30 December 2012


Cuban Interiors

Cuba was everything I hoped it would be. Evocative, creative and real. It's just what they do.  Old, repaired, cared for and cherished, nothing thrown away, battered and worn.   
Gentle and Beautiful and Bright 
A bar, musicians resting, Antibes Green on the lower part of the wall 
 and Old Ochre lightened with Old White above the green.

A bookshop- it was almost like a theatre set but it was real, I think. 
A surprising mix of zebra 
skin and 
a chandelier with piles of old books, lots of 
pictures  and pampas grass. 
The pink on the walls of this restaurant is like 
Antoinette 
but I'd never have thought to 
put yellow with it. 
Same restaurant with an extraordinary bright luminous blue  on the walls . 
I'd like to try this using Provence and Old White mix in one room with lightened Louis Blue in an other so they can be seen together. These two colours are the same tone but very different in character so they are slightly uneasy with each other  which gives it an exotic Cuban feel. 
    

Hanging pictures is so difficult but this is done brilliantly.
It's a broken grid with wonderful colour on the wall
and in the cloth and the pictures. 
Antoinette
Antibes


 These are the colours I will try to recreate these rooms with.  I have plans.  
                      Annie 

22 comments:

  1. I have plans too! Antoinette in my bathroom with some vintage style London wallpaper ... Will blog it when I've finished ...

    Claire xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is my kind of decorating! Love the old, worldly, eclectic look. The color combo's are quite unusual, but you're right - it all works! So rich and interesting. MaK is back from Hawaii and we are moving into our own store! Definitely want some of this look going on! Thanks for sharing! And look forward to your "plans"!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How fabulous you have your own store! Congrats. Don't forget to send me the new address. You girls are going to soar. You already use great edgy colour combos so I look forward to 2013 with you.
      xx
      Annie

      Delete
  3. Its all so original and quirky and interesting at once!~Thanks for your images and commentary~some more to come I hope?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey, Amy. Glad you like it. I love how it's sort of elegant and edgy at the same time. Yep more to come xx I'm full of it right now.
    xx
    Annie

    ReplyDelete
  5. I really like the third picture with the zebra rug and all the books piled high. Thanks for sharing your vacation with us.
    Karla

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What a zebra rug is doing in Cuba, who knows but it is amazing and I love the incongruity too.
      xx

      Delete
  6. Great Annie!! This will surely help me get my new "old 60s house" into the right vibe and funk. Love Antoinette pared with dark woods...not so frilly. and the pop of blue over the OO/Antibes walls. Fun. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. People will be so envious of your 60 house when you're finished Celeste!
      Sneak that pink in, that won't know it when you have the brwon wood with it!
      xx

      Delete
  7. I love colour so much so bring on Cuba!
    I like the picture of the blue room,i painted a table drawer in your chalk paint duck egg blue and the legs in Florence it looks amazing together and isn't the last picture just fabulous? so great how all the pictures are displayed and pink and green just like my table and mirror in my hall,hope you have more pictures to share x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Blue and green, you are on it already. I love the two together too.xx More pics coming in the new year

      Delete
  8. i've longed to visit cuba for decades now. being an american it hasn't been so easy. but, oh, annie, thank you so much for the photos and wonderful colors. i love the restaurant and the gallery of artwork-my style completely!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know it's difficult for Americans to visit, although lots seem to manage it through various ways. I have to find excuses to go back now. xx

      Delete
  9. Hello Annie,
    What a fun post...the rooms are wonderful and original and just plain creative! I have always loved pale pink and orange together (Antoinette/Arles) was I not supposed to???? So happy that you enjoyed and were creatively inspired by your trip. How wonderful to share it with your whole family!!!
    Looking forward to seeing you again in New Orleans...be well Annie!

    Janet xox
    The Empty Nest

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Totally against the 'rules' Janet, you naughty girl, to put yellow and pink together! hehehe!
      (It's just that they can clash so you have to get it right and the balance OK!) I'm sure you do naturally.

      Delete
  10. Hello Annie and co workers

    My name is Trudy. I moved from Holland to Hungary same years ago. Restaurating an old historical building including the decoration of it.
    Yesterday I found you're paint experiance on the internet. Love what you can do with it.
    There is only one problem, I can not buy it in Hungary.........Vienna is also an option, But you also can not buy it over there.
    I would like to try out you,re products

    greetings Trudy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We would love a stockist in Austria and one in Hungary too. Actually today I bought a beautiful Hungarian Jug with stripes on it. I love these traditional jugs
      If you want to try the paint I think the best you can do is order it from Germany or perhaps Poland.
      Sorry but that's the best I can do xx
      Annie

      Delete
  11. Hello Annie, this was a great page for me, as I lived in Mexico for several years and relate to fabulous color. We still regret not visiting Cuba, but the color vibe is still with us from Mexico and Guatemala.
    Fixing up is what we like to do, but sometimes I have to make concessions - I get to use ASCP on any furniture I want to change!! Husband gets to bash out a wall, and have 50% imput on wall color! Fair, no? My den and dining room have walls filled such as those in the restaurant shown here, and we love that! I have been going in too many directions to choose a color, but think now that Antibes will be great on a large piece in the adobe dining room, and Napoleonic blue interior on an Old White hutch.
    Yum, can't wait to get started, so much to do!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. i LOVE that Antibes Green, and the pale pink too. And that stack of books ... it's got a 1930s vibe and yet it is so today too. Sigh. Minerva ~

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for sharing such a vital information, actually I am looking for information regarding Distemper Paint. Now this blog post written by you definitely help me a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi, Your paints are a wonderful new discovery for me!
    Just a question about the wax---- I am wondering, if i whether wax some wooden platters would they be safe to eat off and could i wash them (sponge them down) ?

    ReplyDelete