This was our heaven for seven wonderful days.
This is our room in St Lucia- no walls, no glass...only shutters separated us from our ocean/ jungle view high in the hill tops. Note the St Lucian batik fabric on the chairs- I can't get enough of it.
If these pics seem oddly familiar...At least a couple of the Bachelor final rose ceremonies were hosted at Anse Chastanet resort.
Anyway, this is the first house that we have decorated since our St Lucia trip, and there are St Lucian influences in every room- starting with the dining room. Not that I wasn't already decorating with dark woods and tropical floral fabric, as you could see in my TN bedroom in post #11.
Black walnut bedroom suit and birds of paradise fabric on the drapes- early island influences.
This is a dining/ lounging area at Anse Chastanet- this open air room is built into the side of the cliff between our hilltop room and the beach below.
There was an islander country western band that played here in this room many nights- St Lucians love classic country music. No joke. The soundtrack to this room was oddly enough Waylon, Willie, George Jones- very Nashville.
The dining room before:
You can see the dining room 'before' pics in this collage from the house listing. These are extremely flattering pics- the dining room in real life was very dark and the paint job was sloppy. I love dark grey walls, but not in every room- it was too dungeon-like and dreary. The modern wallpaper clashed with the floors and had to come down.
I decided to paint the dining room walls a deep golden to contrast with the grey walls in the adjacent sitting room. I also had three panels of curtains left from my Anthropologie-Craig's-List curtain steal. I hung the curtains on a whim and the rest just fell right into place.
Here's the little-bit-St-Lucian-little-bit-French-country-on-a-strict-budget dining room now:
Remember that St Lucian batik fabric? Yes, I brought some home with me! It looks terrific under Tommy's mother's antique tea set. The sconce on the wall by the Anthropologie-Craigs-list curtains hung in my grandmother's living room in the 80s.
The table cloth is actually a Land's End matelasse bedspread underneath an extra curtain panel. I purchased the floral napkins for $1 each to decorate our first apartment in 1996. The chairs were reupholstered using the fabric from an old decorative duvet cover.
If you've been to St Lucia or Key West or any other islands, you probably understand the chickens. I purchased these from Hobby Lobby this week at 1/2 off. The chickens also remind me of the farm back home in Belvidere, TN.
Blaine gifted us this painting he made in art class a few years back... It is strikingly similar to our view of the St. Lucian Pitons:
From this angle, you can see into the breakfast room and get a glimpse of the artwork hanging there:
This cow reminds me of the cows found here and there randomly in St. Lucia; also reminds me of the farm I grew up in in Belvidere, TN... She didn't make the cut for dining room artwork, but she has breakfast with us every morning.
I bought the light fixture 8 years ago from Home Decorators Outlet- I go it for $35 including shipping. I got lots of good deals from this site BEFORE they were affiliated with Home Depot.
My only recent purchases for this makeover were paint, the chickens, the Craig's list curtains and the frame for Blaine's painting... bringing the entire dining room makeover in under $200. I'll get a rug once the dust settles on our other projects.
I'm pulling these bright colors into the adjacent siting room to brighten up/ compliment the dark grey walls- we'll see if I can pull it off.
No comments:
Post a Comment