Lisa's house

Today, dear readers, you are in for a very special treat. My friend Lisa has graciously allowed me to photograph her alluring and enchanting home for your viewing pleasure. So put down your copy of World of Interiors, and take this dreamy journey with me instead.

From the moment you glide through the front door of this diminutive Craftsman cottage, you enter a charming world reminiscent of Bloomsbury Group domiciles, with echoes of New Orleans, North Africa, old China, and Mexico tossed into the mix.

And yet it is thoroughly Berkeley, in its refusal to be anything but what it wants to be in the moment.

Everywhere you look, objects wink and gleam...sunlight plays on glass...table displays beg to have their portraits painted...and plump cushions beckon you to sink down, arrange yourself comfortably, and sip a mint julep from a lacily etched glass.

It begins in the front hall, where gilded Italian columns greet you like stately butlers...

...and Turkish carpets stretch invitingly towards the back of the house.

 

 To the left is an airy dining room, where every shelf and corner holds a tableau designed to delight the eye and pleasure the mind.

On the wall, wooden angels smile down benevolently. 

  
And if you're feeling faint from too much champagne, the settee in the front window will cradle you soothingly.

I admit, I would not want to be the one dusting this bookcase.

But I am ready to seat myself at this table, gorgeously set for dinner.

Do we care what we're being served when eating off china like this? No, we do not. 

(Although I can assure you that Lisa is a fabulous cook.)

An air of genteel mystery pervades the living room, where the spice-infused colors 
evoke the feeling of an Oriental souk. 

And collections of disparate objects seem to have arranged themselves as if by mutual accord.

 

 Except, of course, when they just want to be alone.

 The amazing vignettes are just everywhere you look. It can be dizzying, because your head keeps whipping around to make sure you didn't miss anything.

Here is a lovely tableau on the front hall table, looking into the living room. That chair!

In the central hallway, an assortment of antiques and paintings take center stage.

This room has special meaning for me, because in one giddy, ten-hour day, I painted it while Lisa worked on the front hall. She did a better job than me. Lisa, you can paint my house anytime!

A charming kitchen counter arrangement...the counter itself is copper!

 

Lisa is the only person I know who has an antique street sign from New Orleans hanging on her kitchen wall. 

A tulip that has reached the end of its lifespan still has an elegant presence on the windowsill.

  

Although I typically like spare rooms with just a few bold accent pieces, I must admit I am mesmerized by all this detail. Even in the bathroom, there are lovely items to gaze upon. And flowers everywhere!

I don't know how she arranged to have these delicate green vines growing just outside her bathroom window, but there they are. Prettier than wallpaper!

 Whenever I read advice from interior designers, exhorting people to express their personalities through their homes, I think of Lisa. She's a master.

Next post: Bedrooms and back garden, including a secret gate...

© 2013 by A Silken Swoon. All rights reserved. All photos by Eileen of A Silken Swoon.