its all in the details...

When I started my recent bedroom makeover, I had an overall plan (see previous post for the big picture view).  But I find that its often the details that make a space your own...and that sometimes, happy coincidences turn out in your favor...

First example...a couple of weeks ago, I bought this great bag from Kimberly at Faded Elegance...I had a plan to reinforce the bottom and add leather straps so it could be my everyday bag...













but the burlap of the bag picked up the detail of the burlap bed skirt...
and the bold black type reinforced the bold black metal shelves...
so I just had to turn it into a pillow! 

I removed the stitching from the bottom so that the bag lay flat...ironed out the seams...took off the velcro closure...cut the straps in half...inserted a down pillow form...folded over the top...tied  the cut straps into square knots...

and presto!  designer pillow!

Behind the overstuffed chair, I kept my rusted refrigerator coil (the history of the coil can be found here)...but needed artwork that worked better with the new space...a vintage pen & ink drawing of a french market (gleaned from goodwill years ago) was my first pick. 

Wanting to repeat the leaf motif in the curtains, I pulled together a simple multi-media collage...old beat up white painted frame ($1 at a flea market two summers ago), a piece of cardboard with white paint and a portion of an old dictionary page glued on and then partially torn off (free), one large maple leaf (free) attached with linen bookbinding tape (from my supply stash)

and finished off with one of my favorite Thoreau quotes, typed with the help of my vintage Royal typewriter (the best $10 I ever spent at St Vinnie's!)

On my side of the bed, I displayed one of my Audubon bird prints...again, the leaves in the print mimicked the pattern in the curtains...and the subtle blue/green tones tied in with the overstuffed chair...

a simple vignette of vintage silver along with a photo of my parents on their wedding day adds a personal memento...

it was important to me to have a lot of texture in this space so that it didn't feel weighted

down with the black and the gray...

 

the wood slat blinds...which repeats the pattern of the refrigerator coil...

the basket for Calvin's toys, which complements the tones of the baskets on the shelves...

the best coincidence was the area rug...with the old cranberry pattern rug gone, we needed something on the floor to help dampen sound and provide a little softness on bare feet...while standing up to Calvin, our golden retriever...the cream wool shag I saw at IKEA would last about a week...I really wasn't finding anything that would work...until I travelled down to the basement...and found the large size flat weave rug I bought two summers ago when it was the end of the summer season...its one of those indoor/outdoor sisal-type rugs...and though its not the perfect solution...it works for now...




I still have a few details to work out...but all in all, we're happy and comfortable with the new bedroom look...
and that's the most important detail...

friday night fun

Last night was my collage paperweight class at Faded Elegance...though the group was small, there was plenty of lively conversation, sparkly champagne and creative buzz...as well as lots of vintage pickings to fuel the inspiration...

Sorry I didn't get a photo of everyone's creations...I was having too much fun!

Thanks a million to Kimberly of Faded Elegance for being such a great hostess...and did you know she's hosting another party next Friday, September 28...its the Annual Anniversary Event...shopping, food, drink, friends, fabulous finds...what more could you ask for...get all the details here...

paper + glue = inspiration

In the midst of cleaning up my studio space, I uncovered a supply of lead crystal paperweight blanks...
and immediately contacted Kimberly at Faded Elegance to concoct another creative workshop...

Here's the details...I'll be offering a collage paperweight class at Faded Elegance in Snohomish on Friday, Sept 21 from 6-9pm.  Cost for the class is $36 and includes not only the lead crystal blank to design your own custom paperweight, but plenty of old french book pages, snippets of maps, vintage wallpaper, feathers, buttons, glitter, postage stamps, dictionary pages, sheet music, leaves, ribbon, etc, etc, etc to make it all fabulous...with everything you need to complete your lovely project, including a fanciful gift container...

and no workshop at Faded Elegance would be complete without a little bubbly and treats to make the creative process flow...

Contact Faded Elegance at 360-568-5333 to sign up; space is limited...

