diy boutique & teaching studio
so, did you guess that the sofa (picture #5, 2 posts below) would be finished in creamy whites & gold leaf, distressed and aged? very good! but i bet you couldn’t have guessed how fab it looks now that my lovely client had it upholstered in white duck-cloth.
here are some details:
bullet tells mrs. jones that he likes it too:
(ps: bullet, we are all so glad you’re home again.)
okay, turn your papers over and pass them to the front…let’s see how you did. if you answered that photo 4, the chest & hutch, would be painted in two shades of gray-blue, rubbed and distressed, you are right!
my lovely client had used this piece in several places before it ended up in storage, where little be-whiskered visitors took up residence. the damage they caused played perfectly into her plan to have a painted and distressed look for it, to work with these fabrics, for her baby’s nursery. she and i were inspired by an antique swedish secretary pictured in the march 2008 issue of veranda magazine (below right.) here’s our version, along with some details. (please see the post below for the “before” shot.)
wow — all of a sudden, things are a little stacked up at the studio (in an exciting way, i mean, gratefully) with “befores”! since i know you’ve been paying close attention, here’s a little quiz:
match each photo to the finish mrs. jones is planning for that particular piece…
1. hanging shelf 2. chest 3. victorian chair 4. chest & hutch 5. louis xv-ish sofa
a) high-gloss white b) two shades of pale gray-blue, rubbed/distressed c) creamy white with gold leaf, distressed/aged d) white with apple-green banding, aged e) black with “pagoda” red and gold leaf, crackled/aged
i’m sure you did very well! please check back soon for the answers and “afters”.
confession: mrs. jones has developed a huge design-crush on the artist amy butler. it began with happening upon her beautiful website, reading about her home in blueprint and more on her work in country living, which featured her new book, midwest modern, all within a few days’ time. fast forward to last tuesday, when i had exactly 4 minutes to fall in love with and purchase a yard of fabric for a class. (see above entry). running in to my favorite fabric shop, broom corn, the perfect one was right there. cut, charge & wrap, please! it was then so thrilling to look at the selvage that evening during class and find that the fabric was an amy butler design. now, do you think all of this is just a coincidence?
besides designing brilliant fabrics, paper products, bags and gifts, amy creates, sells and shares (yes, shares!) patterns for sew-ables for the home. (broom corn, for those of you in memphis, carries the patterns, and her books!) all i can say is wow. she makes sewing so much cooler than we ever dreamed it could be back at evanston township high school in mrs. sabatino’s home-ec class.
another clever changing-table that will change back into grown-up furniture later…
this lovely and very resourceful couple found a fabulous old kitchen work table, with deep storage drawers (used for flour & sugar in its previous life, now perfect for diapers and blankies.) they engaged a carpenter to fashion a “box” with high sides on it that fits snugly right over the existing top. mrs. jones was then given the challenge to distress, paint, crackle and age the new part to match, while brightening up the old.
also on my list of assignments for this darling nursery: take this plate-rack and lighten it up with paint, then age it a little.
(there was also a wicker rocker in the mix, but i became so distracted by the absolute preciousness of the sweet, happy resident that i forgot to take a photo to show you. wouldn’t you? just look at that face!)
and just when i thought it couldn’t get any better, baby frank’s beautiful, thoughtful and talented mom handed me a package of the most delicious homemade cookies ever. (please don’t tell the little joneses about those cookies. they never saw them.)
…are so very gorgeous, but let’s face it: a little expensive and frought with possibilities for ruin if you have little ones. the look, though, is easy to reproduce with glaze. below left is a photo from a spread in the march 2008 issue of house beautiful. from the caption: “…wall covering is in handwoven yarn-dyed raffia, but reads from even a short distance as denim.”
next to it is a snap from glazed walls done a little earlier in mrs. jones’s career. please see our gallery pages for the denim version, easily done without the stenciled stitching, and in any color you choose.
if your mailbox caught the most recent catalog to arrive from j. crew, take a peek at the back cover…no, not at the gorgeous girl in the paisley blouse, silly…please notice the extremely cool traditional/modern stenciled walls behind her! you can also see just a snip of another finish below the woodwork. beautiful!
mentioned previously, but worth repeating: mrs. jones totally hearts the talented ladies at a little english interiors. lovely gwen erb needed this mirror (perfect shape and size, wrong finish) to match wallpaper she’d chosen for a client’s powder room.
