the economy, maybe we could pay a small fee to rent an image. I could see Behr offering holographic walls and color, they already provide a virtual service on their site. I'm really still just thinking this through. But one can dream, right?

Maybe you are having a party tonight and you want to change your room. Individual pieces as well as whole rooms could be available. Maybe designers could rent a holographic room. For example, want to live or throw a party in a room designed by Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz? Just click an image on his site. The possibilities are endless.

Virtual Room - Silver and White

It's all West Elm's fault. They've got me obsession about silver. All day long while I am preparing boring legal documents I am secretly designing a silver and white loft in my head.

It started with West Elm's silver ottoman, that I wrote about here. I just can't get it out of my mind. I am in serious lust. I mean look at that! Simply gorgeous! Whenever I design rooms, they are all white. White walls, and white floors, like a cloud. I could totally see three to six of these ottomans lined up in lieu of a sofa. Ahh. What other pieces would I put in this romantic cloudy room? How about a lamp? What about the heavenly Yoga from Kundalini Italy.

I like the idea of the loft being almost empty, and having very large windows. What should cover those windows? What about these translucent light tiles by Jet Mous?

When I design a room, it occurs to me that I am much more fascinated by accessories than furniture. Now don't get me wrong. I love furniture. But I always start with accessories and go from there. Hmm. Seems to be a contradiction to my love of minimalism. Here are some other possibilities for the romatic silver and white loft:

Tord Boontje silver garland lamp from Modern Poverty. Very affordable at $55.00. I've been wanting a Boontje lamp for a long time.

Boontje's work reminds me of origami. I would love to see it paired with a rustic, low Japanese table like this one from Jtansu. Now I need to find some very yummy floor pillows to go around the table.


Target has a very beautiful tea set that would look wonderful on this table.

Hmm. Now I need a painting for this virtual room. I think I'm going to start experimenting with silver and metallic paint.

Mini Mood Board

Still dreaming of a new apartment.  Current plan for decorating same is a gray accent wall and a vintage turquoise sofa.  This sofa is impossibly out of my budget but it is perfect, isn't it?  Is it possible to be in love with a sofa.  Yes, it's perfectly possible.  Here's the proof:

 V and M

This sofa is casual, yet sophisticated and clean lined.  My favorite style of decor is Mid-Century Modern.   I love the simple lines.  MCM furniture makes a great base for any beautiful room.  Because of its clean lines, any style can easily be layered on it.  Japanese, Moroccan and ethnic pieces go great in a room decorated in Mid-Century Modern.

West Elm

I prefer low scale, round coffee tables.  I like to move them around and use them for different purposes, which is why I love ottomans so much.  I've never really used wood in my decor, although this piece made in India has caught my attention.  I love it's low scale, Moroccan influence.  I think it would look great with this sofa.

 And the accent wall I am planning in the perfect dove gray.

 Design Public

Here's the perfect entertainment center for my new flat screen.  I love its simple shape, and I love the combination of wood and white.  The wood of this piece and the coffee table relate to each other.  The white on this piece would, of course, relate to the painted wood floors.  Hmm, this room needs some funky end tables, over sized Danish lamps and pillows.  And oh yeah, vases.  None of it is to be, as it's out of my budget, but it's okay.  A girl can dream right?   These pieces are now all in my virtual collection.  You know what I always say about virtual collections.  They cost nothing, they take up no space, they don't need dusting, and the best part - they don't have to be moved!

Good thing I didn't take part in the I'm a Giant Challenge (see post below).  I'd be tempted to replicate these pieces, but the last thing I need is another obsession or project.