From the Archives: Move In Ready

Hi. This is the third post in the Move In Ready series. In these posts I share complete homes that I saved from magazines because I loved everything about them and would (have) moved right in. Typically I save a picture of a room or design element that I love, not the entire collection of photographs from a feature in a shelter magazine. The first in the series was a home from the July/August 2000 issue of Country Home and the next in the series was a home featured in a magazine (which I think was Elle Decor, not sure) sometime between 2000 and 2002, I'm guessing here too. I still love a lot of features about the first two homes - they are both old homes and were filled with antiques which remain two of my favorite design elements.

The third house I saved in its entirety is the (was the?) Laguna Beach, California residence of Barclay Butera. This home also comes from the 2000 to 2002 time frame and I consider this house to be very "of the time". It has a lot of hints of Ralph Lauren decorating style to me and seems to follow the philosophy of "more is more" and definitely does not have a beachy feel to it . I would not move right into this house today as is, although I can still remember reading this article and wanting everything about it without question. Today, I would pare it back a bit (and if you look through Barclay Butera's instagram account I think it is a safe bet to say he would too). A lot of the decorative elements though I still love.

This is the living room/dining room space. I still love the patterned lampshades, the blue and white accessories, the bamboo, stacked artwork, paneled ceiling and rattan blinds. I would want upholstered, lighter, and more "sink into" furniture in place of the leather sofas and chairs for sure though.

This is a closeup of the bookshelves in the living room. I still love antique box and chest collections in shelving; and I still am a huge fan of grass cloth wallcoverings.

This is the dining room space - it is at the end of the living room. This is quite formal for me now, I still love mixing chair types and large candle holders on the dinging table though.

Around the corner is the kitchen. A sofa in the kitchen - still a dream of mine!

This is the media room. Again, too heavy and formal for me now. I will take the blue and white though, and I love the rugs!

The master bedroom is the space that I still gravitate towards the most. The bed is exquisite. I also still love the layering of the rugs, stacked artwork and blue and white color scheme with a hint of red.

This is a closeup of one side of the bedroom. Beautiful paining and frame.

This is a closeup from the other side of the bedroom. The toile shade atop the silver candlestick lamp still speaks to me.

Overall, I am still a fan of the guest bedroom. The bed is beautiful. I love the lamp and shade. I love toile and paisley. I would want to tone it all down though and lighten the room up if I were going to move in today ;-).

There are so many beautiful pieces in this home and that shows that starting with quality, attractive furniture pieces is the way to go. All of the furniture in this home still works as building blocks today, in my humble opinion. A lighter color palate and it is just about move in ready all over again!

Thank you for taking this turn down memory lane with me. I will be back tomorrow with a Comfort Food Friday post. See you there!

Kerry