diy boutique & teaching studio
a lovely mother-of-the-groom needed 24 gifts for the hostesses of wedding-weekend events…lucky mrs. jones was engaged to put her favorite vintage-y finish on these pots, which will be filled with beautiful blooms and tied with bows.
very best wishes to the bride & groom!
i know i know i know…i should be taking a painting class. but when the memphis college of art catalog came, the book-making class just sounded like too much fun to pass up. (mr. jones, however, was a touch disappointed to find that it did not involve gaining the inside track in the office basketball pool…an obsession of his further strengthened by his beloved memphis tigers just this minute making it into the ncaa’s final four!)
our stellar instructor, katey henriksen, is the best: patient, funny, and so very accomplished. she has taught us several book-making techniques: the meander, the accordion, the concertina, and, oh yes, the non-adhesive flutter. sewn bindings are next, with book cloth we learned to make ourselves! (more on my exciting fabric choice, below.) she’s introduced us to some wonderful new tools, adhesives, and materials, including my new favorite: the bone folder. (and no, it has nothing to do with that “csi:miami” episode last week. it’s used to make perfect folds in paper.)
there is another reason that i love taking classes at the mca, though…besides the course material, there are so many things to learn and absorb in the studio. while we were folding and tearing, katey mentioned kiki smith, an fascinating artist with whom several of my classmates were familiar, and who had been to memphis not long ago to lecture. then, later in the week (in yet another startling design-related coincidence!) i was paging through the style edition of the recent new york times T magazine when this crazy-fab wallpaper caught my eye, by none other than (wait for it…) kiki smith. take a look, then get the details here.
yes i do! it has been such a treat to work lately on things for two different, special and beautiful nurseries. just delivered: this cute piece that an lovely expectant couple had made. the changing table apparatus secures to the top…it will be removed later so the base can become book & toy shelves. (how smart are they?)
real milk paint was used to give it a chalk-y antique feel, and also to ensure the non-toxicity of this precious baby’s room. (also in the works are a chest & hutch and chandelier…more photos as those are finished. baby k is due in june. must hurry.)
here is a before, an after, and a detail:
friends know that mrs. jones is more than a tiny bit obsessed with wicked, both the book and the musical. (truly, i am that little green girl.) at the risk of being the one person too many communicating an environmental awareness message in honor of our very green holiday today, i’d like you to please join me in considering: what would elphaba do? and, for fellow memphians, find out more about our new hazardous waste disposal facility…see you at shelby farms!
oh yes…mr. jones could not resist the chance to revisit a favorite destination from his own childhood: mammoth cave, kentucky. since i flatly refused to go spelunking without at least a little cultural diversion along the way, the little joneses were persuaded to travel via nashville to take in the excellent “monet to dali” exhibit at the frist center for the visual arts. (also most enjoyable: the artquest gallery with all the hands-on activities.) time for one more treat: the sparkly, spangly, country music hall of fame. then, through green, beautiful southern kentucky, past all the colorful barns (every shade of red, and charcoal gray, and white), a quick swing through the corvette museum, and on to the cave! now, back to work.
here are two mantels done recently for a lovely and most creative client. (their kitchen is in the entry below.) now, as you know, mrs. jones makes it a rule not to drop clients’ names, but in this case i must…joanne berg is a very talented and accomplished artist, and has been so much fun to work for and with.
when it was time to remodel their fireplace, she gave this picture to her carpenter and to me, challenging us to re-create it.
here are the original concept, the “box” that he built, and the finished product (with a couple of little details):
she and her husband jim have another fireplace, which she felt needed a little dirtying up. here it is,
before (pristine) and after (gritty) (plus a little curlicue detail):
both of these amazing forces of nature arrived in memphis yesterday: the incredibly gifted interior designer/preservationist/art historian, and the first snow of the season. knowing my admiration for mr. jayne, our generous friends melissa and tim adams kindly included me as their guest at a reception for him (in town to speak to the brooks museum’s decorative arts trust.) because of the snow and resulting power outage, the party was cozy and candle-lit (much preferred by mrs. jones — more flattering, you know.) i met some very lovely people, and got to have my backstage moment with thomas — he is just completely gracious, clever, engaging and brilliant. at 6 feet 8, nattily turned out in a glen plaid suit, checked shirt, and his signature bow tie, he is quite a presence, even without electricity.
