It has been many months, March I think, since I did any work on the dining room. But in November I had a sudden bout of inspiration. The colours in the dining room were mostly blues, but with the blue and white porcelain of which I plan to have many pieces in this room it was becoming quite bland and boring.
I decided on going with an intense green colour for the walls, curtains and some of the woodwork. When I was a girl there was a 'rule' which said blue and green clashed. But that is nonsense of course. Blue and green is the most classic of all colour combinations. Just look at nature!
Another classic colour combination is red and green. And as you can see I chose to paint the fireplace mantel I made to resemble red marble. The painting (by Elly Ypma) will not go into this room, but it does have all the colours I am using in here.
I really like the vivid contrast between the wall colour and the mantelpiece.
There will be double doors on both sides of the mantelpiece. The doors on the left will lead to a small side room. The doors on the right will be the doors leading to the hallway. These doors are just propped up against the wall to give you an idea. They need more sanding and painting, and hinges and a door frame ;-)
You may remember last year I made blue curtains for this room. While the blue was a very good match with the chinoiserie wall next to it, I never finished them as I wasn't convinced I liked them. Maybe it was the dull look of the cotton I didn't like, or the colour which I found a bit boring, or both!
I decided to make new curtains using a green-blue silk changeant. Changeant fabric is woven with the warp and weft in two (or more) colours producing an iridescent appearance.
The new curtains are a much more exciting combination with the chinoiserie wallpaper than the previous blue ones.
The curtains will have silk tie backs which I will be weaving myself. In Bonni Backe's class last May I learned the basics of weaving on a small loom. The tie backs is the first project I am making on the loom.
I did a few tests with different colours and decided I would like to add some red silk floss to the green ribbon I had woven. In the photo below the red silk still looks like a bunch of messy loops, but once they are cut straight it will hopefully be a lovely neat fringe.
By adding the red fringe to the curtains, the red from marble of the mantelpiece will be repeated on the other side of the room. The red is also found in some of the flowers on the wallpaper.
Yes, much more vibrant. I like it.
Still lots of work to do on this room, but at least now I have a much clearer idea of where I am going with it.
