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Thank you to Autumn from designdump for the lovely post today!

http://mydesigndump.blogspot.com/2011/03/fresh-fabric-findvictoria-larson.html#comments

Basement Re-Do (The Power of Paint)

After Before During We are in the final stages of finishing our Basement as a hang-out space for the girls. This is a great example of how paint can really change a space. We made a conscious decision not to completely finish the space. So no dry wall on the perimeter walls - just exposed concrete block and lots of paint. Some of the walls were already painted an awful celery green so we covered all walls with a nice warm neutral. The girls can still play tennis against the wall and not do any damage. We did add a couple of partition walls and big sliding barn-style doors to section off the storage and Laundry areas from the main space. We also added a small closet around the sump pump and painted the face with chalkboard paint. The floating floor helps brighten the space but also does away with the battle of the dust from the unfinished concrete floor. The panels of fabric on the wall are an old designer's cheap trick to hide the horrible, little basement windows. The fabric also helps soften all of the hard finishes and give some bright interest to the space. I have to say that my favorite thing is the "new" blue ping pong table! Ahh the power of paint. The existing table was the typical camping green sprinkled with dried glue, paint and glitter from years of craft projects. An orbital sander and a little blue paint made the table look like it belongs in the space. Since we decided not to install drywall on the ceiling (it's already just at 8'-0" and has the usual ducts and stuff below that) the solution there too was paint. The best way to do this is to call a professional with a good size sprayer so I called one of my favorites, Steve. I taped and Steve sprayed and voila! a cool, new, white ceiling. Yup, it's our Basement Loft. A new trick I learned from Steve is to mask off unusually shaped things (like pipes) with tin foil. No taping, no wrapping - just crimp the foil around the object and paint away. Thanks, Steve. By the way, here's a picture of the true Basement "Before" (when we bought the house - not our piles of stuff!

I'm Loving... Foo Dogs!

Foo Dog Bookends by cb2

On a recent shopping trip I was lucky enough to score a pair (the last pair) of foo dog lamps. I've had a long time love for these. They are sort of in the "so ugly they are cute" category. I bought this pair to go in the Guest room where I've been unsuccessfully auditioning lamps for months, but they look pretty good in the Dining Room too. Don't worry honey, they were cheap!

Foo dogs were originally created as sculptures to guard Buddhist temples and later Chinese sacred places. Actually lions, they were thought to have protective powers and appear in many forms in Chinese decorative arts. 'Fu' is the Chinese word for happiness and these creatures represent power and elegance. Who couldn't use a little happiness and elegance in their home?

Always created in pairs, the male lion rests hid foot on a ball and the female on a cub in the better versions. Foo Dogs, especially in lamp form, have enjoyed a renewed popularity in the last few years but I consider them to be classics.

I've been coveting this pair by one of my favorite designers, Barbara Cosgrove.

Seen here in a June, 2010 spread in House Beautiful

William Sonoma Home's verison

And here are my little beauties

Hope you find happiness this week.

Signs of Spring

Ahhh....signs of spring. The crocus popping up in the yard...



......and the major cleaning going on in the house.

As some of you know my husband, Chris, has been out of the country for several weeks. Now I wouldn't say I'm a pig, but the girls and I do tend to lower our standards a bit when he's gone. I have my "things" - I have to have the sink smile back at me in the morning, empty and sparkly. But with mud season upon us I must admit that I have all but given up on scrubbing the floors. Dark espresso stained floors are gorgeous and make me happy enough that I'd do it again but they do show e-v-e-r-y thing.


Maybe it's the hint of warmer weather- or let me be honest - the impending arrival home of my husband, but I've gone into a cleaning frenzy. I'm talking scrubbing the baseboards kind of cleaning which, if you know me well, is not my normal routine. I even got the girls their own pairs of glamorous cleaning gloves in an effort to encourage a little more enthusiasm around here for cleaning.


I will share a new trick with you. I purchased some cute little lemony hanging sachets at Home Goods recently. When I got them out of the package the lemon scent was hit-you-over-the-head overwhelming. I immediately hung them in the Garage just outside the Mud Room door to deal with at a later date. It turns out that when you walk past the sachets and into the house you are met with a lemony cleaning kind of scent that makes it smell like I just scrubbed the Kitchen! I think I'll go back to the store and stock up in case of emergency. Just don't tell my husband my clever secret.

A "Dandy" New Print

I'm so excited to introduce the new "Dandy" fabric which I'm adding to the line for spring. I addition to the big scale white on navy and white on bright green, I've just approved a sample of a new, pale sky-blue color way that is dreamy. I thought I'd show you how this print started.

This is a picture of the seed pod that my daughter, Mugsy, and I found on a wintry walk last year. It's almost bald now because it's been sitting on the base of my monitor for a year )and been the target of the cat from time to time) but when it was whole it had lots of those cool little spikes.

I thought the pod would make a beautiful block print. Then I thought that a whole field of these pods drifting down a run of fabric would be stunning so on to the computer it went. A few (million) strike offs from the mill later and here's the final product. "Dandy" is a large repeat on a heavyweight cotton twill - great for upholstery and pillows. Enjoy!

And here's the original "pods" in the island colorway along with "sticks" in light blue. This organic cotton sateen has such a smooth face it almost looks and feels like silk.

Fishin'

School O' Fish pillow in the Chairloom window in Ardmore, PA



and on Griffon's new dog bed! The finish on this organic cotton sateen is just beautiful.

Before and After

Before....


....and after!

Captains chairs take on new life with "sticks" twill fabric. They look fresh and new!

Speaking of before & after, I had the pleasure yesterday of visiting the new Chairloom showroom in Ardmore, PA. Proprietor, Molly, is THE expert at transforming furniture to better than its former glory. Classic and unusual sofa and chair frames have been updated with gorgeous, contemporary fabrics. I was inspired and I returned home wanting to re-upholster everything in my house. Luckily, neither time nor budget will allow that. So for now I will just dream about where I would put that raspberry sofa...
visit www.chairloom.com