Posts Tagged ‘Fabric’

Miss Muffet would be jealous of this fabulous chair!

I have had this great little bistro style chair hanging in my shed since last fall.  I should say my husband’s shed.  I get the house and he gets the shed.  He doesn’t touch my “stuff” and I don’t mess with anything in his 4500 square foot garage.  It’s the perfect trade off!  I do all the interior design at inside and he does all the outside work!   I do, however, store a few items in there once in a while.

A cut little bistro style chair in it's original yellow paint and vinyl seat

This chair for instance.  It was a great find for $9.99 at Goodwill.  I wanted to do something very girly in hot pink, so my 7 year old niece Kayla became the inspiration and recipient.  I knew it would be perfect for a child’s bedroom.

The glitter really sold me on this tulle!

I was very excited when I found this glittered fuchsia tulle and a floral fabric and embroidered trim to go with it.

Green paint really updates the look of the chair

A little sand paper to rough up the finish and a can of neon green spray paint updated the chair from the 1970’s.

The old seat batting was in good shape.

The black and white vinyl seat was stapled on and easy to remove.  Then I cut a piece of the fabric 2” wider than the seat and attached it with a staple gun.

A staple gun is the handiest tool when covering chair seats

I gathered a double layer of tulle by hand and stapled it to the seat making the gathers even all the way around.

Never cut off the excess fabric until you are satisfied with the fullness.

Instead of cutting off the excess netting, I folded it up for extra fullness and sewed it in place.  You could glue the trim to the fabric, but hand stitching is neater (no mess) and you have greater control.

The floral trim is the finishing touch

Miss Muffet would have loved this chair

I happened to find the lime green pom-poms in my stash that were a perfect match.  It turned out so cute and just right for a girly little seven year old.

A chair fit for a little princess (or even a Queen)

Adding  style and design to any room can be as simple as a trip to a resale shop and fabric store.  Go ahead, brighten your home with color!

Pastels With Punch

Pink and grey are perfect for an Easter meal.

An easy way to introduce retro into your home decorating is at the dinner table.  Unpack grandma’s good china and use it every day.  Sets of dishes from the 50s and 60s can be found for a song at flea markets, resale stores and antique shops.  Make an investment before the market realizes their popularity and their value sky rockets.

Check out the little handle on this bowl. It's a perfect dish for kids.

Speaking of bargains, I love this set of pink and grey dishes I found at Goodwill.  Although they are unmarked, the hand drawn lines are reminiscent of a few decades past.  The best part of collecting dishes, it doesn’t matter if they coordinate with your interior design, dishes do not have to match anything!

The touch of grey keeps the place setting from being too feminine.

What could be more perfect for an Easter luncheon?  The square salad plate offers a nice contrast to the round dishes.  Even if I don’t serve a meal with multiple courses, I still use lots of dishes just to make the setting more interesting.  If you aren’t having a salad, save the plate for dessert.

The most interesting tables have layers and contrast. The square salad plate gives an edginess to all the curves.

If your dining room table has a beautiful finish, no need to cover it up with a table cloth.  These pink linen napkins are big enough to serve as place mats and offer a nice contrast.

The napkins almost looks like bunny ears!

There are dozens of ways to fold napkins.   Tucking a grey cotton napkin into a frosted polka dot glass keeps the table from being too serious.

Instead of the usual Easter basket, serve candy in old-fashion apothecary jars.

Have fun with your centerpiece.  Instead of flowers, fill apothecary jars with jelly beans, chocolate eggs and Easter grass.

Plastic Easter eggs can hold love sentiments, notes of thanks or even gift cards.

Hide little surprises in the plastic eggs for your family to discover while you’re dining.

Celebrate the season the old-fashion way with Retro dishes.

Celebrate the season!

How you use color says so much about your Signature Style. It’s a glimpse into who you really are.  Look at your wardrobe.  Chances are you have colorful clothes.  Even it you wear lots of black, I’m guessing you pair it with blouses and turtlenecks in colors that make you feel good.

The same thing should apply to your personal decorating.  So many people are afraid of color, they choose none. Their walls have the same “builder’s beige” from when they moved in or simply settle with white.  (I don’t care what the label says; white in its multitude of shades is still white!)

