Oprah’s Hawaiian Home
Monday, April 13th, 2009
Oprah has homes around the globe but it’s her Hawaii home that she invited her fans to explore on her website .
Oprah became a fan of Hawaii when her personal trainer, Bob Greene suggested she buy land on one of the Hawaiian Islands. It seems as though Greene’s motives for inviting Oprah to one of his favorite regions wasn’t entirely altruistic as even Oprah noted that the was afraid that a developer would start a condo laden urban sprawl trend on the rocky hillside.
Oprah chose her interior decorator, Ellie, after having seen her Connecticut home in a magazine. The informal American country style is what most attracted her and it’s how her Hawaiian home is decorated. Or so they claim, but I would say the home is more eclectic flower shop and trinket shop than anything else.
Even from the exterior Oprah Winfrey’s Hawaiian home is just littered with junk, I’m sure its expensive junk, but when you put that much stuff together it just looks cluttered and everything loses its value and becomes one more crazy blob of activity. And what is with the big fake horse welcoming you as you approach the house? The abundance of plant life is a nice Hawaiian touch, but from the front, looking at the home it appears as if they plants take over the wraparound porches and leave almost no room for people. In addition, the repetition of so many little balusters in the railing is really distracting and busy. Did I mention the ridiculous fake horse?!
Now apparently there is a reason for the big old fake horse and that is because there are horses roaming the countryside around Oprah’s ranch. So this theme was brought inside the home and the living room is rife with antique horses. The problem with this room is, I believe, less the room itself than it is the photo used to represent it. At first glance you don’t know if you’re looking at someone’s living room or a florist’s gift shop. I see no less than nine vases with flowers in them. And the home’s interior is all but obscured by one of the horses front and center in the picture. So maybe Oprah’s living room looks nicer than it appears from first glance at this picture, but with this representation it’s just busy, cluttered, and uninspired.
Moving on to the bedroom. The white on white décor really helps tame down the cluttered and busy appearance of the room with its lattice like exposed ceiling beams, heavily grilled windows and the variety of patterns on the accessories, making it almost tolerable if you take out the flowers that litter the tops of every available surface. And again the picture of the incredible view of the ocean is all but obscured by the huge number of flower containers.
The dining room would be simply gorgeous if we hadn’t already been inundated by flowers and the main table was not loaded with huge bouquets. The vivid bright walls are beautiful, the yellow and white striped chairs are the perfect accompaniment, perfectly echoing the 12 pane windows and the striped appearance of the white window treatments and yellow walls. The square checked carpeting is a bit busy but the muted colors keep it tolerable and the large weather vane is a nice touch. So other than the overstatement of flowers for the picture, this room is beautiful and the views must be striking.
One image that is not visible in the large picture of the dining room is a Thomas Hart Benton painting which is partially lost because of the clutter of multicolored French Jaspe pottery pitchers resting below it. Thank god there are no flowers but I’m guessing that was only because they would have actually covered part of this painting, otherwise I’m sure the staging crew would have filled each and every pitcher with flowers.
The kitchen appears simple and elegant and a nice clean place to prepare food and cook, if you remove all of the clutter that was placed there by the staging crew for this picture.
The decorator, Ellie, says that everywhere she looks there’s something of interest and quality, which may be true, but this many items in a home is simply overkill and visually distracting. Perhaps it’s the fact that Oprah is used to much larger homes that can more adeptly hold and display her collections, but her Hawaiian home is too cluttered to feel comfy and cozy and the heady smell of all those floral arrangements must be almost sickening.
The following has been a guest post from Mike Caldwell Social Media Specilaist you can read more of his articles such as Shopping For Leather Furniture – from Bari Leather Furniture or Leather Furniture Styles – From Bari Leather Furniture. You can also follow the official Bari Leather Furniture profile on twitter
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