Golden Lily......

British Born William Morris (1834-1896)....now, although I don't agree with his political standpoint, I do love his designs!
As part of the English Arts and Crafts movement, he established his firm Morris and Company in 1875 which he was his sole direction, he mastered the design and production of stained glass, wallpaper, printed and woven textiles, carpet and tapestry. Through his work he was in pursuit of what he called "the beauty of life". Before 1875 the company was known as Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Company, to it's members it was known as "The Firm". They called themselves "fine art workmen" with the common goal of achieving 'earthly paradise'. At the time, it was unusual for artists to turn their attention to designing objects to decorate the home.

After Morris' death, John Henry Dearle (1860-1932) who was his protege, took over as artistic director of the firm and guided it almost to it's end.
Above is my favorite drawing, and created in John's time directing the firm. "Drawing for Golden Lily Wallpaper (detail)" 1897, Watercolor and Graphite on Paper.

Apartment Redecoration Part Three!!

Well, above is my bed - after my room's redecoration! I love my bed..and I have a little obsession with filling it with pillows and cushions! The sun pours in my window every morning which I love...which you can see on my orange blanket...this lil blanket has a few years on it, my Mum used to put it on the bottom of her bed too...when I was a little girl, I had a green one just like it...although I'm not sure where it wandered off to!

Below is my bedside table, at night! I love my string of lights, especially as the bulbs are so big and round...so I had the idea to wrap them up and put them in a large glass vase from Crate and Barrel for $20...I even put a dimmer on them!! so they can also give of a gorgeous dim glow, which I adore!!
Above the lights are family photo's of when I was just a little girl with my family...also postcards from 1909 and 1910 which I purchased from the 25th street flea market, from a really sweet woman who had folders and folders of them to browse through...I had a well spent Sunday afternoon there!



Sooooo....here's my next project!! As you may notice I don't have a headboard to my bed, and the wall above is pretty bare and lacking character.. I could always hang something up there, but I thought I'd be a bit more creative and paint the area instead!

I love the William Morris wallpaper below, and wouldn't say no to hanging a large piece of this from floor to ceiling at the head of my bed! But, I don't have any laying around and I'm not sure my budget could cover it right now anyways!!



So - onto painting inspiration!! Below are some of my favorite finds! But if you have any further ideas or if you have the perfect photo or any inspiration you'd like to share please let me know! I'd LOVE to hear from you!!
In the mean time, I'm going to keep up my search... as I hope to get started this weekend!