this cute little table followed me home from the nashville flea market last fall, and so a few pages from a damaged copy of the 1954 audubon field guide that featured the tennessee warbler seemed the right fit for a decoupaged treatment. here is the before and after:

after deciding that i couldn’t improve on the old layers of green and white paint on the legs and apron, they got a good sanding and sealing with varnish.  and this “portlandia” video made me change my mind about stenciling a bird on the table…so i settled for a trail of silver-leaf feathers instead.

it is available on etsy and at market central.

here is the before:

(having never dissected a chair before, it was fascinating seeing what was under the dusty old uhpolstery…all those layers of stitching and padding and burlap and springs.)

  and on the subject of upholstery, since there are so many different ways you could go with these (hot pink velvet and turquoise mohair were on my shortlist)  i decided to leave them un-done, and to let the buyer finish them to their liking.   

here is the after, & some details:

they are available at market central, and on etsy.

{and they were featured on chinoiserie chic…many thanks to lovely tastemaker beth connolly for the mention!}

(i hope have the installed “afters” to show you soon.)

(sorry it’s a little jumbled up.)

 and after:

it’s gone from bachelor-pad-groovy to sweet and chic, i think.

the lamp had been red with gold, but was the perfect size and style for the room.  (please forgive the lack of a “before” photo.)  after stripping and priming, it was painted in bands of brown: benjamin moore’s brown sugar and pratt & lambert’s obsidian.  i gave it a final rub-down with myland’s antique brown wax.  (and immediately began craving chocolate chunk brownies.)

the pieces are on their way to clarksdale, mississippi, as the lovely expectant mother practices her breathing excercises and watches the clock.  i hope to have photos soon of the completed room to show you.

before and after:

proving that you can teach a shabby-chic pooch a new trick or two.

the second plate rack was a brilliant find by my client at second-hand rose, a treasure trove in midtown memphis.  it had layers of old paint, two gorgeous blues and white under black.  (and if this weren’t going to be in a sweet little girl’s room, it would have been fun to just scrape and rub back the original paint, and maybe seal it up with some wax or varnish…but, it needed a quiet finish, and one that was not peeling colorful, edible-looking chips, for its new spot above baby caroline’s dresser.)  porter paint’s irish linen (#6908.1) is the base coat, with layers of raw umber and gray-tinted glaze on top.  original paint, and after:

(again, just a glimpse now…final “afters” once caroline’s room is done and accessorized.)

it’s an excellent word to have on your vocab list.  literally meaning to knot, tie or bind, it describes an enormously, enduringly popular (cases in point: this new collection from anthropologie, these slacks…and two of my daily must-read blogs, i suwannee and design*sponge, use an ikat accent in their banners), ancient (pre-columbian?) style of patterned cloth.  it’s also handy to have in your arsenal when an awkward words with friends tile distribution occurs.

lovely clients of gwen driscoll’s considered using this lively, sunflower-yellow ikat to upholster a bedroom wall and adjoining entryway. when that particular plan was not possible, mrs. jones was paged to the scene. after creating a design and palette inspired by the fabric (sherwin williams’ kingdom gold & lily, on a background of benjamin moore’s moonlight white) and cutting stencils for each different motif in the pattern, several days of crazy-mad ikatting ensued.  first, laying on a little texture with an almost-dry chip brush…a technique learned from the master, cynthia davis: 

then, after blocking in the pattern with r2-d2 and a little tape, the real fun began:

and finally, a layer of matte varnish to give a cloth-ier look and feel.  with furniture back in place, and the mirror re-hung, the room is ready for christmas visits.

 (a game-time decision was made to leave the motifs crisp, and not add little thread-y glazed details – to give the impression of warp ikat, to be precise – though on a smaller surface, those might be fun to include.)

 according to wikipedia, some cultures believe that ikat holds magical powers.  while not sure about that, i will confess there were moments on ladder, juggling stencils, paint and brushes, where i may have silently invoked some (ahem) magic words of my own.  and, truly, having the opportunity to learn from amazing teachers like helen morris and cynthia davis is enough to impart a serious amount of stenciling alchemy to anyone.