Breathe In, Breathe Out

Life is about to get fuller.  I've slowed down a bit, as of yesterday to get ready for baby.  I love the floating beauties above.   Geronimo balloon-troopers have me in a frenzy to want to celebrate life.   Aren't they fun?  100 Layer Cake is having a pop up sale on their splendidness until Friday.  Check it out!

Lemon, Lime, and Ginger Hazelnut Crunch Mousse. Sounds like a mouthful, huh?  That's where we are in coming up with a baby name too.  Throw some out there for us.  We need help.  Bad.  {source}

blissfulbblog.com/

Love this soft landing pad for a little one from anthropology.com/

Can't wait to share some news with you soon.  As well as projects that I have just about got licked.  

xoxo

sharon

Summer Buzz

Hi All!  How's everybody fairing in the hot, hot heat? I've been meaning to post for awhile now, but things have gotten crazy backed up with many appointments booked before I have baby.  Some fun ones that I can't wait to share.  I really love the clients I'm working with. New and Old.

If you'd like to see some snippets of the summer soiree I threw at Pickwick House, I just noticed that Elsie blogged a sweet little post about it here.  Thank you, Elsie!  It was an honor to have you and Emma and Mallory there to help us celebrate wedding season and summer entertaining!!

So...
13 days til due date.   I'm getting all day-dreamy wondering about what our little guy is going to look like.  As you know, I have two great sons already...{one taller than me and one inching up on me by the minute} by my former husband.

This baby boy is a first for Will.  So, I'm loving Will's excitement for this big first-moment to arrive for him.  Not to mention Syl's three year-old lovey-dovey affection towards the baby in my belly too.

****************

Okay, sneak peak of a quick-quick-quick project I'm in the midst of.  I haven't even put together an inspiration board yet, but am wanting the vibe to be rustic-cottage meets modern funk. 

Installation completion date will be mid-week, with a photo shoot also mid-week for a home profile in a local magazine.

And, to throw more grunt-work-moving-furniture fun into my last days of pregnancy, one of my projects will be photographed for an interior design award next week.  Luckily, the home-owner is an OBGYN and can deliver my baby if I go into labor.

A potting shed/wine tasting room

Interior of Shed:  Love the herringbone brick floor, but we're looking at breaking up {softening up} some of this brick

Hansel and Gretel Door: Rough Sawn Cedar Door

Sketch-up I did for wood cabinetry being custom built on two walls 

Wanting to hard-coat paint this jack-and-the-beanstalk-boy

pedestal table {must for the tiny space}

The one we purchased yesterday.  LOVE the base!

A chair option??

Chair inspiration {source: HGTV design star}

Boxes for storing Bird Seed.  Going to add castor wheels to the bottoms

Burlap Coffee Sac Cloth to be used for custom made pillows and wall panels

Trying to figure out a rustic-chic-wall panel design to go on back wall.  Print side?  Plain side???

This is what I decided on:  No print + BIG tacks. 6'x4' double panels to soften the interior + Taylor-ize the walls

Wall Panels with Tacked edging inspiration.  Mary McDonald does no wrong with tacks.  I LOVE tacked edging on anything!!


Stay tuned for tinier updates!



xo
sharon

Just Chill! {July Birthdays}

Hi all.  Hope your 4th of July day is swell and not just swell-tering hot.  We've really been having a relaxing few days, with food, fireworks and water.  I hope you are too!

                                       {sylvie in her ruffled bottomed suit by our stock tank}

I went flea marketing with Will, his mom, and Sylvie yesterday and we came home with a truck load of fun projects {spray paint and upholstering jobs}.

I was so worn out yesterday, especially after this past week of work, that I actually took a big nap {a rare thing for me to do} to rest up for our little baby-greet-and-meet.  It's funny, how at the end of pregnancy, the weight really wears you down. Will's mom has been spoiling us with good food and fun as usual though, and this morning there was a sweet neighborhood parade that started and ended at her wonderful house and back yard with popsicles + watermelon + bubbles + water balloons.

source

I've been feeling a real urge to nest at our house.  There is so much that I want to get done before the little guy arrives. We just rearranged all the rooms and everything is still waiting to find its place.  Will has done so much at the house lately.  Adding crown molding, rebuilding the front porch, and continuing on with his great landscaping.  I'm so proud of what he does.

But, there are the little things that I notice and want to move on with before the big day.  I try to stay chill about these things, but I guess it's the nervousness thing that I get at the end.  We still have a table saw in the front room.  It might need to be replaced with a crib, rocker, baby clothes, and some dust-free floors.  With less than three weeks away, i'm ready for the fresh paint to dry and the great gust of sweet baby's breath to infiltrate...I can hardly wait for that goodness to blow thru our doors.

source

I'm also planning on setting up nursery at the shop.  So, for those of you who've been wondering if I'm taking time off, the answer is mostly "no".  I wish I could take a small breather, but it will be time to get back to work right away to keep the ship running...Baby in tow, because I'll be a nursing mama.

Thanks so much for listening to my long, and restless rambles.  I appreciate all of you so much!!!

