Unless you’ve been vacationing at the bottom of the Marianas Trench for the last couple of months, what I’m about to say will be redundant: Life has changed dramatically. For the time being, The Calvarium is just fine. I’m healthy. Most of my family is healthy. My sister was diagnosed with covid-19 but is making a strong recovery.

Now that I don’t have a season of shows and conventions to prepare for, I have decided to turn my efforts elsewhere. At the beginning of March, I had a new workshop built. This means that my house can go back to being, well, a house, and I’m taking you all along for the ride as I transform my former workshop area into my showroom: The Haunted Parlor. The haunted parlor is my vision of a spooky, halloween-themed room.

Here’s the obligatory before picture. I have roughly blocked out the layout, and of course theres still a lot of stuff to get over to the new workshop.

Before I get into the colors and patterns that will fill the space, I want to discuss style. The victorian and/or gothic periods are a classic go-to for spooky rooms, so I decided to explore another style to give my “parlor” a more distinctive look. One of my favorite eras for design is the art nouveau/art deco era. A design style filled with luxurious detail but anchored with strong geometric sensibilities. Below are a couple rough sketches from my design binder.

Window

Flanked by book cases, the window will be dressed in floor-to-ceiling curtains and a roman shade.

Trim

The walls will have tall, narrow paneling to add a dramatic sense of verticality.

My favorite part of this project is, of course, the fabric. I chose a pallet that would embody the luxe feel of the period while remaining harmonious with the rest of the house. Teal is the color that bridges each room together, as well as gold, used in various amounts. Lastly I absolutely had to add Calvarium Red™ to the pallet!

Stay tuned as I take you through the rest of this exciting project! If you just can’t wait to get your hands on my newest fabric collection, click here.

Our New Space