By Greg from StylishHome
Interior design inspiration can come from almost anywhere—a photo, a story, a movie or a design catalog. Today we’re going to use Vincent van Gogh’s “Bedroom in Arles (Amsterdam)” for inspiration and our decorating starting point. We chose it because we really like the colors, simple lines, and the era portrayed by it. We thought it would be great if we could replicate some of the feeling in the painting in our guest bedroom.
Since Vincent van Gogh (born 1853, died 1890) painted during a time when most things were still handmade, we thought it would be interesting to furnish our bedroom with as many handmade items as possible.
Before we started looking for just anything handmade, we used the color palette maker at StylishHome to create a nice design palette based on the painting’s colors. We’ll use it for reference as we look for furnishings. You can see Vincent van Gogh was a master with the RYB color wheel!
To start furnishing our guest bedroom, we found a beautiful handmade nightstand ($400) made from reclaimed barn wood. It feels as though it could have been used by van Gogh himself. It was made by an artisan on Etsy.
Even a simple guest bedroom needs a mirror and we found these two ($85) from an Etsy seller. We also found several other nice handmade wall mirrors here from Etsy artisans.
The deep red hues and weathering on the mirror frames are fantastic.
Of course we want our guests to sleep comfortably and we found a really unique set of handmade headboards ($725) made from upcycled shutters. This will get your guests’ attention.
No guest room is complete without a coat rack ($24). Made from reclaimed barn wood from the 1880s it adds real character.We think guests would appreciate a nice area rug to keep their feet warm and make the room quieter. We liked this beautiful hand-woven rug made from upcycled cloth. We found a number of other blue handmade indoor rugs from Etsy artisans in various sizes which would also look great.
What about the pictures on the wall? Well, we’re thinking of framing a print of the Van Gogh that provided our inspiration. It’s a portrait of Van Gogh’s own bedroom where he hung his own work on the walls. It would make a terrific conversation starter, “You’ll be staying in our Van Gogh room.”
annemiek · 736 weeks ago
Bethany Dirksen · 736 weeks ago
fancypants · 736 weeks ago
Julia · 736 weeks ago
Tara · 736 weeks ago
saraherring 2p · 736 weeks ago
What does the (Amsterdam) in parenthesis mean after "...Arles" ? Cause I think the painting was actually painted when van Gogh was living in Arles, in the south of France.
By the Bluegrass · 736 weeks ago
I have been to Arles ( it is actually in France. It's not in the south of france, it's not too far from Paris, about a couple of hours) and visited all of the famous Van Gogh sites! It's very nice and one of my favorite visits while in France (along with Monet's house).
xo,
Sena
saraherring 2p · 736 weeks ago
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=sv&q=arles+fra...
By the Bluegrass · 735 weeks ago
Auvers-sur-Oise is also where he and his brother Theo are buried. People put huge sunflowers on their graves. It's beautiful. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grave_of_Vincen....
the painting of his bedroom was done in Arles. He also had a bedroom similar to it in Auvers-sur-Oise
ArtMind 51p · 736 weeks ago
Greg · 736 weeks ago
On the Amsterdam/Arles question, he made three paintings and two sketches of his bedroom in Arles France. The image we used is a photo of his painting that is on display at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Since the image had Amsterdam in the title we left it in.
I have nothing to support, but he did this colorful work around the time many artists were embracing and experimenting with what was then the new RYB color wheel. I like to think his work around his bedroom was his effort to work with and understand how the colors worked together better. Maybe anyway.
Samantha · 736 weeks ago
alansmith15 55p · 619 weeks ago
bedding · 600 weeks ago
joyce · 593 weeks ago
a-design · 580 weeks ago