Louis XV Style Chairs - Before & After

I've *finally* started to reupholster my dining chairs. I'd found them on Kijiji.ca. They were in dire need of a facelift and I felt I was up to the task. I've thought that many times. But can't say I've always found it to be true.


I invested countless hours at Kravet & Lee Jofa looking for the perfect fabrics. They had to be special to do the chairs justice. I found a couple fabrics which I felt were worthy of my chairs but each time I was to learn they were on back order and there was not a stitch available.

Something you don't know about me...money burns a hole in my pocket book.

via

I cannot keep money long before I blow it on some trivial bits and bobs of no use. So the cash I had for my desperately sad looking chairs...has been gone for at least a month.

The other day out of desperation I when to the local upholstery fabric shop to look at any remnants that might inspire me. I was not very hopeful so imagine my surprise when I found a dove gray velvet bolt.

OK! This was great. It was 50% off so I was giddy. Really. Really. Giddy. I was just roaming the aisles (touching all the fabrics) placing complementary patterns and colours together day dreaming about rooms they would look great in when I saw 'it'. The sexy fabric I instantly knew was going take my dining room chairs from classic and tasteful and elevate them to art.

I'd turned down a dark aisle and down at the bottom of a display was a faux snake skin that had a silvery shimmer and texture to die for. It was worth every damn penny and so worth the wait.

I've gotten one chair completed and I am so pleased with the results. I recovered the chairs 'old school'. No staples were used in the reupholstery of the chair.

I think this is the prettiest 'thing' I've ever made.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This is my first attempt at upholstery...so there is an area near the back legs on the seat I've not figured out and nail head tacks are a f'n bitch to work with...but oh it's so pretty!

Mosaic's: Today's Timeless Reminder of Our History

With shelter magazines we've loved and lost still a tender spot for myself (I just this week, in the mail, recieved 'the post card' from Metropolitan)...I wanted to share with you a publication I did not know of until this evening.

Mosaic Art Now has published it's 3rd Edition. Please click on the link and take a few minutes to read about the Five Sisters collaborative work by Emma Biggs. It is a 35 foot long mosaic titled 'Clay End' that will/or did only exist for 6 months.

The process of discovery for the artist is so illuminating and even more so, so very inspirational for our work and the hurdles we some times face...you must see this publication! I won't give away any details...you really must read this awesome article.

Emma Biggs & Mattew Collings via Mosaic Art NOW

I can not believe that a coffee book publication of this quality is only $15. Please join me and support this wonderful publication.

Thank you so very much to Paul Anater over at the Kitchen and Residential Design blog for introducing me to the mag.

All sources Mosaic Art Now

*bisous*

Dane

It Only Takes One Visit

I've mentioned in earlier posts I've been on a thrift store hunt for a couple of credenzas or dressers. I've been hunting for a good 4 months hitting every thrift store on the East side of Toronto...takes an entire day...literally. I've on occation found peices I liked but none of them jumped out screaming to come home with me.

My son is in desperate need of one in his bedroom, but I refused to settle, and I really wanted one for my dining room.

A little info on my dining room: it was the kids 'craft' room until early December when I stumbled upon antique Louis XV style dining chairs (4 side & 2 arm) and a Louis XVI dining table. I found them on Kijiji (much easier to search and just as popular as Craigslist in Canada). Kijiji is my fix for when I can't hope in the car to search the thrift stores.

This came as a surprise to dear Steve. One day he comes home from work to hear he's driving me to pick up the table and chairs for the 'dining room'. I got a blank look...it had been a 'craft' room for well over a year with nigh a mention of ever being anything else.

Now I have to add here that I'd been trying out different paint colors on the walls for about a year...and had an inspiration photo taped to the wall...but apparently that does not say 'plans'. I thought it was evident.

So the beautiful table and chairs, turns out, have a history. I met one of the easiest people to be around when we went to get the set. Emmanuelle and her family had moved to Toronto from Paris...via Brussels and Washington D.C.

The dining set had been in Emmanuelle's family in Paris for generations. The chairs are antique reproductions 'in the style of'...hand carved I might add but the table is on original. I *love* them.

I've been to Kravet and Lee Jofa numorous times looking for the perfect fabric to cover the chairs in. Each time I find the perfect fabric I'm told they are on back order. It is now mid-February and I've no fabric to cover the chairs...can you say depressing?!

 Yesterday however, I did find 2 credenzas. What luck! And they were both in the same Salvation Army for $25 each. I'm so happy. I couldn't stop talking about them and grinning last night after Steve got home from work and helped me unload them from the truck.


I now have a lovely bar area in my dining room with a felt drawer for the silverware from my Grandmother. 

So now my dining room looks like a dining room...in need up work but it looks like a grown ups room not a kids paint and play-doh mess. My plan is moving forward, snails pace for sure, but as I like to tell my kids 'slow and steady wins the race'!

