Annie's Monet inspired room would be one of my favorites for actually living in.

My Balthus room looks like something I would do anyway, and it reminds me of different houses growing up, accumulated more than decorated. I would not have a photograph like that, though.

Of my rooms I think I would most want The Horse Fair inspired room. I would not want the Ansel Adams inspired room--too modern and too stark for me, even though it was fun to put together.

I finally finished my own interpretation of The Horse Fair, Missymoo:

Not sure why the photo was truncated? Well, it was displaying in half and now it is a whole picture. Houzz and its photo problems......

French Limestone Floors

Portero marble mantle

Porphyry Lamps and Urn, faux porphyry shades

George III Mirror

Tessellated marble consoles

Parchment coffee table

Kurdish rug

Harvey Probber chairs, silk velvet. Christian Liagre sofa

Francis Bacon

Wow, Pal! That's dramatic, very well done. Aesthetically, I like your Balthus room more but I think the one above is more evocative of the art.

Just for fun, if anyone finds their way to CT, they might consider seeing Hillstead in Farmington. The home has been left as it was...designed by Theodate Pope for her parents, not only is the architecture interesting, but the rooms were designed around specific pieces of art including Monet's Grainstacks. (Also Degas, Manet, Whistler...) The museum is not allowed to change anything. So amazing to see such terrific works of art in what was a truly home setting designed specifically around those pieces.

Pal, I think you nailed it. I find both the art and the room disturbing and visually uncomfortable.

Annie, I'm assuming you have been? I just heard about Theodate Pope because she was the architect of Westover, the charming girls' boarding school (perhaps best known for the walk-in closets in the dorms, LOL). Apparently Pope was friendly with Mary Cassatt, too.

Hmm, must be something wrong with me. I liked pal's room a lot. The drama of it. The art was only a bit more soothing than the Scream.

MtnRdredux, more likely something wrong with me.

I could look at these/ read the comments

all

day

long. Such talent.

Rooms I would actually like to live in:

Kswl2’s the Fifer

Prettybluehouse Mediterranean Landscape

Any of crl_’s first 3 (the kids’ rooms)

Annie’s Monet

MtnRdRedux’s conservatory (Goldfish)

I could probably live with my Greek vase design, though I
find neoclassical interiors to be a bit pretentious in general. In the right
context, yes.

I like my Rosie the Riveter one surprisingly well (I don’t
usually go for bright primary colors)

I would happily live in any of the designs based off of the
Horse Fair (Missymoo’s suggestion)

My Drowning Girl (though I would probably
replace the Great Wave with the Drowning Girl. She amuses me.

A couple were only disqualified because the furniture looked uncomfortable. Visually they were fine.

Apparently, I like everything.

Catching up on my comments.

Crl_’s the Horse
Fair: Your choice of artwork does a great job echoing the sky in the
inspiration piece. Your horse sculpture is a spot-on match to the position of
the horse in the painting.

Jlc712 the Horse Fair: The wallpaper is great (and on
theme), but doesn’t match the feel of the painting. I love the other elements,
though, especially the drapes and the floor lamp.

Annie’s found pics for the Horse Fair are great matches too.

Pal, Patience: I remember when you did this one for the
kitchen DAT. I loved the backspash in that one—it was my favorite part of that
design. This one is also great—you pick up so many elements of the picture,
from the wallpaper to the rug.

Prettybluehouse the Horse Fair: I like the use of the white
sofa in this one. I lightens up the whole room, and echoes the white horses in the
inspiration pic. The hutch/bookshelf is fabulous.

Kswl2’s the Horse Fair: This room is very calming and would
be a great setting for the inspiration pic. I especially like the colorblock
curtains. But if it were my room, I’m not OCD enough to have all the contents
of those cubbies match and be color coordinated, so the effect wouldn’t be the
same IRL.

Palimpsest Francis
Bacon: Great interpretation of the art, but I don't think I could live with the design (or the artwork)

I had to jump on for a look see before bed. What a group you are!

jlc - I had to run out and didn't catch the chandy horses but LOVE that table and is so similar to

prettyybluehouse's and kswl2's. (gotta find a glass table with horse legs...)

Annie thank you for posting all of the pretty, traditional, rooms - I love the first one. The colors.

I am so thankful to all of you and this DAT thread; so many more possibilities now. I hadn't thought of trying to use the Horse Fair as inspiration. It is the one thing I have that has a special meaning for me. Thanks again!

As for the room I'd like to live in? MtRd's conservatory! Hands down. I literally grew up in a greenhouse and I have fish (well, koi pond) But It would have to adjoin Cawaps pearl earring room! And have The Horse Fair in it ;)

And well now if I can get Pal's last room and portrait out of my head I think I'll say goodnight.

