A living room at the end of the day, deep in January, in the city. On the wall, framed in pale pine, a mountain poster: a snowy summit reflected in a lake, glacier-blue sky, snow left as pure white. In front, a boiled-wool throw, a raw wood coffee table, a lamp with warm light. No window looks out on the peaks, and yet the room breathes altitude. That is all the winter-sports poster knows how to do: bring mountain air where there is none.

Ski imagery rests on a few codes inherited from the resort posters of the 1920s to the 1950s. A high-altitude sky blue, a clean snow white, sometimes a sweater red or a pennant red to wake the whole thing up. The drawing is crisp, the skier reduced to a silhouette mid-turn, the chairlift and the fir set down like signs. This blue-and-white palette, fresh and luminous, structures a room without weighing it down, and pairs with the light wood of chalet interiors.

The blue-and-white palette

It all starts with the contrast between blue and white. A glacier blue or a midnight blue for the sky and the shadows, an off-white for the snow, and that is almost enough. You warm this cold pair with a touch of wood and a red or ochre accent, the only color departure a ski poster allows itself. In the room, extend the logic: an ecru throw, a teal cushion, a wooden basket, a candle. Avoid saturated colors that would break the freshness; mauve and apple green have no place in a snow setting.

Room by room, chalet spirit

  • Living room: a large summit format above the sofa, to open a window onto the mountain.
  • Entryway: a vintage resort poster that announces the chalet spirit from the doorstep.
  • Bedroom: a calm snow landscape, soft blue, for a hushed atmosphere at bedtime.
  • Dining corner: a trio of resorts framed in pine, lined up above the sideboard, like a collection of souvenirs.

Frame, wood, light

Here the frame is a piece of decor in its own right. Pale pine, larch or blond oak recalls the wood of chalets and warms the cold snow palette; off-white works too, on a richly colored wall. Center the poster around 1.55 meters off the floor, at eye level, and bring it close to wood, a shelf, a sideboard, paneling, to tie the image to the material. Light matters: a warm bulb, around 2700 kelvin, nicely contradicts the cold blue of the poster and suggests a fireplace close by.

The ski poster does not show a descent. It sets down a summit, a sky, a silence, and is enough to bring a mountain winter into a city flat.

At Montmartre Poster, the spirit of resorts and peaks lives in our mountain landscapes and vintage travel posters, printed on 275 gsm art paper. Enough to compose a chalet corner, blue, white and wood, that holds all year, long after the snow has melted.