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!