V

Vintage Kitchen

This hutch was very pretty.  I designed it to look like the cabinetry that was in the butler's pantry in an old house we restored.

 It looked like a free standing piece of furniture - which is what I wanted - but it was attached to the wall.   I put marble on top of it and wall paper around it and it had great personality and was great storage.

The challenge was to create a kitchen that felt vintage but was clean and bright and colorful.  This photo shows how well that worked here.

Speaking of Chairs....  I bought this chair at a neighbor's tag sale for $10.  Scary as it looks in the top picture I thought it was interesting.   I had wanted to refinish the wood - hoping it was mahogany but the woman I brought it to said she tried to bring it back but it was not great wood.  The red tones must have come from paint not the wood.  So I painted it white and re-upholstered it in a fabric I knew would go in many different rooms.

More Chairs

This little chair cost me $8.00 at a tag sale many years ago.  I thought that was a lot considering the condition it was in, but like a puppy in the pound, it had grabbed my heart.  I painted it white and got this eyelet white cushion for it and it has been in my bedroom, bathroom, and now, at least for this photo, my foyer.
Since we are in the foyer, I wanted to talk about this wallpaper.  It was one of the first things I did to this house when we moved in.  The whole house had been covered with off-white paint - obviously a realtor had told the seller to make everything neutral and the whole house was SO neutral and boring that it sat on the market for more than a year.  It should have been presented as a colonial-revival Cape from 1930 with tons of classic charm and details.  Instead, it had been white-washed into neither modern nor traditional and had lost all its personality.   My mission has been to restore the charm and feeling of the time period.  And this wallpaper set the mood for me.

My husband built the book shelf into what was an empty hole in the wall where a radiator had once been.  When the heating system was updated years earlier, the radiator had been removed, and the metal cover had been put back into place.  Because of the radiator hole, this shelf only sticks out into the room a few inches but the depth of the shelves is more like ten inches.  Finding that hole to me was a chance to add character to the foyer.

Wallpaper is actually out of style, if you want the fashion scoop.  I don't care.  I love it, and this room seemed to beg for it.  I wanted that outside feeling of an ivy-covered  English cottage to follow you inside.  I think it gives the feeling of another time but is still fresh and interesting.  

"Stick to the things you love.  An honest room is always up to date."  Billy Baldwin

Chairs

I have a real problem with buying chairs.  I used to bring home chairs like they were stray cats that needed a home.  I think I have rarely met a chair I did not like.  The thing with chairs is that they are sculptural and iconic, and if only one item needs to be chosen to illustrate a design era or concept, it is often a chair.  To me, they have personalities and I love to draw them.
I drew this chair - based on the French fauteuil - Louis XVI - or Neoclassical in style.  The legs are one of the main things you look at to determine style.  These legs are like a saber -  yup, that pretty delicate look is actually a military design.  And the back is a shield design.  Sigh.  Men.  Well, it still gives the impression of a pretty little chair that Marie Antoinette (wife of Louis XVI) would upholster in pink silk and use in her bedroom, doesn't it?
Fauteuil is a French term but all kinds of countries took the idea and made it their own - you may see Italian, Swedish, German, English to name some.  Despite the military references, this is one of my favorite designs.  
Chairs are sort of my hobby - so I draw them from real life, photos, or from my imagination.  I will be sharing lots of my drawings of chairs and their settings.

Golden Tones

The wall paper used in this hallway is a design by William Morris.  Notice that the paper goes up to a picture molding and then there is paint above.  The golden tones of the monochromatic paper and the reddish tones in the wood made this hallway a place to linger.  Not only was the paper accurate for the style and time period of the house (1900 arts and crafts) but it was also quite stunning.

Who knows why one image grabs you and another doesn't?  I drew this stone pillar a year or so ago.  It sat by the side of the road in a layer of fresh snow with a simple green wreath and red ribbon.  I think the fact that you could not see the house from the end of the driveway was part of the intrigue. I could only think that if the lamppost was this tasteful and lovely, the house must be beautiful.  I may never have a house that merits something like this at the end of the drive, but I took the image with me, and with it, lessons on rustication, proportion, natural materials, understatement, and quiet elegance.

A Room with Personality

There is something very lived-in and comfortable about this room.  The colors are warm and the furniture is all very comfy, albeit eclectic.
I had a friend in high school and her mom and dad were so cool.  They were both professors and their house was old and big and filled with books and artifacts and old comfy furniture.  I went there one night for fondue - I thought it was so Bohemian!  I guess that house had some impact on me.  This room captures that feeling.  I am not sure I am explaining it very well but I find this room interesting -  a lot to look at and you just want to walk in, sit down with your feet up, grab the throw blanket and start reading.
Another interesting thing about this room is the patterns.  I count four or five patterns just from this view and I know there were more in the room.  The reason I think it all works is that, as an eclectic space, it appears to have evolved over time - and it did to some extent.   All the patterns have a similar color palette, and the red and green pillows pick up the rose tones and greens. The antiques, the overstuffed chairs, the mirror - they all have a story and it all makes the room alive, warm, interesting, and unique.