Monday Love & Inspiration: A Magical Setting

Practical Magic Conservatory

Molly's Apartment

My Work Room



I think I have watched "Practical Magic" at least half a dozen times, maybe more. While I certainly like Sandra Bullock, and the movie is fun...especially for Halloween...it's the house that keeps me coming back to watch it again. I would love to have a conservatory like that!

Last night I watched "Uptown Girls" again. It's the same with that movie, while the story line is charming, I can't stop looking at Molly's apartment. I could happily tidy it up and move right in without changing a thing. Even to the point of having a pot belly pig as a pet. (If only R would let me get one!)

I loved the "Babe" movies and the TV series "Pushing Daisies" for the same reason. The way things were decorated and filmed in both was simply magical.

Aside from dreaming of living in these fascinating places, they also are a wonderful source of inspiration. The colors and styles always inspire me to go make something fun. It's not a simple matter of seeing one thing and thinking oooh I want to make that. It's the overall ambiance that inspires me to want to create something magical that would fit into such a setting.

Ordinary and functional aren't really words I have ever been fond of. While my own house isn't quite as wonderful as a movie set, I do have some very fun features. I have a couple of Michael Parkes pieces framed and hanging on the walls, I have angel wings above the front door with a little heart shaped mirror in between so that you get a quick glimpse of yourself as an angel when you walk down the stairs. The transom window above has a gargoyle peeking out from behind the chandelier. He isn't an ugly gargoyle though, he is a smiling winged wolf with blue eyes that let the light from outside shine through them. Accompanying him are smaller animals cast in cement, a white birdhouse, and a an bronze armillary.

My guest room is done in an old fashioned floral wallpaper with lovely old bookcases, a rose covered quilt on a day bed, tiffany lamp, antique table with lace table cloth and some of my collection of bears spilling over into it from the work room. My front porch has a profusion of plants growing in pots. I keep bugging R for window boxes, maybe one of these years I will get some. But the work room itself is my favorite room.

A few years ago I decided to paint it. I fresco painted the walls in a warm, light caramel parchment hue with periwinkle doors and ceiling. I wanted it to feel like a dusk sky. There is a sheer mesh curtain on the window with little roses embroidered on it. The room houses most of my collection of bears and some other fanciful and curious things I have collected as I have gone along. Someone once said the exact phrase about my work room that was uttered about Molly's apartment in "Uptown Girls." They said they felt as if they had gone through the looking glass. I took that as a compliment.

I really believe that home is where the heart is, but it should also be where the art and inspiration is as well. I once read that everything you bring into your home has to be taken care of, so you should only bring in things that you love, use or admire. Feather your nest well, it can get your creative juices flowing.