By Elizabeth Prata
I grew up in an academic family. It was sort of the family business. Someone was always either getting a degree or teaching others for their degree. Dissertation talk was usual. We watched movies with academic settings. We explored libraries, college or local.
Even though my father's home and my mother's home had separate and different design aesthetics, (more on that below) neither were library-ish. I fell in love with libraries and library-like rooms. I liked when a movie showed a London Men's Club room, with roaring fire, leather wingback chairs with rivets, thick rugs, marble topped side tables, heavy coffee tables stacked with books, and so on. I always gravitate to that aesthetic.
My first home I remember growing up was a small 100-year-old Cape Cod farmhouse with huge chicken barn in back. The house was built in about the 1860s. My very first home was in the city and an apartment over the funeral home my family ran, but I was too young to remember that. The Cape Cod house was in the suburbs. We had 4 acres and lots of trees and foliage and flowers. The house had the typical small rooms of the long-ago era. A fireplace in each room, and in the living room there were bread ovens next to the fireplace. The fireplace had a cast iron 'arm' upon which you'd swing out to put a heavy pot for cooking. I thought these things were cool.
The upstairs rooms were small with the sloping ceiling almost coming to the floor. I liked that, it felt like a nest.
There was not a lot of purposeful design aesthetic. The house was owned by my parents, a young couple just starting out, so the furniture was catch as-catch can. I did like the map over the couch. I used to stand on the couch cushion and look at the map a lot.
The house being small and the rooms unworkable for entertaining, which was big in the 1960s and 1970s, my father had the chicken barn converted to a home. He was pretty much the decision maker on how it would be decorated, because my mother always complained "it looks like a ski lodge!' It was heavy on masculine materials and it did look like a lodge. But I loved it.
It was pretty much one big open room with two bedrooms at the back, a living-dining-galley/bar kitchen in the Great Room, and one bedroom and a half kitchen in the front. Half kitchen because for a long time there was a stove and fridge in it, with the sink being in the galley. Hard to cook with the main kitchen elements being split like that.
The carpet was red shag, lol, very on trend for 1968-69 (if I remember the timing correctly). The walls were uncured brick, and many of the bricks did not lay flat, which I loved too.
Our ceiling was vaulted and adorned with untreated oak beams and black wrought iron chandeliers. The chairs were black leather and the couch was red, with heavy oak dining table and those 1960s swivel barrel chairs.
The fireplace was huge, 5' across and with a huge concrete hearth, and stones dug up from the yard as the chimney. Alcove on the left was for wood, and on the right storage and a wine rack. It looked like this photo below, except the hearth didn't have an underside. It was also so big we could sit on it safely without getting burned.
I found this photo by googling "ski lodge fireplace". My mother was so right!
There were lots of large windows and a big sliding glass door that drew you to a lower patio and then an upper patio, with in-ground pool and large entertaining space alongside.
I learned this weekend that the style of my father's house was called Mediterranean. Which makes sense because his family is from around the Mediterranean (Lucca and Naples Italy).
Mediterranean Style elements: "Sturdy stone embellishments, a neutral palette and dark wood trusses, textured walls, stone and wooden materials, vibrant textiles and rustic furnishings, with a large emphasis on indoor-outdoor living spaces."
Yup, that's it exactly! So excited to discover the name for the design aesthetic I grew up in!
My parents divorced and my mother then had the opportunity to decorate her house the way she wanted. She had an eye for design. The aesthetic that emerged from her eclectic selections combined to present a fancy and lovely space.
There were Victorian couches, wingback chairs in bold colors, patterned wallpaper, lots of art with heavy gold gilt frames, and more. There was a lot to look at!
Living room
Dining room
I think this style closely matches what is called "French Provincial".
French Provincial elements: "French Provincial is a style that blends the French countryside with Parisian elegance. From polished rustic looks to the ornate feel of antiques and knick-knacks, French Provincial homes can include exposed timber and chandeliers all in the same space."
As beautiful as it is, this is not my style. I never felt comfortable in the living room, and I spent more time in the downstairs of this raised ranch in what was called the den.
I mentioned above that I always liked library-ish rooms. I never had opportunity to develop it though given the spaces I lived in and also due to renting. But when I moved to this town 2 years ago there was enough space to do with the apartment what I liked. I'd accumulated enough furniture and books to finally make the library room the way I always wanted.
I didn't know the name of the design style but I looked up "Victorian library room elements". I gathered what I had that as closely matched that, and set up my library room. A Victorian library room or study would have:
-thick rug or Persian rug
-velvet chairs or couch
-leather chairs
-heavy desk or coffee table of good wood
-damask wallpaper
-art, preferably oil landscapes with heavy gold frames
-lots and lots of books! floor to ceiling shelves if possible
-globe, and natural elements like shells, bones, rocks (National Geographic had just been founded and it as the age of exploration. Adorning your room with far-flung elements indicated yuo were on trend
and more.
I did what I could. The globe was almost a requirement (along with telescope) but they are expensive. Globes are a hot property in the vintage thrifting world. I did have a thick rug, a velvet chair, an antique coffee table inlaid with leather and gilt edging, lamps with warm lighting, and lots of books on tall bookshelves.
Now I have the name to match my design aesthetic! "Dark Academia" come to mama!
"Dark Academia is a decorating style that draws inspiration from academic settings with a sense of intellectualism and classic literature. It's characterized by its cozy and moody atmosphere and its dark color palette. Dark Academia aims to create rooms that emphasize a love of learning and knowledge while simultaneously channeling a moody nostalgic Gothic aesthetic." ~Posh Pennies design channel on Youtube
I LOVE this. Screen shot from Posh Pennies video. Rich chocolate browns, fireplace, lots of books, lamps, large window to gaze at the outdoors, wonderful rug. This Dark Academia style room has it all!
Panorama photo: I have no globe but the square trunk is covered with vintage maps.
The chair in the left is velvet, and on the right is leather. On the coffee table are natural elements like rocks, shells coral, etc, and an actual Victorian barometer. I need bigger art so as to be more proportional.
The round object on the back wall on the left is a clock. The bright lamp on the left is a 1960s vintage double light bulb lamp which I love. On the trunk is an antique Victorian cigar box
I hope you enjoyed this jaunt through Mediterranean style, French Provincial, and Dark Academia! What are your deign references? What kind of room would you make if you could?
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