The View

No, not the TV show with Barbara Walters. I've been thinking, lately, of the view from one room into the next. Our Little Red House has a very open floor plan; you can easily see from one room into the next. This makes it both hard and easy to decorate. Hard, because you always have to keep in mind the transitions from one wallpaper or color to the next. And easy, because your colors are pretty much dictated by what's in the next room. There are not endless choices!

The picture above is the view from our dining room into the library. That window is old, and not particularly weathertight, but I wouldn't replace it for the world. That's my "sit in the morning sun and read" window.

One of my favorite views is from our tiny den toward the kitchen table. There's alot of pattern in this house, including an ever-changing variety of tablecloths, to protect what was my mother's dining room table. I love flowers, and can't afford to keep fresh, so I have faux arrangements that I change with the seasons. (Yes, I know, faux are a no-no! This was like dogma on HGTV's Rate My Space, so of course a few of us had to tweak the powers that be, and post our faux arrangements. Ask BJ, over at Sweet Nothings, to tell you that story.) Anyway, this scene changes with the seasons.

Here's the scene from our den into the library. We just had the fireplace cleaned, so we're looking forward to lots of cozy nights in front of the fire! Can you spy all my decorating books under the end table?

Finally, here's the view from the library to the dining room. Can you tell why I like this one? The dishes, of course! :)

But do you see what I mean about transitioning colors? Pretty much everything here has to be some mixture of red, cream, beige, brown and green. Makes it easy, but also hard, especially if you also love blues!

How do you choose the colors in your house? Do you change them frequently? Are they dictated by what's already there?

Do you have a favorite view in your house?