Rockin' and Rollin'

Hello Hello!  For your viewing pleasure, I have here a 1940's leather rocking chair...

Ain't she a beaut?? The leather was, to say the least, dry rotted. The springs were sagging and poking through the bottom, and the cushion was far from cushiony. But my client was rocked to sleep in this chair by her mother when she was a baby...hard to not respect that one. So, trying to keep as much of the original integrity in tact, I got to work.

The first thing I noticed was that the entire back of the chair was stuffed with horse hair.  I knew that was what they used to use, I had just never personally worked on a chair this old to have come across it before.  The second thing I noticed, and was completely surprised by, was that the seat cushion wasn't actually a cushion.  When I pulled back the original leather, straw started to fall out.  It was EVERYWHERE!  The seat was actually straw that had basically disintegrated into dust.

What a MESS.

Instead of real leather, which can get pretty pricey, my client opted for the vinyl substitute (you can't tell the difference).

The nailheads that were originally on it pulverized when I tried to pry them off.  So new ones had to be purchased as well as new leather strapping for trim.

All in all, I think she turned out pretty good - a far cry from where she was when I got my hands on her.

FYI:

I found this emblem on the back of the chair and thought it looked pretty cool.  The BL Marble Chair Co. in Bedford, OH (not far from where I live).   So I did some Googling and found this article from the Bedford Historical Society.  Apparently, it was a big office, factory, and, residential chair company that also built airplane propellers (random) during WWII.  Just a little factoid that makes working on this particular piece quite an honor :)





Bathroom Redo = My favorite room in the house

After getting my hands on every room in our little house, the bathroom was going to be the biggest and most expensive remodel.....so I kept putting it off.  Don't get me wrong, I really really really wanted to rip that sucker apart, but we only have one bathroom and to have it ripped up for an unknown amount of time was going to be a pain!  But finally I got the greenlight from the man-of-the-house to get started, and boy did I!

 

The walls were butter yellow and the trim was grey.  The fixtures were all outdated and pretty plain.  The room is only 4 x 5 feet excluding the tub, so there was alot to cram into a tiny little space.  The floor was basic vinyl and stained in several places.  There was ceramic trim around the shower stall and the sink (not sure why, though, because it served no purpose and stopped halfway down the wall). 

I started with the floor

It actually came up pretty easily, just very very messy!

This is after the floor, ceramic trim, and covebase was ripped up - nowhere else to put it but in the bathtub!

Next was tacking everything off the walls and spackling the holes - fyi: we had no idea there was a hole behind the mirror!

I've always wanted to get my hands on a tile floor - I had some experience tiling the top of an end table, but NOTHING prepared me for the headache of tiling a floor.  Especially one with this many grout lines!

So here I am amidst a sea of black and white tiles.  I was crosseyed by the time this was over! In fact, I could swear that the tiles were crooked no matter how much I measured.  They weren't, I was just becoming delusional!

The walls were painted crisp white to open up the space.  But white is soooo not me.  So in order to get some color in there, I painted the ceiling apple green.

The overall colorscheme for the space became black, white, and green which I incorporated into accessories (towels, vases, storage bins, etc).

We bought a new sink that was small enough for the space, but still stylish and tall enough for a 6 foot man to brush his teeth.

I added a piece of wallpaper sample to the front of the sink to dress it up a bit.

All the fixtures are chrome and porcelain, including the teapot style faucet on the sink, the light fixture, the towel holder, and toilet paper holder.

The room didn't have a linen closet, so I used this store-bought over-the-toilet stand to hold towels, makeup, hair stuff, etc.  The switched out the nobs to some black and white ones I had on-hand.

The suprise hole behind the mirror was perfect for a small medicine cabinet, so that provided extra storage space for small items.  The key to this makeover was to provide as much storage as possible in the small space we had to work with.

Here is the green ceiling (it's hard to get a good shot) minus the crown molding because we haven't figured that out yet.  But it really looks great having the color on the ceiling instead of the wall - it shakes things up a bit.

So there you have it.  Blood, sweat, and tears went into this bathroom and I absolutely LOVE it!!

Until next time :)

Wicker Kicker

My best friend was promised a fine piece of J. Paris furniture when her and her husband purchased their new home in September...of 2009!  It took me awhile, but I finally got her her housewarming gift :)

This chair is actually a pair, but I decided to split them up.  The wicker was ripped on the back when I got them (read: picked them up on garbage night) but I would have removed it regardless.  Removing it, however, caused a small problem initially....it meant there was no back.  I had to create one out of a piece of hard plastic sheeting I had lying around.  That became the template for attaching the back's fabric to.  The back itself became a completely separate piece that was then attached the the actual chair. 

The seat was, of course, recovered.  The chair body was stripped, sanded, stained, and varnished.  I used a combo of dark walnut and red oak stain (I only had a little of each left!).

Better late than never, I always say :)

Pretty Powder Room

I want a new bathroom soooooo bad!  It is the only room in the house that we haven't altered in any way and it drives me crazy!  It's small (not much you can do about that) and the color of butter (ech!).  I have sooo many plans for this cute little space.