And an added bonus...I will be having a trunk sale of my vintage art cards during the workshop...dozens of designs...all cards are packaged in sets of 4 with envelopes...with the holidays approaching, its the perfect
hostess gift or stocking stuffer...

Hope to see you there...

Summer hues

Since its almost July 1, you would assume that one would be basking in the warmth of summer...here in the Pacific NW, we are experiencing a delayed spring...its plenty green outside, just not very warm...or sunny...yet.

But that has not deterred me from making our home feel more summer-like...about two weeks ago, I was inspired by my trip to Faded Elegance to lighten up...bringing in more white and light and banishing the dark.  After a day or two of rearranging/restyling/reviving the first floor of our home, I feel ready for settling down with a gin & tonic, kicking off my shoes and indulging in a good summer novel...to wit-

Gone are the brown and gray wool blankets, the dark wood lamp bases and the black iron side table...replaced with yellow & light teal blue paisley pillows, a bright teal rusted radiator cover now a charming side table and two light colored lamps (one a stone base and the other a ceramic base).  Changing the lamp shades to a nubby linen helps to shed more light into the room.

I also replaced our drab tan footstool with this 36" square ottoman with the white matelesse slipcover that I picked up at Faded Elegance...

Its plenty big - everyone can put their feet up regardless of where they sit...and there's room for a vintage wire basket to hold reading material...and a cotton knit throw (because, who am I fooling...it will still be a tad cool now and then!)

I also bought a white painted table on casters...thinking it would work as a sofa table...but the scale was too small. 

I put it in the front hallway and will keep the display here to a minimum...with the table on casters, it will be easy to wheel wherever I need it for photo shoots in the house...given the dreary days we can have, a mobile shooting station is a plus!  For now, it has daisies and baseballs...both of which speak summer to me...homage paid to Linda of Itsy Bits and Pieces who inspired me to dig out the baseballs and put them on display...

I also rearranged the artwork on the living room wall...the vintage Paris postcards that were my mother's had been hanging in the same place for the last ten years...it was time for a change.  I composed a salon-type installation using the theme of birds...though its a combination of original art with reprints, old museum matting with contemporary framing, it all works because the subject remains the same.

Even the simplest details echo my bird and art theme...a slew of used paintbrushes fill a tall glass vase while a charming old book with an abandoned nest are placed on a vintage white enamelware tray...

Its the details that can make a room...more about such details to come...

meanwhile...I'm linking up to Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special...under the Picture Perfect full room makeovers section...bound to be lots of ideas to get your home in a summer mood...

Happy summer days...

Today is the first day of summer...and the sun is actually shining and it is warmer than 50 degrees...you may not think much of this...but in the Pacific NW, summer takes it dear sweet time in arriving...June is known for being wet and cold (mmm, how does that differ from the previous 9 months...well, in June there's some hope it will get warmer and drier...if you ever visit here, come in August or September - its heaven then!)

I had been thinking about changing up things on the first floor of our home...we've been here 10 years and things were looking a little tired...figured with summer's arrival, it would motivate me...but on Tuesday morning, as I sat in my wool sweater at my computer, I decided to jump ahead...if the weather didn't feel like summer, I was going to make my home feel like summer.  Everything was so dark...and I still had the wool blankets and heavy pillows out...it needed to lighten up...and I needed a little visual inspiration...so I drove over to Faded Elegance, to visit my friend/owner Kimberly McIlrath and see what I could find...




The store was lovely as ever...

I am a sucker for letters and numbers...

I was on the lookout for "light" and "white"....and though this fits both of those requirements,
it was a little too ruffled for me...

These two ended up being "just right"...a small painted white table (on casters - my fav!)
and a large square ottoman with a white matelasse slipcover...

I popped both of them in the back of my Subaru and drove home totally jazzed...
but that's all for now...because the sun is out...and it is the longest day of the year...

A few adjustments...

Its a new year...time to make resolutions/ adjustments/ declarations/pronouncements...

The current issue of Real Simple magazine caught my eye the other day...look at this list...

