Gothic Style - The Good, the Bad and the Southern

Hooked on Houses recently showcased a post on Kat Von D's house.  It was recently posted for sale, but then taken off the market.  It was, however, a chance to peek into her goth decorating style. 

After looking through pictures of her house, my overall impression was that I've seen goth decor done much worse, but I have also seen it done much better.  Her entryway was lovely, I thought, other than the sickle waiting blade-up in the corner.

And I liked *aspects* of her living room, though overall it was a bit overkill...pun intended with all those stuffed animals.

But the dining room was overdone, as were other spaces I thought.  It got me thinking about goth interiors done well.  And in my opinion, if you want an elegantly macabre space, you have think less goth, and more Gothic...

One great recent example was the house from the recent tragically short-lived Munsters reboot, Mockingbird Lane. 

As always, click images to see larger.

The house is delightfully Victorian, decrepit but elegant.

You can see it sits down on a hill below street level, and a dark elegant entrance shows you to the steps to the front door.

All the woodwork is nearly onyx in dark richness.  And the wallpaper is elaborate and dark too.

A patterned floor celebrates the vast size of the entry. 

What was I saying about vast size?

 No gothic home is complete without a secret passageway or two.

This is the scene that made my little Domythic heart go pitter-pat.  Note not only the ravens, stained glass, and branch, but the gorgeous murals. 

More of the murals.

We see very little of the house besides the entry and the dining room in the one short episode.  But we do get to see the main bedroom.  Yes.  Oh lovely. 

 This shot better shows the Burne-Jones-esque shields mounted on the walls behind the end tables.

 

The gorgeous room we saw earlier appears to have been turned into the dining room...a Gothic triumph.  And of course I'm not biased at all because it's teal and tree-themed....

 Beautiful stained glass windows, and whaaaaaat is Portia wearing??  Wait a second...

Quick detour, sorry...wow is that garment gorgeous. 

I mean, LOOK.

 Ok back to the house.  Here you can see the stairs leading down from street level, with tilework on them.

 Little Eddie sleeps in a roll-out worthy of Dracula.  Mysterious cupboards with no immediately clear purpose add that goth edge...

 Gosh...look at all the gorgeous patterns and textures and colors on the house exterior!

 A quick glimpse of the study or library.

The house at night.

One final shot of everyone in the gorgeous dining room.

Then there's Southern Gothic style....that gnarly, swampy, half-abandoned mysterious look that makes it an exceedingly legit atmosphere for vampires (Interview with a) or witches (this movie).  Thus was the case with the recent movie, Beautiful Creatures.  Only a mediocre story in my opinion, it's still worth a watch for the visuals.

Look at this GATE:

Deep shadows against a mysterious house with a beautiful bench and urns outside.

The main room seemed a bit of a let-down to me...a bit too modern, though I do love those branchy sconces...

Old ironwork tangled with dead vines.  Deliciously atmospheric.

Ahh, once again it's the dining room that steals the show in this house.  And it's the tree theme that makes me love it.

A rich teal tablecloth sets the scene for a feast. 

One more non-decor shout-out for this film: when I am older, this is what I want to look like:

For one more example of deliciously well done Gothic style interior design, see my earlier blog post on the movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.