On a family trip to Italy years ago…I fell in love with the

most beautiful shade of blue on a piece of Vietri

pottery…took a piece to our local paint store to match it,

and painted, then glazed the dining room ceiling

several gradations of the blue to match my plates…

Vieti’s aqua Sorbetto charger…

preferred the size and wide, flat rim to use as dinner plates…

I grayed the paint a bit to make it less bright, used the same

color for the inside of the cream kitchen cabinets…

The subtle blue is beautiful when the sun reaches around the

top of the house and slants between the oak tree’s huge limbs

to infuse the dining room with afternoon light, or at night when

the crystal petaled flowers of the chandelier dance about

the ceiling…

A settee upholstered in Peau de soie (aka Duchess Satin)…

gorgeous, but delicate …the color beautiful with shades

of aquas and greens…though I now wish I had used

Belgian linen…

A little archaeological treasure from Sothebys… part of the

house when we bought it and graciously left for me by the previous

owner whose daughter worked there. It presides over my

inherited dressing room with it multi paneled closet doors…

Everyone that visits loves the allure of a dressing room…

the former owner merely seized a departing child’s

room and made it her own. I painted the bifold door’s

trim shades of blue and aqua, with random bits of gilt…

This is the hallway between the dressing room, master bedroom

and bath that I painted aqua. I do my own painting because

I change my mind so often..such a curse…

I’m waiting until the dead of winter to decide whether

I should paint the bedroom gray…

More beautiful shades of blue and aqua via

Carolyn Quartermaine…

Has a color ever entranced you to go, object in a hand,

to the local paint store for a match?

And a little 19th century painted treasure

sold at Artfact auctions…

Photographing my home reminds me of how

many projects I have left to do…