Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna

A couple of photos I took at the Natural History Museum in Vienna a couple of weeks ago. Not the hottest quality, but I drop my camera a lot.

black flowers, part I

chesterfields

I lurve Chesterfield couches. They make every room look like a swank gentleman's club (which should allow ladies). My father hates them because he insists that they're wickedly uncomfortable, but having not sat in one in recent memory, I can neither agree with nor take issue with that statement. But they look cool. Especially in that second picture that looks a wee bit like a conservatory. I will have a conservatory some day, and will have a secret passage to the lounge, where Mr. Body will be found dead at the hands of Cl. Mustard with the candlestick. The lounge, that is. I want no blood on my conservatory.

wallflowers

Iguana

Animal Magic

Niceness Hybrid Collection

Sharp Descent

Mrs. Treat

Elysian Fields

Some wallpapers I've come to be fond of recently. With the exception of the Mrs. Treat in red, I prefer the black (and white) versions of pretty much all of these. I'm not sure if I could actually put any of these on an entire wall, let alone a whole room, but maybe some of them could look good in frames on a solid-colored wall.

Sources: timorous beasties, paperboy, niceness.co.uk, flavorleague.com, growhousegrow, flavorleague

terrariums

The New York Times posted an article about terrariums a few days ago - I just noticed it today. Needless to say I'm obsessed with terrariums and can't wait to get home from my vacation and work on my little indoor garden. Here are a couple of pictures from the accompanying slideshow.

The bottom picture is a snap of home decor from one of the terrarium-makers featured. I like where it's going but the books are a little... I dunno, pedestrian? Should be more obscure.

tulips

All of those famous tulips from the Dutch Mania of the 1630s, Semper Augustus, Viceroy, they're gone now, but I still like the association that certain tulips evoke. Not the average, egg-shaped petaled tulips you see today in florists' shops, but baroque, ruffled flowers that speak only of decadence and splendor. Black tulips are especially sensuous for some reason, and I have to say I am completely enamored of them.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Black Parrots: perfectly ruffled and eye-catching. I love their shape almost more than I love their color.

Insulinde: The broken streaks of black-purple remind me of the flowers of the Tulip Mania, but somehow more somber, and perhaps sinister? Maybe I am reading too much into these flowers.

Philippe de Comines: an unadorned but respectable black tulip

Queen of the Night: perhaps even darker and more luscious than the Philippes.

El Sueño de la Razón

I want to get a print of this for my bedroom. Not sure why, but it appeals to me.