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handsome, well-built, solid, and perfectly suited for all manner of places and occasions, this table (from a recent shelby county flea market) reminds me of a particular dear brother-in-law. a favorite combination - benjamin moore’s ballet white (#oc.9) edged with pratt & lambert’s lambswool (#11.30) - a little tinted glaze, and bob’s your uncle.
before*, after, and details:
it measures 34″ wide by 24″ deep by 30″ high, and is on [...]
mrs. jones is thrilled to bits to have one of her pieces on its way to the richmond symphony orchestra league’s design house, opening september 13th. lovely kent hughes (of fairfax designs) had a beautiful table custom-crafted for a particular designer’s assigned area. working from her sketch and with the soft oyster-white and raspberry red she specified…(for now, the rest of [...]
after several recent (and enormously frustrating) calendar upheavals at the whims of others, it is bliss to just have some quiet studio time for a cleansing breath, and a nice little pile of “befores” to tackle. please check back for the “afters”, and some other wonderful reveals coming very soon.
thank you for the opportunity to vent.
it’s a big compliment when meg tells me that a particular project looks like something that buddy might have made. (have i mentioned that we love cake boss?) my lovely client wanted a whole new look for this mirror…a high-gloss rendition of benjamin moore’s white dove. so here is the before, and the delicious-fancy-icing-looking after:
knowing full well that “transitional space” is architect-ese for a hallway, mrs. jones still could not resist the opportunity to join the amazing ann parker’s team for one of this year’s vesta showhomes. working with ann on the home designed by carson looney with builder jere duffy and the rest of their group was high-energy fun, and being there [...]
here is a cute table found at the recent shelby county flea market…sweet & sturdy, but with a damaged top. before:
and after.
(if this scheme looks familiar, it’s because this recent dresser project was such a favorite, i wanted to use those colors again. apologies for the early summer re-run.)
24″ diameter on top, 26.25” tall. it will be at market central on [...]
my lovely client had a lot invested in these very pretty, solid curtain rods (and rings and finials and brackets):
but when you live in one of the prettiest homes in midtown memphis, circa 1910, with fantastically high ceilings….well, new & shiny curtain poles just won’t do.
so, after prepping & priming, layers of two different white paints (cameo & [...]
just like in all the best romantic comedies, my lovely client didn’t see that the truly perfect dresser was right under her roof the whole time, until she happened by mrs. jones’s opening at market central last month. seeing the transformations possible with a little paint, she requested a do-over for this wonderful, curvy old piece that had been [...]
a wonderful old chest-on-chest-style dresser had been languishing in a lovely client’s attic, but will now have a spot in her son’s room, where the color scheme is a lively and happy blue, orange & red. there is a knockout-fabulous old blue-painted piece next to his bed, and when she came to town to bring the dresser and [...]
please excuse me for not having taken a “before” photo of this chair from the flea market, because it was a really really good “before”…lots of dings. oh well, moving on…here is the primed “in progress” snap, and the afters:
the paint is benjamin moore’s bird’s egg (#2051.60) with a high-gloss topcoat. the drop-in seat has been re-built and freshly [...]
this is exactly the kind of yummy/swanky/comfy chair i can imagine perching upon at a glamorous gathering…and now the fabulous gwen driscoll has re-imagined it for her lovely client. after being given rubbed-back layers of softened off-white and gray paint (okay, this is the part where you use your imagination…) it will be reupholstered in cream-colored leather.
of course, [...]
a lovely client has just painted the paneling in her cozy library this wonderful mossy green, and wanted the fireplace mantel to have a new look (more “weight”/depth/character) too. layers of benjamin moore’s mink (#2112.10), slightly distressed, and tinted wax gave the desired effect. before & after:
this pair of sweet beds had been stored by a lovely client’s mother, just waiting for their moment in her granddaughter’s new room. since they’re on their way to atlanta, it will be a while before there is a real, true, all-made-up ”after” to show you, but in the meantime, here is the before and some details:
after the usual prep & [...]
technically (if you care to delve into technical furniture-related nomenclature) this is probably too long-legged to be considered a true cocktail table. but something about the curvy, sassy little shelf underneath this piece seemed to require the high-gloss, black-patent-leather-party-shoe treatment. and that prompts thoughts of a cocktail party. and it’s not nearly friday yet.
anyway, before & after:
for good measure, a little fancy-ing up of [...]
this practical little oak table (found at the flea) is very solid…it just needed freshening up. the top had been water-damaged a tiny bit but was easily repaired. after a good cleaning, sanding, and some layers of cameo white (benjamin moore #915) a touch of revere pewter (#hc.172), pratt & lambert’s osprey (#26.29) and pewter (#25.22), plus a little [...]
as you know, mrs. jones is here to share any and all relevant, appropriate tidbits…that’s the purpose of this little journal, right? this time around, however, i do have a tiny confidence to keep. for now, here’s a sneak peek at some small but fun projects from the past few days. soon all will be revealed.
these frames were in the attic, and needed a [...]
