Furniture Graveyard

Ever wonder where old hotel furniture goes to die?  If you have a taste for a bargain, and you can use your imagination, you have got to check out any Hotel/Furniture Liquidator -- every major city has one, or two or many.  

So it's not exactly high end shopping.  More like hold your nose, be prepared to sweat (this one has no AC), and try not to be too turned off by the dust and grime layering half the items. What you can expect are lots of $25 lamps, $50 chairs and sofas, $40 headboards, etc.  It is the Rodeo Drive of Cheap. (Again, only if you bring your imagination).

My eyes just light up at those price tags and all the nothings that I think I can turn into somethings. 

Here is a $40 chair from a Liquidator I reupholstered in Kelly Wearstler Sand Strie.  One of the most comfortable chairs I own.  

And bonus, when you buy something this cheap, you can afford to use expensive fabric.

$25 Artichoke lamps:
(I bought a pair now in my living room)

Thought about gold leafing them, but didn't need any more gold in the room, so I just gessoed, spray painted and added a new shade.

Excuse the mess on the couch. 

The moral of this story is some old furniture is like a cat -- 9 lives and all that.  Remember, it's not illegal to shop in this graveyard.*  Have fun!  *(I'm such a fool for a metaphor.)

Summer Blockbuster

Summer kidnapped me and left the blog Home Alone, but the only thing breaking into this house was The Usual Suspects:  vintage finds, re-up projects and a compulsive re-arranger (that would be me).

If you recall, the fabulous coffee table find created The Perfect Storm to redecorate, and plunge into a creative Matrix around here.

Remember me? (don't pay attention to the background...work in progress)

Mission Impossible this was not.  Moving art, and furniture from one room to another until Twilight and beyond is Much Ado About Nothing for me.  It’s Love, Actually.

Here’s a little sneak preview of the coming attraction in the den:

I can’t wait to show you photos of the ‘final cut”!

Until that project's finished, here’s a little Hide and Seek fairytale to celebrate the end of my summer hiding.

 

Who's hiding now?  (note the zebra hide on the floor & french chair in
the corner - an ebay find waiting for her knight in shining new upholstery) 

Once upon a time a Sleeping Beauty was resting on the living room floor.  Things around the house got a little Tangled.  Yes, the hide from the floor is now on the chair.  From Cinderalla to Beuty and the Beast:

   

Thus, The Never Ending Story of my house (ha ha).  More on the shake up soon.

The Attic Bedroom: Rated PG-13 (almost)

Starring an almost 13-year-old and her room.  Special appearance by: Justin Bieber!! 

Seating fit for a Tween Queen: floor pillows, frenchy chair, and chalk tables!

Since movies have been shot, edited and canned in less time than it's taken me to premiere photos of some of my completed projects, I'm rolling out the red carpet for this 'After' series. 

The seating area above is from this room...rememeber it?:

Imagine it a white box with a sad green window seat.

 (This pic. was taken after I painted and treated the walls with a glossy turquoise.)  

Drumroll....

detail of greek key trim on the drapes...loved the way they turned out!

the chalk board tables I made -- a huge hit with she and her pals!

the Craigslist chair I redid

And making his cameo, as promised:

The Biebs playing his most popular role: adorning a tweener's bedroom door. 

Special thanks to my wonderful brother-in-law, photographer West Freeman, for shooting these 'after' photos!  (The Biebs photo courtesy of my iphone).

No Mommies Allowed

While I've been busy not blogging, a certain five-year-old in my house has been busy maturing into a teenager.  Seriously, he turned the big 0-5 on Monday and he's already trying to get rid of me.  


The fiver in question politely asked me to help him write a sign for his door.  As he dictated, all I could think was:
a) He was so courteous about asking me to stay out.  
     (Notice the two 'pleases'...I can pat myself on the back for that.)
b) At least he's still calling me Mommy, and not by my first name yet.
c) He only asked me to stay out for A minute -- that's not that long.  I can handle that.
d) Where has my baby boy gone?


The best feature of this door sign is, of course, the drawing he created at the bottom:

That's a picture of me in the circle with a red X on top of it.  

So in the event that I can't read what I wrote, I can refer to the 'No Mommy Allowed' symbol.  He's a genius!


Here's big boy's room:

The mid-century chest actually came from grandmother's house --
it was in my Dad's room growing up!  I hand colored the old baseball photo above it.

I love this flame-stitch wing chair!  The colors in the room are green
and blue with orange accents so I put a fun orange zebra  pillow .

You know me and how I love to paint things...his bed got the orange treatment!
I painted the pop-art piece above his bed to add more color.

Sock monkeys with an awesome needlepoint pillow by his God-Momma!

His bookshelves are such a mess right now I will spare you that view.  I really want to do some canvas curtains in here with a fun blue trim, or just a big fat blue border on the bottom.  What do you think?  You think this look can last him a few years?


