Archive for the ‘Breast Cancer Showhouse’ Category

Many, many thanks to the people who helped Susan and me with our Artist Studio at the Milwaukee Breast Cancer Showhouse this year.  It was a great success!

Neu’s Hardware Gallery — glass drawer pulls as drapery hardware

Glass drawer pulls as drapery hardware!

Duralee Fabrics — beautiful fabrics
New Threads — fabulous draperies

Jane from New Threads

Janet from New Threads

Carrie Storm's art

Carrie Storm — art

Sue Ellinger and Jean Hass– wonderful sewing skills

World Market, Southridge — accessories and furniture

World Market Southridge

Sara Pudlosky and Dave — extra hands to help move in
Zach Cvetan and Brandon Hessil — for providing muscle power to help us move out

Zach and Brandon helped haul the heavy stuff

The Georgian Revival Breast Cancer Showhouse was built in 1912 by the daughter and son-in-law of Patrick Cudahy.  As in all grand homes, the front vestibule was the first interior space visitors would see when entering the house, so it had to be spectacular.

Anne Wangman of Forbes Design took the challenge of bringing the entry back to life for the BCSH.  The original leaded windows and transom are still intact, along with the stunning plaster quatrefoil design on the ceiling.

Anne Wangman chose a lovely chest and lantern trio for the entry

Anne chose a reproduction bow front chest in a distressed black finish to contrast with the paneled oak wainscot.  It’s a simple, yet elegant place to set your hand bag while you remove your wrap!  The candlelight lantern trio offers a lighting alternative to a typical table lamp.

Wall brackets featuring a playful collection of wire-haired fox terriers are an unexpected touch and draw the eye toward the ceiling and the Steuben glass light fixture.

Have fun in your entry. Display something fun and unexpected like this collection of ceramic terriers

Have fun with your entry.  Make sure a bit of your “Signature Style” is evident when guests enter your house!

The Milwaukee Breast Cancer Showhouse has 30 distinct spaces that area designers pour their hearts and souls into to raise money for breast cancer research.  It takes months of planning, building, painting, hauling furniture and accessories and hanging yards and yards of drapery treatments to create beautiful rooms.

Abigail Klode of Abigail Klode Interiors designed a beautiful and peaceful Master Sitting Room.  She layered multiple shades of grey and combined contemporary and traditional furniture.  The trend toward replacing the coffee table with an upholstered ottoman couldn’t get any classier than this custom leather piece with nailheads.

Master Sitting Room -- Serene and Peaceful

The Phillip Jefferies grass cloth on the walls sets off the turquoise triptych by artist Jason Rohlfs.  His artwork is currently on exhibit at Tory Folliard Gallery.  The color and movement in his work adds just the right touch of whimsy to the calm setting.

I love how Abigail complements the sleek sofa with her great-grandfather’s desk chair.  He started Klode Furniture years ago.  She thought it would give the room good juju!

Who couldn’t imagine spending time reading or lounging in this space?  Great juju!

http://www.abigailklode.com

The Breast Cancer Showhouse opened to the public this weekend.  Although the weather was more fall-like than early summer (after all this is Wisconsin) crowds of supporters flocked to the house to support cancer research and get loads of design ideas.

Many of the rooms in the house are traditional featuring warm, creamy colors with bold splashes of black.  Each designer puts his or her personal stamp in their space.

Royal Doulton Toby Mugs

The kitchen displays a fabulous collection of Toby mugs from Jim Jung’s (Boston Store) personal collection.

The laundry room was devoted to the home owner’s dog Zoë.  Tom Hoffman (Tom Hofffman Designs) and Mary Shaufelberger (Steinkellner Decorating Studio) had pet portraits painted for the walls.  Patty Virnig’s (Ivy Interiors) third floor bath is glamorous and feminine in bold, graphic black and white. Makes you wish you were going to a ball!

Susan found this vintage vanity with the mirrored top in her Mother's attic.

Our room is the last stop on the home tour.  You walk into a blast of color.  Carrie Storm of  C.S. Storm Art brought in a collection of her latest paintings.   We particular love the bra, panties and camisole still life.

We just love Carrie Storm's lingerie painting.

