Mostaza Seed: pub room

On our way back home from Spain we stopped off in Ireland to spend a week with family. What a great time we had! The countryside was beautiful, the food (believe you me, we weren't allowed to go hungry!) was delicious, and meeting so many cousins was delightful. Highlights of the trip were going back to the farm and house where my Grandpa Pat grew up and sharing a lively night of music with family and friends at a pub in Bray, a little seaside town south of Dublin.

A few years ago, my husband's parents took a trip to Ireland as well. The loved it so much that they decided to make a pub room in their house. It's the coziest little room ever and many good drinks and conversations have been shared around the warm stove. The faux finish of the warm mustard-colored paint makes the walls look like they have accumulated years of pipe smoke stains, the rich dark wood and mismatched furnishings are quirky and look very loved, the pictures are hung low on the wall to keep things on a small and intimate scale. I love it!

Too often we seek to make our homes large and sprawling and the end result is cold emptiness. Smaller rooms invite intimacy of sharing and community. Bigger is not better!

So, in the spirit of St. Patrick's day, I've dedicated this blog entry to creating non-cheesy, vintage-style Irish pub room. Inspiration comes from these photos (and hundreds of photos that my eyes took in Ireland):