And speaking of kid's rooms...my niece's room is almost finished!  It has taken forever due to several fabric back-orders.  But, curtains are done and hopefully will be put up this weekend!  Look out for pictures soon!


xo.

Breaking up with the green...

Remember these chairs?  

Farewell green.  Onto other-colored pastures.

The more I looked at them, the more I agreed with my friend.  Green and the chairs were just not a good match.  Breaking up can be hard, but the parting was amicable.  Plus, I have a power-sander.  


Where do good-looking, repro Italian armchairs go to find their next match?  1stdibs.com of course.  The number one online marketplace for all things beautiful, antique and vintage, 1stdibs.com provided me and the chairs' owner with ample inspiration for the next look.


Nothing phoney about these online photos (all courtesy 1stdibs.com).
These are the real deal:

Pair Italian neo-classical armchairs

But then we also saw this, and loved the hints of gold in the paint:

Ohhh la, la, gold!

Here are the chairs in progress:

Come to mama hot stuff!

Details....

A little antweak crackle goes a long way...

We're in the process of narrowing down fabric choices.  Check back soon for the 'happily ever after' photos...

A Star is Born

Stage fright is not an option when you look this good.

She can't dance, she can't sing, and she definitely doesn't smoke.  In fact, she just sits there. But she's really good looking and full of personality.   

The chair reprises the role made famous by Ms. Garland.

It's the classic story as retold by me and a chair.  (Hold on, that's Hollywood calling on the other line.)  Unknown talent discovered and born again under the spotlight.  Alright, so maybe the chair's no Judy, but I'm still its Norman Maine -- with the exception that I'm not fatally jealous of its success.  You get the idea.   Remember this chair?

Grandma mint-green disaster in poly-blend floral rash 

It was a $40 Craigslist chair.  Apparently its only redeeming quality, besides its cute frenchy curves, is that it's really photogenic considering how ugly the finish and material were in person.  You can read more about me, the chair, and its transformation here.

Here is our star now:

So what if it just sits there?  It received a standing ovation from its most important fan -- its new owner, my niece.  A little paint, new material and it sparkles under the spotlight (a.k.a. the track lighting in its new attic bedroom).  The wise Judy Garland once said, "Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else."  Mission accomplished, star. (Applause track...)

Chairspiration

New Project Alert!  I have a couple of fun things I'm working on right now, but here is one of them...

A friend just got this wonderful pair of chairs from one of my favorite consignment stores.  I'm loving the nail head trim on the seat.  Long story short is she does not like the green antiqued look, and wants me to paint them gold or silver.  Now, I'm all for funky, but I really like these chairs as they are.  Give me a piece of furniture I hate, people.  Hand me something that looks like it belongs in your renovating neighbor's dumpster and I'm inspired.  


There's no talking her out of it, she absolutely wants to break up with the green. Being the good friend I am, I'm here for her.  So, now I'm looking for some 'chairspiration' to get me going on this hot number.  


What do you think about these?  

Warhol would be proud, Snookie

The only thing similar about Marilyn and Snookie, in this case, is the color orange.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I love a good reality show. Frankly, the more tasteless it is, the better.   Admit it you closet-watchers, these shows can provide plotlines so base that they exceed the entertainment value any half-hour sitcom with canned laughs could possibly provide. 

Freaks watching freaks pretty well sums it up.  I admit, I watch this trash too.

While the trash continues to clog up the TV guide, said trash is lining their pockets with wads of cash -- literally.  Yes, Snookie and The Situation are millionaires.

Jokes on us: 'The Situation' and Snookie are laughing to the bank and back.

If you haven’t heard of these two people, you need to leave the house more often.  Even if you don’t watch The Jersey Shore (of which I proudly only watched one season), the cast of this show has become pop culture icons and a leading example of how the definition of ‘celebrity’ has come to include camera hungry fools whose talents consist of fist-pumping, and GTL (gym, tanning and laundry for those not ‘in the know’).  Basically Andy Warhol and his 15-minute fame theory proved true.

Warhol -- famous for throwing wild parties, and perhaps for predicting the future.

So what do GTLers do with instant fame and money?  They get a Hollywood makeover of course!  For Pauly-D, The Situation, Vinnie and Ronnie, a makeover just means jugs of salon quality hair spray, plus a larger collection of track shoes and Ed Hardy t-shirts.  For the girls, as always, it’s a different story.  I didn’t even recognize these people when I saw this picture from the Video Music Awards:

What happened to  the sweat-suit clad tanned victims that made this series famous?

If you’re here, you know by now that I love a makeover.  Although their attire still rings Jersey (think sequins, animal print), their faces and bodies apparently got the standard Hollywood Rx .  Clearly their Jersey pad is also in need of a little nip/tuck to compliment their new faces/bodies. And guess who’s the girl to do it?  (Sheepishly raising my hand as I try to cover my face).  Okay, me:

 

Now that these people are here to stay –for the next 14 minutes at least, I’d like to see The Situation explain the connotation of this abomination that is such an aberration in the denotation of the civilization.