A Storybook house should tell a story – or multiple stories. You should be able to walk through such an abode and have each room unfold like pages in a novel or fairy tale.
And that’s exactly what I’m doing in my recently purchased and enchanting Storybook Style house in the Wilshire Vista neighborhood, a quirky, charming 1920s home with its Hansel-and-Gretel silhouette, high-beamed ceilings, huge windows and much more.
With my dear friend, the über-talented designer Ian Patrick, we are creating narratives for almost all the four bedrooms and three baths, all true to the spirit of the house’s original architectural design. The rooms won’t be over-the-top Disney cutouts but will subtly evoke some of my favorite tales and interior styles.
A Victorian-style Moorish smoking room, found in the Brooklyn Museum of Art
Starting with the kitchen, Ian has found this fabulous light green wallpaper with soft yellow lines. Look closely and you will see delicately sketched spiders, toads and dragonflies – all the ingredients needed for a witches’ brew (cue evil Hansel-and-Gretel witch laughter here).
The den will have something of an Early California flavor, evoking Helen Hunt Jackson’s classic turn-of-the-20th-century novel “Ramona,” and will include a slight California Plein Air painting feel.
Moving into one of the guest bedrooms, we’re going for a bit of an Indochine theme, complete with peacocks.
And speaking of peacocks (you know I can’t get enough of them), we’re unabashedly going for a garish, Art Deco look in the guest bathroom, complete with shiny wallpaper of peacock feathers.
Castell Coch
The master bedroom will have a touch of Orientalism – think Victorian-era Turkish smoking rooms like the one that can be found in the Brooklyn Museum of Art. This room could come right out of the pages of a Sherlock Holmes mystery.
The dining room is going to be my Snow White space, with wall and ceiling murals that feature woodland creatures and lush botanical patterns, similar to what you might find at famed Castell Coch in Wales.
We’re still imagining the breakfast room, but I have already purchased a crown-shaped chandelier with a frog representing “my Prince Charming” (aka my fiancé Linas Kojelis).
The house is still a work in progress – and will take some time to complete – but it’s a wonderful experience to be conjuring up tales that I hope will delight those of you who come to my home.
Be warned, however: You might want think twice before venturing from the dining room, where I will be ever-so-sweet Snow White, into the kitchen, where my alter-ego is likely to be brewing something wicked. . . my little pretties!
(Cue more evil cackling),
Eleanor