Stone cottage hiding dark & moody interior - home of Christel aka @chr

ART & DESIGN

Stone cottage hiding dark & moody interior - home of Christel aka @christeldahl

Posted on: Jul 15

Hello and welcome back to the ART IN THE WORLD OF INTERIORS series.

I hope that you are having a lovely weekend with some much welcomed sunshine.

This week I’m taking you to a part of England which I fell in love with at the first sight 6 years ago -so much so that I moved here over 4 years ago leaving London & Cambridge behind. I immediately fell under the spell of the beautiful countryside with some scenic views of the hills, rocks, woods and the sea. The beautiful architecture and charming Victorian seaside towns, the artistic atmosphere of Bristol, the bygone era feel of Bath , the whimsical atmosphere of Cheddar Gorge and of course the cheddar cheese and the famous apple cider!

This week I’m taking you to Somerset.

Here in a tiny rural village about equidistant from both Bristol and Bath, lives Christel with her husband, their son David and daughter Liv, a 6-month old kitten called Shadow, and as Christel says : a family of rapidly reproducing dust bunnies and a frankly obscene number of houseplants.

Originally from Norway, Christel loves this location as she is close enough to partake in the hustle and bustle of urban life when desired yet perfectly quiet and peaceful for countryside living the rest of the time.

In Christel’s own words:

We live in a semi-detached stone cottage dating back to 1802 -- my décor is dark, moody and chaotic, much like my mind (my husband refers to my style as 'Victorian Freakshow' which I think is really rather rude!) This wasn't always the case mind, were we to travel back a decade in time I was all over that whole sleek, minimal monochrome look that has since become popular. These days there are only two areas of the house that still have a 'hangover' from that style period of mine; our microscopic porch and my six-year-old daughter's bedroom. The latter mostly because she has yet to develop her own style and request any changes!

As a Scandinavian I have always been conditioned to appreciate all things natural; and I am drawn to wood, leather, greenery- and those play a fairly large part in my décor style I guess. Bar that, it is a pure fluke, I am both fickle and impulsive and that can result in some fairly bizarre combinations at times. I have no specific decorating style, I am naturally drawn to stuff that is "slightly odd". I am not very good at colour though, I have become braver post-monochrome but I tend to subconsciously stick to few colours in each space. Our main living space (living room / dining room) is dark green, full of plants, wood, some exposed brickwork, many of my books and some pieces of art that I really appreciate - from the two tiny paintings of Lizard Point and Cadwight Cove that I picked up during a summer trip to Cornwall to the antique gorilla poster rescued (albeit not by me!) from a school, a couple of photographs by the talented Pati Robins, an Ibride print and of course, my very first Lush Eclectic print - Attitude with a splash of gold!

I choose with my heart. I always used to think that I didn't "get" art - when I was much younger I found it to be a dreadful bore when I was dragged along to a gallery or an exhibition, worse still being "forced" to learn about "the greats" in school. I'd joke that I was dreadfully uncultured and that I had zero eye for or appreciation of artistic talent. I have since learned that I just need to find the pieces that make me smile, laugh or cry! I don't often look for new art, partly because I am completely out of wall space but art still finds me, I sometimes find myself drawn to something and end up having to find a place for it -- something that occasionally results in a wall being rejigged (thank goodness for command strips!).

- Do you choose art to go with your home décor or other way round?

Neither. I mean, I am fairly conservative in terms of colours so it is perhaps hard for me to pick something that would completely clash -- but I choose entirely based on gut feeling and emotion. Sometimes I cannot resist a piece and find myself struggling to work out where it will go.

Our attic space houses my desk for when I work from home, and the other side of the room doubles as a guest room for when friends or family stay overnight. It also occasionally houses artwork for which I need to find a space.

It is currently playing host to Sun Goddess - another of my absolute favourite Lush Eclectic pieces and one that I feel deserves to be in the spotlight but for now, until I decide just how to change things around to incorporate the piece, it is acclimatising upstairs!

If we head back down the stairs we will find another Lush Eclectic piece as we come down the staircase from the attic; ‘Defend The Sacred’ - one that always gives me pause as I find it powerful and strong.

- How do you arrange your wall galleries?

My wall galleries have been fortunate accidents; I might have started out with one or two pieces and gradually added or moved things around as my style has evolved and my collection grown!

This is my ten-year old's "gallery wall" in his room; it has some nerdy stuff (he loves maths), some pops of colour (yellow!) and features your gorgeous Greta piece!

Another (hard to photograph!!) gallery wall can be found as we head back downstairs:

This gallery wall includes Silence, which is also in my top 3 Lush Eclectic pieces - it is different and holds a great deal of appeal to me. The large drawing is Norwegian stockfish hung up to dry; dried stockfish is a huge delicacy in northern Norway and I absolutely fell in love with the drawing years ago and my father kindly gifted it to me for my birthday some years back.

When we get to the bottom of the stairs we have made it to 'the den' - where the Boy Wonder spends his time playing video games and where I rarely get a look in other than to water my plants before he wakes up! This room has no fewer than three Lush Eclectic pieces, can you spot them all?

- How do you chose a frame for the art and where you get your frame?

I am a sucker for inexpensive frames from Ikea and Amazon; because I am fickle and prone to changing my mind and my artwork I tend to opt for lightweight frames that I can safely and securely attach using command strips! Though I have been known to reuse a frame found at a car boot sale or in a second hand shop too!

- Any other tips when it comes to styling art in interiors?

Now, I am neither a stylist, interior expert or photographer but I would say to follow your gut. Surround yourself with what makes you happy, make your home the happiest it can be because if you are anything like me it will be the place where you spend most of your downtime, where you curl up with a cuppa and a book, where you host friends and family be it for a dinner or a proper knees' up, where you escape for peace and solace when you feel under the weather and where you unwind after a long day/week at work. My home is far from picture-perfect but it is where I feel the happiest and most at ease. Strive not to follow the latest trends but follow your heart instead!

Another favourite of mine is Fierce Foreigner, she graces my kitchen wall for most of the year although she comes down in December to make room for Pati Robins' Bad Santa (they share a frame and I literally just take it down and swap them around come December!).

I have a few more Lush Eclectic prints throughout the house!

"Shit Art" graces the wall of the downstairs loo (another tiny and a hard to photograph space!)

Cuban Girl (black & white version) in the bathroom.

And my bedroom has no less than five gorgeous Lush Eclectic pieces gracing the walls!

(If eagle-eyed you will spot the empty A5 frame above 'Bite Me' - I need to fill it with something but have yet to figure out exactly what to put there).