Office Update with Paris Map on a Budget

I have been working on staging the office off the entryway.  I have a wall that I really don't want to put furniture on the map wall, but I didn't like a blank wall.  My solution was a $69 map.   It is a map designed by Turgot in 1739--so it is pre Hausmann.

It comes in 25 pieces that you have to tape together.  I've read on the internet how to print them out and trim them--but for $69, this seems like quite a deal.  You can read about it on Pigtown Design's blog, and even download the map.

The detail is quite nice.  It is nostalgic for me as we went to Paris quite a bit when my husband was working.  I think he was there every other month, although my daughter and I would join him once a year.   When my nephew was 12, he went with us.  He would scare me by standing too close to the trains.  We still giggle about him sawing his pizza in a Louvre restaurant with a plastic knife.  He wore out the blade, so we finally let him pick it up and eat it with his fingers (much to the amusement of the french lady at the next table).  What fun we had!

Back to the subject at hand....

Some of my other projects in the office were:  covering books with script paper, and I got some moss balls which looks great with the pale green walls of the office.   Confessions of a plate addict  wrote about some great deals on moss balls from the dollar store.  Alas, none in my town.

Moss ball is sitting in a lovely old piece of Moore Bros porcelain.  It is from the 1870's.  Moore is very distinctive because the porcelain is very fine, and (fragile) tends to have cherubs with some kind of fauna/flora.  Cactus are the most common, but I have one with hydrangeas.

The office is off the entryway, and we had a second office in the basement.   This really didn't look like a functional office, but a great collection of antiques.   The downstairs room need the modular furniture removed so we could strip the wallpaper.   Below is a "before" photo.

Office "Before" the great furniture move

Office "After" the big move

Moving the modular office furniture took a day.   We had to unload it and figure out how to get these units up the stairs.   Unfortunately, we spent quite a bit getting nice, solid cherry.   Being married to an accountant and being a computerholic myself, purchasing modular furniture seemed like a great idea years ago.  It really is very functional, but not my first choice in decorating.  The great part is you can have it installed without a carpenter moving in, building a custom library.  THAT would have been my first choice.  Wouldn't this look great as a built in library?  Oh wait, that's what the owners had in here when we bought the place...except it was a complete nightmare with amateur cabinets.   We tore it all out in 1985......  My husband says someday the house will look just like it did when we purchased it.  (Except I don't think I'll ever own the fabulous Astor breakfront that was sitting in the dining room!)     I didn't put all of the modular furniture in the new office.  I had desks all across the window, but decided I like to walk to the window, and other people might like that too.

I've added a center table, which is actually quite handy in addition to looking good.   There is a swedish mirror to the right, which I wrote about here in November.   I have an oil painting next to it, but I'm not really happy with it there.  I feel like I want a set of 4 prints next to it--I just need to find the right prints.   (That will be my next mission.)

There is a second door-to the right that goes to the kitchen (and garage, and staircase)

Almost all of the accessories came from estate sales, with the exception of the mirror and a chair, which came from an antique shop and show, respectively.  Below is a bronze camel lamp with some green antiquing or patina.  That was $45.  I added the riser and linen shade.  The shade was probably that much.

Estate sale lamp

The drapes in the room are my favorite, even though they are years old.  They are done in a chintz fabric by Mario Buatta.  I wish I could still get this fabric.

Mario Buatta chintz fabric drapes and
an estate sale staffordshire cottage $150, and fancy bracket $65

For some reason, I love portraits.  I don't know why.  Instant relatives?   Someday I'll share my favorites.  I notice that portraits of women and children are more expensive than men.  Ugly people don't cost as much either, hee hee.

Estate sale painting $300 is a copy of a famous painting.  The face is nicely done, but look at those
spider hands!  The hands always give it away! I suppose I should have that hole repaired...

This edwardian chair was found at an antique show.  The needlepoint above it is one I made.
The chair was expensive, I can't remember how much, maybe $4-500?

I love painted and inlaid furniture.  This chair is 1900-1920.  That ribbon with swagged flowers,
who can resist?

The needlepoint is a copy of an antique beaded piece I didn't win on Ebay in 2003.
I thought it was an interesting subject, so I decided to do it myself.  I used an interlocking mesh canvas, 12 stitches per inch, with Appleton wool.  My favorite wool, a great value compared to all the fancy yarns available today.  The frame was from an estate sale $65.  I didn't put glass on it, because I don't like the glare.  

This is the original photo that I copied.  The entire piece was done in beaded needlepoint.
Wish I'd bid higher.  The piece was from Germany.

Victorian needlepoint chair.  I love the color and thought it was an interesting design--not to typical.  It came out of an estate sale less than a mile from my house.   It was $250, and I complained that I overpaid.  It's very sturdy and comfortable as a blogging chair!

I hope you've enjoyed my office redo.  The very pale celery green wall paint is Sherwin Williams 6414 Rice Paddy. I'd strongly advise you to do samples.  That was my third color.  We live in the NW where it is cloudy and dark every day, so color is important.  This shade really is quite lovely, even Mr. Antiquestyle loves it.  The room faces north and needs lights on most of the time.  The color couldn't be better!  I don't say that too often! 

