Pretty Woodland Wall Treatment

Made from pine cones, vines, sticks, pods and other natural woodland bits and stuff.  Beautiful!  

This stunning wall goes way beyond loving-hands-at-home-style arts and crafts.  Using natural materials, this elegant design mimics French boiserie (lower panel) and chinoiserie (upper area).  Absolutely stunning! So get out your glue guns, folks...

This is an upstairs attic room in a country home owned by the proprietors of Boxwoods, the ultra-charming house and garden store in Atlanta.

"Transformed into a guest room, the third-floor attic space is a celebration of nature and human creativity. Randy decorated the walls by appliquéing real pine cones, acorns, hickory nuts, sweet gumballs, and honeysuckle vines onto them. The lower walls resemble ornate paneling; the upper walls’ fluid floral designs suggests the patterns from crewelwork. The room is a favorite for the children of visiting families."--Traditional Homes

Source:  Traditional Homes Camp Boxwoods Attic Guest Room

The gorgeous country house, overall is a traditional Southern home, however, there are some very nice Black Forest pieces in it, and several other rooms have elements that apply to cabin decorating, too.

A beautiful stone fireplace has been enhanced with a white painted mantle, white-painted antique mirror and a collection of creamware, old crocks and silver.

Beautifully carved black forest chairs and a pair of magnificent antler candlesticks.  The centerpiece also seems to be a carved Black Forest box of some sort. 

A wonderful rustic kitchen--perfect for any cabin.  Spectacular wide plank floor and matching wide planks on ceiling.  The charming cabinets are actually an old candy counter cut in half (by the way, this is a look you could ask your cabinet maker to mimic--and don't forget the turned feet).  The hood is fantastic!

I love the way this fireplace has been constructed with layers of elements.  From the columns, to the carved garlands, the corbels under the mantle and the diagonal bead board.  Add a coat of paint, and the whole conglomeration comes together as one beautiful unit!

Want more cabin design inspiration? 

Explore two of our most-loved posts:   

Can I Paint My Log Walls? 

8 of the Most Charming Cabin Kitchens Ever

See hundreds of wallpaper and fabrics curated especially for cabins, lodges, and mountain homes.  Tahoedreaminteriors.com    

Follow along for fresh cabin ideas and new mountain home inspiration: 

Pinterest

Instagram

Let your mountain home reflect the beauty, comfort, and creativity you love. — Sue Pipal

Another Pinterest Page to Love--Bavarian Designs

I keep stumbling across these charming Pinterest pages where someone has lovingly put together an utterly charming collection of mountain images.  The one I found today is called "Bavarian Design" and it's full of graphics, painted pieces, and furnishings with Bavarian patterns and motifs.  If you love old school Swiss chalet style, then this is your board.  It's a great resource for anyone out there who is creating a ski chalet and is looking for some authentic inspiration.  Love it!

Click on the photo to link to the page.

By the way, I was happy to see a number of images included from this site as well as several from our online store:  TahoeDreamInteriors.com.

Want more cabin design inspiration? 

Explore two of our most-loved posts:   

Can I Paint My Log Walls? 

8 of the Most Charming Cabin Kitchens Ever

See hundreds of wallpaper and fabrics curated especially for cabins, lodges, and mountain homes.  Tahoedreaminteriors.com    

Follow along for fresh cabin ideas and new mountain home inspiration: 

Pinterest

Instagram

Let your mountain home reflect the beauty, comfort, and creativity you love. — Sue Pipal

Cabin Antiques

Some people just have a discriminating eye. They instinctively know quality. They immediately spot the highest level of craftsmanship.  They know balance, beauty and color harmony.  

I am still loving a pinterest page I discovered called "Find Me One".  It's been put together by someone with an eye.  Someone who loves mountain collectibles, especially, (be still my heart) European mountain antiques.  She loves Black Forest, carved bears, Tramp Art style, folk art, transferware and, of course, pieces decorated with antlers and pine cones.  Plain and simple, every possible sort of Old World mountain-oriented collectible has been included.

But...this girl has taste.  The items she's selected for her board are not just any old item with a bear slapped on it.  This is a beautifully curated collection of the best of the best, the rarest, the hardest to find, the most beautifully crafted.  Be sure to check it out.  You won't be disappointed.  And, if you're newly discovering the world of mountain antiques, this page can provide a great education as to what is out there and options for what you might want to set out to collect.  

  To see the Find Me One Pinterest board, click here.  


And, by the way, if you love all things about cabin living, I've been putting together my own share board with lots of links to great articles from around the web with all kinds of things that spark my interest about mountain living, and cabin decorating.  Clicking around to various content on the board is a great way to spend a snowy afternoon.  Hey, I think we have a few of those coming up this week!

My board is called "Living a Beautiful Mountain Life".  Click here.

Want more cabin design inspiration? 

Explore two of our most-loved posts:   

Can I Paint My Log Walls? 

8 of the Most Charming Cabin Kitchens Ever

See hundreds of wallpaper and fabrics curated especially for cabins, lodges, and mountain homes.  Tahoedreaminteriors.com    

Follow along for fresh cabin ideas and new mountain home inspiration: 

Pinterest

Instagram

Let your mountain home reflect the beauty, comfort, and creativity you love. — Sue Pipal

"Vintage Mountain Feel"--Charming Artwork for Chalets

A friend sent me a link to a blog by a fabulous European artist who specializes in creating artwork, murals and decorative painted wall effects for European castles, chateaus, restaurants and hotels.  I have to say, he is pretty special and his work is very impressive.  If you'd like to look at his blog, it's demeurspeintes.blogspot.com.

His spectacular images are sometimes jaw-dropping, especially those that are over scale parodies of some of the history's greatest artists.  It's really worth a visit to his site to enjoy some of these and to appreciate his talent.

In perusing and frankly, savoring, his gorgeous photos, I ran across a posting that shows some delightful work he did for a Mageve hotel called Au Soli.  You know I love everything European Mountain Style, especially when it includes charming vintage references, as do these.  (The captions are taken directly from his site.)

A mix inspired by two pictures of famous photographer Georges Tairraz.

An inspiring view of a mountaineer contemplating Matterhorn on the Italian side.

Inspired by an illustration of Armand Vallee.

An old guide, of Chamonix probably.

Also inspired by Armand Vallee.

Charming skier ...a man was by her side but she looks better on her own...

The artist mentions how much he loves the "vintage mountain look" of the 30's through 60's.  Me too!!  In fact, here at Lake Tahoe, we call that look "Old Tahoe".  There are still many charming old cabins from that era that are still in original condition with old linoleum kitchen flooring, pickwick pine on the walls and chalet inspired railings and widow shutters.  In fact, I've had several clients hire me to help them create that look from scratch for new construction or remodel projects.  Such fun!

European Chalet Style in the Eyes of Mai Tai, a Blogging Favorite

Since I live at Lake Tahoe and ski at Squaw Valley as often as I like during the winter months, I pretty much get my fill of skiing here at home.  If I'm going to take a vacation, I want to go to a European city or head to a beach on a tropical island.  It's not that I would turn down a free trip to ski in Europe, it's just not at the top of my list of priorities.

However, that does not stop me from fantasizing about what it might be like to ski in Europe.  I get my European ski fix from the blogger, Mai Tai.  An American who lives a luxurious life in the South of France, Mai Tai takes a European ski holiday every spring and does a beautiful job of documenting it, showing just the things I want to see.  She shows delicious food, apres ski photos at the best European lodges, luxury rooms in holiday chalets, restaurants and bars.  Mai Tai gives you a good peek at European contemporary luxury chalet style. It doesn't hurt that Mai Tai herself is beautiful, always elegantly dressed and successfully wields a top notch camera.

Check out Mai Tai's ski vacations.  She's been blogging for a long time so you'll find lots to see in this string of postings titled skiing.  Set aside some free time, sit down with a cup of cocoa and enjoy, (just keep hitting previous posts every time you hit the end of the column and more will load in).

Ready, set schuss!

The elegant Mai Tai, almost always in a Hermes scarf!

Mai Tai is always interested in the details.

Capturing the overall experience.

St. Moritz Sophistication

Antiques, new upholstery, sumptuous details and gorgeous woodwork all create a gorgeous mix in this elegant St. Moritz chalet.

A rustic and charming kitchen mixes it up-- old world blue and white tile, country pine, rugged stone floors and white washed cabinetry intermingle with modern granite counter-tops and the most luxurious of contemporary appliances.

In the entry... a practical stone floor, faux painted "stone" walls, rustic knotted doors and mountain antiques.

This is a to-die-for ceiling!!  It's all just beautiful with the old limestone fireplace and the pine book shelves with rustic pine column and ionic capital details.  Again, the mix of rugged mountain materials,  country craftsmanship inspired by European-city-sophistication and elegant antiques, carpets and upholstery.

And another gorgeous ceiling and floor.

White washing or 'liming' at its best.

Above, a perfect place to relax and enjoy the view.  I love curtains in the mountains.  They soften up all that pine woodwork creating a feeling of sumptuous comfort.

Speaking of sumptuous, nothing like a velvet headboard, a fur throw and old oil paintings to bring on the luxury.

A wider angle view of the library.  In the midst of all the books and masculinity, a cozy sofa in a floral print beckons the reader to curl up and enjoy the fire.

Utterly charming.  Love the detail in the woodwork, the short curtains and the well-loved little carved fireplace. 

As seen on dustjacket attic.

Axel Vervoordt's Family Vacation Home in the Swiss Alps

In last week's posting I made mention of Axel Vervoordt. It got me thinking that I had seen some beautiful images of his personal family cabin in the mountains outside of Verbier. A little digging on the internet and voila! Enjoy these photos of his beautiful chalet...but, first a little background on the man himself.

Since 1968, Vervoordt has been collecting, restoring and dealing quality antiques to high level collectors, designers and showrooms around the world. His top-tiered clientele include Sting, Rose Tarlow, Bill Gates, Paul Wiseman, Bill Blass and many, many more names we all recognize. Over the years his company has grown to include 100 craftsmen, restorers, designers and project leaders. With the growth of his reputation he has become a world class interior designer and his unique style has influenced current popular design tremendously.

"I consider myself a very eclectic collector and dealer, I treasure the timeless and disdain the trendy. My taste spans centuries, continents and economic strata. I love the tension between different objects and different cultures. And I always let the space I am restoring inspire me." --Axel Vervoordt

I think of this room as being classic Vervoordt style, the combining of the simple and the rustic with inviting linen covered seating. With Vervoordt there's always lots of empty space and beautifully detailed architecture.






This amazingly huge coffee table and over-sized upholstery works beautifully in an uncluttered room.







Vervoordt knows antiques and here, in this more traditional room, above, he adds valuable collected pieces and a little color for a cozy but sophisticated look.



A colorful collection of carpets and antique boxes line an enormous built-in banquette.

Old stone floors, simple sisal matting, unique and rare antiques, neutral colors, exciting architecture.