This picture looks almost identical to the layout of our bathroom, and what makes it even better is that I want this floor!  The classic white hexagons with black squares in between has been a desire of mine for quite some time. 

Black and white has been a timeless combination that I always fall back on.  Usually pairing it with a bright pop of color, it can be classic and modern all at the same time.

Because the room is so tiny, I don't want to paint the walls any kind of color - just plan on painting them a crisp white.  And since white isn't usually on my visually stunning color wheel, I need to give that pop somewhere else.  Where, do you ask?  The ceiling, of course!

Now, granted, this is a dining area, but the idea is the same. The walls are white and the purple ceiling literally jumps out at you. But the fact that it is up high rather than on all four walls means that they won't feel like they're closing in on you.  Purple isn't exactly gender neutral, so I was thinking a nice apple green :)

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

Even though I toy with the idea of an adorable pedestal sink, in reality, it won't provide the storage that we so desperately need. But if it was a perfect world, this would be my sink:







 
 
 
 
 
This is a project I plan to tackle in the next few months, so we shall see how it goes :)

Collector's Paradise

From a very young age, my parents were well aware of the fact that I was a packrat.  It was in my genes, afterall.  Growing up (and to this day) my dad had a 3 car garage that no one ever parked their car in.  I loved it! Everytime I went in there, I saw something different.  Even now, as a grown adult, I stop in the garage each time I come over just to see what's new.

His dad never threw anything away, he never threw anything away, and I never threw anything away.  Every nook and cranny of my childhood bedroom was crammed with some "important" item that I swore I would use again someday.  Now don't get me wrong...our house wasn't worthy of an episode of Hoarders or anything.  We just liked to collect stuff.

With that being said, I have successfully acquired quite the collection of collections in my relatively short lifetime thus far.  Each one is special, each one is important, and each one has a story.  I get a thrill when I add a new piece or when I find the perfect piece I've been searching for.  And new collections branch off all the time.

Anyone have a collection(s) they are particularly proud of?  Or just love to talk about?  That's the thing for me - they become a conversation piece when displayed on a shelf or in a little nook somewhere in the house.

I found a website today where a woman posted a picture of a different collection she had every day for an entire year!  That is insane!! (although, if I thought about it enough, I could probably almost match her!)

So tell me about a collection you have, or one you want to start.  It can be as little or as big as you want.  I'd love to hear about it - even send me a pic.  I'll post some of my favorites for you :)

vintage coffee cups

vintage thread spools

cobalt wine bottles

random coffee cups from vacations and trips

Coca-Cola memorabilia

shot glasses from places I've been (and then some)

vintage cream and sugar dishes

old and new teacups - by far my biggest collection (I have over 50! not all of them are even up yet!)

model cars - can't take credit though - these are Dan's :)

vintage perfume bottles and candy dish in the hob-knob style

vintage suitcases and steamer trunks

skeleton keys

hat boxes

probably my favorite - Eiffel Tower statues :)

Anthropologie = Love

If you have never been to an Anthropologie store, I suggest you do some mapquesting and find your local branch.  Or just google the heck outta "Anthropologie window displays" and you will see why.  Now, the clothes and home decor is waaaaaaay outta my price range, but it is definitely worth checking out in person.  The piece de resistance of the entire store are the windows.  I'm not sure how often they change them out, but they have an entire team of people who's only job is to spend ALL day creating these incredibly unique displays.

I mean, these are BOOKS for crying out loud.  I've done this bookfolding technique before, and let me tell you, it took me two hours to fold just ONE!

More books!

Balloon Animals - I mean, come on!

I'm not even sure what this is exactly, but it is definitely one of my all time favorites!

Now, I could go on forever and ever posting pics of these fantastic windows - or you can google like I previously suggested.  But my point of this post is that one of my new tasks at my new job is to decorate.  I was given complete artistic liberties to come up with something to decorate a 20 ft long by 4 ft high space above some shelving in the showroom.

Here is my inspiration:

Made entirely of coffee filters.  I spent all of my Saturday shift (and most of my Saturday evening) making hundreds of coffee filter flowers.  Of course, my designs are usually better in theory than in actuality, so we will see how the installation goes.  But stay tuned for updates of how I implement coffee filters into a carpet store display :)

New Look, Same Great Taste

Since I am no longer renting in Kent, I felt an update was appropriate - refresh, renew, rename.

Plus, I feel like my brain is overwhelmed with these awesome and awe-inspiring ideas on a daily basis and I just don't have anywhere to release it all.  So instead of just "finished" products as they slowly occur, I thought I would get into the habit of posting inspirational pictures and ideas that I find too good to pass up.  It is just as valuable to me as it is to all of you - it gives me a virtual catalogue (besides bookmarking everything I like) to keep all of my design desires in one place.  Plus it provides a portal for you to be able to feel the love on all of the nifty and funky designs I come across.  So please peruse and enjoy :)  Happy Designing!