I liked them all!

Not sure I could actually live in any of them though, even my own, because apparently copious doses of green are mandatory components for me to live in a room.

Interestingly, the most impressively evocative rooms ----to me----were not the ones that looked the most comfortable. I guess high style is something I admire, but from afar.

One thing I have learned from this exercise is that any number of different items will do--- I'm saving two or three of any one item on my computer to use in each room (curtains, cocktail tables, etc.) and regardless of how different, any one of them will usually work, depending on the other features. So it is the overall combination that IMO creates a striking room, not necessarily the individual elements. This reinforces my prior feeling that not everything in a room should be priceless, one of a kind, unusual, or fabulous. Some things are the framework and others are the artwork, and both are needed in a successful room. I am now looking to stock my image bank with plain background things like white curtains, square wood tables, a range of mirrors, etc. and wonder if this is akin to the "go to" pieces designers seem to use in all their rooms.

Well done all! Looking forward to more additions to this thread and to future challenges!

(Edited for clarity)

As far as which rooms I would actually like having in my own home-- it would be Kswl' s The Fifer bedroom, or Crl's 20,000 Leagues bedroom. They are both excellent representations of the art, and very liveable, interesting, visually pleasing rooms.

So, apparently I want to live in a bedroom designed for a child! Do I need therapy? ;-)

The room I absolutely could not live with is Pal's Francis Bacon. It's such a good representation of the despair/frightening feeling of the painting. Yikes.

I don't know how familiar people are with Francis Bacon, but for him this is just a little moody. But Bacon ended up taking someone who broke into his house as a lover and artist's model, and this lover -- who, if I can recall, died of a drug overdose the day of one of Bacon's gallery openings.

I decided to time travel Bug-o-nay-ki-zhisk (Hole in the
day) to modern day times.

Hole was a handsome snappy dresser, charismatic speaker and
chief of an Ojibwe band tribe from 1846 – 1868.

Initially he was loved by men and women alike regardless of
race. He wore beautiful European suits with his long adorned hair and an
elegantly draped blanket over one shoulder. Among his other attributes he was greatly
admired for his polished manners.

For Hole in the day’s home I tried to make it stylish but at
the same time add materials common to his area to allow him some comfort.

Red rug – dyed patched hide.

Fireplace - designed by me using different river stone components/copy/paste

Ceiling – I draped fabric to resemble the inside of a wigwam.

Walls – faux buckskin
wallpaper and framed real buckskin art.

Side table - is made from Cowries shells.

Coffee table - has a copper top.

Sofa - has a deer pattern.

Floors and thin ceiling beams are lime washed birch.

Cabinet and picture mount – aged birch, I customized cabinet
doors.

Accessories – native patterns, art and symbols.

The art of “young” Bug-o-nay-ki-zhisk started me off.

Gee, I think I need a good dose of Chintz and some Thomas Kincade after that explanation, Pal!

Cawaps, I love your Great Wave room. The sofa is gorgeous. You may recall I used the Great Wave in my beachhouse DR, much to the deep dismay of many on GW. It was Pal's idea to give a wink to those in the know about its pedestrian overuse by including flipflops on the mantle. You can't tell in this photo but the wallpaper is a fishing net pattern by Farrow and Ball.

Missymoo, thank you!

MtnRdRedux, I definitely remembered the discussion about The Great Wave in your beach house, though I don't think I followed it to find out the resolution. I like it in your room. I did pause to wonder if I was being trite in choosing it, but I really wanted waves somewhere in the design to go with the swirly waters of the Drowning Girl, and wallpaper didn't pan out (you can get waves but not in lavender/purple colorways). Also, because it is a woodblock print, it has a graphical quality that works weirdly well with Lichtenstein's comic book style (I think). And it's a print, there are multiple versions with slightly different colors, so I could choose the best fit.

Justterrilynn Hole in the Day: Interesting choice of inspiration. The furnishings are an interesting mixture of modern furnishings with the Native American elements. Nice use of natural materials.

Pal, I looked up Francis Bacon when I was commenting. I didn't read a bio, but I did a search for his art. Your comment, "For him this is just a little moody," is so true. This one doesn't have the facial distortions (except color) that so many of his other paintings have. A truly creepy body of work.

I don't mind chintz in certain rooms, but I'd rather see creepy rooms based on drug overdosed muses than Thomas Kincade. He is the Nicholas Sparks of the art world :-)

Pal, you are nothing if not the master of understatement......just a little moody....!

Justterrillyn, interesting inspiration and materials for Hole-in-the-day. (I'll bet he was a procrastinator!)

