Home-Decor | Valentina Expressions

“Aesthetic” broadly relates to beauty, artistic appeal, or the appreciation of what is visually pleasing.

The word aesthetics derives from the Greek aisthetikos, meaning “perceptive of the senses”. Philosophy explores the nature of art, beauty, and taste, asking questions about what makes something beautiful and how we experience it emotionally and intellectually. Beauty is very subjective, and it doesn’t mean the same thing to everybody.

This month of July, the Hay Moon, also called Buck Moon, will govern over us, reaching its peak on July 29. In Europe, the Hay Moon coincides with the season when farmers traditionally cut, dry, and gather their hay, giving thanks for a good harvest. In America, it refers to the time when male deer shed their old antlers and grow new, beautiful sets to flaunt proudly on top of their heads.

The aesthetic of Hay Moon translates beautifully into interiors because it blends abundance, moonlight, and natural elegance. By imagining a moonlight evening, what elements would I see that would make a nice home interior? I asked myself.
I envisioned the main color being silver, but if we look at the moon, sometimes it reveals a light golden color as well. Let’s start with that. I see white, light grey, soft charcoal, antique gold and pewter.

As textures, I see washed-out linen, bluish velvet, aged wood and antique silver.
For the décor, I envisioned pearl accents, white agate bowls, candles, vintage mirrors, and delicate lunar artwork.
Flowers would be bluish irises, dried grasses, and meadow’s wildflowers.
I would choose iris, incense, soft woods, and a hint of amber as house scents.

I have plenty of light grey airplants that need absolutely nothing to grow, plenty of oyster shells I bring home from happy hour gatherings, plenty of white candles, soft wood scents and plenty of pearls. I can orchestrate this aesthetic to feel aligned and on the same wavelength as the universe. A table setting designed with this theme and colors can be a beautiful sophistication.

I think it is much more beneficial to row with the universe rather than to row against it. For this month, I will even wear a bit of light grey color and light it up with white pearls and light blue accessories.

The Hay Moon invites us to gather the beauty we have cultivated, honor our abundance, and rest in the gentle glow of gratitude. Ciao,
Valentina

Valentina Cirasola is a certified interior-fashion consultant, certified color analyst/therapist, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a longtime blogger. Her books offer non-fictional, practical ideas. These ideas can be applied in the home, fashion, cooking, and travel.
Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble

Exploring the Beauty of Liberty Style

Modern or antique buildings? Historical, patrician or utilitarian buildings? This is my dilemma when faced with so many styles of buildings. I must say, however, that one of the styles I can immediately eliminate is the wildly modern one, squared, with sharp angles, without any particular interesting lines and a lot of glass walls.

It seems to me that in large cities, the beautiful buildings erected in times gone by have remained to be admired and be part of the historical landscape, but in the suburbs, I have the impression that architects tend much more towards the modern style. Buildings of Art Déco, Art Nouveau and Liberty style today decorate many downtown areas of American cities as a testimony of a grand past, still at the same time, modern buildings stand side by side asking for the same attention.

(Click on each photo to see it larger)

Villa Scott by Pietro Fenoglio – Author Emanuela Meme Giudici – Wikimedia – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

During the last ten years of the 1800s, a beautiful, floral, flowing style that focused on nature’s elements took place. It was Art Nouveau created in Bruxelles by a group of painters, designers and architects who adopted this style for homes, furniture, lamps and even fashion. It soon spread to Paris during the “La Belle Époque” era and across the ocean. In Italy, it was called the Liberty style and in America, it was known as the Tiffany style.

Floral Chair Liberty Style

Art Déco followed soon after and stayed until 1930. It represented the freedom of the industrial age, an era of progress and prosperity. Art Déco used metals, glass and geometric designs in all aspects of life to express a new modernity.

Liberty style fits my character and my upbringing. As a lover of nature and Baroque architecture, I would have loved to live and be surrounded by Liberty-style designs. In Italy, Baroque motifs distinguish this style with curves and free-flowing elements from nature.

If I had to decorate a villa in the Liberty style, wood, marble, glass and wrought iron would not be missed. Mirrors with floral designs on gold frames, table lamps, large chandeliers and wallpaper with exaggerated nature designs would be all the attractions.

Furniture would have abundant curves; sofas and upholstered chairs would be made with rich colored velvets and sturdy leathers.

ShellChair — Shell Chair by Estudio Bola

The floors would alternate with fine herringbone warm-tone woods and decorated ceramics so that the beauty of each material would mark the passage from one room to another.

Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, color therapist, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a longtime blogger. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel.
Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble