Lake Living

Tranquil. Peaceful. Quiet. Gray. That's what our lake house may look like on the outside but on the inside it's anything but. I just couldn't help but decorate with the vibrant colors of the lake, sky, sun, grass and almost every other color you can think of! You have to pull out all the stops when it comes to color at a lake or beach house.

The walls of our family room are painted a turquoisy blue. The ceiling is painted a few shades lighter. All of the outlets and even the speakers in the ceiling were painted the same color so they just disappear from view. The yellow sofa provides a nice contrasting pop of color. On the coffee table I put some silk tulips in a pretty blue wine bottle from a local winery, Chateau Morrisette. Fake, I know, but they serve the purpose of tying in the color! In season they can be replaced with the real thing.

Over the fireplace hangs a painting by local artist Greg Osterhaus that we purchased at The Little Gallery at Smith Mountain Lake. We love his work, depicting barns and landscapes around southwest Virginia, and the gallery is our favorite place to shop. The owners are kind enough to allow me to sell my jewelry in their store. In another post I'll show you our coffee table, which was made out of reclaimed ceiling tins. On the side table there's a glass bottle that I found on the beach in Bermuda in 1982 and filled with the pinkish white sand that defines the tropical island. I've had it ever since and it's a great conversation piece!

Just around the corner from the family room is a BLUE leopard powder room! I have a picture frame with this pattern so I asked our faux painter (Nene Roe from Roanoke) to copy it. The result is wild, crazy and totally unexpected. The finish was done only on the wall of the sink so that it wouldn't be so over-powering. The other walls were done in a coordinating soft blue wash.

Now our kids have a reason to be animals when they go to the potty.