The Brideshead Suite...

I have spoken a lot about the Brideshead Suite (our bridal suite with a terrace balcony overlooking the park on the northern side of the house) but I have never written a post about it....

It is the largest of the suites, and was designed somewhat from this photo we found of a long room with several well demarcated areas:

Above: The photo which inspired our design.

Below: A plan of the suite.

The decor that will typify this suite: light and classical...

There is a canopied bed against the wall to the left as you walk in, with a sitting area to the right, similar to these suites...

Below: The initial progress photo showing the wall against which the bed sits, with the north balcony on the right.

Below: That same view as the walls and doors went in...

Below: Recent views of that same wall now, showing the crown cornicing with canopy cornicing...

This will allow us to create this effect above the bed...

We shall also have wainscoting panels around the room, especially noticeable on the wall against which the bedhead sits, as we have sconce lighting in the middle of the side panels, and the bed in the centre panel...

Below: My roughly sketched plan of the wainscoting for our builders...

Views of the seating area through to the balcony...

Above: View from the suite door.

Below: View from end of bed towards sitting area and through wall into ensuite.

Below: The same view now the walls have been plastered.

They had to specially laminate the skirting to get it to wrap around the curved wall...

They took lengths of the skirting and split them into five layers, wet them, bent them, then glued them back together in order to create the curve...

Below: The end effect...

They had an even more difficult time wrapping the cornicing around the top of the curve, which was simply not possible. As it is triangular in cross section, it means that the larger top edge would have to expand whilst the smaller bottom edge would have to compress. Something which can not be done with a hard brittle medium.

The solution: Konstantinos to the rescue. He hand carved a curved section to match our cornicing especially for this wall...

Painted you would never know...

The door you can see on the left of the photo is the closet, the door of which will be a framed full length mirror, so that the bride can check she is looking just perfect!

I look forward to sharing more photos once the interior has been furnished, which should be in June/July.

Upholstered Walls...

Not having been able to find a suitable damask wallpaper that we liked for either the dining room or the gold drawing room, (and following some encouragement from Kirk), we looked into finding some silk with which to upholster the walls of these rooms.

And we have found some. There are some lovely silk damasks made by Italian fashion house and furniture textilier Etro.

Etro is more known for its fashion...

 It has some pretty out there looks, and is particularly known for its take on paisley.

 But they also make a range of upholstery textiles.

Here are the damasks we have chosen for three rooms. First the yellow damask for the gold drawing room...

Secondly a green damask for the Billiard Room.

Finally the red damask for the formal dining room.

The colours for the red and green damask are slightly darker than shown in these photos, but are just as vibrant. The photo of the yellow damask is pretty close to actual colour.

Now we just have research which is the best way to upholster a solid masonry wall!

Ray, a Drop of Golden Sun....

Welcome to The Yellow Post. Previously there has been a Blue Post and a Green Post. The yellow post is based around ideas and swatches for The Gold Drawing Room. Originally The Gold Drawing Room was going to be a beige-gold colour. But now that we have chosen the fabric and wall colour for the Brideshead Suite - which is a beige gold, and also for the master suite, which is a creamy beige gold, I am thinking we need something less beige, something a little bolder... I am thinking yellow.

It is quite funny really. I have never been a fan of yellow. I own only one piece of yellow clothing, I am not a fan of yellow roses, and the very first thing I did when we moved into Eden was to paint the custard yellow hallway beige. But, I have been researching Georgian colour schemes, and the I have to admit that yellow has grown on me. It is a cheerful sunny colour. I think the reason I loathed it before was that I found it unsophisticated and juvenile. I don't know why I thought that of a colour, but it did seem to be a childish colour but perhaps not anymore. So, out with the beige for this room, and in with a drop of golden sun! Here are a few ideas for the yellow drawing room...

Above: Custard gold striped curtain fabric. More yellow than beige, but not a bright as Nancy Lancaster's yellow drawing room below...

Below: Jasper Conran's yellow drawing room:

Below: Back to some muted custard yellows:

The white and yellow above reminds me of a lemon meringue pie!

Moving away from plain yellow paint on the walls,. bright gold silk upholstered walls are a very traditional and luxurious look...

Above Photo from The Devoted Classicist

Above photo of Goodwood House by Tim Imrie

Plain yellow curtains at Osbourne House...

Yellow accents in the White Drawing Room at Buck House...

Yellow wallpapers...

I would love to have a wallpaper like this swatch below, but alas I just can't find a nice bright yellow damask. This example below is actually a fabric swatch. Can anyone out there help me with this?

The closest I can find is this yellow gold Brocatello wallpaper by Zophany. It also has a matching fabric...

 Other choices include:

but they are all fairly beige. Even the metallic ones below are still too beige...

The only yellow paper I can find has white damask on it, and I would really love tone on tone yellow...

Worst case scenario I could always try papering with anaglypta and the painting it a bright yellow colour...

and the room will need some flowers...