Where thou art, that is home - Emily Dickinson






Isn't it familiar: the compelling urge to create a home. We all want our homes to be beautiful, inviting and cozy. Like birds gathering bits and pieces to fashion a nest, we all collect items from the world around us, arrange them in our places to make our nests a lovely "shelter from the storms" ... The most significant aspect of it, I think, is that our homes naturally mirror our personalities, styles, spirits, and souls. Our homes eventually become the US. As a wise man once said, "A house is made of walls and beams, a home is built with love and dreams." 

 
       






For a long time, my family has lived surrounded by white walls, white furniture, white accessories... I know, white is pretty and turns small spaces into open areas, but I felt that a bit of color would give our space life and drama ... Colors are a gift and they make our world unique. Among the reaches color pallet, BLUE has always been my favorite one (almost every nuance of it). There will be nothing new if I say that blue is a natural color, the color of the sky, the ocean, the horizon. Perhaps this is the reason that makes it a calming shade, evoking a sense of serenity and stillness... To me, though, Blue is the hue of the childhood, of the free spirit and the wondering soul. But when it comes to home decoration, blue has never been THE COLOR ..... until recently when I decided to insert a little zest to our ''nest', so our home to look simple, yet sophisticated. The obvious choice was blue and my ultimate supporters, my son and my husband, agreed.

 

Image by  refinery29


Image by cheerful




I needed inspiration and what can be bluer than Alice's dress after all, especially in Tim Burton's interpretation of Alice in Wonderland. The colors there are so vibrant and the movie is such a visual feast. The same applies to Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, stunning blue and pink colors. The greatest inspiration, indeed, came from one source that always stimulates our minds, eyes, and creativity,
NATURE!









 













In order to post more pictures, I am using Shape Collage Program the logo of which, unfortunately, appears on my photos. But that's OK; we will assume that the label stays SYLVIA"S SIMPLE LIFE while I figure out how to do it :)








So, I started by painting the walls in blue (in fact not all the walls, some remain white), choosing Martha Stewart's Thistle Blue ... and it turned to be the bigger part of the makeover. Everything else was simply rearranging. While I was looking over my possessions, I found a lot of memorabilia in blue, accessories, fabrics, and pillows that become the focal point of the simple decor.
Be my guest! 

Setting up

    
                                                  


However, the color turned darker than I expected
    

                 
                    

               

                   
       Fabrics and Patterns
                                                                                                                                                                                            
Linen curtains in blue for the windows


                            



                              Accessorizing




    
         
                                                                         









                                   Living in Blue



I painted this side table blue giving it a rusty look


 
        


          


An old blue trunk which once belonged to our friend grandmother who came to Canada from England in the early 1940s







  


A photo wall in the entryway, using old tennis rackets as picture frames



    


  

               




                                       LOOKING FOR SIMPLICITY...



  

                  
 I guess I am simply  trying to say that Home to me

is where your story begins...
Home is where you can be yourself and nobody is going to judge you...
Home is where your colorful memories, dreams, and hopes become a reality...
Home is where you rest your tired feet after a busy day and sitting on your favorite chair you take delight in those simple things created by you...


Sorry, the frosting turned unexpectedly greenish :) 


To all of you who stop by, cheers from our home to yours!