good things come to those who wait

we've had this gilded frame
leaning up against a wall
in our studio for a couple
years now. i've been saving it
for something magnificent.
i finally found it rummaging
through g.'s paintings he keeps
stacked on a shelf. and in this
room she now gazes out at us
preserved behind glass.
i love her.

room makeover - part III

it's been awhile since i posted about the room makeover, and though we're mid-project,
i thought i'd show you where we are at the moment.

below is a shot of the room as it looked once we moved everything next door. in the corner
is some crown molding we decided to add. g. did an amazing job, especially since he's
never done this before. naturally, the walls aren't true and the miter saw we have is
dull and rusty, so we used molding blocks at the corners to connect the molding.

here is the room mid-makeover with some furniture. for the wall color, we chose a match to
farrow and ball's off-black. it looks black but is in fact a deep, dark prussian blue.
for someone who normally chooses shades of white, gray, and blue when making over rooms,
i didn't know what we were missing! if you're brave enough, you may want to give it a go.

there's still more to be done, like replacing the wood blinds with fabric shades, but next
i'll tackle the walls and hang some art. a couple months ago, i found some antique e.j. lowe
fern prints, which i  recently spotted at okl's barbara barry tastemaker sale. the few they had
sold out within the first hour. i nearly fell off my chair when i saw the tag sale price. $649!
the regular price was $1800! though i still need to frame ours, the prints i found locally cost $12.
even if i were to choose a larson-juhl frame & filet, with museum glass and fabric mat,
each framed print will cost around $100. i haven't made up my mind yet, but ours won't
come close – then again, i'm not barbara barry.

room makeover - part II

here goes part II of our room makeover. the room  is presently g.'s studio, but is small, which is why he's moving next door to my old studio, whose contents are now scattered here and there throughout the house. my soon-to-be-realized-too-lofty ambition is to make it into a library/den/room to retire to for after-dinner drinks.

here is the room as it looks now.

i haven't even begun and am already a little overwhelmed, but once we clear everything out, i'll start on the walls and molding. though it's a small room, i loathe painting, so midway through i'll begin making the shades. this is my usual approach to projects like this. i'll start one thing, then another...and another. i realize this isn't exactly efficient, but eventually it gets done. 

i found instructions for the shades here, but after reading the how-to, i already have questions. if anyone has made shades like this, please feel free to share your tips in the comments.

i hope you'll come along with me as i suffer through convert this room from bland to beautiful.

room makeover - part I

taking inspiration from tom scheerer, i'm about to transform one of the bedrooms into something that i hope {remotely} resembles this beautiful room...minus the michael thonet designed café daum side chair.

though nothing like it - in quality, design or spirit - this rickety old chair may be its humble substitute, after a few coats of black paint and some wood glue.

this faded allover floral paisley is the fabric i'll use to make the shades. 

there are two windows in this room. sewing is not my forte, nor is it something i enjoy. hopefully, i'll get it right on the second one.

for the walls, i have my eye on a couple benjamin moore colors - black satin & appalachian brown - and farrow and ball's mahogany.

i love the look of lacquered walls, but like the aforementioned thonet chair, that's not in the budget, so i'll have to settle for high gloss on the walls, and possibly eggshell on the moldings - all the same color. 

stay tuned!