House Prints: Finding outfit inspiration from Sonoma homes

 

 

Since moving to Sonoma ten years ago, I’ve created several walking routes throughout the town. I have routes that are perfect if I have forty-five minutes, ones that I can enjoy if I have an hour and some that take seventy-five minutes. I’m comforted by the repetition of walking the same routes over weeks and months. I love watching the season’s change on my well-worn paths. I also get to see the teardown and buildups of homes along the way in real time–some slow, some fast.

At a walker’s pace, it’s easy to appreciate color and design in houses and landscaping. Although I walk at a fairly brisk clip, in some ways it’s like being on a beauty meditation. I don’t have earbuds in my ears, no music, no cell phone–it’s just me and whatever I see before me, to the left of me, or to the right of me.

This particular house pictured above is one I watched grow from the ground up. Actually, the house that was on the property was torn down with just the foundation remaining. Then they added to it and probably tripled the size. It was a long project. When they got around to painting it, I was curious about the black and white color scheme. The house is white and the trim is black, very classic. It’s a lot of house so it’s a lot of white, but when I look at it it feels solid and stable.

And then they painted the door … oh my! Violet is one of my favorite colors so of course, I was swooning with delight at that development. The door is so welcoming and fresh. When I imagine it in black or red, it seems heavy. This is just right!

 

House Prints

 

Last week I got the idea to photograph some of the houses on my walks, particularly ones with color combos that interest or intrigue me. I wanted to share them with you and thought I’d add one more layer to it. What if I found an outfit that repeated those house colors? And what if it was in a print? Well, then I’d have House Prints and I just liked the sound of that.

I numbered each combo house/outfit set. There’s no rhyme or reason to the numbers other than I like them or they are numbers of houses I’ve lived in. I thought about the names of Pantone colors or Benjamin Moore color wands. They have numbers attached to them so I decided I’d just pretend I was in the fashion print business and number them. This one is No. 2057, just because.

Come have fun with me as I share some of Sonoma with you. Join me in my make-believe world where I’m creating personalities of people who might be wearing these House Prints and where they might be wearing them. You can add your two cents worth too! I’d love it. Feel free to leave a comment in the comment section.

 

House Print No. 2057 and the person who wears it

 

The long dress has black, white, and violet in it, just like the paint on the house that inspired it. It’s a very watery, abstract print, kind of dreamy. The softness of the fabric–the drape and the sheerness of it–makes it so feminine and approachable. The violet leather jacket is also soft and feminine but stands out in a creative way because we don’t often see leather items manufactured in that color.

What I’d imagine about the person wearing this outfit is that she’s sensual, confident, comfortable in her body, and very unpretentious. She’s flirty but in an intellectual way. She’s read the latest books and knows producers with movies in production, movies we’ll see at Christmastime. She’ll get invited to the premieres.

She glides into a room, garners attention effortlessly, but is quick to deflect it. She’s more interested in how your vacation went or how that new job is working out.

 

Where she wears this print

She wears it to any number of social events: a daytime graduation party, a housewarming party, going to dinner at Boulevard in San Francisco, going to the theater. She’s also planning to pack it for a girlfriend weekend in New York in two weeks. She’s got tickets to see The Book of Mormon … again.

 

Is this a color combo you’d enjoy? Would you admire it on others? Where would you wear it in your real life world?

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