SUNSHINE AND SHADOWS

 We have a room addition on the back of our home.  One wall is the original exterior brick.  I love that feature.  When the contractor wanted to cover it with dry wall, I immediately nixed that idea.  The brick has a brown undertone so I painted the walls brown to blend with the brick.  (Benjamin Moore  HC 76  Davenport Tan)  We've always called this room the sun room because the remaining three walls are almost all windows.  I realize now that that was a misnomer, at least until the day our neighbors cut down a huge tree that shaded our property. (I'm sad that they cut down a perfectly healthy tree.)  Now each sunny morning I'm greeted by streams of dappled sunshine and I can truly call that room a sun room.  This was the room that Nate Berkus showcased when I was a guest on his NBC show many years ago.   It's  very special to me.  I was able to capture the new sunshine and shadows playing in that room and thought I'd share this new brightness with you on this chilly winter day.

It spans the length of the back of the house.  You can enter through french doors from the living room or the dining room.  This is the view  from the living room entrance.

LOOKING IN FROM LIVING ROOM

SUNLIT BAR CART

The sunlight even found my elephant.

ELEPHANT IN SUNSHINE

To the left of the bar cart is my mirrored top table and Chinese Chippendale chairs.

MIRRORED TABLE AND CHIPPENDALE CHAIRS

The combination of the reflections from the mirror and the sunlight is dramatic.

SHELLS AND SUNSHINE AND SHADOWS

I was happy to find this brown and white geometric fabric for the room.  I only sewed draperies for the two side walls.  There is no privacy issue with the windows that face the back yard.  I left them bare.  The fabric is inspired by Imperial Trellis by Kelly Wearstler. ( It's no longer available.)  I used the extra fabric to make pillows and new seat covers for the  Chippendale chairs.

GEOMETRIC DRAPERIES

This is one of two Pottery Barn banana leaf wing chairs in that room.  I'm a sucker for wing chairs.  I thought these woven chairs were a fun twist on traditional wing chairs.  The comfy down-filled coral pillows are from Design Legacy.  I love their unique fabrics.  I use them as back rests on the chairs.

POTTERY BARN WING CHAIR

Next to the wing chair is a walnut side table that holds a stack of books.

STACK OF BOOKS IN SUNLIGHT

The dappled sunshine continues on the mantel and brick.

DAPPLED SUNSHINE ON THE MANTEL

On the other side, the sunlight even spills over into the dining room.

SUNLIGHT SPILLING INTO THE DINING ROOM

If you enter from the dining room, you'll see our sitting area.  It's our tv watching side of the room.  Notice that I layered some mirrored coral prints over the drapery-less windows.

LOOKING IN FROM THE DINING ROOM

The sofa is also a Pottery Barn piece.  I  mixed the geometric patterned pillows in with some fun West Elm ones with garden benches.

POTTERY BARN SECTIONAL SOFA AND WEST ELM PILLOWS

 The wall sconce is from a Pittsburgh department store.  I only have two of them.  They were originally planters mounted on columns on the main floor of Horne's Department store.  I had them converted to wall sconces.  I wrote a post about them many years ago.  Here's the link to that post if you'd like to know more.  Link:  here.  If you look at that post you'll notice how the room has changed over the years.  

I also have a matching love seat in that room.  The large woven basket is from my store.  Yes, I keep stuff for myself always.   It mostly holds books and magazines and sometimes throws. 

MATCHING LOVE SEAT AND GEOMETRIC DRAPERIES

 I layered a hide rug under the ottoman.   We use the large leather ottoman as a coffee table.  When we have guests, it becomes extra seating. 

OTTOMAN AND HIDE RUG

I like to layer rugs.  The hide rug partially covers this Stark seagrass one.

HIDE AND SEAGRASS LAYERED RUGS.

Do you have a room that's bathed in dappled sunshine and shadows?

Crazy Serial-Decorator Mom Updates Daughter's Dining Room

Recently our daughter moved into her first home.  She and I have many projects in the works, but none complete.  Of course we were able to pull things together somewhat and couldn't wait to share our progress.  We have a dining room sneak peek.  Oh you have no idea what else we're considering for this room.  So exciting.