Whoever said shag rugs are passé hasn’t been carpet shopping lately?  Anything retro is hot.  That includes accessories and colors from the 60’s.  (Did I mention psychedelic?)  A purple shag rug added the right amount of splash to the floor and grounded the entire room.

Love the purple shag rug.

The vintage daybed with loads of colorful pillows is so inviting.  A daybed is the perfect solution for a room that needs a mattress for sleeping and sofa for lounging and not enough room for both.

Day beds are perfect for sleeping, lounging, dreaming!

A comfy bed needs lots of pillows.

Pillows in a variety of shapes and sizes make the bed more interesting.

We chose furniture with medium to dark stains to contrast with the vanilla walls and bright fabrics.  It’s important to remember that all woods in room do not have to match. The maple flooring looks great with the darker woods.

Big splash of color in the corner!

We stayed with dark wood for the furniture. It's a nice contrast to the vanilla walls and bright fabrics. Remember, all wood tones do not have to match!

The bold, graphic purple flower fabric was our inspiration.  We used it on the bedspread and used it again on a pillow, and the ottoman and vanity stool.  You can use almost anything for inspiration a fabric, a beautiful rug, a painting or even a favorite accessory.  Find the one thing that you love or gets your creative juices flowing!  You have to start the design process somewhere!

Jean Haas upholstered the vanity stool to match the bedding.

The next time your community hosts a designer showhouse for charity, be sure to visit.  Gather your friends for an afternoon of design.  Not only will you support a good cause, but you will go home with more ideas for updating your home than you will have time to do.

One of the biggest challenges of furnishing a room for a showhouse is finding enough furniture and accessories to fill the space.  For designers like Susan and I, who don’t have a store or showroom, we “depend on the kindness of strangers”.  (Don’t you just love Blanche’s line in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire?)

We didn't have any trouble finding lots of color at World Market

World Market came to our rescue and provided us with anything we needed.  Katherine and Ali were so much fun to work with and loaned us a desk and chair, table,  cabinet and all kinds of accessories

Ali was a great help with picking out furniture.

The desk "Before"

We didn’t paint the walls or the ceiling and the furniture we brought in was dark wood and wicker.  So accessories and fabric had to carry the color load.

You don’t have to spend lots of money to get a really great space.  I know it’s a cliché, but once you start “thinking outside the box,” you will find all kinds of clever ways to decorate.  The basic desk and chair are OK, but add a dining table runner and it becomes “Wow!”

The desk "After" -- Wow!

This little cabinet takes the place of the missing closet

The corner cabinet really popped with colorful towels, books and girly stuff.

A colorful vignette on the cabinet top.

Think odd numbers when creating a display.  Things always look better in odd number groups whether you are arranging items on a mantle, dresser or bookshelf.  The lunch box can hold all kinds of trinkets.  A few touches of lime green offered a nice contrast to all the purple and orange.

The house opens to the public June 6.  Stayed tuned for more of the big reveal!

Designers and painters have started work on the
Breast Cancer Show House this week.  We aren’t painting
our room, but Sue and I are busy making pillows and a
bedspread and more pillows and more pillows!  It will
be quite the comfy, cozy haven when we are finished.

Pillow Fabrics

Bright fabrics

Pillow fabric 1

Faux suede in orange

Hot pink!

Interior design is really about problem solving.
Identify the problem and find the best solution.
The biggest problem in our Showhouse bedroom,
are the slanted ceilings and short walls.
We have to use furniture that will fit the space.
That eliminates all dressers, cabinets and head boards.

We started moving furniture to our room at the Breast Cancer Showhouse.
Sara Pudlosky, an interior design student at Mount Mary College and her
husband David were gracious enough to offer their assistance.  Susan and
I appreciated the extra hands hauling awkward furniture up to the third floor and taking the door down to the basement!

Sara and David helping move furniture

Had to move the door from the 3rd floor to the basement! Thanks Sara and David!

Although the bedroom has a beautiful wood floor, we wanted to add a big
splash of color to the space.  Who doesn’t appreciate a warm cozy rug under
their tootsies when they get up in the morning?  Susan found a fabulous
purple shag rug that will be perfect.

Perfect match to the bedding fabric!