Will is off to buy sprinklers.  They are my favorite fourth of july thing.

Have a chill day!!

xoxo
sharon

Pickwick House + Re-purposed Stuff

It's a good thing my air conditioner is working today!  It was on the blink last week, here at the shop.

So question of the day...What to do when it's this hot out?  DECORATE.  I love decorating the house and bikes for the fourth, don't you?   Here at the shop, I'm loving a few new set-ups we've done.  We didn't go overboard with red white and blue, but we do have a few corners devoted to Old Glory.

Here are a few snapshots.  Kendra took some better photos from the soiree that I'll share with you later.  By the way, it was great to see new faces at the shop.  I had people from Branson and Joplin come for the event.  So sweet!!

Here's a little update we've got going today for all you locals to see what you can come in and purchase today to make your gatherings have a little glittering effect.

Old Dress Form 

Summertime, and the livin is EASY

Pickwick House Vignette for the 4th...the frame sold right after I set it up.

My daughter, Eleanor, at the store today trying on a beautiful feathered Elsie head-dress.

Okay, now a little A.D.D. action-dillioni:  I'll skip now to a current project where I was trying to configure some kind of cool light fixture to fit inside some 4foot barrel burlap shades I designed for Boca Mocha. As you know, Boca Mocha , the restaurant I've been talkin about, opened yesterday.  There are a couple big things that we weren't able to install... but for the most part, it's done!!!  {And, I am WORN out.}

As of last Saturday, it was getting down to the wire before opening, and I still had no idea what fixtures to put in.  I even dreamed one night, that a vendor who calls me regularly with his cool finds, called me to tell me he had six oversized disco balls to hang inside the six barrel shades I had.  In my dream, it seemed to be a perfect juxtaposition to the burlap...a little glitz to balance the rustic burlap.  Weird, I tell you.  Not really the look we're going for, but in my dreams, I was overjoyed with excitement to have fewer questions in my head on the almost-to-deadline project {5 days from opening}.

 Back to the project... the image above is a retro bowl-shaped shade intended for lighting.  Backing up a bit to the dream I had....The very next morning after, I happened to see that very vendor the next morning at a yard sale, and told him what I had dreamt of the night before...that he found JUST the right thing for me.  Well, a few hours later in that day, the vendor called to tell me he found eight of them for the barrel shades.  {So sweet to have good resources and good people to help me}.  

Anyway, with these bowl shaped "boca-bocas", I thought they might just be the thing to give off a good, industrial-like looking bulb from below.  The idea was good, but the dome was too small and did nothing to light the huge shade.  Also, I should tell you that the shades were first and originally made to be 4 x 4 feet.  TOO BIG and almost hilariously so. Here's an image of what one looked like before I had it cut down to be two feet tall.  This big thing looked to be more like a private changing booth you'd see on the beach or something..

In the process of design, plans ALWAYS change.  Here is an image of another design possibility that I had floating in my head.  A pretty chandelier peaking out from under the burlap.

So, here's the final product. No big, industrial bulb, no chandelier, no cheesy-I-detest-last-minute-when-all-else-fails-lowes-purchased light.  Just a big, beautifully lit shade, underlit with a simple, simple THIS below.

I found these enamel pendants when I was driving to the country to do a wedding.  A junk shop had them sitting out front for sale.

So, what do you think of the end result?  I think it's contemporary, organic, and HOT all at the same time.  The green drapes are happy too, huh?  All the words we used to describe the place in the initial planning stages.

So, where'd the bowl shaped boca-bocas go???  Well, they are siting on a table at the shop serving a very different purpose.  Elegant Place Setting Domes.  Do you like them?  I tied knots of silk thru the holes at the top.  I have eight of them for sale and I think they are just the perfect thing for a crab leg boil, or shrimp and grits meal for a Fourth of July Picnic, eh???  What do you think?  Would you use them for your dinner party?  Yay or Nay?

I hope you're all having a good weekend.

I hope to have sweet family time and love under fireworks.

xoxo
sharon  

Relief to The Abused

Front Side of Relief Effort.  Back Side still unfinished and waiting for brushed nickel tacks.

Remember these chairs?  I got these from a place called STD's.  Of course, I WOULD be attracted to a place with a name like that.  Funny little thing... after I licensed my business name a few years ago, I realized the initials of Sharon Taylor Designs actually match up with this place.  Probly a good indicator for why I fall for and want to rescue things that are abused, germy, bruised and overlooked.

These chairs had mouse droppings caked into the the crevices of all the seats.  No worries, they have been relieved, disinfected and stripped to the wood.  I did not touch them!  Only purchased them.

What are you all doing for the fourth?  We're making it a stay-cation in our back yard.  I want to see the fireworks at Hammons Field.  Glad there is something going on in town.  Don't forget Boca Mocha Opening.  Let me know what you think of it.  I'm pretty proud of it.  Also, happy that I worked with amazing owners who had great input, ideas, and trust.  Thanks Trimbles and Kellys~!

xoxo
sharon