Monochromatic rooms are a challenge to pull off in interior design.  An all white room can be beautiful and effective if you pay very close attention to detail.   That means you need lots of texture, various shades and tints of white and (I can’t help myself) a touch or splash of a contrasting color.  It’s even more effective when the room has lots of windows with natural light.

All white rooms are even better with a touch of color

Although this room has white walls and furniture, the wood floor, area rug and dining room chairs and table add other pale hues and textures.  The round light shades and plants soften the sharp angles and horizontal lines in the room.  Little touches of black and silver (media unit, window frames, fireplace and stack) keep the room vibrant. The lime green wall and little accessories add a brilliant punch of color.  Had the green wall been another shade of white, the room would be more calm and serene, but not nearly as beautiful.

That’s may opinion. I would love to hear what you think.  Lime green wall or all white?  Leave your comment below.

The question I am asked most often by clients, friends and in general conversation is “What color is ‘In’?  It’s a simple question with a difficult answer.

The Color Marketing Group (CMG) is an organization that forecasts color trends two to three years in advance for  industry and manufactured goods.  Paint companies will create their annual color palette for the upcoming year and fabric weavers will chose shades and hues based on CMG directions and predictions.

Ever get frustrated when shopping  for bath towels to match those you purchased a few years ago?  Chances are you were disappointed to discover that the current shade is not quite the same as what you already own.  Instead of ‘silky moss’, for example, it’s now ‘pine needle’.  Out with the old and in with the new.

The good news is interior trends and colors don’t change as fast as fashion and paint stores have the ability to reproduce any color under the sun.

In December, Pantone, a company that provides color standards for the design industries, chose turquoise as the hottest color for 2010.  That’s right, turquoise.

Pantone chose turquoise as the 2010 color of the year

My advice is to look at the latest color fads and trends but stick with colors that fit your Signature Style.  Just because someone says turquoise is the color of the year, is no reason to change your own color palette.  Remember fads come and go quickly.  If it’s a color you truly love, by all means, introduce it into your home.  Buy some new throw pillows or bath towels.  You shouldn’t have any trouble finding turquoise  towels this year!

Pittsburgh Paint and Glass Color 2010 Color Trends:

Home Harmony Collection

Canvas Collection: beige, browns, gray

Grace Collection: pale butter to sea-foam green

Zest Collection: bright yellow, pure white, sleek black

Pink City Collection: Indian pink and spicy rusty orange

Sherwin Williams created their own color palette for 2010:

Sherwin Williams Treasured Collection: Aging, layers, artisan

Sherwin Williams Refreshed Collection: Exuberant, fresh, optimistic

Sherwin Williams Simplified Collection: Translucent, structure, sophisticated

Sherwin Williams Rooted Collection: Mystery, enduring, natural

The 14th of February is a day devoted to celebrating love.  You can express your affection to that special person in the usual way (go out to dinner, box of candy, over priced flowers) or with a little imagination and for a lot less cash, celebrate at home.

Create a romantic dinner for two.

It doesn’t matter if you are planning dinner or a leisurely breakfast, make it cozy and intimate.  Food in front of a roaring fire is always romantic especially if you are seated at a low table with floor pillows.  You can use a coffee table or in this instance an old wood trunk.  Cover it with a table cloth or a piece of red fabric.

Pull up an old trunk for a cozy table for two

I fell in love with this bold red and white print at IKEA. It's perfect for a Valentine's Day tablecloth.

There isn’t a single heart or flower in this setting.  Instead of placemats, I pulled out old Scrabble board games  Write a message or spell out your feelings for each other with the tiles.

You can use almost anything as a placemat or charger. Have fun with Scrabble boards.

An old muffin tin is the perfect size for extra letters, votive candles and candy (no expensive and fattening box of chocolates here!).

You know you will want extra Scrabble pieces with this dinner. Use a vintage muffin tin for candles and letters.

The valentine card is vintage, but the XOXO says it all.  Use dinnerware you have left over from Christmas.  Square red plates set “on point” complement the square game boards.

You could buy a new valentine, but I love the sappy sentiments on old, vintage cards!

XOXO equals 18 points!

Little copper napkin rings surround softly folded white napkins.  Dinner should be simple.  After all, the emphasis should be on dining, not cooking.  Chinese take-out allows you both to share.

