#1RoomChallenge: Week 4

Hi Everyone.  It's the #1RoomChallenge again.  Thank you so much for coming to see my progress.  This is week 4 of 6. I'm pretty sure I'm the last of the bloggers to post for the day.  I always have good intentions to get it up earlier in the day, but dilly-uh-dally stuff gets in the way!

 I figured since I'm last on the list below, maybe no one really gets to mine until a day later anyway, right {If at all....ha!}?  I DO so much appreciate all of your feedback.  It's really keeping me from abandoning it all together.  Just kidding. I really am enjoying it.  It's a fun project with it's challenges.  To see my three previous posts, you can go here and here and here.

I'm starting to freak out that several things still haven't shipped out yet, but maybe I should just focus on what we DO have.  

Remember the mucky green chinoise cabinet?

I decided to give it the Lizard Green Benjamin Moore High gloss.

I was actually green with envy when I saw the final product.  It turned out better than we imagined.  The picture I took here is way blown out because I took the photo while it was laying flat in the back of the truck on a really sunny day right before it was delivered to the client's house.

Then the navy queen anne chairs got their "frost-n-tips" this week.  Doesn't it look like they are wearing the caps from the old hair frosting kits?  I imagined that the queen anne twin chairs felt pretty proud of themselves that they were getting pampered these past few weeks. 

They also got a round-about trimming of tacked edging.   My upholsterer only charged $75 for both chairs to be blinged-ified out like that.  Say what?!  

Here's the next chair makeover.  This chair will be used as the secretary chair.  I'd say it's a victorian chair.  Probably one of a set of six or eight dining chairs.  This one would surely be a king or queen chair.  That or some type of chess playing chair, haha!  I paid more than I would usually pay for this type of side chair.  But because this one just looked so stately and solid, I had to have it!  I have a thing for royal looking stuff.  

I think it was something like $185 to begin with.  

Stripped down to it's skivvies or royal undergarments {if you will}. SOILED foam.

This fabric for the seat cushion was found at my local wholesale fabric store.  It's a waverly outdoor fabric.  I chose to use the wrong side out to give it a more matte looking effect.  And then, we'll be using the other side of this very same fabric for the window treatments.  I'm hoping this will help me give a layering of different textures, all while using the same tone on tones.  

Meanwhile, here is a rough snapshot of what's been brought in thus far.  

It's a lot of different colors.  Am I crazy? Will you ever even come back to visit my page?  I won't hold it against you if you don't. But is there anything you DO like about what you see?  I would love to hear your thoughts.  I know it's not for everyone.  Actually it IS for everyone.  I'm now breaking into song in hopes that you'll be charmed by my praise songs for god, if not by the mere sight of what you see here...

"All the children of the world.  Red, and yellow, black, and white."

Are you laughing or chiming in with my song here?  

  Yes, it's many styles.  I may be trying WAY too hard.  "Early American-made-mod. Chinoise. Bohemian.  French. Indian. Persian."  I may need to add some russian, african, brazilian...No, It's not going to go too much further, because you know I can only go so far with a baby in tow, and a beat up van.   I love  melting pots though.  That's what I feel this room is.  What are your favorite blends of melting pots?

So, if you don't like this week's post, maybe you'll like next week's?? It's all about the drape design and where I found my inspirations.  In the meantime, visit my facebook fan page at Pickwick House.  I'm starting a contest soon.  I invite you to "like" it to be in the running.  Or follow me on twitter where I do daily updates.  Thanks in advance for coming.   If you've made it to the end of this post, I'm beyond humbled and jumbled with excitement and will ask you now if

you've checked out the other blogger's posts yet?  If not, be sure and do that.  There are some really good ones.  Great writers/decorators/and people who explain their processes very beautifully and fully, unlike me.

{Apologies for my rambling late night post.  I've been up WAY too late.}

Suzzanne ~ Saved by Suzy

Jayden ~ Dutch.British.Love

Nicole ~ Nicole Scott Design

Kim ~ Kim Macumber Interiors

Emily ~ Rue De Emily

Jennifer ~ The Pink Pagoda

Lisa ~ Trapped in New Jersey

Kelly ~ Refresh Designs

Danylle ~ Nana Moon Shop

Taylor ~ Taylor Morgan

Jen ~ Inside Ways

Linda ~ My Crafty Home Life

Janet ~ House Four

Tiffany ~ Living Savvy

xx
sharon

#1ROOMCHALLENGE: Week 3

Hi All.

My assistant Hillary's last day was yesterday.  SAD. SAD. FACE!!  As she was coming to work, she had a wreck and totaled her car.  She's fine but I haven't felt right about it or her ever since.  It was a sad "non-goodbye" as I didn't see her at all before she left for her new ventures in St. Louis.  So, Hillary, if you're reading, just know that you are in my thoughts.  I LOVE you and know that your future is SO bright!  I'm excited to see what you do!!  And you deserve 100 times as many posts about what you've done for my business in this past year!  More to come on this girl...

Okay, so I have got things going a mile long here...

To do list:
1.  Have the secretary painted in a hard coat, high gloss, deep salmon color.  {Benjamin Moore-Pink Mix-Color Preview-2089-30}
2.  Then a second layer of fretwork design painted over the deep salmon color in a satin creme color.  Painting done by a muralist and then delivered to Nixa, Mo.
3.  Be looking and waiting patiently for several online orders to arrive and/or ship out...pillows, sheets, ikat duvet cover, ottoman empire bench for the end-of-the-bed, framed artwork by Lee Ufan.
4.  Find a chandelier that suits a man.  "No frilly girl stuff".  Something good enough to justify the removal of the ugly ceiling fan.  Client's hubby is quite attached to his ceiling fan.  This is one of those things that I run into with couples.  The wife wants a chandelier and the hubs wants his fan.  Any suggestions on coaxing or counseling between the two differing opinions here?  I mean I see the need for moving air, but isn't the need for sexy lighting/dim lights in the bedroom so much more fun with your hun?
5.  Coordinate with Kendra {my seamstress} on drapery + valance design.  She was given fabric on Monday and has two weeks to complete them.  eek...But she is so good that way.  I can throw anything at her and she whips it right up.
6.  Find a screen to go behind the bed and have it painted either green or salmon.  Not sure which. What do you think?
7.  Find a little tiny frenchy styled table to go between the navy queen annes.
8.  Figure out what "splashy" pillow will go on the bed.
9.  Have an upholsterer recover the seat for the secretary chair.
10.  Have my contracter build and install simple frames for the window valances.  Add screws for art, and finally install the drapes and valances.
11.  Have the chinoiserie cabinet painted in a bright Lizard Green from Benjamin Moore.  See if it works in the space.  Not sure that it will.  If it doesn't, I'll just sell it at the shop.
12.  Have scrolly-gustavian chair painted white {secretary chair}.

AND, finally accessorize and photograph the room so we will HOPEFULLY have something pretty to show you. {Fingers crossed, OY!!}  It will take a full day of preparing and staging for the photoshoot + an assistant on hand to help me iron everything out, stylize and add any needed flowers/props.

As you see I still have a lot left to do!

AND, it's not been without it's glitches.  Every single project has it's glitches, of course.  To give you a run down of some of those so far on this project.  Here goes...

1.  After I purchased the secretary, I found out the back legs were completely rotten.  UGGGH...That was my mistake for not checking it over really well.  In addition, the chinoiserie cabinet had a cracked leg and had been jimmy-rigged back together with glue to the point that it stood sorta crooked.  I noticed this and thought at the time it wasn't a big deal.  Then my contractor told me differently.

{All of this goes without saying, as I'm sure you know that most anytime you purchase antiques or thrift store finds, the sales are always final.  Once it's in your hands, you cannot go back and ask for a refund or discount.  So always check a piece over really well.  Don't be in a hurry.  Most of the time I try to check things out really well and if it has a flaw or two, I always ask myself first "Is the flaw something we can see as a "character enhancement", or is this a trench I'm digging for myself?  One, do I want to have to mess with one more call to see if it's something fixable.  And two, is it worth the amount of having to fix it?  If I decide it's something worth trying to salvage and use on a project, I'm always up front with the client first and foremost.  What I've found is that every person is different when it comes to these flaws.  Some either embrace flaws or shutter.  The people who shutter make me laugh sometimes.  I laugh at myself too now mind you. A LOT in fact!}

ARe you one to get hung up on perfect pieces or do you like a little FLAW--er {FLAIR}?

