Friday, February 26, 2010

Pets, People, and Poop

You know the great thing about having a blog is I get to choose what to write about. Total power trip..kinda of like my three year old regressing to pooping in his pullup. It is all about control baby!

After working with the public for almost ten years in my stores I have come to the conclusion that clients with pets and kids are better. Why? They go with the flow more. Nothing is worse than a client without pets or children.I mean one who has never had them. They are less understanding when something is late or doesn't go as planned. Not that ever happens in reality.Ha! Ha!

One of the most difficult clients I ever had was trying to knock down a baby birds nest with a broom  when I arrived at their front door. Mind you , that I could hear the  baby birds chirping in it as I stood below. She didn't want the birds to poop on her front porch. The next time I will take this as a sign from the universe to run fast and hard to the next client.Well, I guess I have wasted enough time and must go paint. Yipppeee!!!!

Oh and the photo above is a baby bird I saved that fell from it's nest in my backyard. I had to carry that bird around with me and feed it every fifteen minutes or so. I mushed bird food with water and suet stuck it on the end of a cuticle stick and shoved it in his beak. He or she lived and moved on happily to a bird sanctuary in Dallas.

Finding Focus


Creating a focal point for this kitchen was hard. The actual kitchen cooking area has three walls of cabinets..no windows..no fabulous architectual features ..except for the flourescent lights in the popcorn ceiling. Fabulous hanging pendants were out because of the neccessary hood vent. I admit I was stumped for a while. The long wall of cabinets with the desk is the focal wall when you enter from the main living area
and it really needed something to break up the boring bulk of all those cabinets.Plus the room felt cut off from the rest of the house and the amazing outside lake views.

Step one..it is a biggy. Tear down the wall with the refrigerator.
Now the room is a rectangle with symmetrical windows on either end. One set looks out to the lake in front of the table. (You can see the chairs in this photo) The other window is directly opposite and obscured by the current wall. It faces the expansive front yard.

My idea



I hope you can see my pencil sketch. I seriously need to get with technology but I love to cut and paste
and the feel and look of pencil on paper. For that matter, I love the smell of bookstores and as much as I like
 Lonny Magazine it just isn't the same without paper.


Details of Wall A:
Long symmetrical wall of cabinets with a refreigerator on one end and a pantry on the other.

Beadboard painted in semi-gloss stretches from counter to crown molding.

Iron brackets( You know I love steel and Joe too) with white open shelves

One fabulous superb vintage mirror -let there be light

With an equally fabulous light fixture in front of it possibly in mercury glass. We need to bounce as much light around as possible.

Butcher block countertops  to add warmth plus they are seroiusly economical and look great.( Don't even say they are hard to maintain I have them and grew up with them)


Details of Wall B: (The refrigerator wall)

Gone ... see you later.... asta la vista baby.


Insert new idea here


I know another hard to see pencil sketch ..get over it already.

I have been dying to use this concept... louvered shutter like doors. They keep appearing in all my favorite designers rooms check out jillsharpstyle.com look in dossier habitat design.

OOOOps!!! I digress. The existing window facing the front yard gets a window seat with storage underneath
and lots of fabulous cushions. The walls on either side have built in cabinets with sliding louvered shutter doors in a contrast color to all the white.  The exisitng dining table gets a facelift with paint topped with a drum shade pendant possibly something like this one from shinehome.com.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Still Painting

I have started liking the grey I am covering up. Well that is not exactly truthful. ...I liked the fact that I was done painting when it was grey.... not the way the room looked. I will be painting all day tomorrow happy Friday and maybe Monday. It is going to take two coats minimum to cover, possibly three.

So as I joyfully painted today and listened to Sade I contemplated why we choose to change or not to change our paint colors. Do we change for inspiration? Or because it looks dated? We just don't like it anymore? The walls are dirty or faded?

And what does that say about me...do I really need therapy when I am choosing to paint the room the same color I custom created 11 years ago. Am I really that boring or worse yet that set in my ways?

 My house is redecorated on a weekly basis sometimes daily depending on my mood so I am not afraid of change. The dining room table could be in the office one week or the kitchen the next. The pieces I select have to work with everything else in the house which is pretty easy for me because anything goes.

After a few hours of thought I concluded..it is just the right color for this house and I am lucky to still love it after all this time. My color reminds me of sunlight streaming in all day long and it looks good day or night....dressed up or down. And even better both hubby and my son agree it is their favorite...I have them so well trained.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Texas Two Step


  Amazing how rustic can look so modern and refined.Check out Erin Martin Design 


I see a white door and I want to paint it black

The house I grew up in had black doors and now I want them too. A quick post before I start painting....

Not sure where this is from




Southern Accents The doors are similarto the house I grew up in black doors with brass hardware.



Domino Mag



The movie set from It's Complicated



Cottage Living

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Beauty in Branches


I am dreaming of this chandelier ...
                                 or maybe this one for the master
But not for the 5000 price tag the one above costs.
I think I can make one. Sounds like time for another cut and paste day.

Gone Stark Raving Mad

I shared the fabulous grey that Robert and I finished painting the master bedroom with...only
five days ago....well I am off to the paint store to change it. Good thing the gates aren't ready.