Some day I'll find liming wax and refinish the credenza, get the walls lacquered in F&B's Mahogany and get the chairs covered. The room will be stunning. Some day. For now I'm quite happy to have the pieces of the puzzle.

*bisous*

Dane

Wine Pairings and Wine Cellars - Match maker, match maker make me a match!

The wildly popular wine pairing mobile application 'NatDecants' now has a free version.

This useful app is brought to you by Natalie MacLean. I've shamelessly ripped a paragraph from Nat's Bio because I don't think it could be written any better:
I would so love to hang out with Natalie @ a wine bar in Manhattan after a day of hitting thrift & an a wine bar in Manhattan after a day of hitting thrift & an a wine bar in Manhattan after a day of hitting thrift & an a wine bar in Manhattan after a day of hitting thrift & an a wine bar in Manhattan after a day of hitting thrift & antique stores shopping for old wooden wine crates. Of course with the occational carafe of vino for inspiration throughout the day.

"To fund her late-night vinous habits, Natalie MacLean holds down day jobs as a wine writer, speaker and judge. An accredited sommelier, she is a member of the National Capital Sommelier Guild, the Wine Writers Circle and several French wine societies with complicated and impressive names. Funny, brainy and unapologetically tipsy, her goal in life is to intimidate those crusty wine stewards at fine restaurants with her staggering knowledge." - www.nataliemaclean.com

Some features of NatDecant's:

• Find 380,000 food and wine pairings
• Access thousands of wine reviews
• Search by winery, price, score, region...
• Track your wines in your virtual cellar
• Search a directory of 10,000+ wineries
• Find thousands of tasty recipes
• Look up definitions for key wine terms
• Share on Twitter, Facebook with friends

Natalie is also the author of "Red, White and Drunk All Over" which recently won for Best Wine Literature Book in the English language at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.


Now that you have an encyclopedia of wines...time to get inspired to start a collection!

Salut!

et *bisous*

Dane

sources: Natalie MacLean, 30 elm, Great Interior Design, Matt Cavenaugh, North Fork Wine Cellar Designs, Paul Wyatt, Segura Inc., Canty Shanty, Gryphond, my wine cellar, Neatorama, Slabbed, Wine Cellars Vigilant Inc, Wine Vine

Low Country in the North Country

A beautiful canopy bed at {this is glamorous} led me a to a post at Beautiful Things to Share about a home Photographer Ashlee Raubach shot and blogged about.

Be sure to check out these posts.

I was inspired to showcase a home I fell head over heels with which was in the February 2010 issue of Canadian House and Home magazine.

On the Ganaraska River's edge in Port Hope, Ontario Alan de la Vigne found a ramshackle 1830's home which had been butchered over the years by bad "fix up's".

Obviously Mr. de la Vigne is a man of vision...and style!

This outstanding home looks like it was taken from downtown Charleston SC with the beautiful loggias. 

I miss the Low Country. I'm definately a Southern Girl at heart.

The interior is not to shabby either.

Thank you House and Home. You never fail to inspire me with each and every one of your editorials.

Be sure to subscribe to H&H's digital issue! I gaurantee it will be a worthwile investment. And you'll get to see the rest of the de la Vigne home's interiors.

*bisous*

Dane

Limitless Inspiration: Interior Design, Fashion and Lifestyle Blogs

I just want to urge anyone who happens on to my blog to spend a bit of time cruising the blogs I'm following.Dane


These bloggers will have links to so many other bloggers with incredible blogs which will whisk you away for *hours* inspiring you to new heights and providing many good laughs.

You will find within their comment an incredibly like minded community full of irreplaceable advice and suggestions.

These bloggers provide limitless inspiration and constant support for your projects be you a DIYer, designer/decorator or purely an enthusiast of style.

I encourage you to grab your drink of choice, be it tea, coffee or wine...look to the right of this post and scroll down to my favourite bloggers and get lost in the best of style.

It's the weekend...you owe it to yourself!

*bisous*

Thrift Store Finds to Pass the Time

'm between clients and going just a wee bit bonkers so I've been hitting the thrift stores. I've got a few items on my wish list to find for next to nothing...don't we all?

Of course I didn't find the credenza nor the dressers I could restore and lime (cerused).

via Shelter

I did find a chair I can turn into a nice conversation piece while I wait for a call from a new or previous client! waiting....

I wanted to see if there was anything (special) around the house I could use to cover the back of the chair with and found an old skirt I've been keeping despite the sad fact it hasn't fit me since I got the 'momma hips'.

It will *just* fit across the top and is long enough. I never noticed before, but the label says the skirt design is copyrighted...cool it's ART!

Perhaps the chair will be inspired by Stephen Sprouse's Tuxedo Jacket Cher wore when she sang "I Got You Babe" with Sonny, one last time, on Letterman. I totally wanted the jacket...still do but would *have* to lose those shoulder pads.



Looks like this chair will be a fun piece! I will, of course, do a reveal upon completion.