Big Love

I saw him at a party. I crawled over some others to get to him and didn't leave his side all night. He is an old soul with a young heart and an old heart with a young soul. I ended up helping him a bit with his interiors...but, really?...he barely needed it.

BEFORE. REALLY GOOD.

AFTER. GLAD HE MET ME.

Thanks to Peter Fasano for the sofa fabric and Kelly Wearstler for the piece de resistance. That silk and wool rug Tracery that just arrived!!! Thanks to my client, though, for broadening my rainbow horizons. Big Love.

Stepford

I just redid these vintage Century Louis XV chairs for an auction.

I am donating them to benefit Volunteers in Medicine. I wanted to do something crazy but I was a little chicken.

These will be auctioned off to ladies who lunch so I kept it safe. I went with a look that I like to call Stepford in Spring.

I had the chairs painted Benjamin Moore's White Dove and ordered some of Peter Fasano's Kimoni.

Did I nail it?

I did not. Too too. I just had the upholsterer stick with the classic double welt. He loaded the chairs into my car and off I went.

I brought them home and had Merritt put them to the test.

Hoping they go for a bundle. They should.

Cause they're worth it.

11th Hour

While my client was away in Hawaii it was my job to get his sofa and two poufs reupholstered.

The upholsterer was right on schedule until he unrolled the end of the 24 yards of Peter Fasano's Venetian Velvet in Porcini. It was crimped and creased at the end. Bummer but these things happen. Thank god for Fed Ex. So...here I am driving 3 extra yards of velvet to the shop that was overnighted to me (thank you Salty Pete!).

This stuff HAS to be ready as he is having a party on Friday. A welcome home party. A Truman Capote ode to his fabulous self sort of party.

An 'as his decorator I would have to drape my martini fueled self over the missing cushions all night' sort of party.

Well, it all worked out. Cushions completed. The sofa looks like a silver mink stole. The poufs were repoufed with the back side of an apple green Groves Bros. fabric.

Done? No. It's funny how if you work on a room slowly...the room will tell you what it needs. I don't mean to get ouiji on you...but it's true. I think that is why MOST 48 hr makeovers don't get it right...because the decorators didn't get a chance to listen. To the ouiji. Ness. Of the room. Listen room. This is what you need. Next. A wool and silk Tibetan from Kelly W. at The Rug Company.

Dallas is Heating Up

My Dallas project is moving right along. Hard to believe that a whole 3,000 sf townhouse can be completely redone and furnished with a client in Virginia and a designer in Eugene. Who do I have to thank? Mostly, the iphone. Thank you, iphone.

We are applying American Clay plaster all over the walls in the townhouse. It is going to give the place a modern facelift with an organic kick. I guess I might call it a really earthy Venetian plaster. I would know. I live in Eugene and I love Italy.

Justin Evans is my rockstar applicator. Here he is gettin' high.

Here is the fireplace before...clad floor to ceiling in limestone.

Here it is after the limestone was removed and replaced with clay. Hearth to be replaced with antiqued black granite.

The old traditional wooden banister was replaced with a more contemporary iron banister.

The little powder room is getting this vanity... Seriously.

...and this vintage Italian bubble flushmount from Orange via 1stdibs.

I asked Katherine from Matthew Studios to make a wider version of this Estelle sconce for over the mirror. Check her out. She has a house bunny. Seriously.

I think the economy is doing better. I tried to buy 4 different vintage Carlo Scarpa polyhedral chandeliers on 1stdibs for the dining room. All sold. I was nearly suicidal when I remembered that we had seen this one by Venini at Crow Chandeliers. Right in Dallas. I bought it and untied the noose. Designer noose.

This whitewashed elmwood dining table from Mecox will hug a custom tufted banquette from Cameron in Great Plains' Silk & Sexy mohair...

...with some Lucia chairs from Julien Chichester...

...covered in Joseph Noble's Faux Pleather Shagreen in Silt on the other side...

Don't look at me like that. Seriously.

There are two niches on either side of the bar. We pulled the traditional moulding off...

...and we are lining the backs with Phillip Jeffries' Rock Candy beaded glass wallcovering.

The living room is all ordered and on the way. Custom silk and wool Tai Ping rug, Hickory Chair desk chair covered in this red & gold Bergamo fabric, Cameron sofa in Cowtan and Tout's chenille, Nancy Corzine's Mayan Block pillows, Hickory Chair's Continental Club Chairs in Rose Cummings' Metallic Bird in orange, Hartmann & Forbes Papyrus grass shade in Ginseng, etc...

Give me five. I think that we nailed that room.

The master bedroom was easy... I just filled it with some of my favorite things. Julien Chichester's Anna bedside tables for starters to house a pair of Christopher Spitzmiller's single gourd lamps in Olive. The sleeper glaze in the collection.

Robert Kime's Ardagh. Dying.

It's going on Milling Road's Bamboo Lounge Chair and Ottoman. I would read People here... Seriously...

A girl has got to take a break from stuff like this.

Suzanne Kasler...her designs are so sexy. Her Tuxedo Armoire will do the trick....stuffed with a big tv right across from the bed. Channeling.

The guest room is coming along, too. Headboard from Lee Industries to be covered in Hodsoll McKenzie's Ocean.

West Paces end tables from Hickory Chair.

Hwang Bishop's Mandarine lamps...

...in their Lobster glaze.

Hickory Chair's Murano dresser in parchment.

A little tomato chaise for the corner from my boys at Mecox in Dallas...

...with one perfect little pillow in Jaipur from Peter Fasano. Pete. What do you say? Come for the weekend and we'll snuggie.

The moody den gets walls tinted with Benjamin Moore's Mohegan Sage. Silk and wool rug by Neisha Crosland for The Rug Company. Reed shades by Hartmann & Forbes. Kravet sleeper sofa in Great Plains' Silk and Sexy mohair.

A pair of leather and olive green linen lined bookshelves from Mecox...

Jasper desk...

Commissioned waxed oil by Allen Cox Studios.

The master bath...

is going to get some new bubble lights from Varaluz...

...and, hopefully, a whole wall of this Fleur Blanc tile from Artisitic Tile which will help to cool down the crema marfil marble.

Robert Bellamy of Dallas is redoing the little back patio. It is going to be hot.

Seriously.