We spent our week in Italy in a sweet, little villa built in 1973. Here it is below (on the left)...it's a duplex, and we stayed in the right half.
It had lots of charm and Italian decorating flair, so I felt very inspired to take lots of pictures and share my favorite design lessons that I took away from our trip! (They all fall under the category of "DO" or "DON'T.")
DO tuck beds under vaulted ceilings for fun sleeping spaces for the kids!
DON'T tuck tubs under vaulted ceilings because then adults cannot stand up completely when getting in or out. Feels like they're made for kids and oompa-loompas only!
DO decorate your beach home with beautiful art (these are mounted simply, but beautifully, on cork!).
These basic black-and-white prints with pretty matting and frames made the house feel
fancier than a beach home.
DO go out on a limb with nautical decorations...this is a light inside a "ship window" with wicker birds on both sides!
DO tile the vertical side of your stairs! Haven't we seen this everywhere lately? Like with tiles
here and stencils
here.
DO make the most of small spaces. I could not stand up where the ceiling meets these built-in closets, BUT there are an excellent use of "useless" space for year-round storage.
DO create doors and windows that fit vaulted ceilings well. They add character!
DO create getaway spaces like an outdoor shower in an enclosed terrace.
DON'T pair three different tiles together. Two might work, but three, on the other hand...
Do use
items in creative ways! This wooden ball was my towel rod!
DON'T install a light socket (and bulb) directly into a bathroom mirror. It blinds the person brushing their teeth, putting on make-up, etc., and it's hot! (That white appliance in the reflection is the ceiling-mounted water heater. Also a strange location--the CEILING of a BATHROOM!)
Here's a shot of the other bulb socket with no bulb in it. Just. Plain. Odd.
DO hang art that you love and, in this case, art that
I love. A larger version of the middle picture (Jean-François Millet's
The Gleaners) used to hang in my grandmother's home and I saw the actual one in Musée d'Orsay in Paris!
DO keep towel rods and switch plates even after they've started to oxidize from the sea salt in the air. More character!
The same goes for "copperized" hinges and doorknobs!
Do make the most of 10-foot ceilings by installing built-in closets that take advantage of the height. You can always store your "occasional" things up there.
This was one of my favorites: DO find something you love, screw it into to the wall and use it as a headboard! In this case, Sammy and Brie's room had two twin beds that folded out like cots. They went right up against the walls (like this), below the wicker-turned-headboards!
You can see the screw below. Sammy called it the "Pretzel Bed."
Can you find the pretzels in the headboard??
DON'T hang (or still have hanging) a human-size Swatch Watch. OK, maybe it's fine in the kids' room...
DO/DON'T have enormous lamps with even bigger lampshades in random places. This one was larger than Brie. The jury's still out on their aesthetic value.
DON'T have metallic striped wardrobes. Ever. Anywhere.
DO!! repurpose wood, bricks and stones to make beautiful (yet simple) outdoor seating!
DO replace the knocker on your front door (we can all knock with our knuckles, right?) with a cool metal embellishment.
DO repurpose an old terracotta pot and turn it into an outdoor light fixture. (Yes, there was a cord that ran from an outdoor electrical outlet and over the tree limbs to make this work. Maybe not the safest, but...)
DO create beautiful, peaceful dining spaces outdoors.
DO go "sightseeing" from your own patio. Aren't the neighbor's home and the view of the ocean to die for?!
How fun to get design ideas and inspiration from travels! Molto bene!
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