Storybook Living: February 2011

STORYBOOK INSPIRATION:

The Snow Queen, by Edmund Dulac

The Snow Queen, Illustrated by Vladyslav Yerko, on Amazon

The Snow Queen, Illustrated by Susan Jeffers, on Amazon

COLORS:

THEME:

Think icy cold winter, icicles, wintry blasts, snowdrops, frost, ice crystals. The color scheme is cold, silver, glittering or a decaying grey. Never black-and-white, and no gold to warm up the chilly decor. A bit of ice blue thrown in now and again for contrast could work, so long as the blue isn't warm.

The walls of the palace were of driving snow, and the windows and doors of cutting winds. There were more than a hundred halls there, according as the snow was driven by the winds. The largest was many miles in extent; all were lighted up by the powerful Aurora Borealis, and all were so large, so empty, so icy cold, and so resplendent! Mirth never reigned there; there was never even a little bear-ball, with the storm for music, while the polar bears went on their hindlegs and showed off their steps. Never a little tea-party of white young lady foxes; vast, cold, and empty were the halls of the Snow Queen. The northern-lights shone with such precision that one could tell exactly when they were at their highest or lowest degree of brightness. In the middle of the empty, endless hall of snow, was a frozen lake; it was cracked in a thousand pieces, but each piece was so like the other, that it seemed the work of a cunning artificer. In the middle of this lake sat the Snow Queen when she was at home; and then she said she was sitting in the Mirror of Understanding, and that this was the only one and the best thing in the world.