Gustavian Inspired Pastoral Painted Secretary

Gustavian style is so pretty!

Gustavian is Swedish with a French influence, which began when

King Gustav III started hanging out in France with King Louis XIV.

Gustav went home and copied Louis but put the Swedish spin on things.

Hence "Gustvian" style was born. 

 I gravitate towards the Gustavian color palette of pale blue, white, grey

and cream and decided to paint some landscape scenes on the panels of the 

small secretary desk, that would capture the essence of Gustavian style.

 Pastoral scenery is so serene and pretty and I have been 

doing a series of pieces with these types of landscapes,

the secretary is the latest in my "Gustavian phase". 

Each drawer has raised borders and I painted landscapes inside

each one, followed by gilding the raised part.

I painted a French Maison on the drop leaf as a nod to 

my Petite French Maison Dollhouse. 

 I used the gold color wax by Jolie Paint, and it highlighted the scenes nicely.
The scenes were painted with many of the colors from
 Jolie Paint's serenity collection.

This is before gilding.  I was torn about whether or not 

to add the gilding, because this looked more like a simple 

country look which was pretty too.

 It came out beautifully and adds to the room.  

Oh, and did you notice the lilac colored sofa with fringe?  

It is a Scalamandre sofa. I lucked out at an estate sale and I love this thing! 

These sofas run in the thousands, and that is out of my budget, 

so thank heavens for estate sales and other people with great taste! 

It looks pretty with all of my purple transfer ware,

 including the lamps that I have in this room.

Off in the dining room you can see some of the other pieces in the

 Gustavian series that I have created.  And there will be more to come,

because that is how it goes when I get obsessed by something.

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Signature Swedish Style: A visit with Designer Sandra Kelly

 I first learned about Swedish style maven Sandra Kelly at Brimfield, last May,

when my son and I set up our own booth at the Brimfield Antique Fair.

 Sandy's style was unmistakable and never did I think in just a few months

 I would be visiting her home with Matthew Mead for a photo shoot.

Sandy styled her booth with a sense of beauty and order.

 Sandy had some art panels done by a favorite artist, Jennifer Lanne of New York,

 who also had a booth at the May Brimfield show.  You will see some of these pieces 

in the interview video at Sandy's home, so keep your eyes open. 

I fell head over heels for the painted french chairs, and the overall atmosphere of her magical booth.

Fast forward to our visit in a few months.  Her home would be just as enchanting! After the shoot, we set up our video cam and shot a Q and A with Sandy about her signature Swedish style.  We hope you enjoy this interview at Sandy's beautiful country home.  Her home is also featured in Matthew's current issue of Upstyled Home, the winter edition, on newsstands now.  Enjoy!

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