…and so shimmery, too. (this has actually turned out to be the perfect post-vegas project, to transfer all the glittery-glam from my system.) since many of you were kind enough to comment recently on my lovely client’s chinoiserie choice, here’s an update: she decided on the “tea-paper” treatment, which begins with applying silver leaf to the wall. don’t worry, all those little [...]
you might recall that this fall, i had the pleasure of working on several things for darling ellye’s room…all fab flea market finds by her lovely mom. only one other tiny wrap-up task remained: adding a hit of color in the form of painted wooden knobs and lining detail around the top of this beautiful old dresser. here’s a before & after:
and now [...]
can you imagine what tales this chair – thought by my lovely client to be about 100 years old – could tell? how many pages turned, stories told, cups of tea sipped, naps taken? the old finish had seen better days, and so she requested layers of “aged” paint, incorporating colors from the new fabric that will soon cover it. [...]
as the first truly cold weather of the season hit memphis today, i was wrapping up work on these armoires, destined for a lovely client’s second home in sunny southern c.a. – only having made it as far west as her garage for now - and wishing for an invitation to photograph them on-site someday! they were [...]
as you know, mrs. jones does not suffer chromophobes gladly, and is delighted when color-seekers come calling. this graceful little table from a lovely client’s attic is the perfect piece to deliver the requested healthy shot of pratt & lambert’s chinese orange (#4.10 ) to their living room. it was given the full high-gloss treatment…just to make sure no one misses it.
here is the before [...]
a darling, expectant, lovely client brought this light fixture to mrs. jones’s door last week. just a few days away from her delivery date, the chandelier for the nursery had arrived with the wrong finish, and no time to exchange. she made a valiant attempt to paint it herself, but with the clock ticking, she needed back-up. she requested milk [...]
one of lovely gwen driscoll’s lovely clients commissioned this mirror from rob johnson, memphis’s best cabinetmaker, to brighten up a corner of her dining room. they requested a “broken” silver-gilded finish over a creamy background that would be simpatico with (but not match) another framed mirror in the room.
before & after:
these chairs are due to be updated with new fabric for a more neutral scheme. lovely lela smith requested that the touches of blue be done over in cream and then aged to match the finish for her client’s breakfast room. (i know, i know, i liked the blue too. but lela always gets it right!)
before & after:
(new fabric, [...]
a lovely client has enjoyed this pair of cabinets, but was looking for a change. her request was for a little more ”interest” to the finish, and a switch from shiny red to satiny black with gold. (texturing the existing lacquer is the secret part…regrettably, mrs. jones is not at liberty to reveal that particular technique.) on top: layers [...]
every so often, a lovely client sends something back, requesting additional dirt – never a problem. so, on this brilliant online-auction steal: layers of shades of white, distressed and crackled, and then more layers: glazes tinted with raw umber, black, and gray. here is the before & after, but please do your best to ignore the red fabric…it will soon be [...]
my lovely client requested a “found furniture” look for her new kitchen island…one that was already a little broken-in, so that her three darlings can bump away at it and only enhance the look…not that anything wouldn’t look terrific with her fabulous granite. (better photos coming as soon as the hardware is all installed, but here [...]
these sweet old chairs needed a little spa-time…first, some gluing and clamping:
then, as my lovely client requested: pratt & lambert’s blue fog, #26.22, just peeking through benjamin moore’s louisburg green, #hc.113, gently rubbed back, and with some softening glaze on top.
i love the little scrolled detail at the top of the chairs.
you know that mrs. jones loves hearing from you, and was especially honored to receive a very kind email recently from catherine golden. her name may not be familiar to you, but you will recognize her fab home from a spread in domino….she was the very deserving bedroom makeover contest winner. she sent me photos of some [...]
one of the most effective ways to embarrass the little joneses is to pull over at the curb and load a neighbor’s trash into the station wagon. these shelves were just too good to pass up, and so, hazard lights a-flashing, we slowly made our way the last three blocks home with them – the shelves, not the [...]