The estate sale items were "shopped" from other rooms in the house.  If it had a hint of celery green, it came to the office. I should go to more estate sales, but with the price of gas, and horrible traffic, I've been preferring Ebay.  I hope I've encouraged you to do some antiquing to add something interesting to your rooms.

Now I'm off, I have wallpaper to strip out of the old office!

OMG, isn't this scary!  I've loved my red office, but it's been about 20 years.   I hunted for photos and  this was the only pictures I could find of the old office. The glass went  to auction, we had too much and lost interest in it.  One of these days I'll have to do a post on displaying a collection!

Wish me luck.  Dif wallpaper remover is my best friend.  Our realtor should be happier with both rooms.  Have a great week and .... Happy Antiquing!

Updating the Bedroom - Antique Textile & New Quilt!

It's been a few weeks since I've last posted.  Most of the decorations are put away, and I'm thinking about other things.  When you grow roses, there are several hundred that have my name on them...calling to  be pruned back.  The weather in the NW is not cooperating, so I've turned my attention indoors.

So I'm continuing to work on updating the Washington house.   The paint redo last month in the kitchen is growing on me a bit, but I'd still like it a darker color to complement the counters.   The office is almost done, but this weekend I did a quick fix in our bedroom with new bedding.  I got to thinking-- I purchased the bedding for an apt. in Philly in 2004!  How time flies. I think it's time to splurge for something new.

 I hunted around for old photos of our bedroom, pre "moving all the clutter out", and found this:

Excuse the sloppy made bed--must be the lousy maid service...
the towel on the bed is for  our cat who liked to sleep on towels.

We moved the highboy out of the room as it "takes up valuable visual space" (per stager, house is for sale).   Post-stager, the room looked like this:

How did I miss the messed up dust ruffle?   

We kept all the seafoam bedding.   The bedding is lumpy because of those down comforters--it really looks too sloppy.

Added a new white quilt.   I'm liking the fresh look, and introduction of a neutral.  There was too much  color before--the walls, dust ruffle, drapes....Should I replace the dust ruffle with a neutral check? Hmm.

I also removed the lumpy comforter.  I remember Bunny Williams wrote about using something that is heavy enough to make a nice smooth bed.   She's definitely right on that one.   I like to use antique matelasse or  trapunto coverlets, but king sizes are hard to come by, so this one works.  I really wanted to make this room seem more spa-like, and not scare anyone who is looking at the house.    It looks inviting to me!

(So what to do with the pile of "dead" lumpy down comforters in the attic?   I wash old down pillows in my washing machine & dryer, and then cut them to size for comfy throw pillows for the sofa. )

I have 3 rows of pillow, plus a lovely aubusson "snake" pillow.

The "snake" pillow.

The aubusson pillow is a reproduction.   Antique textiles are wonderful, but they are expensive and fragile.  Using a reproduction is perfect for my needs.   The antique here is the framed embroidery fragment over the bed. I swapped it out for the oil painting that was more of the same color as the walls.   This fragment has the perfect antique patina the room needed.

French metallic embroidery fragment

This is one of my favorite pieces of embroidery.  I framed it in a period frame, mounted on silk.   I suspect this was on the back of a chair at one point.  As with all silk, it is fragile and has splits in it.   It is really tough to use for pillows given the fragile condition.

You can tell I'm nuts about antique textiles.  I have two over the nightstands that have to go now.  Maybe I'll move the bigger one on the right to be over the bed.  I'll share the closeup of that one soon.  I should move those now that the room has been "emptied".  There's always tomorrow.

Covering Books With Script Paper

In trying to clean up for staging my study, I decided it was time to deal with the books.  The room is dark and the old leather books seemed visually heavy.  You see many trendy book covers that are very plain.  They can be linen or paper.  Below are some photos from Restoration Hardware.

The photograph below reminds me of a project my daughter told me about.  She helped a friend stage an apartment and used brown paper sacks to make dust jackets.  It would be so easy to use a wax seal to embellish your work.  Below is a photo from Restoration Hardware.

From Restoration Hardware.  I love the wax seal!   

Juniper Books has many books to choose from.  I love this one:

From Juniper Books.  Isn't this soo clever!  It's pretty artistic to me!

 There are some wonderful sources for beautiful vellum look books.  The real thing is quite expensive--an antique vellum book can easily have you let go of several hundred $$.   Click here for an article Willow Decor did on antique vellum books.  The reproduction books also look nice for a fraction of the price.  I googled script vellum books and found these two sources:

E. Lawrence LTD.  

http://www.booksbythefoot.com/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=99

While I'd love to buy some of these beautiful reproduction books, I'm afraid I don't feel like spending the money to do a bunch of books in my library - I'd need about 200 books!  Someday I'd like to purchase some of the "books by the foot" for my pretty antique secretary.