Just what we were looking for -- purple shag rug

Our draperies will be casual panels and scarf swags out of the sheer
orange fabric from Duralee.  Deb Westley at Neu’s Hardware Gallery introduced us to a wonderful glass artist who makes cabinet hardware.  We chose a vibrant multi-colored glass square for our drapery hardware.  They are totally unexpected and will really set off the window treatments.  Hardware stores are great places to look for unique ways to hang draperies.

Sample of glass hardware

We like this style with more purple and shimmer

I’m still working on designing a lamp shade for the ceiling light.
The original brass flush mount fixture was very outdated.  The homeowner
has since replaced it with and antique fixture.  Although I love antique
and vintage lighting, it just doesn’t go with our design scheme.  I plan
to create something more colorful and a bit funky for our “young artist”.

Love the light, just not quite right for our room

An 80's nightmare!

We have two weeks to finish the space.  Like most showhouse projects,
we will be working down to the wire!

Coming up with a design scheme is the most fun part of interior design.
When I work on a Showhouse, I can really let the creative juices flow.
Designers love to do them because (generally) the sky is the limit.
For the 2009 Breast Cancer Showhouse in Milwaukee, Susan and
I came up with our own “client”.  A young, hip, twenty-something female artist.

Fabrics for Artist's Retreat

Graphic flower print for the bed

We have just finalized the fabrics for our Artist’s Retreat.
Bright and bold colors are perfect for our “client”.
We fell in love with this orange, purple and fuchsia print by Duralee.
I love the big, bold graphic flower.  You will be seeing more and
more purple in all shades in the coming months. It will make a
great bedspread or coverlet for the day bed.

Colorful pillow fabrics

Every bed needs lots of pillows so we plan to design and make
a variety using faux suede and cotton fabrics in complementary colors.
Can’t wait to get started on those.

Dizzy Circles!

I’m not yet sure where we will use this purple on orange print
with child like scribbled circles, but it coordinates with everything
else and is just plain funky!

This will look great on the windows.

The pattern on this lovely sheer fabric looks like little flying carpets.
It will add color to the windows without blocking the natural light.

Susan and I along with the other interior designers will start painting
and installing our room layouts April 1.  We only have a month to
get the room ready.

Great fun, worthy cause!

I’ve yet to meet anyone who hasn’t been touched by breast cancer in some way.  In my family, it’s two aunts who are survivors and their two daughters who were not so lucky.  My cousin Julie lost her battle with breast cancer a couple of years ago.  She was a wife and mother and only 47 years young.  My cousin Rhonda died on January 1, 2008, three weeks short of her 39th birthday.  She also left a husband and 6 year old daughter.

South view

I support breast cancer research by participating in the annual Showhouse For A Cure, the Wisconsin Breast Cancer Showhouse.  This year I’m partnering with my interior designer friend Susan Michalek of Desumi Design.  We will be creating an artist’s atelier in a third floor bedroom.  It’s a charming space with dormer windows and low angled ceilings.

Doorway

The house is open to the public June 6-24.  Dozens of local designers work hard to come up with unique design ideas in every room and space in the house.

East side dormer

We will start our installation in early April.  I will  keep you updated on our little artist retreat.  In the meantime, hug the women in your lives and make an appointment for a mammogram!

I’ve been involved with the Milwaukee Breast Cancer Showhouse for a Cure for 10 years. Millions of dollars have been raised to support the Medical College’s Cancer Center research efforts.
Who hasn’t been touched by breast cancer? Four women in my family have had this devastating disease. Two aunts, who are survivors, and their two daughters who weren’t as lucky. My cousin Julie, a wife and mother, died a couple of years ago at 47. Rhonda, also a wife and mother, died January 1, 2008, just 3 weeks before her 39th birthday.
I support these research efforts by designing and creating a room. This year I am teaming up with my friend Susan Michalek of Desumi Design. We are creating an artist’s atelier or retreat. It will be colorful, fun and funky. We will feature lots of design ideas.
I will be posting before, during and after photos as we begin the design process. In the meantime, go to http://www.breastcancershowhouse.org for more details about touring this year’s house.
We need to do everything we can to cure cancer and keep the memory alive for those we loved and miss.