She already had a round oak dining table that traveled from her apartment to her new home.  After we had the chairs, draperies, and rug in place, we decided to paint the table black.  Here's our before pic.

OAK TABLE BEFORE PAINT

With so much black in the room, the table had no choice but to accept our decision.  

 It was a very quick paint job for us.

BLACK TABLE AFTER

The draperies are from my kitchen.  The fabric is made by Schumacher and the draperies by moi.  What a lucky girl to have a crazy Mom serial decorator.  Yep there's always a change up around here.  The chairs were also inherited and I softened them up with some gray faux fur throws--also confiscated from Mom.

SCHUMACHER FABRIC, STAINLESS CHAIRS, AND FUN FUR SEATS

Not only does my daughter benefit from my constant decorating changes,  but she also gets dibs on my constantly changing store merchandise.  I carry many chandelier styles, but we thought that this wood and iron chandelier was perfect above the table.   You'll see a large canvas sea life wall art acting as a backdrop for the chandelier.  It fills the large empty wall and of course has a background in what else but---BLACK.

WOOD AND IRON CHANDELIER AND CANVAS WALL ART

We filled the gap between the draperies and the corner with a Nate Berkus faux turtle shell.

It's our color compromise.  Notice that there actually is some yellow in the rug and art too.
We're not going totally Johnny Cash on you.

NATE BERKUS FAUX TORTOISE SHELL IN THE CORNER

Please check back as my decorating partner, Sara, and I work our way around the house.

More sneak peeks on the way, promise.

How I Assembled the Table and Chinese Chippendale Chairs

Many of you have asked where I got the Chinese Chippendale wrought iron table and chairs that was featured on the Nate Berkus Show.

It was assembled over time.  If you shop "previously owned", you know that you have to be patient.  Vintage is not one-stop-shopping.

The first thing I found was the table.  It was only $30.00 because it was missing its glass top.  I bought it because I loved its base with its X and knob.

If I had known how expensive it was to have tempered  glass cut and to add a beveled edge,  I probably wouldn't have purchased it.  But you know me, I came up with an affordable solution.  I decided to find a mirror to fit the top.  I carried around the measurements for a short time and found the perfect mirror in an antiques store.  Not only was the size perfect, but I love the filigree corners.  In fact, I like it better than a plain piece of glass.  What do you think?  Here's a close-up of the corner with a reflection of the branches.

I was thrilled when I found the chairs at a consignment shop.  It took me several months to assemble the table and chairs, but I am so happy with the result.  The chair was so easy.  The seats were held in with four screws.  I removed the seats and covered them with the drapery fabric.  (I purchased the fabric on line and sewed the draperies and pillows too.)  As for the color selection, I already did a post about that here.

Here's the final result.

What have you assembled over time and loved?

Kathy

The Chair That Nate Wanted and How It Became Chinese Red

 
First, thanks  to all of you who watched The Nate Berkus Show. 
And, a super big thank you to Nate and everyone at the studio who provided me with an exciting and a fantastic opportunity to showcase my style.  I even got a peck on the cheek from Nate and he said "When I saw the image of  her room I thought I was looking at the cover of a European magazine."

This is my chair that Nate loved.   How flattering is that?  But, I had to tell him that he couldn't have it.  I do change things around frequently though, and he gets first dibs. 

As for the chinese red color on the chair,  I am not a color specialist.  But, I always know the exact  color I want.  Translating that into a paint chip doesn't work for me.   In fact, that wall of paint chips is totally overwhelming.
I do have a trick that works for me every time.  I find an object that has the color I'm searching for and drag it to the paint store.  My inspiration for the red was the inside lid of this lacquered box.

I have a favorite guy at the Benjamin Moore Store in Germantown, MD.  He has a terrific eye for color and gets me an exact match every time.   That box is probably the smallest thing I've dragged in to him.  I've brought painted trunks, dresser drawers, small tables, chairs, fabric and scarves.  And, if you look at my first welcome post you'll see an orange flower pot next to the bench.  Yes, I brought him the pot, and voila, the paint color for the front door.  He's amazing.
If you can't find someone like Jamie, there is always a Color Consultant on staff who will walk to the wall of paint chips and pick the color for you without a moment of  hesitation.  Yes, they're that good.

Give it a try and let me know how it works


Kathy