here it is, before and after, with a sample of the paper for you to see.
such a sad little postcard! another of mrs. jones’s favorite magazines, blueprint, is “ceasing publication”. it’s funny how the shelter publications circle of life works. because of a photograph in a blueprint last spring, i became a tiny bit obsessed with the “expedit” shelves from ikea. had to have them! since shipping would have cost twice the price of the shelves, my darling friend laura nunnally invited us to visit and shop her ikea in atlanta. (back at home, mr. jones took one look at the helpful assembly instructions, and poured himself something tall and cool.)
now the business corner of the studio has at least the illusion of organization and neatness:
but wait, here’s the circular part! in the same bundle of mail that contained the postcard about blueprint, elle decor arrived, featuring a spread on bookshelves (photo on right), including the ikea expedit. coincidence? hmmm.
it’s just too thrilling…much sooner than anticipated, our local benjamin moore paint dealer, seabrook, is stocking the super new environmentally kind, high-performance paint line, aura. (and guess who has her hands on the new fan-deck with the 144 gorgeous new aura-exclusive “affinity” colors?) (thank you, seabrook becky, denise & susan!)
after being plied with the most delicious chicken salad ever, i just couldn’t help it…i gave away my secrets to the lovely ladies of the oak grove garden club today. we covered “saturday morning garden ornaments”. and yes, i confess it’s true, i taught them a wax-resist method for painting pots, and disclosed the details on how a slip-layer of glaze applied before a layer of muddy green can make their concrete urns look fabulously, instantly mossy. but please don’t judge mrs. jones too harshly. if you’d tasted one of their incredible key lime squares, you’d have told it all, too.
this curvy-front, drop-leaf desk was built by a client’s great-grandfather. she had a brilliant idea: fix it up and cover the inside with wallpaper! then decided it would be easier to let mrs. jones stencil it in the damask pattern and color she wanted. after cleaning it up, rubbing down the existing paint to enhance its little bumps and flaws, silver-leafing the knobs, and adding a little “graceful aging” glaze, it’s ready for a new life.
some details:
these sconces have been swankified for a young lady’s bathroom with bittersweet-chocolate paint, silver leaf, and tinted wax.
before… and after.
the december/january issue of domino magazine just arrived — the little joneses know to give their mom a few minutes while she samples her first helping. it’s my favorite!
there are a couple of great wallpapers featured, but wait! before you order the paper and book your favorite paper hanger, mrs. jones wants you to call her instead! the gorgeous “wildwood” by sondra alexander for yangki pictured on pages 150/151 is a faux bois look — see my gallery pages for a version in aqua and chocolate. and on page 168, the watermelon pink wallpaper in the photograph is do-able in your choice of colors via a very similar stencil. (and for those among you really paying attention, it is the same paper shown in lime green with silver and white and a pumpkin-y background with shades of cream & brown in recent issues of southern accents.)
there are some paints in lovely shades of silver and gray sprinkled throughout the issue, too…benjamin moore’s silver mist, rushing river, and nightfall, and sydney harbour’s malt. soft and yummy.
it’s such a treat when the mailman brings new magazines…this week, some yummy ones arrived:
house beautiful (12/2007) on page 24, “colors for coziness”: sherwin williams’s humble gold #6380 is the headliner here. my talented and tasteful friend, interior designer robin selberg, has used that color beautifully for years! (the fine editorial staff at hb just didn’t know.) on page 106 is a pair of gorgeous side tables by memphis furniture designer amy howard…rubbed-down pale gray-blue with gold leaf. so beautiful! and on page 72 is an entrance hall with hand-painted chinoiserie/chippendale walls. i’ve just ordered a stencil to acheive that same effect, and will post photos soon.
elle decor (12/2007, # 142) “the transformers”, beginning on page 127, features a gold-leafed ceiling in an entry hall, and scarlet-lacquered walls in a dining room. i’m ready when you are.
house & garden (12/2007: alas, the last issue!) aerin lauder’s home, beginning on page 90, is nothing but stunning. her mix of saturated colors, creamy whites, and blue & white pattern on the walls throughout, is gorgeous. i’m starting my living room walls tomorrow…i want them to look just like her study. (of course i have a few things to finish up first.)
