Manor Avenue, Yorkshire, England

Hello! Today's post is a tip of the hat to Downton Abbey fans, now that Season 4 has ended. We need some cheering up since we have to wait so long between seasons, so I found a nice little semi-detached house in Yorkshire, that also needs some cheering up. We can pretend it's in the village, if you want.

Well, I was talking about adding some cheery color to the place, but that's not quite what I had in mind.  That said, if you are into color trends, Radiant Orchid is Pantone's Color of the Year for 2014. 

I think a better way to work with a trendy color is exactly this way, as designed by Annie Selke. 

Annie is the powerhouse behind the brands Pine Cone Hill and Dash & Albert, and the girl knows color.  This design is fresh and happy and doesn't worry about trends. 

Notice how the sofas, walls, and drapes work as neutral- you could put white pillows there and have a serene room, if you wanted. (With those white lamps! That would look cool.) But today, we're celebrating color and fun, and thinking of Spring.

Here's another view of the room. 

Here's another case of a statement piece of furniture making a room. That table is so pretty. Plus, a benefit of all that floral fabric-- you don't need a lot of accessories. Your eye is already happy.

Up next is the kitchen.

It looks fairly recently updated, but a little boring. Here is one idea I had for this kitchen:

Ok, let me explain. I know there's no color, but I just thought this was a clever way to add some interest to a kitchen. (Obviously, forget this plan if you have small pets, and if I have to explain, you don't have small pets.) This is from an otherwise colorful book that attracted me by its title alone- The Happy Home Project by Jean Nayar. 

"But Vicki," you're saying, "this is a cozy English kitchen. Bring on the florals and tea cups!"

Yes, this is why Cath Kidston is so popular. 

Sorry this photo is grainy, but it looks the most like our original kitchen. All we need to do is display our pretty china, and put an oilcloth tablecloth on the table. 

We could even affix the oilcloth to the table, as shown above. Easy peasy. Ok, we've cheered up the living room and kitchen. On to the bathroom! The before is a fairly large, updated space in wake-me-up yellow.

Here's the after, bedecked in Cath Kidston's Antique Rose Bouquet wallpaper. 

She even has a line of floor tile now, although this isn't it. I do like this, although the slate floor above would work as well. Also, we could keep the white painted wainscoting effect already in place, and just add some quarter-round trim to it, after we wallpapered. 

The last room shown in the listing is the bedroom. 

 I couldn't write a post about cheery color without including designer Tobi Fairley.

Yes, eagle-eyed design fans, this image has been reversed.

Looks like she and Annie Selke called each other about the wallpaper, but way to carry the same colors throughout a house, huh? She even thought to add a little radiant orchid color with the flowers.  Now, if you're like me (and I suspect you are), you want to see the other side of the room. Here it is:

                           

Know what this house design makes me think of? An English flower garden surrounded by a white picket fence. You need that white to offset lots of color, or it looks like Walt Disney's fever dream. 

Now, on to equally important matters. I want to hear from you Downton fans. Are you Team Tony or Team Charles? Please feel free to comment about this, design, or anything else that's on your mind!

Stay tuned for a post that shows my most frequently re-pinned image from Pinterest. I'll give you a hint-- it's on my "Lodge" Pinterest board.  Thanks for reading!


Linking to: Tuesday's Treasures at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia