Progress Report!

After a long drive to Charlotte, N.C. with a van full of necessary supplies and accessories, we spent the day designing, marking, and taping the stripes. My favorite, 10" wide. We were undecided whether to select one shade lighter or one shade darker. I brought with me two of the fabulous 8x10 paint memos furnished by Sherwin Williams. That was our first task of the day! Then, we headed off to the paint store to pick up our contrasting color and a few supplies.

We spent the first half of the day marking off the stripes. Multiple times we exclaimed how we could not imagine doing this without Sneelock's striping template! He fashioned this for me two years ago when we designed the living room for the Bucks County Designer Show house. It was a godsend for sure! I highly recommend it. Linda exclaimed how she had not realized that this part of the project took the lion's share of time. Indeed! And, it's definitely a two person job. (It doesn't hurt to have a best friend and total entertainer as your right hand man!)

Living in the south doesn't have too many disadvantages. But one that I can think of is the rarity of basements! Often over the years, I have teased her about her "warehouse dining room". She also, has a design business and more often than not, her dining room is her "stockroom"! Oh, dear. I thought you might be interested to see that now, her once pristine living room has become the "stockroom"...at least for the time being, until we can find homes for what used to be harbored in the dining room. EEK!

I just realized that I don't have a photo of the room marked off prior to painting the contrast color...not sure why! I can tell you that blogger was being a real uncooperative assistant in downloading photos. It was taking me about 5 minutes per photo. I guess in my frustration, I left several out! This is a photo of the newly painted stripes prior to the green tape being removed. Tape is placed on the outside lines of the stripe to be painted, thus making the stripes appear to be random widths...really not!

We both got to work with small low nap rollers. The top and bottom need to be cut in with a brush, but the rest can carefully be done with the rollers. The painting portion went quite fast! The marking, not so much. A good team can make this happen in one good day's work.

An unusually cloudy North Carolina day necessitated the use of these work lamps. These same lamps proved to be the cause of Linda changing into this ever so stylish set of painting clothes!

A corner shot of our efforts after removing the frog tape . Frog tape is a new invention in painter's tape that fairly prevents bleeding for such projects! Good thinking! We had great success and were pleased with our results, which ended in few touch ups. (Note the striping template leaning in the window).

Tomorrow, we are going to complete the room with most of the art, accessories and finishing details. That's when the real satisfaction is felt. So far, we're loving our successful and very stylish Restyle!

This is our condensed mound of used tape! Nice sight now that's it's all been removed....

second thoughts...

We're well into the dining room Restyle project, and I have to say that my friend could be in the throws of regrets!

Making room for the next piece of the puzzle means clearing the garage from two rows of dining room chairs to make room for the dining room table. (Never mind the cars...)
It's a bit like musical chairs actually! The real inside scoop is that she is in the stage of being totally frustrated with the disruption of her living space. It happens.

With the personality and familiar favorites of the former dining room taken down in preparation for the painter who arrives within the next few days, the project now becomes utter chaos. Linda is wondering if this really is a good idea..."why, oh why did I do this?"

Red walls still remain, draperies are down, along with our once favorite vintage frames and plates...it's just a red room.

"Where in the world will I put all the old stuff? Really? Is change worth all this?!" (Anyone interested in some of the old accessories-check back a few posts-email me for prices.)

"May I ask how my once immaculate living room now serves as a storage unit?" *sigh* "Calgon, take me away."


Okay, hang in there Linda. The painter will be finished with the base coat on the walls and ceilings soon enough. I'll be there shortly to help paint the stripes...it'll be fun! Really. We'll reupholster the chair pads, Restyle the accessories, hang the drapes and install the new chandelier (my favorite, of course!). You're coming down the home stretch now, don't give up.

Perhaps you could clear a path through the garage, and you could invite guests in through kitchen door. Well, after all, the path to the front door is now an obstacle path.

Now, while Linda is trying to hold on to her sanity, I still have a few details to take care of:

:: new fabric selection for the dining room chairs
:: re purpose or find a home for former accessories
:: design new accessory plan and place said orders
:: talk Sneelock into driving to North Carolina AGAIN...
:: locate striping template in warehouse, oops garage
:: select art with a fresh, hip look
:: say a prayer about painting problems with the dining room table
:: continue daily pep talks with Linda
:: hold my breath and continue the magic


Wish us luck. We can't stop now...

Empty

Well, it's almost over. The room is empty. The rug gone. The holes patched and painted. The furniture re-delivered back to Black-eyed Susan and my client. No more books. No more letters. No more buttons. No more pillows. No more sofas.....you get the picture.

We spent the day today packing, hauling, patching, vacuuming, painting, and occasionally being sad! At the end of the day, I took a look around and couldn't resist arranging the last few items waiting to be picked up from Designer Sales, into a more pleasing presentation than just "on the shelves"...see for yourself!

Making it cute for sold items waiting to be picked up....

Sad,sad,sad, very sad.

Until next year...

All in all, a very busy day. And, a little bit sad.

Sneak Peek

Unlike last night, when I began by telling you it the short, edited edition...and then posted umpteen photos, this one really is!

This is the vingette I created for the program booklet for the Designer House. It's almost one full month ahead of the D-day, so who knows if this is still what this great little chest will look like on opening day, but for now, I really like it!

I painted the chest the lighter color of the stripe, including the hardware. The platters are some that I found at the Paris flea market last spring while visiting my daughter. The books, also from the Paris flea market offered a wonderful surprise when a stack of 8 or 9 very old letters fell from the pages! The envelopes are smaller than an index card, with the most beautiful califgraphy-like penmenship/manuscripts in chocolate and eggplant inks. No one writes with that beauty anymore. Of course, the letters were in French, but they were still fun to cast my eyes upon. I'm thinking that they would make a wonderful framed piece of art for the room.

