Interiors Inspired By: Oxford England

17 Feb Interiors Inspired By: Oxford England

Posted at 18:07h in Blog by Veronica 0 Comments

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I spent the first week of February exploring the amazing city of London. To end my time overseas, Sean and I hopped on a train and strolled through the historic city of Oxford. This city, while hustling and bustling at the center, has the most charming village vibes the further you head to the outskirts. It is the quintessential English countryside, like where you imagine Beatrix Potter wrote Peter Rabbit.

Since I’ve been home and settling back into a routine, I find myself revisiting all of the photos I took from our time in England. We visited several museums, mostly in London, but the bits and pieces I experienced out in the country inspired me to put together a mood board for a cozy English bedroom.

Breakdown

The defining feature of many structures, old and new alike, is stone. The exteriors of these homes were often aged, worn stone that seemed settled into place over centuries of wind and weather. A trellis of ivy finished off the English country vignette we know well.

In this mood board, you’ll see the fireplace as a focal point for the bedroom, crowned with a vintage wall tapestry that is equally functional as it is pleasing to the eye. Stone walls are great architecturally, but not so much for insulation. Tapestries were hung to keep the cold out and regulate the interior temperature. They inspired the creation of wallpaper and fabric wall coverings! Heavy velvet draperies flanking the window and a wool area rug add further warmth to the space.

Historical homes of England tend to be smaller than we have today. Though the bedroom would be rather cramped, a comfortable seat by the fireplace is almost non-negotiable. Can you imagine anything better on a damp winters’ day than hunkering down in this roll arm chair with a cup of tea, the fire roaring? Adding to the comfort are the velvet draperies and hand-woven rug.

Color Palette

At first glance, you may see this as a complementary color palette. The most prominent hues are rusty red and pine green, producing a dramatic and edgy feel. This certainly fits the aesthetic of our often-dreary English town. Looking deeper into the color palette reveals a subtle synonymous range of hues. Equal measures of green, blue and gold balance out the rich accents of rust and wood tones. Even in the rug, the fine details along the border illuminate in contrast to the warm center. I’d consider this to be an analogous color palette because of prominence of cool tones that are emphasized by warm reds and oranges.