Okay, I was getting side tracked...back to the glitches!
The next one is a sort of glitch...but a "smart one" I caught before purchase. As you'll see, catching the glitches before purchase can be MOST beneficial to your pocket book. After going to the flea market two or three times to inspect an oriental rug that I'd been eyeing and negotiating on, I finally purchased an oriental rug.  When they were rolling it out, the owner discovered a bad spot right in the middle of the rug.  They ended up taking $400 off the total price, in addition to coming down in our initial negotiations to begin with.

I was just sick about these damaged secretary and chinoise cabinet.  $200 in repairs! But, in the end, I just told myself to look at the overall picture here.  First of all, I have two amazingly lined, good pieces with good bones. These are good ones that one rarely runs across. I also have a client that will hopefully hire me for the rest of her amazing house.  I sure hope so, because she is a dream client.  AND, my client is spending a good amount of money on this bedroom project alone...which always reflects nicely on my portfolio-ol-ee-OH!

So, in this particular instance, these pieces were things that I felt I needed to "make right" in this particular instance. I don't only do it for my client, but I also do it for myself.  I wrap myself up in these projects as if they are my own.  I do this job because in the end, it's the high that I seek in seeing it thru to the best it can be.

Okay, enough, enough, I hear you say.  Here's some progress I hope.  Tell me what you think.  I'd love to hear your thoughts/questions/suggestions.  Don't forget.  I need SERIOUS help on deciding what color to paint the screen behind the bed.  Dark Salmon...the same as the secretary?  Or, Lizard Green {think kelley green}?

Progress:

Before of  the secretary.

The Secretary in progress.

The finished product of the Secretary!

Here is the Chinoiserie cabinet that had a broken leg. 

This is one of the Lee Ufan prints I ordered. 

This is an antique tapestry that is going to be used as an overlay for the bedspread. I found it at Greater Ozarks Garage Sale this past weekend.

This is the waverly fabric being used for drapes.  We're doing valances that I'm super uber excited about.  More to come on that...

I hope you enjoyed this week's update and be sure to check back in next week!  And don't forget to check out the other bloggers to see what they have been up to...

Suzzanne ~ Saved by Suzy

Jayden ~ Dutch.British.Love

Nicole ~ Nicole Scott Design

Kim ~ Kim Macumber Interiors

Emily ~ Rue De Emily

Jennifer ~ The Pink Pagoda

Lisa ~ Trapped in New Jersey

Kelly ~ Refresh Designs

Danylle ~ Nana Moon Shop

Taylor ~ Taylor Morgan

Jen ~ Inside Ways

Linda ~ My Crafty Home Life

Janet ~ House Four

Tiffany ~ Living Savvy

xx

sharon

One Room Challenge: Week 2

Hi all.  It's week number two here of the one room challenge!  Last Wednesday I shared with you the 'before" pictures of the room I'm redecorating...as well as some sketches for structures/things I thought the room needed.  To see that post, go here.  This week, I'm here to share my inspirations.  

I put together the room inspiration board above.  It all started with two amazing chairs that my sister found for me at a yard sale down in Branson, MO {second home to country music...which, I think Branson made it's name known in a phrase from the movie "Horse Whisperer" with Robert Redford, and Kristen Scott Thompson}.   But ....ME....I'm just a hop skip and a jump from there.  A little town called Springfield, MO.  Brad Pitt's hometown. Not that these are facts too relative to design, but moreover facts that relate to BEAUTY, and "hollywood-ish excellence", which I'm hoping to accomplish with this here room.

Pretty vintage blue velvet.  In great shape.  

NEEDS: 

1. serious cleaning by my rug cleaner.  

2.  Wood to be painted white. {white paint just makes it much more slick!}

3.  Tacks to be added to all of the edging {we all know that tacks just look MMmmm..}

I'm going to make it look somewhat like this beautiful and AW-mazing chair that Aerin Lauder sits in pictured here below {from one of the most recent issues of House Beautiful.}

Okay, so the client's bedroom is grey.  I know grey is a current color and it's pretty much a great color, but I'm tired of doing it in every single client's bedroom.  I want to give the room a facelift that refreshes and says "HELLO!".