Ksw, ha, no nominative procrastinatio! Hole inherited the name from his father.

Phillip Jeffries Lacquered Walls

Silk drapes Restoration Hardware

Tudor revival mantle

George III sofa and wing chair, red slipper chair, 1st Dibs

Stone baluster lamps, 1st Dibs

William and Mary tables, 1st Dibs

Chinese Deco /Nichols rug, 1st Dibs

Painting by Yana Movchen

I have seen Francis Bacon' s work before, but after Palimpsest' s post, I did a little reading about him. What a difficult life! So interesting that he started as an interior designer. I appreciate his paintings, and how revolutionary they were, and I find them so disturbing. Which is probably the point anyway. It's somewhat like watching a horror movie; I want to cover my eyes!

Couldn't resist, did another one. But I won't make you guess the art as you probably won't. I'll call it Jackie.

It's inspired by Boris Chaliapin's portrait of Jackie Kennedy that he did for Time magazine. Boris was a neighbor of ours when I was growing up. I guess I should add the references....the Georgia O'Keefe with obvious feminine references as Jackie O was IMHO the epitome of what it meant to be a strong woman, yet feminine...in an era of women's lib that so often seemed to want to deny its femininity. The Barye Horse, a nod to her equestrian self, the bergere chairs, not only classy in style but a nod to her French roots, the books on the coffee table referencing her work in the publishing industry and some are books on fashion upon which she had such an influence.

Oh wow! I am stunned at how talented you all are. And smart! Lavender lass had mentioned to check this thread out over on the kitchen forum. So happy I did as this is so entertaining.

Well I know nothing about design or famous artist or artwork, but I'd love to play along and learn. I am going to take a wild guess on palimpsest's last design. I looked up famous English paintings based on the George III reference and kept in mind the more dark nature of his last painting.... Here is my best shot.

I almost went with this one but thought it didn't have enough of the blue.

I'm sure I am not even close! Haha!

Annie, love how that room captures both the colors and the class of the art.

annie, pretty room, and cool story!

Uno mas.

This one was actually really hard. But I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

Capel Iridescence Iridescence rug from Rugs Direct

Dog pull and push toy, Djeco/Chabada Wooden Cat Racer Pull Toy, Guenthermann tin figures Felix the Cat wind-up toy, Guenthermann tin figure Bonzo the Dog, Cat on Scooter pull toy, Kalalou painted wooden black cat pull toy.

South Shore Step One Collection twin platform bed from Sears.

Original c. 1920's vintage industrial bare metal hotelroom bedside table or nightstand from Urban Remains Chicago

Adesso Bobbin Table lamp from Hayneedle

Lower wall is painted in Behr Pear; Chair rail painted Benjamin Moore Paradiso

Upper wall is papered with a variety of posters, all from Allposters.com. The only posters that were credited to a specific artist were the dogs in the convertible and pickup, to Ron Burns.

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The inspiration art was a sculpture. It is basically cut sheet metal, unpainted. This and a number of similarly wacky characters are mounted on posts at a local shopping center in Emeryville, CA. The whole installation is called "Traffic Jam" and is by local Oakland artist Mark Bulwinkle.

I like this one especially well because the cat is so terrified and the dog is so manic, and the idea of a dog driving a cat around amuses me.

Here are some other examples of his work, many also from Traffic Jam.

It shrank! Why did it shrink? I hate Houzz sometimes. (Edited to say--this was with respect to my dogs and cats design, but now it seems to be displaying full size. I continue to hate Houzz sometimes.)

Pal, I quite like this. I think it's the way the olive green acts as a neutral and ties everything together. But aren't you going to tell us what your inspiration was (or are you playing guessing games like Annie?)

Annie, Jackie: Ooh, this is nice! It manages to be patriotic and presidential, and evokes the White House very well. You definitely captured the feel of the portrait.

My daughter was working on one this evening. I'll post it tomorrow.

cawaps, omg, you are too good at this. You ALL are!

I did some research tonight on famous paintings. I actually distracted my brain from other things weighing on my mind. Thank you! :-)

This one painting intrigued me very much. I have no idea where to even begin to analyze this, let alone interpret it into a room design.

Anyone want to have a go at this one?

I am picturing a bedroom, because it looks like a bazaar dream. Desert meets ocean, melting clocks, weird dying or sleeping animal creature, appearantly those are supposed to be ants on the red clock from what I read.... Love the turquoise colors. I cannot stop thinking about what this is supposed to mean. I will have to look that up later of course...

My inspiration, since it had been discussed was Thomas Kinkade

I was actually referred to a potential client who had this picture, in "personally embellished by Thomas Kinkade" form. I guess he sneezed on the print, or something.

