Light to Dark

Sometimes you absolutely love a piece of furniture you have but maybe not the color or the placement. This piece was that kind of piece for my client.

It was being used as a dresser but she had visions of it becoming a buffet in their dining area. The color was all wrong for the dining area though and she really wasn't that fond of how orange the original finish was.

Rustic and Original

The first go round, the stain was splotchy and I was pretty sad. I had to sand this piece raw because the stripper alone wasn't good enough to get an even look with the stain.

The hardware also required a makeover and black iron it was!

(People are always making comments about my nails. Yes, they are real. I cut them off even with my finger tips every two weeks and this is how they grow. I don't do anything else to them. Just got lucky I guess.)

After several hours of sanding, staining, sealing, and a hardware makeover I finally had this:

I had many people stop and ask if this piece and the pie safe were for sale. All were sad when I said that the pieces belonged to clients so that made me feel very good!

Another satisfied client! Now on to the next piece!

Parade of Homes: Turquoise and Nickel Chandelier

It's the end of the Parade of Homes and it has been so fun! I hope you were all able to go out to Oakmont and see this gorgeous home!

Guys! I'm a bit ridiculously proud of this bit of work. Sometimes you complete something and it doesn't matter how many things you've completed before that were similar. It doesn't even matter how much you loved those pieces and still do love those pieces…this new piece just makes you so proud of your own work. This is that piece for me.

I've transformed several different things into light fixtures in just this past year alone, but this was the first time I made a light fixture completely from scratch!

My client knew she wanted something fun and original for her youngest daughter's room. We looked and looked, sending each other pictures and nothing really hit us as THE fixture until this light:

It was almost perfect.

This fixture had an antique brass finish, antique mirrors, and was a bit on the expensive side.

I knew we were going for a more modern spin, cooler toned metals in this room, and not to spend so much. So I proposed that I could make it. 

My quick sketch below:

So, here we go. I started by gathering all of my parts.

The frame

The center piece (custom work by Vance Gilstrap)

Almost all of the gorgeous nickel lighting parts

Yes, this was a handmade piece. I strung and glued every single piece of turquoise on this chandelier.

I wired up the light after putting it together.

I sat in a chair and watched Friends for hours while doing this.

I cannot even explain my joy when it was complete and looked so amazing. You can get a better sense of scale when you see it sitting the front seat of my car. It is NOT small.

Sneak peek with it on in the room

I love this light! I've already had requests for more in different colors.

I know these last two pictures are really too big for my blog page, but I really don't care. It's totally worth seeing enlarged like this!

It may be completely dorky, but every time I see this light I think, "I MADE that!"

Sleek lines, nickel finish, small round bulbs all equals awesomeness! 

I hope you guys have all enjoyed seeing these spaces that I worked on for my amazing client and this Parade Home.

Parade of Homes: Custom Soft Goods

I once heard Sarah Richardson say that in any given space she uses between 10-12 different fabrics. I have always loved her spaces. If you've followed me for any amount of time you know that she is my favorite. She's who I want to emulate style wise. So when I was asked to make pillows and help find a fabric scheme for the parade home, I knew that I would be mixing a lot of pattern. I searched for fabrics for a while. I found some that were good but not awesome. Then my client found some awesome fabrics and I went through them and picked the ones I felt would go best together. She loved them and we snatched up the fabrics!

When the first four came in, I was giddy! How gorgeous are these?!?

The stack of forms seemed a tad overwhelming at first.

But after the first one was together I flew through these pillows!!!

I also made the window seat cushion.

It was a fun feel for this little girl's room. Pattern, pops of color, a lot of texture. Several of the pillows are double sided as well, so you can have a different look whenever you want. Mix and match at it's best!

Front:

Back:

Next was a project that I was very excited to complete! Fabric backed bookcases.

This is something I LOVE! The key fabric for the room that had every single color in it was the butterfly fabric. We wanted it to be a big statement and it is!

Before:

gorgeous built-ins all plain and white

Beautiful for sure, and I think almost everyone knows how much I love white!

But, I amped them up for this boho chic/mod space!

I mean…come on! That is so precious!!!

Putting piping on the lower section just makes it look so polished!

This room is so adorable! I'm in love with the colors and patterns. It's such a joyful space!

It was such a blast to do the soft goods for this space! I love it and even better, so does my client!

Stay tuned and visit again on Monday to find the final installment for the Parade of Homes work that I completed this year!

Also don't forget to check out my awesome photographer Shine A Little and follow her on Facebook!

Parade of Homes: Nightstands

These sad little pieces were in my inventory. I had been planning to fix them up for my sale this summer, but when my client said she was looking for some nightstands I knew these would be perfect. It had already been in my plan to make them over in a similar fashion to what she was wanting. She came to look at them, loved them and bought them from me. 

Here is the before:

The bases were kind of sad and not in very good condition. I wanted a more clean and modern look for these so I removed the bases and replaced them with round mid-century legs.

Since this came to me as a broken vanity, there were large sections that needed to be filled, sanded, and painted.

Then came the hardware. I searched high and low for agate slice pulls that I thought went with the room. Everything I found was either too large, ridiculously priced, or had gold leaf on the edges and we weren't using brass or gold in this room. So I got my "crafty girl" on and did it myself! I ordered a set of slices in the right size from eBay, got some hardware stems, heavy duty clear glue, and silver leaf.

Before the silver leaf:

After the silver leaf:

I can't even explain how excited I was when everything was complete and put together! These little dated nightstands were now modern and cute!

So CUTE!!!! 

There are just a few days left of the Parade of Homes. So if you haven't made it out to Oakmont yet, hurry! This home is definitely worth seeing!!!

Parade of Homes: Generational Dresser

We're on to the second room that I worked on for this Parade of Homes house. This room is where I really poured out my heart and soul! I can't wait for you all to see how much went into this very custom space.

I'm going to start with the furniture pieces,and first up is the dresser. When my client decided she wanted to use this piece we already knew that the house was going to have a much more modern look. This piece belonged to her husband when he was young, but it had a country feel to it.

It was distressed cream with pink and cream diamonds on the top, distressed down to black in a few places.

The base was a bit too curvy and we were wanting cleaner lines.

This is the only before picture I have. Lying on it's back before I took the curved piece off.

 I removed the piece from the base.

Then added in the flat stock across the base and wrapped it all the way to the back to create a much more crisp and substantial look. (In the background you can see a sneak peek of the pie safe I posted over the weekend for another special client.)

Then came about 4 coats of paint on the top and a couple more to cover the rest of the piece. The new knobs my client picked were then added and it was taken to the house.

Re-imagined, crisp, and clean! 

My personal favorite part is that there is no open space at the base any longer. As a mother I loathe when furniture has a space at the base where little things can collect. To me, the piece is much more functional now.

I cannot tell you enough to go and check out this home while the Parade of Homes is happening.