Tags
Aslan's Tent, Cair Paravel Library, Decor, Design, DIY, Grandkids, Kara, The Lodge
Sorry about the title, that’s my punning nature rearing its ugly head! 🙂
It’s been a little over a month since Narnia was ready to host guests, but the stairwell was still bare, bare, bare. First I was sick for 2 months, then I went to Dallas for 2 weeks.
But I came home from Dallas eager to get going on all the things that hadn’t gotten done yet. One of those was to re-hang my family portrait gallery.
As you can see, my husband and I have a lot of ancestors! His are on the left, mine on the right.
He has a couple on the landing, too, next to the antique mirror from the old Tivoli theater that Jim & Monique gave us one year. I’ve always loved it there, but now I love it even more because it hints at special things upstairs.
We have four kids, too, so they take up a whole wall. Their adult portraits used to hang right where the Gothic window is now, so they had to find a new home.
I like this wall–baby pictures with the kids’ mosaic self-portraits made in homeschool and finally their wedding (or single hood) photos. It will be fun for the grandkids to see their parents as they head into Narnia.
The placement of the wall is particularly appropriate, right next to Aslan’s Tent (the parents’ bedroom). While looking for light-blocking curtains at WalMart the other day, I found these and thought they might go in Spare Oom.
When I opened the package, the festoons of crinkly fabric and fringe cried, “Aslan’s Tent” as clear as day! I think they are perfect across the doorway as a hint to the extravagance inside.
I finished the walls of Aslan’s Tent some time ago, but just got around to taking pictures. After all the methods I researched for hanging fabric, the one I finally used was ridiculously simple: I put knots in rough hay twine and used upholstery tacks to “nail” the twine to the wall, then draped the fabric over the twine. The “hairiness” of the twine helps hold the fabric in place, and the twine doesn’t stretch at all so there’s little sagging. And my method is TONS cheaper than airplane cable!
I covered the metal door to the attic in a piece of red brocade Moroccan fabric and a yard of gold lace. Thanks to a metal cafe rod and cafe rod clips, these are no-sew curtains, the best kind!
We finally got the armoire moved up, so guests have plenty of room to move in.
On the opposite side of the room, the same colors in an opposite arrangement drape the glass doors to the balcony with more no-sew curtains. A batik reminiscent of “A Horse and His Boy” hangs beside the chairs. I bought this for Herb in Africa in 1985, and it’s been waiting for the perfect spot ever since it left his office there!
The Moroccan curtains are there for a purpose–to hide the ugly brown room-darkening curtains. As you can see, they do a pretty good job. This is a great place for parents to sleep late while Didi and Mimi feed the kids breakfast downstairs.
I took my hang-ups over into the Cair Paravel Library, too. A large ornate mirror throws back light that comes through the stained glass door. Next to it are two brass-rubbings I did in London many years ago, never thinking that Queen Anne Boleyn and St. George killing the dragon would bring a Narnian flavor to my decor. I’m probably the only one that knows they aren’t a King and Queen of Narnia!
About 15 years ago, I bought this painting from a street artist in Aix-en-Provence. We watched him do it entirely with spray paint. (Check out Urban Wallart for more things you can do with spray paint.) We gave it to my brother-in-law, a science fiction fan, because it was a science fiction subject. Some years later when he didn’t want it anymore, my sister sent it back to me, and I’m so glad she did! Kara and I think it looks just like the castle of Cair Paravel by the sea–and I think the sea looks like it’s about to spill over the frame into the room.
I found the big gold frame for $7 at Unclaimed Baggage, and it was a perfect fit. I love serendipitous surprises like that!
The Lodge got some attention, too. While I was in Dallas I was near a Hobby Lobby (as opposed to being an hour away here), and I found some leather bracelet kits which work perfectly to hang my special walking stick towel bar. What does it look like to you?
I think it looks exactly like a dragon with long squinty eyes, horns for ears, a little beard and a blunt nose. (If you can’t see it, he’s looking to the right.)
This is a very nice dragon, and he’s perfectly willing to hold the bathmat. I won’t have any mean dragons in our Narnia! It’s a hang-up of mine!