31 May, 2010

1st Apartment!!

Well, she's all moved in!!  After loading up the U-Haul, throwing stuff in the bed of the truck and driving for 10 hours it was time to unload all of it.  Almost all of her room here at home made the trip.

The bed, drapery panels, dresser, and some of our yardsale treasures all made the trip. 
 Her apartment is only 2 years old. The school is actually building a "village".  You can check it out here.  


 Anyway, her place has polished concrete floors, they look and feel like marble.  Beautiful!  Great big gorgeous windows.


 Black granite countertops and subway tile backsplash.  Stainless steel appliances.   Pantry with washer/dryer hookups.  9 foot ceilings. Her apartment is a 2 bedroom/2bath unit. She'll have a room mate in the fall. This is what we started with.



Remember these? 


 You can see where they came from here.  I brought paint, paintbrush, sandpaper and a dropcloth with us.

It's amazing what a couple of coats of paint can do.  These will definitely stay around for awhile.

 Work in progress.  She was pretty excited about the whole process.

A couple of extra hands certainly helps, especailly if they can help with things up high. She can't put holes in the walls, so we used 3M hooks that will come off easily when she moves out next year.

And as we were driving away Monday morning, this is what we had accomplished.



And this is looking out those big, beautiful windows.

It was great to see #3 so happy and excited about her own place.  It was nice to see her happy about everything we'd collected and re-vamped.  So much of her personality is in her new home!
Now I have to start  thinking about what I want to do with that almost empty bedroom!!
ann marie



19 May, 2010

Knock,Knock


OK, so I was minding my own business and was on my way to the bank when I had to swerve over to the other side of the road. All I could see were legs! Really beautiful legs....I guess I'm a legs kind of girl.




Sooo..I go up to the house and knock, knock on their door.  I certainly didn't want to get into trouble, and then the kind gentleman said I could have them.  He also asked if I needed help loading. I almost said no, because I knew I could put the tables in the truck bed, but then I turned around...and saw this


Sorry, I couldn't get it out by myself, and I had to share the beautiful primitive chippy finish of this corner cupboard...
THAT THEY WERE THROWING IN THE TRASH!!







He was so kind as to help me put this in too!  You would have to spend hours trying to replicate this finish. I know it's not a museum piece, I think the doors are plywood.
So now I'm going to bring paint, paintbrush, dropcloth to #3's new apartment and she can do a little more furniture painting.
ann marie


18 May, 2010

The Eyes Have It!



Remember all this stuff? And this too?
Well, the time is here to pack it up and drive the 600 miles or so to help the young lady (daughter #3) that this beautiful eye belongs to move into her first apartment!! She's spending the summer at school because she is doing a research internship.

I'm bringing the camera and tools and linens and window treatments.  I'm hoping in 2 1/2 days we can work magic...maybe that's asking a bit much, but we'll see.  I'll post all about it next week. 
I'm bringing this drawing also.  I drew this a year or two ago after not drawing for about 25 years or so.  You know, kids, a house with kids, kids' school things, kids' sports things, college applications, weddings....oh yeah, let's not forget my business.
So I think I'll start playing around with the pencils and charcoal and paints again.  I didn't know how much I missed that part of my creativity.
ann marie




12 May, 2010

This Is Not Your Grandma's Settee

                              OK...I should warn you ahead of time...this is not your grandma's settee!
Well, she was when I brought her home, remember?

When I first posted about her, lots of people suggested I leave the wood natural, and use a linen to recover her in. Which would have been my choice also if she were to reside in our home. However, she was destined for my studio, and the linen option was a little too quiet for that.
I will say that I've never reupholstered anything other than a chair seat before, so there were a few oops moments, but nothing too drastic. Here's where I started this interesting project. Maybe I should also admit to not being a perfectionist in some ways, and I feel that this whole endeavor can be reversed in the future if I so desire. Here goes.
I started by painting the frame. I used brushes, did not spray her. There's a lot of carving, and I wanted to see that. Notice I didn't even remove the old fabric, although I did eventually take the cording off. I experimented with fabrics. Originally, I thought I'd do the whole thing in this garbadine pink ticking. Too boring.

I went back to my studio fabric selections. You may remember them from here.
I decided that the tufting was a little too fussy for me and the fabrics I chose, so they went away.


Once I started using the stapler and compressor, things really started to move along. I used an electric stapler for the back, not fun. You know what they say-The right tool for the job. So true.
Anyway, I threw some fabrics together, a couple of hours later she started to take shape.

There's a lot of fun and whimsy going on.

I'm finally finished, and I really love how she turned out. I smile each time I walk in and see her sitting there.

And did I mention she has two seperate looks? Kind of like daytime and evening?


Now  I feel like I need to change the fabric behind her so she'll stand out a little more! I am still working on the rest of the studio, that's taking longer than I thought it would. Oh well, it's not going anywhere.
ann marie

10 May, 2010

Ain't She Sweet?




My husband did it again!
He went out Saturday morning and came home with a few really nice small pieces. This is my favorite.

She's a petite vanity bench, and I think she'll end up in my studio...which means the bench that's in there right now will have to find a new home.

Next is this footstool. It's rather old I think, and I'm debating whether I should leave it as is or recover it.
It has a Frankenstein thing going on, definitely a conversation piece!

It's covered in a faux leather, an old faux leather. There's horsehair under the faux, I can see it in the corners that have seen much better days.


The grand total that he paid for these little projects?
$10-total-for both!
Oh, I almost forgot, he also got a dozen racquet balls.
For her.
 
She's so OCD. She'll chase her ball for hours.  Really.
ann marie

05 May, 2010

Wonderful English Linen Pillow Shams

I wish I could call these my own, however they will soon be going to the home of one of my clients. This linen is beautiful. The print is simply elegant. These are 22" shams with down inserts. I just thought I'd share some gorgeous fabric with you!
Because of the limited amount of fabric she had, I was not able to have the fronts match. I actually like that about them!The repeat on this fabric was 36", quite a large repeat.
ann marie

03 May, 2010

My Beautiful Jewelry Has Arrived!!

A few weeks ago, I won a giveaway at The Shabby Chic Cottage.  My prize was a $50 gift certificate to shop the beautiful and unique jewelry at Lisa Leonard Designs.  I'd never won anything like this before. I was so excited.  It took me quite awhile to decide. I'm a big fan of bracelets, but I love gorgeous earrings. Sooo, after a lot of browsing, this is what I chose!
Absolutely beautiful.
Aqua Stone Earrings.
Cream Freshwater Pearl Earrings.
Stunning.
Elegant, but I'll wear them with jeans and a t-shirt too.
They arrived and the packaging was so pretty.  LLD even refunded part of the shipping charge because my selections were under $50.  I call that great customer service!
 I'd like to thank both Gina at The Shabby Chic Cottage, and Lisa Leonard Designs for such a wonderful experience.
ann marie