  I thought perhaps I could copy some old documents and make some interesting dust jackets for books that way.  It seemed like alot of work, and I haven't gotten around to it.  I then found this paper on Ballard Designs.  It is called Document Gift Wrap, and it is $24 for 3 10-foot rolls.

I wrapped a few books -- and now have a trendy shelf of books.  It's perfect!  The shelf looks cleaner and less cluttered.  I also was going for a lighter look.  The 33" shelf below shows you  how much one roll would cover.  The tallest books took a 10" high strip of paper. 

Ballard Designs Document Wrapped Books

I'm off to continue working on the bookcase--and staging all those shelves!  In addition to doing the books,  I thought about papering the back of the bookcase instead.     

I hope someone else will enjoy my inexpensive decorating tip!  

Fabric for Wingback

Today I am going to the upholsterer.  I selected a fabric for the wingback chair.  

In the running was a Schumacher fabric:

This seemed kind of old-lady ish to me!

The Highland Court Fabric, always a better cost selection:

Same problem as #1, and it had too much yellow in it.

Groves Bros,

It turned out to be too dark.  I don't have a nearby showroom, have to send away for more colorways.

 Bennison,

This was the runner up

and a Brunschwig fabric.

The Winner!

The winner was chosen because it is the softest effect, pattern wise.   The project is this really old wingback.  It's English in origin, and looking at the frame dates from the early 1800's, or earlier.

What a sad mess!  Can you believe I see potential in this?
The huge wings on the side are really fun!

If the fabric looks familiar, it is because it was in the April '11 issue of Veranda.

April '11 Veranda, design by James Michael Howard

The fabric is on the valences.   I really like the effect of this.  The Bennison fabric was a more crisp design, and at the last minute I thought I'd go for a more subtle design.

Unfortunately, the fabric is thinner than I'd like, I'll see if the upholsterer thinks it should be knit-backed.  I've never done that before, I usually just pick a fabric that will work.

I had written about the original upholstery that would have been on the chair here.   However, I didn't feel like spending the money for a Chelsea Editions fabric.

This would have been a cool choice too!

Off to battle the traffic!

Merry Topiary Christmas

There's nothing that says Merry Christmas like a topiary reindeer.

They don't eat your roses either!  Wrap one up and send it prancing over to my house!

Pinecone Deer

I was out shopping and stumbled across a pinecone deer in a store window. It actually is a dik dik, made completely out of pinecones.

I came home and hunted around on-line, and I found the artist!   

Here's the website, Catherinegreenup.com, and a better photo.

Some of the other photos on the website were really fun!

I wanted  to take the little dik dik home for decoration, but the $1680 price tag meant it stayed in the store.  I guess my deer won't have a companion this season.   However I did get to enjoy a beautiful piece of art!

Needlepoint Christmas

I just pulled out a needlepoint pillow I made.  It is probably the only modern canvas I have used.  I love the effect of a sampler with a happy reindeer bounding through it!

Winter Sampler - by Birds of a Feather

I think I should take the fringe off the pillow for a fresher look.  I might even put a trim of toile instead of gimp.  


Stay Warm!

Stockings, Nutcrackers and Mohair Snowmen

Some of our favorite things about this time of year is pulling out family christmas collections.  With a German background, we like collecting many handmade christmas items.  My favorite collection is our Steiff snowman collection.  They are the cutest mohair snowmen!   Steiff comes out with one almost every year.   Every time I get them out, I have to giggle about how it all started.....My husband left my daughter and I to entertain ourselves in Munich.  We were to meet up with him by taking a train to Paris later that week.  When he opened his suitcase of casual clothes...it was filled with teddy bears and snowmen!

Between a trip to Rothenburg and Katha Wolfart, and the huge sale at Kaufhof in Marianplatz, we wound up putting Steiff creatures in dad's shoes, and every nook and cranny in the suitcases.  It was great fun!  (My husband keeps saying, if only I didn't have to share my doll with my 5 sisters while growing up, I wouldn't have buy many toys as an adult!)

This year they are standing guard over the cute needlepoint stockings....

Russian Santas are standing on each stocking holder.   They were a souvenir from a trip to St. Petersburg.   

Cutest Quimper Couple Needlepoint Stocking!  I purchased at Pierre Deux
 in Carmel after Christmas last year.  (I'm so sad that they are bankrupt... )

My daughter wrote a guest blog about her nutcrackers that she pulls out for Octoberfest here.   I thought that I should try to limit my collecting to shepherd nutcrackers.   My favorite ones are by Ulbricht.

Shepherd Nutcrackers

My daugher has a collection of santas with reindeer.   Isn't this one cute!

She has this one on loan to me for the holiday--the beautiful white Santa

Ulbricht White Santa in Center

We were in Gumps on Sunday and spotted this nutcracker by Ulbricht.  Isn't he cute!  OK, maybe I need to start another collection!

And for my favorite wall decoration, who can resist this reindeer?   He is about 5 feet tall, and traveled half way across the country to settle at home with me.

I must continue my hunt for boxes of decorations.   We really enjoy all the handmade German ornaments.   It is a way to enjoy the holiday with craftsmanship reminding the family of the old country.