Saturday, October 20, 2012

Practical Magic!

No, I'm not blogging about how to cook your dinner without touching the stove - this blog is about the 1998 movie, "Practical Magic", starring Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing.


I absolutely adored the characters, particularly the Dianne Wiest character of "Aunt Bridget." (She's on the right in the B andy W photo.)

  

The movie, which was taken from the book "Practical Magic" by Alice Hoffman, involves the story of two sisters who were raised by their Aunts Francis and Bridget in a fabulous old Victorian house.  For me, it is this house which has the starring role in the movie.  You'll see why here:





Pretty cool structure, eh?  Unfortunately, it was built just for the movie and was only a facade, as you can see from the in progress photo here:


As with any hedgewytch, the kitchen is the heart of the home.  Although my mountain cottage kitchen is much smaller (and darker), I take inspiration from this design:










I adore all the glass and cloche arrangements.  I've been inspired to use a few in my own hedgewytchy cottage kitchen:



The Practical Magic conservatory is another intriguing room filled with plants, herbs and mysterious hand blown glass:





The last photograph is of Gary examining the conservatory with interest, prior to meeting with Sally to discuss the disappearance of Gillian's boyfriend.

If you've seen the movie, you know that one of the final scenes takes place in the parlour, another fine and wytchy room.






The parlour is comprised of soft, moss greens and nature colors with framed botanical pressings on the walls.  A soothing room filled with comfortable furniture and good memories.  The painting done on the walls somewhat resembles a Tree of Life motif.

All in all, the interior and exterior design of the home for this movie was done with great detail and care.  I have found it to be intriguing and inspiring, and I hope you've enjoyed the tour.

Happy Practical Magic!