Beach, Boat & Barn

Leonards

We've begun painting the showroom again. This time using Ben Moore's "Honeymoon" for an upstairs bedroom. I wanted the look to be fresher and boyish. 

Drapery, Curtains, Drapes, Window Coverings

I keep my drapery designs fairly simple for clients. I don't like a lot of fluff when it comes to curtains, but there is no doubt that they can really bring a room together. This is a home in N. Attleboro that is still a work in progress, but on its way to getting really good.

The furniture is from Leonard's. Draperies just went in and they look great. The fabric is a chocolate linen from Kravet, rods are mahogany.

We'll hang pictures and continue with furnishings and accessories.

Before:   

After:   

Dragon Cast

The Chinese Dragon cast is finished. I ordered German glass glitter from a new craft supply source and was shocked at how beautiful and different it was. My daughter has influenced me greatly in this regard, she's very girly. As soon as I saw it, I knew the cast needed sparkle.

   

Belly Cast #8

I'm in the beginning stage of my 8th belly cast commission. I've been avoiding this cast for way too long, for no particular reason, just haven't done it. The cast is for a now little girl, with a fiery personality and blazing red hair to match. Tough. What to paint...

A Chinese dragon could work. 

Painting these casts for Mothers is wonderful, and extremely personal. I take it very seriously and want them to be special. No Pooh Bears, no Elmos. They have to be more spiritual. Nature, animals, seasons, symbolism.  

So I began painting it. And it wasn't working. You just know. 

In school I studied Fine Art Painting, and a great teacher of mine taught me that when a painting isn't working it's better to paint over it, break it down, and try again in order to move forward. Get out of the box.

So away it went.

Round two. So far it's in the ugly stage. I know it has to happen, but I hope I move on to the pretty stage soon.

 

Cape Cod Pirate Table

For a dear friend and her two little boys. Not quite finished, but close.

This is my new leather

This is my new leather couch. A gift from Leonards. Its very handsome, but it had an ink stain and a small hole. I dont care, its perfect and I believe in being a resourceful girl...so I patched it and painted it to look just like the leather. Im really happy with it. My things are always viewed best in low light. Myself included.

Jacobean style hunt board, late 19th century

There's something about this piece of furniture that I covet. It looks like dark chocolate and feels more Mexican to me than English. It has these amazing raised panels and bronze ring pulls. It's heavy and rustic and I want it, really, really badly.

Leonard's New England

 This is Leonard's, or a photo of what I do there. It's my favorite job, being a stylist for the store. It's a constantly changing puzzle with unusual furniture coming in and out, and it's my job to make all of these crazy pieces come together, hopefully beautifully. 

This room was beige and sad and needed some color. We specialize in the finest beds in the world, as well as other antiques, and the right colors can really bring out their beauty. This is Holiday Wreath by Benjamin Moore. I love it, it's masculine and deep without being too dark.

The beds are our reproduction of the classic "Jenny Lind" spindle bed. We usually show them in a lighter maple finish, but the antique maple stain makes them much less "cottagey cute."

The fortunate and unfortunate thing about my job is that just as a room is set, pieces get sold and I have to start all over again. 

 

 

 

North Conway

I arrived late on Thursday, around 9pm, to the cabin in North Conway, Katy was two hours behind me and I quickly opened up the house for fear of giant wolf spiders and other creatures lurking inside waiting to attack. There were none.

My car was loaded with tools, food and drink and I was so anxious to get going on our floor demolition that I began to pry up the vinyl in the bathroom. Underneath, I found the old wood floor, which was a wonderful surprise, considering we didn't really know how to install a new floor. Phew.

I couldn't help but tear it all up, it only took an hour.   I didn't have a mask that night so I used a tank top (terrorist photo?) then Katy arrived, which was good, as I needed to stop.

We spent a lot of time at hardware stores getting supplies for our long list of projects. Some girls like diamonds, I like supplies.

We decided to go forward with cleaning up the wood floors as best we could, sand them, prime and paint. We also decided to do a bunch of other projects at the same time: paint the kitchen cabinets, wall behind the wood stove, walls in the bathroom, etc, etc. We thought that the floor in the kitchen and dining room would be as easy as the bathroom, so we took on more projects.

We figured, five days, no problem, we can do it all.  We were doing well, eating great, getting the floor slowly and painfully scraped up, then we lost power to Hurricane Irene. Which was okay when you are in a rustic cabin with a giant fireplace, candles, and daylight. I ended up painting until midnight with a head lamp on, and we did a pretty good job considering. 

The final day was gorgeous and I was sorry to leave because we were finally able to enjoy all of our hard work. We could clean, put the furniture back and pretty the place up. But, I was also exhausted, really exhausted, and reality was calling me home.

It is my dream to have a place like that some day. I would prefer a crusty old cottage by a lake or by the sea that needed someone like me to bring it back to life. I know I could do it and I know I would love it. All of the sweat, aches and tears would make it all worth it in the end.

 

North Conway

I'm going to New Hampshire at the end of this month for three glorious days. I'm going with my greatest friend. It's her family cabin from the 40's. It has amazing views of the mountains and Saco river, a sleeping porch. stone fireplace and clawfoot tub. There's no T.V., you have to sweep the floor and chances are good that you may encounter a spider or two while you're there. But, there's music, good food, lots of laughs and wine. It's perfect.

We have decided to take on the project of replacing the bathroom floor from peeling 70's vinyl to vintage linoleum tiles, set in a diamond pattern. I couldn't be more excited, demolition. Not that I know what I'm doing, I don't, but we'll figure it out, and probably should have a plumber handy.

It will be a blast, or a watery mess, I don't care and I can't wait.