Tuck a pair of chop sticks in the napkin ring.

Add a couple of floor pillows and you have a romantic evening ready to surprise someone you love.

Tell your love how you feel.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning said,

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”

I say spell it out!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Red and green may be the traditional colors of Christmas, but why not try something different?  Blue and white are perfect for a Hanukkah meal or New Year’s Eve late night dinner as well as Christmas brunch.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas right at my table.

This would be a fun setting for a Hanukkah table.

Start with at pale blue snow flake table cloth.  Add snowflake dinner plates and a salad plate or soup bowl in a coordinating pattern.

Snowflake plates were a lucky find at Goodwill

Keep the monochromatic scheme going with blue glasses.

Let your guests take home the snowflake and little ornament as a memento.

The napkin is an ikat design tied with a snowflake and little ornament.  I love to incorporate little gifts for my guests at the table.  They can take them home as a remembrance of a lovely time.

Or you can set the napkin on the plate for a different look.

The centerpiece has white pine and poinsettias, but giant snowflakes or paper whites would work too.  Just stick with blue and white.  A sparkly garland looks just as festive on the table as it would on a tree.

An all white centerpiece keeps the monochromatic color theme going

Enjoy your holiday by sharing your time, your table and a meal with family and friends.  It doesn’t get any better than that!

“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.”

Burton Hillis

One of the biggest mistakes people make is buying furniture that’s too big for the space.  Perhaps you forgot to measure the room or the door way or the space between the windows, etc.  I’ve also heard this one, “it didn’t look that big in the store”!  Furniture stores should have a disclaimer posted at the front door “objects in this store are much larger than they appear”!

The safest way to ensure you are purchasing the right size is to do a floor/furniture plan before you proceed.  That’s what professional interior designers do, come up with as many arrangements as possible for a room.  You will know the exact size of each piece that will fit in the space.  It’s an investment that will save you dollars.

The floor plan

Patrick’s bedroom is roughly 13’ 7” x 12’ 8”.  We added this bedroom when we remodeled and added square footage to our house.  The closet is wood instead of drywall to mimic the closet in our master bedroom.  Our house was built in the late 1890s, but the closet would have been added some years later.

We chose wood instead of drywall for this closet to resemble another one that could be 80 years old.

The new red chair was the only big item we planned to buy.  The bed and desk have been in the same spot for a long time.  We placed the new chair next to the bed.  It’s a bit awkward since it’s a recliner and cannot be too close to the wall.

This is how the furniture was placed when we started the project

Since all the furniture in the room is heavy, it’s easier to rearrange on paper than actually moving everything around.

Option 3

Pat has his TV on the desk and likes to sit on his bed facing the TV so this option won’t work.

Option 4

This arrangement has the bed facing the TV, but doesn’t allow much room to get into the closet.  Patrick has the biggest closet in the house and he can walk right in.

Option 5

He would probably be OK with this option.    I just don’t like a TV in front of a window even if it’s on the second floor.

This option is almost a mirror image of the orginal and should be perfect for Pat.

Although this arrangement isn’t much different from the original, it is really the best plan.  I moved the dresser next to the empty spot near the door.  The chair will fit nicely in the vacated corner and have access to the view outside.  The bed and desk have simply swapped places.  The bed is no longer next to the window and if he ever decides to sit at his desk, he has another view of the back yard.

You will save a lot of frustration and back aches by planning before moving furniture.

Patrick and I went shopping for a red chair.  What you should know about us is I like to shop and he doesn’t (unless of course it’s for movies and electronics). The other thing is Patrick figures when you say you are going to do something you mean right now.  I have a little more patience (meaning I can wait a long time for just the right thing, however when I make up my mind I want it right now too).  As a designer, thousands of fabrics are available to me so are hundreds of chair frames.  Custom furniture can take 12- 16 weeks.  Neither one of us wanted to wait that long to complete his room so we checked out the local retail furniture stores.

Doc Brown has a great red arm chair in Back to the Future.

Our mission was to find a similar chair to the one Doc Brown had in Back to the Future.  We found a couple red chairs in micro fiber (not a big fan of micro fiber).  Although they were quite inexpensive, they were also too big.

Doc's chair is in red moire fabric, has a loose back cusion and rolled arms. Looks comfy.

