GUEST HOUSE TWO: SINHAGIRI -- Part Two...

    

In the previous post, I left us in the bouquet of a dining room when I decided I was overdosing us with this house's collection(s). I've since mostly given up on any expectation to control my excesses (I am multiplicities of those as well... of course!) If you have read much of this blog, you know that!

 

Over the mantle a gong hung in a stand of two horns... bringing along that motif of our collector/designer of Boutique 98, the first guest house, in Bentota by the beach.

  

The sunflower so symbolic of my Kansas farm-boy youth, which helped to ground me inside all this exotic atmosphere... at least a little bit...

 But, look where I am! Through an inviting doorway from the dining room during one of the rare hours of bright daylight lies a... named by our host, "Saloon"! Not particularly grand, except in size. Not architecturally cohesive with the rest of the house. When I asked if it were a ballroom, he exclaimed that it was an odd collection of storage sheds, which he'd replaced or unified into this Playroom... Both Ballroom & Barn!

...which at night became a collection of patina & reflection... with a pair of billiard tables holding a mirrored unreality.

Intimate spaces for conversation... furnished with second-hand found style renewed in functional manner, much for effect. Crazy bits were the sparkly plush pillows with fringe of feathers!

An "Oriental" Inglenook had been invented like the stage-set it was out of lathe lattice & red paint, corniced by an over-sized Art Deco frieze -- very handsome!

 

...repeated in reflections of even deeper intimacy...
 

The pastiche of numerous overlaid carpets pleased both eyes & feet...

 

& of course we are where the horns would reappear!

Our mysterious host, when we met him at morning tea time had invited us for cocktails & dinner that evening. 

Rohan proves to be an immediately captivating Mad Hatter!

 

 He could not be anything less than a fully immersive host for the fete...

This was a memorable event for we, by now seasoned & recently a bit bedraggled travelers... were more than happy to party!

 In the end, I came to better know Rohan's notions... including the name of this venue as a Saloon...

Dinner began with soup... served in bowls designed like hot water bottles, sealed with corks.

After being invited to tour his private apartment-- we trundled down the red corridor to our rooms:  Peony... Rose... Lily...

We picked up our hats, & ventured back into the rain.

GUEST HOUSE TWO -- SINHAGIRI -- Part One...

 

We arrived in late wet afternoon at what seemed perhaps to have been an English country house. It had a sheltering port-cochere, with several personable guys wearing knit caps with umbrellas to help us gather ourselves unloadeding our bags, while we made introductions... meeting the staff at Sinhagiri. 

I'd had a peek peek at the garden as we drove in which was lush, if a bit formal in it's groomed plantings.

By now we were thoroughly damp & cold, but also were quickly warmed when we entered, by a exuberant abundance of deep tones of lipstick red... walls to ceiling, with rugs to suite! 

A long tall passage with rather pointed gothic beams at the ceiling & several sections with large frames around facing mirrors added to the heated mystery. A country house for a gay cousin of Dracula?!? It was, all in all... at least spellbinding... 

That color scheme continued to dominate the salon toward the back. There a pair very heavy cast bronze chairs or, more truly, thrones, seemed to settle the whole effect while quite sharply eluding any comfort in that end of the room. This was proving a severe version of very high kitsch! 

Otherwise, the room Otherwise we found this room comfy, especially when a fire was lit. A cozy gathering hub for dinner. We peeked to explore it's counter-part for tea & coffee as we just as the light filled morning room just beyond, also cozy...  with views of the garden lapping the rain.

Another telescope... just as in Boutique 79. I'm sensing themes of the owner/designer of These three properties Joel has chosen for us. Both scopes are fine specimens, thus their placement for being looked at, not through! I do love all notions of enhancing vision...

 

Over the mantle a gong hung in a stand of two horns... bringing along that motif of our collector/designer of Boutique 78, the first guest house, in Bentota,

 

Over the mantle a gong hung in a stand of two horns... bringing along that motif of our collector/designer of Boutique 78, the first guest house, in Bentota,

We are learning about our host, whom Joel met on his previous return visit to Sri Lanka... now bringing us along on a repeat of that adventure... profiting for his experiences. We are in the presence of a playful mind... down to his andirons!

One of the large rooms off the hallway held a collection of beautiful hand painted kimonos, displayed, with sleeves lifted to allow viewing from both front & back...

 

Each unique in beauty...

Of course my eyes caught more mundane practical beauty as well...

Our bedrooms were themed around their bold floral wallpapers. Ours was peony

Oh my!

We found a rack with a variety of clothes: jackets & coats, even a fur... hung in invitation al drag. I put on an demurely lively sport coat... dressy & warm, if a couple sizes too large.

 

One ultimate destination for this group of foodies was the dining room, which did not in any manner  disappoint, of course!

Even something for a boy from Kansas...

Dining was to step into a fulsome bouquet of boldly painted floral walls surrounded its huge round table. With a bit of period figurative painting in dramatic contrast to the blossoms out of which it wrenched  a gesture of ecstatic astonishment... what fun! Joel enticed Nana to mimic.

 

 Thus we came to be at home in what was some zenith in decorating.  Basically, it was a collection of the finds of an imaginative eye in a wildly creative mind... picking furniture, oddments & tchotchke from second-hand establishments & auctions. It becomes a fair masterpiece! 

 

Having a known proclivity for waxing into cataloging with my camera everything I see, I must practice some brevity in this blog. So I'll trim this post at this point & add another soon... because I have so much more to share!