his wonderful presentation today, “a yankee decorator in the american south”, touched on the things he believes in (and that i think make his work so special): awareness of place, an understanding of history, and the value of hospitality; living comfortably with beautiful things. thomas’s sense for both history and humor, combined with his fabulous use of color, make him just a total rock star in mrs. jones’s book. please forgive my gushing…a glimpse at thomas jayne studio will explain everything.
afterwards, in saying good-bye, mr. jayne looked at my scarf and paid me the ultimate compliment: “mrs. parish would have loved this!” (a reference, of course, to that goddess of design, sister parish, with whom thomas worked at parish-hadley associates) (okay, i am NEVER taking it off!)
snow, thomas jayne, my lucky scarf
since it’s true that mrs. jones will do anything for crab salad in a phyllo-dough cup and a pimento cheese finger sandwich, i did it again…shared my all secrets with the ladies of the red acres garden club. they were so very kind and welcoming, and now know all about making their pots and other garden ornaments a little more fabulous, easily.
the UPS man just arrived with an exciting little package — samples of milk paint to experiment with! this is the old-school stuff that gives furniture and walls that streaky, chalky, sort of swedish-antique look. it’s also totally organic and non-toxic.
here are the colors (in addition to cream) that i decided to try: moss green, french gray, and turquoise blue.
i’m beginning work on a changing table for what could be the cutest nursery ever, and will use the cream with french gray for the lining and details. i’ll post a photo as soon as it’s done.
this project called for a bit of sleuthing in matching the existing stain, to repair damaged places on the cabinets and new wood that had been added to raise the height of the countertops. a warm sienna glaze was then applied to all the surfaces to even out the color — some of the old pine had faded and dried out — and give everything a consistent finish. my creative clients also requested that a section of the cabinets be given some distressed black paint to camoflauge the appliances and give the kitchen a more furniture-y feeling, in addition to hiding the fact that two of the cabinet doors had been replaced. (bet you can’t guess which ones!)
what a treat…new orleans for the long weekend. the little joneses soaked it all up: the WWII museum, the sculpture garden at the NOMA, streetcars, beignets, jambalaya, tarot card readers and mimes, gumbo, muffalettas, cemeteries, voodoo, zydeco music — they loved it all.
while my family hunted garden district ghosts (and found gelato instead), mrs. jones had 90 minutes for a parade of her own down a few blocks of magazine street. the colors, finishes, and wonderful shops send me right over the crescent city moon. all that fabulous old plaster and stucco, gold and silver leaf, wrought and cast iron…there is nothing like new orleans. i am craving a chandelier from julie neill designs and an iron bed from aux belles choses.
(ooh – and just one more beignet.)
they liked new look of their kitchen cabinets, so my very kind clients asked me to stay and put a little glaze on their bathroom cabinets, too. they had recently installed beautiful granite countertops and good-looking hardware.
these began with plain white, glossy paint.
for those needing to re-affirm that anything is possible: these kitchen cabinets are made of melamine foil (yes, that sythetic molded material that is wonderfully wipeable when you have small children, but…) my lovely clients were ready to update the kitchen with gorgeous granite and new appliances. enter the fabulous fausto saldana, mrs. jones’s favorite painter. in just a few short days, he and his crew worked the cabinets over with a super-bonding primer and semi-gloss enamel. mrs. jones does not work quite as quickly, but i’ve applied a layer of glaze to soften them up and age them a little.
here’s one “before”, and two “after“, along with views of the room.
for fausto’s phone number, feel free to contact me.
here’s a snippet of a project finished today…the client requested a stippled glaze on the walls of her bathroom to work with this snazzy botanical fabric she’s using. so glad i had my new friends moon pie and peanut (who unfortunately moved too quickly to be photographed) to keep me company and keep an eye on my toolbox.
many thanks to the members of soup for the soul who were kind enough to have mrs. jones as their speaker tonight. we had a great discussion on beautifying our homes using eco-friendly products and materials, the new non-toxic paints and plasters, and re-purposing existing furnishings. for inspiration: take a peek at the book salvage sisters by kathleen hackett & mary ann young, then sign up at freecycle, specify your area, and search under “curb alerts”. you won’t believe the potential treasures that are out there!
it was wonderful to spend an evening with such creative and accomplished women. and, of course, the soup was fantastic!