anna baskin lattimore found this fab stand and sink for her lovely clients’ powder room.   when the painters came through on their last sweep, they accidentally caulked this little piece of wood into place as a backsplash, when it was only meant to be a placeholder for another material.  at that stage of the construction, moving forward was much simpler than undoing it, and anna asked if i could match it to the stand.  so, it’s just a tiny detail, but here is a little before and after for you to see.

before (with tinted primer):

and after:

after the tinted primer, i applied coats of a custom-mixed paint that was as close as possible to the color of the wood.  some grainy texture with dark brown glaze, two coats of varnish, and it’s off the punch-list.

here’s a sneak peek snippet of a project for gwen driscoll that mrs. jones has been locked up on for the past few weeks.  the big reveal will be coming soon, but in the meantime….

creepy-crawly or edgy/cool?  please reserve your judgement till you’ve seen the whole thing.

another fun project for anna baskin lattimore’s clients…they were looking for a piece for their entry similar to this one they liked, from shades of light:

and then realized that they already had a console that was the right size for the space…it had a metal “baker’s rack” on top…easily removed:

anna specified a slightly deeper, greener shade of gray (benjamin moore’s kitty gray, #1589) rubbed back over ivory white (#925), with a little distressing and aging.  here is the after, and some details (better, accessorized images coming soon!):

lovely clients of anna baskin lattimore’s were hoping to use their old coffee table – the perfect size and shape for the room and their family – in their new home.   it just needed a fresher, lighter look.  after stripping the varnish and priming it, i added layers of paint (anna’s excellent choices: pratt & lambert’s chalk gray, #11.32, rubbed back over benjamin moore’s bleeker beige, #hc.80) and then tinted glaze and varnish for a little depth and protection.  here is the before, the not-yet-accessorized after, and a few details:

lovely clients have engaged talented anna baskin lattimore to help them wrap up the details of their beautiful new jeff bramlett-designed home.   they were looking for a soft, furniture-y feel for their kitchen island and mrs. jones was more than happy to oblige.  starting with the base coat of duxbury gray (benjamin moore # hc.163) i added anna-approved, rubbed-back streaks of puritan gray (hc.164).  on top, a glaze tinted with raw umber and just a little dollop each of lamp black and titanium white was rubbed over the whole thing, and used to add water-spots and fly-specks.  a low-lustre varnish seals and protects the finish.  here is the before, the after, and some details:

(the perfectly constructed, gorgeously detailed cabinets were built by bob westmoreland.)

they also requested just a tiny bit of aging glaze in some of the nooks and crannies on the cabinets.  anna was spot-on as usual in choosing a scheme pulled together by the de-lish wallpaper she used in the adjacent butler’s pantry.

  the whole enterprise would not have been nearly as much fun without buddy, the sweetest doggie ever, and, by the way, an excellent herder.

every once in a while, lovely clients request a transformation for a piece that might be better left alone, and mrs. jones must employ all diplomatic tactics at her disposal to try to alter their course.   in this case, however, my client was not to be swayed, and so (while i realize this may unleash an onslaught of criticism from fans of mahogany empire-style furniture) here is the before and insisted-upon after…a look approaching bleached pine, similar to this piece from wisteria that caught her eye…that really does suit her beautiful home much better.

empire-lovers, may i offer this additional consolation: the dresser is being loved and used, and will not just crumble to splinters in the attic.  please do not be cross with me.

a 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.