Living Art

I've just spotted this lovely photograph on the Etsy blog, well at first i thought "What a super cute little shop/museum!", but low and behold, after further reading, this beautiful room was actually part of somebody's house in Boston. According to the article, the late Isabella Stewart Gardener actually designed, decorated and opened her house as a public museum in 1903 because she felt most American museums of the time were 'too cold looking' and due to her declaring in her will that nothing should be moved after she died, it still looks exactly the same today.

Imagine waking up to such an awesome interior every single day. There's something incredibly romantic and yet quite stifling about the look of this place. Part of me absolutely loves the thoughtful arrangement of all the large, regal looking frames against the gloriously soft, powdery, metallic clash of that vintage wallpaper. I also love the fact that none of the chairs match and they have that naughty yet stylish French Marie Antoinette look to them. However, the other part of me wants to knock one of the frames slightly or pull a chair out of place as it's just too damn well meticulously organised!

The fact that Isabella asked for nothing to be changed when she died gives it quite a time capsule feel. Apparently it took her over a year to place each piece of art in this huge museum exactly where she wanted it before she opened her house to the public, so i guess if you're that much of a perfectionist, you'd be pretty pissed off if someone turned around and built a walk-in-wardrobe where your prized million dollar masterpiece once stood! Regardless i'd love to pop over the pond and have a leisurely strole through that wonderful old house. I wouldn't say no to a slither that baby blue and gold wallpaper either! Check on the link below to have a nosey through the Isabella Stewart Gardener museum website.

 http://www.gardnermuseum.org/index.asp