Traditional Home with Barclay Butera: Blue & White Inspiration

Home furnishings & interior designer Barclay Butera avoids a predictable beach-house style at his Newport Beach home with a friendly not to the sea followed by a deep and unexpected bow to British Colonial design.

Now, I have to admit, I didn't know who Barclay Butera was until I got in the new Traditional Home magazine for October recently. He has had his own company for years now & designs furniture, as well as interiors. It has an awesome spread on Barclay, a wonderful fresh designer, showcasing his own home in the classic British Colonial style and using blue & white in such exciting ways. I'm not one to keep up with the latest designers at all, but sometimes I run across a spread which totally grabs my attention. This was one of those features. I was totally sucked in by these pictures & while blue is not my absolute favorite, I just love this whole article. I've used blue in our master bedroom & bath & was so excited to see this fresh & innovative, yet classic way of using blue & white that Barclay has so masterfully executed. This article has several stylish & yummy pics that you will not want to miss, so go here online to see the slideshow at Traditional Home. I was happy to see that they posted the slideshow, so you can all see the pics too. British Colonial style is sustained in the living room with a mahogany console table. Barclay designed the glass lamps to allow a change of contents.

I just love his use of British Colonial style that he has effortlessly used in his own home. I could only aspire to achieve something as beautiful as this. I love this look & would love to have more of it in my own home. He has a great eye, that's for sure! These pics could convince anyone to love blue & white, don't you think? And, I'm about ready to go out & buy some wallpaper now, which I had sworn off a few years ago.
The paisley fabric reminds me of the master bedroom fabric (below pic) I've used that came from Calico Corners. Melissa at The Inspired Room, also mentioned this article with pics on her blog recently. Great minds think alike!
If you love British Colonial & blue and white, you must go and take a look at the entire slideshow. Barclay is a genius in my book!

Story by Candace Ord Manroe
Photography by James Carriere
Produced by Laura Hull

Blue & White

Blue has never been my favorite color to decorate with, but I found myself buying some of it several years ago & I used it in my old red livingroom, sprinkled around. So, when my hubby & I got married & I found out how much he loves blue, I figured I'd decorate our bedroom in gold, deep blue, & white. The blue & white pottery pieces fit in well with those colors & made great accents against the gold walls, so that's where all my blue & white ended up. I thought you might enjoy seeing them up close. Most of it is in the bedroom, but this first pic is in the livingroom on a little side console table (that I got at a yardsale last year, naturally). These pieces came from Bombay outlet in Atlanta & that was the beginning of my blue/white collection. I used to love going in there to see what they had.
This is in the masterbath, sitting on the tub. Got this cute mosiac blue/white planter at a yardsale years ago. My hubby doesn't like light blue...that's what I would have preferred to use...no, he loves deeeeep blue, so deep blue it is. This color has actually grown on me & I do love the nautical feel in here. This color is called Magellan by Kilz (at Walmart).
On my bathroom vanity is another blue/white planter I found at a yardsale last year. I love having real plants around, as well as silk ones.

3 plates that I found at Homegoods for I think, $3 each. I loved the patterns in these & got 5 of them when they were on the clearance rack. There's another yardsale fixture I recently picked up for 50 cents & painted it with my Sophisticated Finishes in Blonde Bronze. It was originally a white stone finish, so painting over it was a snap. Paint color, in case anyone would like to know, is Sherwin Williams Blonde. It's a nice mellow golden yellow, without screaming yellow & works well with all my fabrics.
On top of my antique French armoire is more blue & white. I got these pieces at all different places, I think Ross, TJ Maxx, & the wine cooler was a yardsale find.

Here's the blue/white platter I picked up a few weeks ago yardsaling for $1.50. It's hanging above the door going out of the room.
More blue & white on top of the entertainment center.
Center plate was a yardsale find & the other 2 came from the Homegoods trip.
Just a new shot of the pillows on the bed. I think a lot of you have seen our bedroom already & if you want to see more of it, you can click on my photo album link on the left sidebar.
Here's the master bath, above the tub area. Got this wall shelf at a yardsale for $5.00 years ago & it was fun accessorizing it with things I already had. That little watercolor on top was a recent yardsale find. It's an original & I love how it looks on this shelf.

We picked up this large print in San Francisco when we were there almost 2 years ago & the one above was a yardsale find for $1.00 of another SF print. I had the frame already & it's a good complement to the first one.
Closeup of San Francisco print. We loved visiting there.
It seemed natural to put some seashells & beachy things in here with the blue walls, so that's what I did. I found these shell prints on clearance at TJ Maxx.
And, a set of shell prints that I found at Kirklands dress up the water closet. There's another one opposite this one. I saw these prints in the Ballards catalog for mega-bucks...same artist. I paid $10 each for these at Kirklands.

Just thought I'd give you all a little blue & white inspiration! It's such a classic & timeless color scheme & will always be popular, I think. I don't have any expensive antique blue & white pieces, but it's nice that there are affordable things out there too to add to collections.

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On another note, Manuela, from The Feathered Nest, nominated me for the Schmooze Award. I already won it (from sweet Suzie Q at Rabbit Run Cottage) , but thought I thank those who passed it my way! Here's the description & I hope I live up to this. I try to anyway.

"The Power of Schmooze Award is for bloggers who effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogosphere, leaving friendly trails and smiles, happily making new friends along the way. They don’t limit their visits to only the rich and successful, but spend some time to say hello to new blogs as well. They are the ones who engage others in meaningful conversations, refusing to let it end at a mere hello - all the while fostering a sense of closeness and friendship."

I really have enjoyed blogging these last few months & don't take for granted the many friendships I've made along the way. It's really going to be harder since I've gone back to work, for me to stay in touch with all of you & visit your blogs regularly, but I'm going to try to keep up on the weekends at least. My blogroll just keeps growing & there's no way I can keep up with all of them all the time! So, I hope you all understand that. Keeping up with my own blog is going to be a challenge, I think.

So, thank you all again for stopping by & visiting with me. I truly treasure each & every friend I've made! We all have limited time, so I'm honored you choose to spend some of it with me.