I'll let you know, but they are a real treasure.

I got the idea to tuck one of the new linens that just came in into the drawer. These are the vintage linens from France that are remade and collaged, some with monograms added. I told you about them during my buying trip in January. They didn't disappoint me! You must stop in and see the fabulous selection.

The lamp is interesting as well. The shade is a natural gray linen and has a manuscript faintly written on it. The manuscript is Italian wedding vows! Oh, my.

I got rave reviews from all around, and I think the room will be a hit. With the difficult work behind me, it will be exciting to put the whole room together in a few weeks. I'll keep you posted!

Closeup of part of the acccessories. *note the old postcard from France, which also fell out of my book! I'm hoping it's still there tomorrow when I stop by to clean up the photo shoot set-up. I neglected to tell you that the letters dated back to the early 1800's! Treasures, indeed.

The designer house is going to be a good one this year. There is the main manor house (the one we are doing the living room another Victorian house , and multiple outbuildings , boutiques and gardens. The cafe will be catered by Jamie Hollander, YUM! Save the date.

And don't forget that you can get your advanced tickets at Black-eyed Susan...a full $5.oo less than at the door!

Start counting. See you there!

Fabulous use of Susan's fabrics!

On the way home last night, I was kept awake by a phone call from my favorite sister, Denise! She lives in Mountain Standard time, 2 hours behind us. This sometimes makes for either late night or early morning conversations! Many of you have met her, as she comes for a yearly week of stress and 18 hour work days during our custom Christmas setups for Black-eyed Susan clients.

Denise is the ultimate helper, supporter, designer, entertainer, cook, and hard working best friend. Work is never boring when she's on the team, and I might say that there is no one that I would rather have on my team than her. There is virtually nothing that she can't do or come up with a solution for. As our Mother says, "she is so capable".

Denise is a costume designer and full time mother of 4. She also works as a project manager for a custom home builder in Denver. Yep, she's one busy woman!

We talk often and catch up on our busy lives, always yearning to live closer and work on the same team all of the time. I didn't mention that her other full time job is caring for our aging parents, which she does with loving tenderness and dedication.

She costumes several times a year for high school productions and does all of the costume design and much of the sewing herself. When I have remnants that stack up in the basement, I try to send them on to her. She always makes good use of them, sometimes in the form of Prom gowns, Christmas skirts, or in this case, a grand Wizard costume for her latest production!

I want to pass this photo on to you, pretty fitting as I just posted last night regarding the multiple choice fabrics that I love and treasure. While we were catching up on the phone, after a long crazy few weeks for the two of us on different fronts, she described the costume she had made of various half yard scraps that I had sent. Check it out for yourself!

She went into great detail to exclaim how the 100% silk fabrics make such an impact on stage, far greater than cotton fabrics. Yea, for scraps!! The pants are left over drapery fabric, as is the turban, the robe is made from an upholstery weight remnant! That is some costuming, Denise! Great use of some of my favorite leftovers!

I'll try to keep the fabrics coming. Great recycling. You are really good!

One step closer!

Well, we're one step closer to a stunning room!

And, during the process, Sneelock and I decided how to rebuild our retirement nest egg! We'll become a famous painting duo. I can spec the colors, and the two of us can execute the painting. I'm getting dangerously good a cutting in with a 5" angled brush (no taping!)

At the end of the day, my body was hurting all over. Fred said he was tired too, but he still had the attitude of sacrifice to give me a nice rubdown. He's definitely a keeper.

A long shot of the room. Note my signature black accent! The mantle, side bookcases and surrounding paneling....I know it looks like a black hole right now, but just wait! A little lady who was wondering around the house commented on what a lovely room we had (speaking mainly of the room assignment, location, etc.) and then under her breath I heard her say , "I don't like the black, though". I wish I would have invited her back to see the finished product to see if she had a change of mind! On the floor are the new and deeper shelves we had milled for the bookcases, and Sneelock doing his best to tap on one of the new Sherwin Williams paint can lids. We are using all eco friendly paint, donated by my favorite Sherwin Williams paint store in Newtown! They are so great to me. They never question my selections with a raised eyebrow! I highly recommend that location and ask for Mark, the store manager. He's great!

By the way, I highly recommend the eco-friendly paint! It covers great and there is virtually no smell. All for the good of the environment!

Next week, the stripes! I have mixed emotions about the execution of that part of the project. (I'm gaining a renewed appreciation for my usual painting crew.......)

Another shot of the room with painted trim, walls and doors! I feel a real sense of accomplishment. It's difficult to see, but the fabric leaning by the doors is the proposed drapery fabric--a beautiful 100% sheer linen with embroidered dots! Ahhhhh.

Last night, when I started the night shift (!) , I was lamenting about the excess furniture that is accumulating in the retail store. Suddenly, I realized that this favorite vintage chest is the perfect thing for our room! Check out the color, a soft cocoa-y latte color. I love using chests for locations other than the originally intended place. For instance, this was most likely a bedroom chest of drawers, but it works perfectly in a hallway with a fabulous lamp, a living room as an accent table, a foyer table, or even in a large bathroom for towels! Of course, any guestroom or craft room would welcome such a piece as well. I'm sure this will find a home in my room at the designer house. It will be available for sale, not to worry.

At the end of the work day, we had one dilemma.......Ian poured the wall color into the trim color can. Oh dear! But, never fear, one call to Mark at Sherwin Williams and a replacement was at hand. Thanks, Mark!

So, there you have the latest update! Stay tuned for more great design. And any stripe-painters out there, come on over!