You would think with a list like this, the magazine would need to be a major tome...but alas, its only 136 pages.  It just so happened that a copy of this issue was in the free pile of magazines at the library so I brought it home to read...I don't think I've improved my life for good, but the section on how to correct 17 everyday cooking errors was helpful.
I wonder, with all of these topics covered in January, what will they write about in February?











As for me, have a few announcements of my own...

I've done a little re-organizing of my blog.  I have designed a Features page, which is located in the Pages/Additional Details section on the right hand column of my blog...in one location, you can find where my projects have been featured on other blogs or websites.  I can't thank fellow bloggers enough for the support they have given me...there's a live link for each individual feature; please visit these sites for plenty of inspiration/motivation for your own projects.

I have closed down my space at Faded Elegance in Snohomish so that I can concentrate on my art projects.  There is still a link to Faded Elegance in my blog list so I encourage you to visit and sign up for their email list so you can keep in the loop on all the activities going on there.  I have some ideas for future creative workshops and trunk shows and will talk with Kimberly in the future about what might be possible.

I plan to offer regular sales at my etsy shop...there's a link in the right hand column...right now, I'm having a great postcard sale...digital images of my original collages made into postcards...you still have time to send out New Year greetings to friends far and wide...

In the works is a tutorial list of my projects over the last two years, that you will be able to easily access from the right hand column...its not yet completed but I'll be posting it soon.

And don't forget to enter my 2-year anniversary giveaway...details here...those fab European house numbers could be yours...deadline to enter is Sunday, January 15...

Make a holiday memory

During the summer high season of junking, I found several old cameras...which provided the inspiration for my holiday vignette at Faded Elegance...

I decided to focus on a simple christmas, without a lot of fuss or frill...red glass ornaments in a large glass vase with a sprig of holly...

well loved linen tablecloths, topped with a small plaid cotton tablecloth is perfect for a holiday gathering...
I like the layered look on a tabletop and the cotton paired with the linen is a great mix of textures...

cozy stockings sewn from my felted sweater remnants (details on their construction later in the week)...

blanket balls made from wool blanket scraps...would be easy to attach a length of yarn and hang from a christmas tree...

child's mittens and old aluminum cookie cutters are ideal simple ornaments...

Want to see it all...well, you'll just have to stop in at Faded Elegance...
the grand kick-off to the holiday season is Friday to Monday, November 25th-28th...15% off entire stock of vintage and antique, tons of inspiration and charm, even cookies to munch!  And Saturday November 26th has been designated "Shop Local" Saturday, a national event where you patronize local stores in your community...sounds like a grand idea to me!

The sum greater than its parts

My dining room table is overflowing with holiday projects...as I mentioned earlier in the week, I am in the thick of prepping for my holiday vignette at Faded Elegance...here's a glimpse of one finished project...I'm challenging myself to use only what I can find/unearth/discover in my studio for supplies...its gonna get pretty creative!

A dozen or more ceramic electric insulators that were left behind from the previous owner who renovated our 1902 victorian home...

a jumble of silver wire and some red wood beads from a busted christmas garland...

I un-twisted the wire and inserted a length of wire through the hole in the center of the insulator...

on one end, I attached a rusty screw (there are no shortage of these around!)
by winding the wire around the screw...

and then I pushed the screw into the hole at the bottom of the insulator, but not before adding a dab of Amazing Goop into the hole for good measure...

I re-twisted the wire on the opposite end into fanciful shapes...and voila!

For some I added a red bead...others I left naked...since the ceramic is heavy, there is little chance of tip-over...they can display photos, hold place cards, add whimsy to your table...whatever you like...

Joining the inspiration fetes at both Funky Junk Interiors and Inspired by Charm...I  hope you visit both of them for a heavy dose of creative inspiration...

Making a memory

My studio has turned into Santa's workshop...I'm busy preparing for my holiday vignette at Faded Elegance...my theme is "Make a Holiday Memory"...has a little bit of a 50's vibe with a good measure of junk attitude thrown in...

I'll keep you posted on projects as they progress...and Faded Elegance will reveal all of its holiday glory on Friday, November 25...meanwhile, back to the workshop...