Tough Love Fallout--Dining Room

The final phase of the 'tough love' visit from our friend, Giggi, was the dining room.  I didn't really change a lot in there because I have what I have in the way of furniture.  BUT, the surfaces were in desperate need of some love.

The side board still had a couple of Christmas items.  They had landed there and hadn't moved.  I was tired of my typical 'more is more' look, so I tried to pare down a little.  Here is the sideboard before.  Yep, those are frosted cherries.  Definitely needing some spring.

Here is the new, fresher sideboard.

Snowball viburnum, eggs, rabbits---much better for April.  BTW, if you have one of those large silver platters that have the wells in them, they are great to use as a 'base' for a display.  I love this one because it is heavily accented on the sides and is footed.  

Next was the table.  Now for true confessions.  My dining room table is always full of stuff---and not cute stuff.  It may be stuff that needs to go to the basement but just hasn't been taken down yet.  Or, it may be stuff that I haven't quite decided what to do with it.  Regardless, there is always a pile.  Therefore, I decided that MAYBE if I set the table, maybe I would/could keep it straight.  Here is table now.

Except, I didn't like just the plain placemats.  So, I added a salad plate from my grandmother's handpainted china.  That looked too plain, so I added the rabbit placecard holders.  Better.

Still have to work on the radiator cover and re-do the china cabinet.  There's a little leftover Easter and Christmas there too.

Maybe I can get it done before fall :)

Historic Virginia Garden Tour---Before and after

The Garden Club of Virginia annual Historic Garden Week hosts garden tours throughout the state during the third week of  April each year.  Member clubs in the different cities and localities in the state host these tours.  

This year's local tour was in the Brandon Heights area of Newport News.  There were six homes and St. Andrew's Episcopal Church.  Each home is filled with beautiful flowers reflecting the interiors of the individual home.  St. Andrew's was decorated as if a wedding was taking place.

My club, the Hampton Roads Garden Club, was in charge of arranging and hostessing at three of the homes.  Tuesday is arranging day.  Well, as usual, the weather wasn't our BFF.  Cold and misty which is kind of okay unless your assignment is to do the outside.  Donna and Sidney drew that straw!

Inside, we decided, re-decided, tried, re-tried and worked until we got it just like just like we wanted.  





























Oh, and did I mention, the street in front of the house where we were working and the house next door have been torn up for OVER A YEAR!!!!   I mean really---I think they just enjoy playing with those large toys.  

Today (Wednesday) is tour day---which started off cold and foggy. Fortunately, by 10:30 the sun began peeking out.  It has turned out to be a lovely day. We even spiffed up the shop with fresh flowers and cookies. Actually, the cookies were just a good excuse to have something sweet around :)

Here are a few shots of the finished flowers in place.  Everyone did a superb job!















         

Springing spring!

Well, since it's mid-April and the outside of the shop looked like an abandoned shanty, it was time to do something about it.  There were still the dead leaves from fall all piled under the bench and window.  Peeling paint----pretty tacky of us. 

So, never taking the fast way out, I decided that the doors needed to be re-painted as well as the bench.  We sit back from the street, so it can be hard to find us.   Brighter doors will help.  Then we had a shop meeting outside to decide the bench color---turquoise was the overwhelming choice.  I started painting thinking 2 coats will be enough.

 

 



Wrong---three coats and I quit.  Who would have thought that green would be so hard to cover?  The bench took 4 cans!  So much for a quick color change.

 








Next was a stop to McDonald's Garden Center (trying to support those local small businesses!)  Was going for color that would draw your eye as you were driving down the road at 25+ mph.  Orange, yellow, pink and lime fit the bill.

I tried planting up the sign post this year.  Will see how long it is before we forget to water and they turn brown---not something you can see driving by.











Here are the final pictures.  We are pleased.  Now, just look for the turquoise bench!

 

Freshening Up

What is it about Spring that makes us want to throw open the doors and clean everything from top to bottom? Probably the thick coat of pollen that is covering absolutely EVERYTHING this week in Virginia.  

                                     

Mom decided it was time to freshen up the front of the shop and she has been hard at work, repainting the front doors, sweeping out all the accumulated leaves, replanting some fresh annuals. Rearranging all of those pots out front must have roused the snake that was probably living right outside of our door escaping the midday sun. One of our customers said, "Um, a snake just came in through the front door." After a few moments of panic, I ran up to check it out. And sure enough a snake was cooling down on our tile floor behind the door.
We like to think of ourselves as tough women.  We move furniture, load cars, mess with electricity and tools and look darn good while we're at it.

                                                     

But we draw the line at snakes.  We know it was just a harmless garter snake, eating bugs, good for the ecosystem, blah, blah, blah.... Not a single one of us wanted to extricate it from behind the door. So I ran next door and got our neighbor, Bob Hilling of Trophy World.  Bob grabbed a broom, removed the snake and relocated him to an undisclosed but faraway location. He's really our hero.  Needless to say, it took us awhile to get our pulses under control after our unexpected visitor slithered in. 
Stay tuned for before and after pics of the front of the building - and we promise no snake pics!

                                                               Allison

Fabric shopping

One of the fun things about helping people with their homes is shopping.   It's a wonderful  excuse to go out and search for items, fabrics, whatever.  One of my favorite places is Artee Fabrics and Home.  Their first local store was in Virginia Beach.   This past fall/winter, they opened a store in Yorktown/Grafton (in the space where Art's Upholstery was for all of you locals.)

                                    

Now, there are lots of things I love.  Fabric is one of them.  I feel like a kid in a candy store and want to immediately go home and rip out everything I have with newer, better fabric. You are likely to recognize some of the fabrics from catalogs and magazines.  They are actually a mill store.  The company manufactures fabrics for several high end companies.  They also manufacture finished product for Ballard Designs.

They have tons of fabrics which are arranged by color and type.  

Almost everything is on racks, so there is no rooting around all of the bolts standing up on their end.  They have a sale section in the back of the first floor (that's right--there are two floors of goodness), full of all kinds of fabrics and trims that are still viable for today's colors and styles.





       


I could probably get lost, but not to worry---I would just follow the path of drool that I left along the way!  

So many beautiful things.  Not only fabrics but trims, accessories, even custom furniture.

They even have the burlap bags that are so popular these days----for a dollar each!  Hard to beat as well as hard to find.

Stop on by to visit them.   They also have a Facebook page and a website www.ArteeFabricsAndHome.com for more information.   Jerry, the manager, splits his time between the two stores, so you may or may not run into him.  Tell them we said hi!



                                                                                      Karan

Tough Love Re-do, Part 2

She said it would happen.  "You need to move that wobbly tray stand or it's going to fall over."  That was Giggi talking, and she would be right.  I grabbed the only thing I could find to hold a tray to use as a makeshift coffee table.  It didn't last long! 

                                                 

After I finished re-working the piano top (see previous blog---I don't know how to link to it yet!), it was time to tackle a chest and two table tops.  I actually worked on them all at the same time, swapping out one item for another.  Here is the painted table top, at first.

I liked it pretty much but something kept bothering me--too much, too 'messy'.  I decided the sheep on the left had to go.  Now, much 'mo betta'.

Next was the table coming in our front door.  My husband's keys and cell phone usually land here, so it has to have some function as well look nice.

Last was the chest in the corner.  The jury is still out on it, but I ran out of time, energy and creativity (and it was too early for wine!)

The point is that this was ALL stuff that I already had.  By re-grouping and editing, I not only let go of a few things, but I also got some new 'landscapes' to look at.

The most important thing to remember---JUST DO IT!  Don't be scared.  You can always change it back.


                                                                                  Karan

Uh--oh!

OK---I'm on my own.  Allison and her husband, Jon, left this morning on a week long vacay to Costa Rica.  That means, it's ALL up to me.  No one else to do Quickbooks, banking, blogging, etc.  

I must say that all of the gals that work at the shop are quick to jump in and help.  The problem is that Sarah is the only one under 50 (and by 20 years I might add).  That means unless she is around to get us out of our "technical" messes, we aren't going to be too sharp.  I have been practicing posting pictures on FB and doing the blog all by myself, but am always wary of flying solo.

Wish us luck without Allison this week.  Poor Sarah!

                                                      
                                                                                                Karan

Decisions, decisions

In anyone else's home, whether it is a client, friend or family member, I can usually quickly re-do their table top, chest, desk, mantel, bookcases, or whatever else needs to be freshened.  In my own home, I AM FROZEN!   I cannot figure out what I want to do or make up my mind on how I want to re-arrange things.

Today I stayed home from the shop determined to finish the mess left from the previous blog when our friend, Giggi, was here with her tough love.  I looked and wandered and played a game of  Sudoku and wandered and even loaded the dishwasher (that's pretty desperate).  I finally said to myself, "IT IS ONLY THINGS YOU ARE ARRANGING.  THEY ARE NOT BEING CEMENTED DOWN.  YOU CAN CHANGE IT IMMEDIATELY IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT."

               


So I cleared all off the spaces that still needed some love.  This is the pile of (some) stuff after the surfaces were cleared.  I mostly 'shopped' from here. That's a big piece of advice I like to give my clients, to pile all your things from all rooms in one space and 'shop' your things.




Before all of the hoopla began at my house, the keyboard on the piano was open.  It housed my collection of small boxes, lots of family photos, and I can't even remember what else.  The tough love crew said move the lamp to the left and fill the large mercury glass jar with magnolia and something tall. So, I ran down to the basement where my stash of stuff is and found the pussy willow and the forsythia. I put them in the jar with the magnolia in low---looking good and had a fresher style.

Then I started playing with the photos.  I started with the large black and white of the children first, then kept adding and subtracting until I got a pleasing high and low arrangement.

Next I started adding some of the collection of small boxes mixed with another collection of my vintage florentine boxes. I LOVE old florentine and gold leaf as you will see.   Giggi thinks I may have some gypsy blood in me!  Then, of course, I had to work in some of the old silver I collect.  Most of it needs to be polished, but I couldn't stop my 'mo' to do that.

Here is the final result.

I should say final result----for now.   On my way to the mail box I'll probably move something around.  I'm pretty sure it's a disease!

More on the other spaces later.


                                                                        Karan

Decorator v. Designer

So in a recent post, I was called an "interior designer".  That was NOT my idea!  I much prefer "decorator".  To me, "designer" infers many years of late nights in the classroom and the labs learning all about electrical and plumbing and stuff like that---not the pretty, fun stuff!

What I do is 'decorate'.  I have 'designed' before, helping with several homes from the blueprints to completion.  However, 'designer' just seems a little too pretentious for me.

One reason may be that my strongest area of decorating is working with what the client has.  Trying to re-purpose, re-locate, re-whatever is first.  Then, if something needs to be added, we will go to outside sources. 

Of course, I probably like this best because then I get to go visit some of my favorite haunts.  It's a great excuse---"gotta run to Homegoods (or Target) to look for (fill in the blank) for Ms. Client".  Invariably, I will find something for that client, but also something
for another one, and (probably) something that I REALLY need.  

If money is no (or not much of) an object, then I can visit other wonderful shops full of beautiful things.  This also applies to the times when you need something specific, such as a great accessory, piece of art, or beautiful chair.  I also shop in our store as much as I can.  This provides me with more unique, distinctive, one-of-a-kind objects, usually with a dose of character thrown in.

Regardless, to be able to 'fluff' someone's stuff is a fun thing to do!


                                                                         Karan

Trash to treasure

It never ceases to amaze me what people will throw away. I was on my way to work recently, zooming through the neighborhood in my MINI Cooper when I saw a piece of furniture that really caught my eye. Unfortunately, it wouldn't fit into said MINI. So I called Mom (Karan) who was also on her way to work and has a trusty van and she threw it in the back for me. I was TICKLED! A real trash to treasure find, an antique, English oak, barley-twist, drop leaf table on the side of the road.

We carry a great product in the shop called Howard Restore-a-Finish and I knew it would turn this trashed well-worn finish into something much better. I used the Dark Oak color, an old rag and some 0000 steel wool.

She cleaned up REALLY nicely.
I mean come on y'all - this is an 18th century table in very sound shape about  900 feet from my house! Eat your heart out Lara Spencer!
It looked so good that we loaned it out to a friend/bride that we were doing flowers for as an altar for her outdoor wedding.  You can read about that here at Ginny and Julian.