  

SO, I chose Benjamin Moore's finest aura paint in their Gentle Breeze from their Preview deck.  Sort of a minty-greenish-soft-robins-egg-blue.  

 As you can see, and I WARN you, this room is going to be colorful.  

STYLE: Mixed Eastern style, meets Classic English, Meets Early American goes to Hollywood with a dash of Branson salt and peppa.  YES, it's one where the client trusts me completely.  EEEK.  I love it.  And, you know I really just hope you love it too when it's done.

APPROACH:   Sometimes I have a set, clear plan, but usually, it's a piece by piece experiential approach where I'll be mixing and layering styles, colors, textures, eras, flea market finds, and online products.  I'm sticking mostly by the inspiration board however.

INSPIRATION IMAGES:

The minty blue on the door will be the color of my walls.   And the red-ish tone will come into play with the oriental rug I found pictured below. 

This rug is pretty, huh?  I will be pulling some unexpected colors and textiles to join in with it.  

Love the idea of mixing salmons, corals, peaches, greens, blues.  Also going to add a screen behind the dark headboard.  I may add a painted embellishment to the screen.  NOt sure yet

God is a designer.  How did he think to make rocks not boring?

I found an early american secretary, but who's to say it needs to stay early american?  Why not twist it into hollywood mod?  Pushing the envelope with my attempt to twist two eras together.  

Beautiful, huh?  Did you notice the reflection of the chair in the mirror?  This reminds me of an old dutch painting.

IKAT.  A Little boho style.  Always good in any room.  

Miles Redd...the unorthodox king.  Traditionally rooted.

Beautiful figs.  I'm going to turn them inside out.  

LOVE the plum against the greenish-blue walls.

Great color scheme.

LOVE Olatz Schnabel's sheets.

BLUE and WHITE ware.  I'm hoping to bring a lot of it in.  Deeply rooted in chinoise-chic.  

More to come from Branson/Springfield next week, including floor plans, elevations and a curve towards "box office" records.  HA! 

Be sure to check everyone else's progress.  That's where I'm headed now...  

Bloggers


Suzzanne ~ Saved by Suzy
Jayden ~ Dutch.British.Love
Nicole ~ Nicole Scott Design
Kim ~ Kim Macumber Interiors
Emily ~ Rue De Emily
Jennifer ~ The Pink Pagoda
Lisa ~ Trapped in New Jersey
Kelly ~ Refresh Designs
Danylle ~ Nana Moon Shop
Taylor ~ Taylor Morgan
Jen ~ Inside Ways
Linda ~ My Crafty Home Life
Janet ~ House Four
Tiffany ~ Living Savvy


xx
sharon

Babies In The Making

I've been scurrying around squeezing in last minute photo shoots to make submission deadlines.  And, that always requires bringing in the "just right" props/accessories/flowers to make the project sing and swing well when pitching it to various publications.  This week, I loaded up the van {in between meeting with clients for other projects} and inevitably, I got in a hurry and broke a vase.  I was sick about it.  I guess I should be glad it wasn't a mirror.  I tried to find a reason to make light of it and finally arrived on the notion of the phrase..."MAZEL TOV!"

Here's a project that still hasn't been photographed by a professional.  It's my baby.  Boca Baby.  I've put the photo shoot off because it overwhelms me a bit.   The reason it is overwhelming, is because there were many customized details that went into the project and I want to make sure each one gets highlighted with my stamp of approval and stylization.  SOMEDAY. Meanwhile I will work on my client's current needs.


To give you a small taste of where some of the quality details started, I should share with you that the table tops were made of disposed-of/free pallet wood.  Now, bare in mind, to see these tables in person right now, you would never in a million years believe it.  They are beautiful.  I'm in complete awe of the craftsmanship and utilitization of discarded materials.

Here's what my carpenter started with.  I love him for how his brain thinks.

And, we didn't just find things out of catalog or online to make this project unique.  We customized everything.

This job was a TON of work, antiquing, phone calls to vendors, problems, and things that had back to the drawing board.  I was nine months pregnant on installation day.  A baby in the making x's two!

Here are some of my iphone snapshots of just one side of the building.  Hopefully I'll blog about the other half someday soon.