Two mistakes people make when shopping:
1.    You get what you pay for!  Cheap never lasts as long as a good quality     piece.  Buy the best you can afford.
2.    Measure your doorways and stair ways before buying.  No sense in hauling something home if you can’t get it in the house.  Custom furniture is not returnable!

The stariway in our old farm house is narrow. Be sure to measure before you buy!

There isn’t a 36” wide opening on any door in my house interior or exterior.  Pat’s room is on the second floor.  Not only did we have to get it into the house, we had to get it up stairs.

Pat watched as his dad and brother Tyler delivered the chair.

We bought a very nice recliner in red leather!  The size was perfect (it did take a little maneuvering, but we were successful).  It was on sale for under $800.00.  Not a bad price for leather.  Knowing Pat, he will take very good care of it.  He will want to change color schemes before it shows any wear!

It's not an exact copy, but pretty close and maybe better than the Doc Brown chair!

Our next step will be finding fabric for bedding and window treatments so we can choose paint colors.  Paint can be mixed in an endless number of colors, shades or hues.  A good paint company can match anything.  So even though picking a color is difficult for most people, select your fabrics first, then mix a paint to coordinate with your soft goods.

Doesn't Patrick look comfortable and relaxed in his new recliner?

Who said Halloween tables have to incorporate witches, goblins and bats?  I set a charming lunch table for two using grown up Halloween decorations.

Pile on the layers and add texture for a cozy Halloween lunch table

I love to layer my table with fabrics and textures.  We bring out our sweaters and jackets in the fall; do the same at the dinner table. Think warm and cozy.  In this instance I used a black and white check fabric topped with a runner made from left over silk embossed fabric.  You can use a colorful scarf right out of your closet.  Then I added a black placemat in the center.

I have used my square black salad plates and polka dot bowls and mugs many times, but they are perfect for October entertaining.  With the plate set on “point”, it made sense to angle the flatware too.  It’s OK to break the rules.

Look for something unusual.  I love the set of wood crows I found at Goodwill. They are perfect as napkins rings.  When arranged on a plate, the crow appears to be sipping from the soup!   I folded the napkin (made to match the runner) in a bow-tie shape.  The wire from the crow holds it together.

Share your lunch with a little wooden crow!

An old iron candelabra sets a spooky mood.  I threw in a ceramic pumpkin and ghost for grins.

I certainly don’t need place cards when only two people are dining.  I just love the graphic nature of the number cards.

Have fun with your table, even when it’s dinner for two!

If you’re sending your teenager off to college this fall, I don’t have to talk to you about expenses.  Everything about higher education is costly, but furnishing a dorm room doesn’t need to break the bank.  You know how I love to “re-purpose” an item (find a new use for something).  You also know I’m a flea market and antique junkie and Goodwill is one of my favorite places to shop.

Rearrange the furniture to create floor space. By lofting the beds, we had room to add a couple of chairs and area rugs. Throw a couple of pillows on the floor and you have seating for several friends.

I have been working with Goodwill SEW along with Marquette and Carroll Universities creating dorm showrooms entirely furnished with items purchased at Goodwill stores.   The average cost has been around $200 for two students living in the space!  It takes a little time to shop, but the savings are amazing.  Why spend a bundle of money now when you know your student will want something different next year?

It's amazing how much money you can save with smart shopping. We did an the whole room for under $200! Have a game plan and color scheme in mind when shopping.

Most dorm room furniture can be moved around and beds can be lofted for more floor space.

Lofted or bunk beds free up the floor. Talk to your room mate about color choices and who will bring the important stuff like the TV, refrigerator and chairs!

I found a green folding chair and a second one I covered with a blanket.  You might find a love seat size sofa or a comfy arm chair to fit your space.

Posters add personality to your dorm room without breaking the bank. Be sure to find out what you can use to hang pictures from the housing staff!

Once you choose a color scheme, shopping is easier and faster when you concentrate on your particular colors and you will be amazed at how many accessories you will find.

Each student gets a desk and shelving at Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Plenty of room to organize books, toiletries and personal items.

Personalize your space with photos and items that are important to you.

Arrange your furniture to get the most floor space. Separating your desks will give each of you a little privacy.

Use colorful baskets and containers to hold your toiletries and towels.

The hunt is half the fun!