The woman who referred me told me if I made a snide comment about this picture, that we had to work with, she would kill me. I didn't, I actually think it provides a reasonable palette to work with but the project never went anywhere, with me or anyone else.

In terms of his work, he is called a Painter of Light, but for all that, I find most of his atmospheres pretty gloomy but I took the fairly shimmery quality here and used it for walls, drapes, and most of the fabrics, and I used traditional English furniture, because I think his paintings are often sort of aspirational of traditional-English-Cotswalds-classy-ness--of which they fall short. Finally, I chose a painting that had a similar palette executed by someone who really knows how to paint botanicals.

The print is used without permission, copied directly from the Thomas Kinkade website with no copyright infringement intended.

Interesting...I thought Kinkade, but said, no...Pal would never pick Kinkade...so instead I came up with a Thomas Cole that would work as well.

Here's one from houzz that would work with the Dali clocks

Kincade calls himself the "painter of light." Or his brochure writer calls him that. That picture, it is just godawful.

AnnieD, love the curve of the chair that recalls the drooping clock, nice!

yes kswl, and the round table, pillows and drums....and even the splash of orange...almost makes me wonder if it wasn't the inspiration...

Another suggestion for a DAT topic...with wallpaper growing in popularity, how about designing a room around wallpaper...

This may be too literal.

Floor is stained concrete

American Dakota Novelty New York Clock Natural Area Rug from RugStudio

River's View driftwood coffee table from Erik Thorsen Gallery

Creative Co-Op Terrain Metal and Leather Butterfly Side Chair

Lodge Chair/Chestnut Brown Leather from Collectic Home

Yield Vintage Leather Sofa

Patina Copper Cube from Crate and Barrel

Table Lamp in Parchment Goatskin from Fleurluxuryliving.com

Demilune lacquer console table from Scenario Home

The Queen Ant, a sculpture by Edouard Martinet

Trademark Innovations Salvador Dali Melting Wall Clock

Paint is Benjamin Moore Old Glory

J.M.W. Turner Petworth Park Print

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Of course, this is Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory

Click on picture for to see the whole.

Vladimir Tretchik

Wow, I'm very impressed by these renderings!

Pal - I thought same as Annie....Naaaaw not Kincade! I actually really liked the floral painting in your design though. I came across it in one of my searches last night. Humph, but I already forget now the artists name! This is such a great exercise for the mind. Mine has been really REALLY out of shape for years.

"Personally embellished". Ha! Now we know his technique for achieving the shimmering highlights of morning dew glistening of each leaf or that diamond glint on a trickling brook. His DNA signed works cost extra.

I remember as a teen going to a Kincade gallery. It was in the Mall. It was like walking into a dark cavern. The paintings would have small picture lights above each. But some special works had tiny lights embedded somehow behind the frame so the street lamps and house windows lit up. Now that is realism!

Annie - That's awesome! The houzz pics droopy chair is absolutely perfect.

Cawaps - I love your interpretation room! The ant on the red half round table is my favorite.

I want to try my own, but I am not sure how you guys do these. I am using an iPad. Does anyone know if there is an apple app to make these boards? I will look, but for now I will watch and learn. Thanks jlc for starting this thread.

I love the ideas of DAT based on your pet, a song or musician, and the craigslist one sounds really fun.

Rebunky, I have been using the moodboard app on my iPad mini. It's really easy, though it lacks the ability to strip the backgrounds of images out and there are a limited number of options for the background of the board itself. They have a free lite version so you could try it out first. I think it's $10 for the full version.

My daughter (age 10) did this design and asked me to post it. She participated once before on one of the kitchen DATs as kittycatpaws.

Bamboo floor

Faux bamboo chair

Bamboo livingroom
set (www.tanugarden.com)

Paint is Benjamin
Moore Chic Lime

Tork brass 30" dripping mirror from CB2

Samsung
TV

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Bamboo and Moon by Colleen Koranek

Fantastic job Kittycatpaws!!!

What!!! She is 10 and already has such talent!?! Kittycatpaws you are da bomb at DAT! Keep up the good work. Look forward to seeing more designs by you. Cawaps, it is wonderful you are teaching and including your daughter in this fun artistic challenge. Missing my daughter who left the nest recently.....

cawaps dd: Cool!

Thanks for starting this Jlc! I loved it and look forward to hopefully squeezing in the next D.A.T before vacation.

Cawaps- tell your daughter that is nice work! We have a 10 year old designer on our hands! My 10 year old son thinks I'm nuts. Direct quote: "Are you on that house site again Mom?" :-)