a pickle of a table

The trend of whitened, brightened finishes for wood has resurfaced. While espresso toned wood is still very "hip and now", I am really enjoying this recent lightening up. This month's House Beautiful breaks down the subtle differences in these reemerging whitening techniques. I was particularly interested in this feature because I need to refinish my dining room table, and I like the aged, beachy look that results from whitewashing, bleaching, liming, cerusing or pickling wood surfaces.

Here is a look at what results from using these finishes. All of the quoted text is taken from Jennifer Dwyer's article for House Beautiful.

Pottery Barn's Shelton table series is a good example of the beauty of a limed finish.
Liming is: "An "aging" technique with pigment left in the corners and around the edges."




Their Sunburst mirror exemplifies the ocean side allure of bleached wood.
In bleaching, " A solution removes color from the wood."



HGTV.com has a quick and dirty "how to" of the liming process, and makes it sound pretty easy. This is a photo of a chair they did.

Jayson Home and Garden,(however pricey it is) has several pieces with the same vibe.
The Kieran dining table in a cerused oak finish.
Cerused wood is, "Rubbed with white pigment to highlight the grain."



The Mandara side table in whitewashed Himalayan pine.
In the whitewashing process, "A thin coating of white pigment that evens out the wood's natural finish" is applied.


Minwax has a water based whitewash pickling stain, which seems like the product I would end up using. Pickling is similar to whitewashing but its intent is to "accentuate the physical texture of the wood. "

This is my dining table and bench. Don't you think it is a prime candidate for one of these treatments?


I think that the expressive wood grain would soak in the whitewash nicely.


Of course, this project will most likely be harder than it seems. For starters, I know I will have to strip the table of its old finish to start fresh. It would be best to do this while the weather is still warm and the air is dry. I'll shoot for September, and keep you updated on the progress of it all!

kim's decorating chronicles: ch. 3

The new arrangement accentuates the room's length and invites guests to sit and chat.


The No Longer Lonely Living Room.
Here we have the final chapter in Kim's decorating chronicles (for now).

Kim's living room is the first thing you see when you step into the house. Before we redecorated it, the room functioned more as a hallway to the kitchen and family room at the back of the house, than anything else. Kim and her husband never spent any time in the space, although they had spent plenty of money on great furniture for it. The room looked seldom used and not quite finished.

We reconfigured the pieces so that it felt more inviting and added new pieces so it could function better and serve a surprising new purpose. Here are LOTS of photos showing what we did.

Before when entering the room, the sofa acted as a visual barrier, making the space seem cramped.

Now, with the sofa facing the fireplace, a cozy seating area is created.


Looking towards the door before from behind the sofa, there was nothing to see.


Now the eye glides along the sofa and over to the writing nook.


Kim had nowhere to set a glass of wine. We found this end table at an antique mall for $13 and painted it with red paint left over from the kitchen.


The fireplace used to be cluttered with too many unrelated pieces, and did not feel like a focal point.


We found a simple second hand mirror for $12 and painted it red like the table. A couple of candle sconces that Kim had never opened went up, along with one personal photo and little bird print we found at TJ Maxx added style. The antlers are from one of her husband's hunting trips provided the finishing touch.


The chairs that Kim bought to coordinate with her sofa felt so lonely in the far off nook at the end of the room.


Placing them on either side of the fireplace gave them a context and made the fireplace feel more prominent. The floor lamp from TJ Maxx provides much needed mood and task lighting for reading by the fire.

This used to be an awkward space. No one sat here.


The nook is now home to a desk and turquoise file cabinet from World Market, and a lamp and chair from Pier 1 Imports (all incredible deals). Kim really needed a space to do scrap booking, and now she's got it!
Kim's favorite part about this redo is the fact that she is finally utilizing this room! She has been working on her scrapbooks and also envisions cozy nights in front of the fire with her husband come winter. Now that the downstairs feels done, Kim has started thinking about what do with the bedrooms upstairs! I feel another chapter coming on real soon...

adventures in wallpaper

I have been leery about the resurgence of wallpaper as a design trend, I have to admit. Memories of my girlhood bedroom walls come racing back to me, in a sort of dreamlike haze: the pastel peach, kitten/floral theme envelops me. I thought it looked good then. In fact, it may have been the start of me as a decorator. I picked a peach and grey comforter and pillow cases to complement the pattern. I sponge painted a white bookshelf with peach and sea foam green to add an accent color. I had kitten figurines everywhere. To me it was beautiful- for about a year. I quickly matured out of the cutesy kitten phase. Then I had to scrape all that glorious wallpaper right off the walls and start over.


This is what keeps me from actually hopping on the wallpaper trend bandwagon: the eventual, inevitable removal of it. I always change my decor. Committing to wallpaper seems too permanent. With paint, I just roll right on over the suddenly "out" color with a fresh new shade.



I suppose the best way to enjoy any design trend is in moderation. So maybe a textural neutral would be the way to go. A grass cloth or linen look pattern in the office would be simple and sophisticated, and easy to work with for future design changes I might want to implement. But those walls are so uneven and bumpy, hanging it would be nightmarish.



For now, I will just enjoy the magazine features and online photos of other people embracing wallpaper in their homes. For example, my sister told me about Tori Spelling's reality series on the Oxygen network. She seems to be a real fan of the drama and movement that wallpapering a room creates. Here are a few stills from the TV series "Tori and Dean Home Sweet Hollywood" that showcase her preference.


An art deco peacock feather pattern in the dining room.


Tori's son's room is playful with octopuses climbing the walls.


Could her baby's girl's room be any sweeter?


The powder room is the perfect place for a large scale pattern in small doses.


Does anyone watch this show? Who is her decorator? Fun, frilly, adventurous and contemporary. I like her style. How do you feel about wallpaper?

to decorate an office

I recently acquired a fantastic new job, which I am really thrilled with. My coworkers are great and have warmly welcomed me aboard. I have my own office and it has a city/ shipyard view. The windows are nice and big, so I get a lot of natural light. Being a sort of corporate looking office though, it lacks character. Since I will be spending forty hours a week here, I want it to be a reflection of me. My challenge is to try and warm it up, and make it into a space that feels organized, welcoming, and if possible, soothing.

This is what I have to work with:
The walls are painted a nice, rich khaki. The desk chair and two visitor's chairs are a medium shade of evergreen. The desk and bookcase are a warm, mid-toned cherry color. My large lateral file cabinet is putty, and the trim for the doors and windows is the standard black metal, typical of contemporary office buildings.

I am considering two different color palettes.
The first includes the forest green, with reds and golds. I have a floral painting that includes all of those colors to hang on the wall. I also have a red wall clock and a black and white table lamp that would work with it. For picture frames, I would probably try to stick with all white or black.

The other palette also uses the forest green, but incorporates light blues and accents of brown. In this scenario I would hang a world map, use a white and brown lamp and white picture frames. I might hang a bulletin board covered in a fabric that has all of the colors.

In both cases, I want to use mismatched china or small flower pots to hold my pens, paper clips, post-it notes and business cards on my desk. I envision baskets on some of the shelves to store and sort envelopes and paper. Maybe some fabric covered magazine holders would be a good to keep catalogs and phone books from looking like clutter.

I don't have any photos to show you now, but I wanted to hear your opinions and ideas. Do any of you have a workspace that you have converted from sterile to homey but functional? This is my first "real" office, and the decorator in me is really excited. It needs to remain professional looking too though. Any of your thoughts would be appreciated!

making do with mustard

Poor Carrie. Starting out a new adventure: a fantastic new job in a new city, should be exciting. It should be something to get you inspired, make new goals, and rethink all of the great aspects of your life. Unfortunately, Carrie's new apartment in Nashville has a bad, bad bath and an unsightly kitchen and she's got to figure out how to deal with it.

Not updated since the 70's Carrie's new pad features a mustard yellow bathroom and kitchen. Here is her description of it:

"Our new apartment is fine, and it meets our needs, and it has a dishwasher (which I've not had since moving out of my parent's house and am sooo excited for) BUT the kitchen and bathroom are both a 1970's dirty mustard yellow color (cabinets, sink, toilet, the works). Any tips for how to handle this without throwing up on a daily basis? " (Nice visual Carrie!)


Well Carrie, your only option is to embrace it. My suggestion would be to pair it with neutrals. In the bathroom: use greys and white. For the kitchen, black and white. Try to keep the decor simple and fresh, possibly with a retro modern approach. Here are some items I found online that might get you moving in the right direction.



Bathroom:
Try a graphic but neutral shower curtain such as this really simple classic from West Elm:




Or something more funky and fun like this white one with grey dots from Ikea:



As far as linens are concerned, stick with bright white. These Hydrocotton towels from Pottery Barn look amazingly soft:



Keep your accessories understated and clean looking. I found these on West Elm's site as well:



In the kitchen, go for bold.

I am loving Ikea's Seveje rug. This would look great in front of the sink.

This lacquer tray from CB2, kept on the kitchen counter, would provide a sassy looking gathering spot for bar essentials.


Also from CB2 these black and white plates would look amazing hung on the wall:

A set of black canisters from Linens and Things would look smart on the counter top as well.

Good luck Carrie! And please, please send us before and after pictures. Do any of you have suggestions for Carrie's decorating dilemma? We would love your ideas.

the love list

The Love List is a really inspiring and delightful design blog, written by graphic designer, Jessica Condatore. She does a great job of highlighting designers that inspire her, encouraging other design bloggers to connect with each other, and spotting decorating trends.

A photo Jessica blogged about last week from a back issue of domino.

Photo by Annie Schlechter, Domino May 2007

Last Friday, Jessica even featured a link to my post about redesigning my bamboo mirror in her "Weekend Roundup" feature! That was a really fun surprise.

In an effort to see what design bloggers are doing in their own homes, and in her own words, "to further inspire and unite the blogosphere in a creative, positive way", Jessica has launched The Blogger's Home Tour. Starting in September, she will be publishing posts on different deign bloggers with photos of, and details about rooms in their living spaces. I love this idea!

I am really looking forward to getting a glimpse of how others, like myself, are decorating their homes. That is one of the really fantastic things about both blogging and interior design- the possibilities for creative expression are seemingly endless and always unique. I will also be participating in this lovely project, and will let you know when my home will be featured!

Please take a few minutes to check out Jessica's blog, the love list, and see what she has been up to.

mag mania!

I have a prediction: All of these lovely magazine subscriptions will ultimately be the demise of my sweet little organized world. They were out of control again, just like my closet. I don't know how it happened. I was doing so well to tear the photos I liked out of them, but somehow, they just multiplied. I couldn't keep up. The imposing stacks had begun to cover every surface. So, here was my strategy to sort my way out of the clutter.


I took every copy that had been lying around and sorted them according to publication, on the living room carpet. (Except for Chris's mags, which only created one little stack on their own.) I then sorted them further: some I knew I could just recycle without looking through again, and others needed a second glance so I could retain some of the information and photographs for my design files.

Over the next few days, while I was relaxing at night or waiting for the coals to heat up on the grill, or for the chicken to bake in the oven, I quickly flipped through the issues and kept only the best ideas and looks, and recycled the rest.

Back in the living room, the more current and "keeper" copies fit nicely into my magazine rack.


The back issues of Cottage Living and domino, my faves, each got their own fabric box on the end table. I found these boxes at TJ Maxx for only $13 each, and they just happen to be covered in the same fabric I made curtains out of for the dining room and, more recently used to cover the lamp shades. Now that's good decorating karma!



And, since Chris's magazine addiction is much less severe than mine, he gets his own smaller basket, for current issues, on the coffee table.

It seems that I am destined to learn this lesson of magazines-turned-clutter over and over again, despite my best intentions to keep on top of it. I have vowed that when most of these subscriptions have run their course, I will not renew. I think that is the key right there. This wisdom I will pass on to you: if you are not a fiendish decorator like I am, stick to subscribing to only a couple of your favorite publications, and purchase others from the newsstand only when they grab your attention or need inspiration. Hopefully, it will help you to live a life less cluttered!