Walls with Stripes

nautical stripes via flickr
Since Heather from concrete jungle in Phuket commented on my last post that she pictures wide blue stipes for the walls under the blue ceiling, I got totally hooked with stripes on walls.

Yesterday, I skyped with Angelo and told him the idea ... his first comment was: "come?!" (what?!)  He asked me to make a drawing for him to better understand.

But first of all I had to think, vertical or horizontal stripes? While I thought about two or three bold wide blue horizontal stripes, my consultant from neighbouring Phuket thought wide vertical stripes. And to get some inspiration I googled "stripes wall" and "Streifen Wand" in German, and got plenty interesting results. Some of them I have to put in this post, but first my latest drawing, sorry I am not a professional interior designer and the scanned sketch comes out a bit pale, but you can see the four walls of the corridor :

two bold blue horizontal stripes under a blue ceiling in a small corridor

The photos that Angelo sent me yesterday are not really ideal to picture the corridor and to photoshop in the stripes, but I did it anyway and in both horizontal and vertical direction:

two horizontal stripes of different width, they could go around all four walls (except on the doors)

five vertical stripes - probably nice if only on the long wall with no door

The last vertical stripes make the room appear higher, which is not necessary. The horizontal stripes could make the small space appear larger, which could be more useful. But not only do stripes something to the space regarding the size, it also adds an interesting touch. Vertical stripes look more elegant, horizontal more unique. I like also the geometrical modern touch they add to the rather playful classic ceiling. But above all, I like the blue stripes idea because it's nautical ! It adds a beach house touch (to my beach house).

I checked the international nautical flags :

two blue stripes: J for Juliet or "on fire!"

And here are my favorite vertical wall stripes :

blue stripes in corridor, via Elle Decor


blue and white stripes, equally about 10 cm wide

stripes from wall to ceiling, different width

Tiffany blue wide wall stripes

Forrow & Ball paint, stripes about 10 and 20 cm wide

interesting fresh colour match

dashing arrangement of orange, grey, black and white stripes by Designer Sheila Bridges, via Elle Decor

same colour mix, same room as above

black and white stripes French style (white border around hooks and ceiling!)

nautical stripes via flickr

And here some of my favorite vertical stripes:

Vibrant orange-and-pink stripes race down the bedroom-corridor walls of designer Muriel Brandolini’s Victorian weekend house in Southampton, New York, via Elle Decor - THIS is about our corridor, but we have doors too...


very wide blue stripes

these two stripes in our blue could do

a wallpaper, too bold for living in

stripes of different width, strange deco though - but this is about our blue and could be our arrangement (the grey would be our light apricot) - but this here is a wallpaper

light gray stripes in a cozy beach house bedroom, via Coastal Living

a bold white stripe below the ceiling makes the room appear less high - light blue paint by Schoener Wohnen (D217), bed linen by IKEA

nautical stripes via flickr

what a difference a blue stripe makes !

I know, painting stripes, no matter which direction, is a lot of work (measuring, taping), but Angelo has proven a hidden talent. And as you see far above, I thought of two stripes only, maybe even only on one short wall. Let's see what Angelo says. And what do you think?

Sources:
since I found so many different photos it was too much to collect all the sources, some are from DIY sites or wallpaper shops - the best source, however, with even more inspiration is Wall Treatments: Say it with Stripes by Elle Decor

----
UPDATE:
And here is our result:


see other pics here

Of course Angelo could not resist and try out horizonatal AND vertical stripes. These are different areas, but connected. It is a fun optical detail, a surprise for the visitors eyes. 

Blue Ceiling by Angelo

Today I receive a blue ceiling via email :



And the text massage goes like this :

The ceiling of the corridor in front of the ground floor bathroom. I missed the blue after so long time! Is that ok? What color do you want the walls? White? Light yellow? Light ocra? Light pink?
Ciao
Angelo
Ah, I have missed Angelo's humour. I almost forgot about his "blue" addiction, didn't thought it's that strong! I wrote back that I like it. Light blue makes the ceiling appear higher - not that this was necessary in our case - but here the blue leads the eye towards the center. You do not notice right away that the ceiling is not symmetrical. And I really like that simple Art Nouveau lamp. We had it in storage so far - can you believe that? ... it never had a place to beam. Not sure though, if this short side corridor is the right place. We might have a better spot, but will see. Regarding the walls I opted for just white paint as this is a small and rather dark corridor. If this is too boring we can repaint it later.

I am happy with this Wednesday mail by Angelo. Grazie! 

I thought this is funny: Palazzo Pizzo Team on skiing holiday

the interior, finance and construction team of Palazzo Pizzo (from left)

We took a week off and met in Switzerland for a skiing holiday with family and friends. In this picture above you see from left: me, myself, my husband CC and his father Angelo, our major help at Palazzo Pizzo.

I thought it is a very funny picture, not only because we were all wearing helmets, like construction workers, but also you can tell who is in love with GREEN bathrooms, who's idea was the RED bathroom and who painted the entrance hall in APRICOT. Can you ?!

And if you ever happen to go to Klosters, don't miss the Berghaus Alpenroesli, it is such a beautiful and romantic spot for lunch or dinner:


two pictures above via Alpenroesli

However, now we are all back at work. Angelo drove down to Pizzo and I am awaiting updates soon. I will keep you posted, a presto.

Bathroom: Can't take my eyes of subway tiles

A beautiful mix of three different shapes of white tiles, separated by a thin border of black tiles and finished with a pastell mint wall paint - I am impressed by this composition ! 

Not sure via which blog I found the above picture, but the photo below is from another blog and it shows the the same bathroom! So, I proudly present both pics together in one blog :


I just can't take my eyes of subway tiles




Subway tiles (on walls) are often combines with hexagon tiles on the floor. Here above with tiny, mosaic type hexa tiles.

But you can do it easier and cheaper, but not less interesting with square tiles :

Just another bathroom of ours ...

Rectangular subway tiles on the walls and square tiles, diagonally layed on the floor


Since we had not made any further specifications than "green" wall colour, our son (7 y.) actual favorite colour, Angelo used the leftover paint from downstairs and added a border of his choice. I think it looks super good, especially when you see the "matching" green leaves through the bathroom window and ....

.... a bit of sea view

More about this bathroom later with before & after pics.

The Welcoming Entrance

After having written a lot about visitors - real visitors, virtual visitors, booked visitors, future visitors - just-in-time, the entrance starts to look welcoming :

view from inside

view from outside

BEFORE stairways

NOW stairways (wooden railway still missing)

BEFORE ceiling

AFTER ceiling

Actually, the first pinkish paint became somehow an apricot, peachy Bellini colour - not sure if this is due to a second coat of paint, on purpose by Angelo, or that it has to do with light / photo flashes. - BTW, the lamp will remain the same, remember?


BEFORE entrance

NOW entrance (during renovation)

man at work - Tonino preparing the last new marble step