Though we love a gorgeous, simple and sleek modern home full of color, Mid-Century Modern furniture and not a lot of ornamentation, we also secretly love those fabulous details reserved for the most traditional of home styles.
With all the news about the Gulf, it sometimes seems like a lot of negative/sad attention is paid to Louisiana cities like New Orleans. That’s why when we came across a Nola.com article depicting a master plasterer Byron Veal and his gorgeous work, we knew we wanted to share.
Detailed, classic and unique, plasterwork is as varied as artwork, but we love the subtle way in which it increases the sophistication of a room. It seems sometimes that plasterwork divides design lovers into two camps: those who love it and those who think it’s awful. The question is, is plasterwork only for traditional styled homes, or does it have a place in more modern and eclectic spaces? Could you ever mix modern furniture with a house full of traditional plasterwork?
We'd love to know if you are lucky (or unlucky, depending upon your opinion of plaster!) enough to have plasterwork in your home.
MORE PLASTER ON APARTMENT THERAPY:
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• Working With Plaster Ornamentation?
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• Look! American Clay Plaster Wall Finish in an Airstream
• Look! Integral Color Plaster
Photos: Flickr member Dominic's pics licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic
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Comments (8)
My 1910s semi-detached place in Melbourne has the most beautiful air vents I've ever seen - in each room, near the ceiling on an external wall, is an ornate little oblong with tangled plaster flowers, ferns, birds and spiders, all sculpted in 3D. They're a bugger to clean, though.
Why would anyone hate beautifully done plasterwork? And yes, I think it can work with any style of decor, including modern. It adds a nice textural element to the room without being as obtrusive as wood paneling or other traditional elements.
Beautiful! I -wish- I had some of that in our home.
Love. And I've seen MCM pendant fixtures hung from gorgeous ornate ceiling medallions like the one in the first photo - I think it's dynamite!
I really wish embossed ceilings would come back in style. They look sp pretty in old homes that have them.
Personally, I think you can quite appropriately mix these gorgeous plaster details in with a "simple and sleek modern home full of color, Mid-Century Modern furniture and not a lot of ornamentation." I love a good juxtaposition.
Thanks for the post!
ornate ceiling bosses and moldings are pretty common in berlin... i think it really adds to the typical berlin mix-n-match fleamarket+ikea+recon style. i loved them in my old flat - we had an ikea paper lantern hung from a ceiling boss, the juxtaposition did it for me.
but these flats all have high ceilings, maybe it wouldn't work so well in a post-war low-ceiling space?
I'm easy, I even like the plastic fakes, if painted convincingly. Can't get my partner interested, though. (I agree, plasterwork or it's look-alikes can add texture to even contemporary spaces, as long as you don't overdo it.)