The cafe chairs were so bad before.  It took me two and a half meetings to convince the landlord that the awful 1980's cherry-ish colored finish on the chairs needed to be painted.  You know how some people are about painting "nice wood", even if it's the worst pressed wood piece ever?  Well, I understand that with some wood pieces, but these were really bad.

Here's a before...

The landlord finally listened to me. That was the first triumph of the project.  The second one was getting to paint the ugly high chairs.  Green... "For the sweet pea babies".

Anyway, I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend and I hope you'll visit Boca.  The food and people there are the nicest.  I'll be at the store today.  Come by and see me and baby Jack!

xx
sharon

The One Room Challenge!

Hi everyone. I have a new little venture for the next six weeks. It's called the one room challenge. Linda, from My Crafty Home Life invited 15 talented designers from across the country and even Canada to make over one room and then blog about it.

I like challenges! And I know some of you out there do too. Sometimes you just need an extra push or a helping hand to do it. Call me if it's that "helping hand" thing you need...

Okay, here goes....

My one room challenge is for a client's master bedroom. Here are some before shots.

Here are my sketches of what I am thinking about doing in this room.

More to come next week!!

Below are the links to the other 14 bloggers so you can check out their rooms.  I can't wait to follow all of their projects, can you?

Suzy ~ Saved by Suzy (girls room)
Jadyn ~ Dutch.British.Love (dining room)
Nicole ~ Nicole Scott Design (master bedroom)
Kim ~Kim Macumber Interiors (living room)
Emily ~ Rue De Emily (boys room)
Jennifer ~ The Pink Pagoda (laundry room)
Lisa ~ Trapped in New Jersey (dining room)
Kelly ~ refresheddesigns (office)
Danylle ~ Nana Moon Shop (TBA)
Taylor ~ Taylor Morgan (living room)
Jen ~ Inside Ways (spare bedroom)
Linda ~ My Crafty Home Life (dining room)
Janet ~ House Four (master bedroom)
Tiffany ~ Living Savvy (master bedroom)

xx
sharon

Tobi Fairley Chair Contest Winner

Happy Martin Luther King day! I will be celebrating with my family by participating in a local march across the Martin Luther King bridge. I have never done this before, but am excited for what's to be an uplifting experience for all, I'm sure. How about you? What are you doing?

I haven't been regular with posting, but will be updating with more regularity, and good stuff. We have a very exciting week this week. Promising new ventures, and MORE publicity!

In other news: I won THE Tobi Fairley chair contest I told you about awhile back. It was a fun process! AND, I just love Tobi Fairley period. She's a master of not only design, but of business, and planning for success. So winning was a great honor. Her words were beyond sweet and she even sent me a personal message of congratulation. To see the full post, go here...

A special thank you to heather cherie photography for taking such pretty photos. Also, to BIG Fish screen printing for taking care of all my printing needs.

And thank you to YOU for stopping in today. I hope you enjoy your day and your week! May you find windows filled with much, much sun streaming thru.

xx
sharon

2012 is SWELL!!

Hi All! It's been awhile since my last entry. My babies had a long spell of coughs...and we found out that Sylvie had pneumonia. Poor girl. I kept thinking she'd bounce back, but it took a long while. New Years eve we stayed in, and baby Jack coughed all night...so I spent New Years day at the E.R. only to find out that he had pneumonia too. whew! They were sick. We're all on the mend now and I'm so glad to see their happy little selves back to normal.

I've been strategizing my year. AND, since the last time I posted...I 've seen a real promising start to this year.

You know how a lot of the weddings featured in ALL the magazines and on ALL the blogs are usually from the East and West Coast?? Welp, I'm here to stand on the very tip of these Ozark Mountain roof tops and shout hooray for the Midwest!! We know how to throw weddings here too. Yes indeed.

Style Me Pretty announced their best 20 weddings of 2011 just this past week. We're SO honored to be on that list! Here's the cover of their Best of 2011.

The link to their jaw-dropping, chuck-full-of-ideas e-gloss mag link is below that. ENJOY!!

Here's Top 20 weddings. It was an honor to help design Elsie and Jeremy's wedding.

I have another fun announcement tomorrow.

Thanks for following me, you all. I hope it's a fun journey filled with fulfilling dreams for all of us! Are you making plans to make your dreams come true this year? You know, I believe in that.