while a distressed, layered finish was great for this cool vintage pedestal table, my lovely client – heeding excellent advice from selena mcadams – requested a new look to work with the chic chinoiserie and trellis fabrics and apple-green wicker in her kitchen.  selena specified a gorgeous violet-blue (pittsburgh paints’ victory blue, #447.7) with a little golden-hued paint under distressed gold leaf as an elegant/edgy accent.  a coat of satin varnish to protect the new finish, and it’s ready to go.

before and after:

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

it’s funny how things go all noah’s ark on you sometimes…just now there are two lovely clients with pretty old plate racks needing a re-do, each with a different look.  the first one is old pine, which was badly stained and discolored.  to work with some gorgeous new wallpaper, the request was for a mellow gray (valley forge tan, benjamin moore’s #ac.35…by the way, a very uninspiring name for a very yummy color)  with tinted wax rubbed in (myland’s color wax in raw umber, natch.)  here, the before(s) and the sample…the “after” photos of this one are coming as soon as the wallpaper is up.

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.