I truly have lost my mind. It just makes the creme color of the silk curtains too yellow and no matter how I try to justify replacing them I can't. I haven't even shared this with Robert yet. I am just too mortified to tell him. But I know I am right so here goes two more gallons of Natura in a custom color out of my pocket.

Now I am desperately in need of a grey and creme stripe dhurrie rug for the floor to go with the bedding  fabric that caused all the fuss. Everyone who sees this fabric in my house wants to use it. Over the weekend I learned that a friend of mine loved it so much she took pictures of it when she stayed in my house last summer and never told me.



Oh and I need a white branch chandelier any suggestions?

Monday, February 22, 2010

Garden Gate

                      
                       I love this close up photo of the gate for either side of the bed in the master bedroom.

Favorite Finds

My two new favorite things... totally unrelated but equally fabulous.


Benjamin Moore Natura Paint.Incredible coverage and absolutely no new paint smell.
We painted almost 800 sq feet with less than 2 gallons.



                                                                                                  




I just can't pass up a pair of fabulous shoes.



Marvelous Madagasscar

    The seductive lines of this vintage table take my breath away. 
Dark rich wood tones combined with teeny touches of gold make this table a standout for this master bedroom. Now if only the wall gates could be shown....


But like in all real design projects there is always at least one crisis. The gates were 1/4" to tall or the ceilings were 1/4" to short. All in all it was easier to retrofit the gates than it was to raise the ceiling so we wait to have them resized and redelivered.

The walls are painted after several samples of grey and a creamy yellow were lived with...

The professionals arrive me below



Isn't it a lovely picture?  Nothing like holding the camera at arms length and taking a picture of yourself
to create a flattering picture.
My picture of Robert isn't much better.



The finished wall color. Everything but the table and the chair are going.Oops forgot the ceiling still has to be painted. Room is large 24 feet x 14 feet  with 10 foot ceilings. We taped painted and put everything back before the hubby came home.




Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Barn Doors

 
 I am not sure when my fascination with barn doors began I love their texture, simplicity and function. Photo credit goes to muledriver. My favorites slide on steel tracks which might be the reason I love them.Out and about to find a barn door today for a teenage boys room.




Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Starting Simple with Cut and Paste

I bought these great prints from a company called Natural Curiosities see them at http://www.naturalcuriosities.com/.  I confess to being a packaging, wrapping paper junkie. The presentation is always as important as what is inside the box. They wre originally going to be hung inside vintage dutch bulb crates down a long hall. Unfortunately, the brown ground color did not have enough impact against the mesh screen bottoms of the wood crates.

The grey green fabric wrapped box with printed paper inside is a delight even empty. On the inside you will find a beautiful printed design of all different types of plants creatures and objects.
The available subject matter ranges from Lord Bodner's Octopus to Paul Marrot's Memoirs of France,
and a personal favorite quote "If at first an idea isn't absurb there is no hope for it." Albert Einstein.

I have had these prints for awhile and hadn't quite decided what to do with them.
The rain washed away my plans for the day so I scrounged around and came up with a backup plan.
Pulled together some branches (slightly waterlogged), burlap fabric, blank canvases and the neccessary tools glue gun, staple gun and a pair of scissors.



My natural nature is imaptient so I began cutting using the canvas as a template. You could measure and do exact dimensions but it isn't important in this project.

A little glue along the edges along with staples will hold the burlap securely.

Make sure to trim so you do not end up with too much bulky fabric when you fold the corners in.
Robert is much more the perfectionist than I am.
How exciting... we went from a white canvas covered covered board to a burlap covered board.
Next hot glue the print to the burlap and trim the sticks to border the trim. Just  a little more hot glue and voila a rustic art piece is done. Start to finish shouldn't be longer than 15 minutes and cost is less than 10 dollars plus the cost of the print.



The completed double print canvases.




The prints hung above the fireplace. This is only a temporary home
their final destination is a more rustic location in a lakehouse.



Was a fun rainy day project felt like being in kindergarten. Which makes me think this would be a great project to use kids art with instead of prints.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Rain Rain Go Away. Come Back Some Other Day

The view through my window.
Needless to say...moving our large iron gold gates and madagassar ebony table were out of the question today. So it is time for an impromptu project. We are putting the materials together now and I will post the project later.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

So You Didn't Make The Cut.. Make Your Own Dreams Happen

Oh well! I haven't heard anything so instead of pouting I am making my own show. Who needs a TV... we have the internet. Stay tuned for our first filming next week. We will post a room makeover step by step as we progress. Now, there have to be a few more people out there with talent who didn't make it either.So send me your posts and videos and we will select the best and add them to our blog.

Our Team at Work

Our Man of Steel...Joe can
bend, weld and make beauty and art out of steel.

Samples of his talent:

No detail is missed when it comes to our dashing Robert.
His accessories, flowers, and creativity make a room come alive.
We are going to do a feature post on his work. Stay tuned.


Me. Textile fabric guru and big picture idea person always trying to make something out of something else.
A few of my custom made fabric pieces.

Ruched inset detail on silk curtains...custom slipcovers for antique chairs...matching slipcover and curtains.