Lately, I’ve been finding more amazing house decor eye-candy than I could possibly keep up with. I love this whole victorian-gone-hip thing going on both in clothing and home fashions, found online in shops like Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, and Brocade Home. I can’t afford it, naturally, but I love window shopping. It gives me great ideas for transforming thrift shop finds ;)

This article from the LA Times sums it up nicely:

“Ornamentation is back,” says Robert Willson of the L.A. store Downtown. He sums up the growing demand for the carved, the curved and the curious in one word: “maximalism.” He says it’s a reaction to the Modernism of the 1950s and the minimalism of the 1990s.

“People are collecting rocks and shells and specimens from nature and science,” Willson says. “They are looking for unique furniture that goes beyond function to show the imagination and the hand of the artisan.”

Whereas a short-lived Victorian revival in the 1960s emphasized the restrained and the respectable, today “it is done with more style and humor and a little bit of darkness.”

I’m an aestheticist at heart. I love being surrounded by beautiful things. If I had a million dollars, or maybe just a few thousand to spend frivolously, I’d get myself some ob·jets d’art. They’d make my heart flutter every time I walked in the door, and isn’t that worth every penny?

I would start with David Wiseman’s amazing porcelein ceiling installation:

Then I’d head over to Anthropologie to pick up a brass bed, some gorgeous rugs, sumptous velvet curtains and some decadently over the top mirrors to liven up the place.

And of course I’d get my couches, side chairs, and pillows from Brocade home – because who can resist upholstery like that??

As for wall art, I’d head on over to Etsy (the art and craft capital of the internet!) and support the community by buying directly from a few “unknown” artists so I could spread the wealth.

Christina Lyon, Bird and Berries Print – 8×10

Gone to Earth, 8×10 print by MagicJelly