I love our home in Channel Islands Harbor. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful place to spend family weekends, however.... my home does have an unfortunate birthdate. Built in the 1970's, our home is not my favorite architectural style. There are no interesting architectural details in the house except for the wonderful two story windows in our living room.
I knew when we first purchased our home 2 years ago that the challenge was going to be how to give our home enough charm so that I could ignore the lack of any pretty architectural details. That's when I discovered antique shutters.
Rue de Lillie Antiques in Summerland was a fantastic find. They had several pairs
of antique French shutters that found a place in my home. Here are some similar
shutters that we saw on our last trip to Summerland. Don't they make a wonderful back drop to this garden vignette?
I started seeing shutters in some of my favorite images....
In this image from the book French Country Living, these shutters made a lovely wall between the bed and the sink.
image by Christopher Drake
Old shutters are used in this image from photographer Mari Eriksson's website an Angel at my Table.
In the book The New French Decor, these shutters look so beautiful just leaning
against the fence.
On a visit to one of Steve's client's home, I noticed that she used old shutters to
frame her windows and doors.
Steve's client also used antique shutters over her bathtub in this image from the book
Rooms to Inspire
This is the first incarnation of my bedroom. I put these antique shutters across
the entire wall.
I had the vanity angled for a while next to an old mannequin. If you read this
blog long enough you will come to realize that I am always moving things around.
The shutters are still such a wonderful back drop.
I flanked my window with the shutters as well. The mannequin found a home
by the chaise for a while.
Last year, we remodeled the bedroom and I decided that the space finally had enough interest, so the shutters found a few new places in my home.
They definitely warmed up my breakfast area....
They became a lovely focal point along the entrance path to my home, hiding
an ugly aluminum window in the garage.
This pair is hiding another ugly window (trust me, it's ugly!) by the front
door.
xo
Brooke
