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.

Tough Love, Lady

If you had to guess what the house of an interior designer and consignment shop owner looked like, what would you guess?  In a word: Fabulous.  I can say this about Karan's house because it's true (no nepotism involved here.) She lives in a modest house, filled with beautiful things in a great neighborhood not too far from the shop.  It was on the Virginia Home and Garden Tour for goodness sake!

 But we all get stuck. And by stuck I mean boxed into our homes and spaces in a static way. It's almost as if we can't see our things anymore. And then someone who loves you comes in and gives you "tough love" and makes you change something. It could be as small as paint or furniture placement and all of the sudden, your eyes are open! Things are looking BLAH.

In our world, we go into strangers homes and do this all of the time (sometimes, we just do it mentally everywhere we go) People at the shop ask us all the time "Do you go home and change your house as often as you change the store?" The short answer: Heck no. 

So what turns the tables on a decorator? Well, we got a visit from our good friend Gigi. You may remember reading about her here. Well, Giggi is an expert at doling out  "Tough Love" when it comes to the home.

Wine helps us think better

 For instance, in Karan's house there is "that coffee table" purchased from Green Front 18 years ago and has scratches, Lucy's puppy teeth marks and every back issue of Traditional Home magazine piled on top of it. It needed to go, but Karan had been living with it for so long, she couldn't really SEE it anymore.

So, there just so happened to be a coffee table at the shop that she had been "oohing and aaahhing" over for 3 months.  Finally, with the help of a bottle of Pinot and Giggi and Dale, it ended up in Karan's den.

Needless to say, she LOVED it.  She kept saying - "Oh my, it looks so much better!" Uh yeah, Lady. It's a grown up, sophisticated coffee table without 18 years of wear and tear all over it! All she needed was a little push!

Anybody out there??

Alright, we are guilty. We have been called out and we can't deny that the blog has fallen by the wayside. We are very busy and very important, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.... 
How about a little around the Blooms in 60 seconds? More like 6 pics....

So there was Christmas:

The table set for our Shop Christmas party

 

Any retailer will tell you that Christmas is time of year when we feel like pulling our hair out is so festive and fun! We did take a break from all the action to have a little party though!

 

Then we took on a fundraising and publicity campaign for Habitat for Humanity.

 

It was certainly a fun challenge, we met a lot of great folks and spread our personal motto of "Don't be afraid to paint it."

 

 

The end product was comfortable and breezy and we got a lot of compliments!

 



Let's see we also tore through Karan's house and made her shake it up a bit, there is a longer post for that but here's a sneak preview, because I did say Around the Blooms in 6 pictures after all.

Thanks for catching up with us. I swear we are really going to try and be more consistent about blogging.  If there's anything you'd like to see a post about - be sure to drop us a line and let us know!

 

Sweet Home Alabama

Last week I was in Alabama visiting my mom for a few days.  We ate at all of my favorite places and found new places to clothes shop.   Then I ended the week with a visit to Auburn and my sorority's 90th anniversary.  I had a ball!!!!   What fun to re-connect with gals that I hadn't seen in WAY too long.  The wonderful thing is that we picked up our conversations as if we had just talked last week.   Staying up until one in the morning took it's toll---but was worth every new wrinkle.  Of course, we had our fair share of wine which didn't help the head all that much.

Anyway, one of my friends has a daughter who has started a hand-crafted pillow company, Jane Sweet Jane.  These pillows are hand painted and stenciled by Jane Randall Jackson. 

They are cute and rustic.  The showroom/workroom is really fun too.  She has loads of fun designs, fabrics and sizes.  She also does custom orders which can include a monogram!

 

Their newest endeavor is this rustic log lamp----how awesome is that!

So, give my friend's website and facebook page a gander.  You can give her a big War Eagle from me!