SHOWHOUSE - Problem Child #1

The Problem Child....everybody has one!  This "mudroom" has several.  Problem child #1 is a very prominent corner of the space.  It's the first area you see before you even enter the room.  But you know what they say - "You never have a second chance to make a first impression!"  (We'll see about that!!)

So what's your first impression??  Here's mine.......................................................!  Didn't your mother always tell you "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." ??  I always listen to my mother.  (Well, most of the time....)

The dark green that continued into the bench just elongates the corner and throws it out of proportion to the rest of the room.  The red toile stenciling under the bench is too delicate for the green.  And what is up with that baseboard control sticking out into the room??

As with all problems, there are solutions!!

Solution #1....What is it?  Something my wonderful husband built that will add height.

Solution #2 - Fabric from one of my favorite manufacturers - DURALEE! This is a great linen and rayon stylized paisley fabric that will be added to "Problem Corner" to take your eye away from the issues and add a POP to the space.

 My favorite place to shop for Duralee fabrics?  The Duralee Showroom at the Boston Design Center.  Elena Pine and Gary Fisher  are my go-to people!  If a fabric is hard to come by, Elena will go out of her way to make sure you get it!  Gary is wonderful with Duralee's furniture line. Both are extremely knowledgeable about their products and always help you with whatever questions you have.   All of Duralee's products are top quality, and you get a lot of bang for your buck!  You can see some of their wonderful selection at  www.duralee.com. (And then call your favorite interior designer (ahem...) to turn that fabric into a fabulous item for your home!

Progress is being made!  Painting finished - check!  Rug installed - check!  Chandelier hung - ....no check.  Hopefully the electrician will be there tomorrow.  Only two more weeks to finish!

Stay tuned!

"Don't be pushed by your problems.  Be led by your dreams." - Unknown

SHOWHOUSE - GREEN VS GREEN

In my last post, the green was gone.  Well, temporarily.....  It was then replaced with GREEN.  Not just any green, but Benjamin Moore's Electric Slide Green!  I did the first coat, and boy was it GREEN!  I did a second coat and the GREEN took on a life of its own!  And then I started noticing people passing my space with sunglasses on....NOT A GOOD SIGN!!!  My space runs the gamut from very low light to "in your face blinding sunlight".  The green in the low light looked wonderful.  The sunlit areas brought out alot of the yellow in the paint and made it a day-glow color!  Painting 101 - light and surrounding colors will effect the color of the paint on the walls.  Also, I broke my own rule in choosing paint color - NEVER GO BY THE COLOR ON THE CHIP!!  I usually order several large samples of the paint I'm going to use and test it out on different walls in different lights.  I live an hour from the Showhouse, so decided to just wing it.  BIG MISTAKE!  But not traumatic!  The paint in the closet area stayed as is because I jazzed it up a bit.  Ok, more than a bit!  (But I'm not telling, yet!)  So off I went to my friendly, neighborhood paint store - Home Decor Group in Peabody, MA.  http://www.paintstorepeabodyma.com/  Home Decor Group is also a very generous sponsor, donating the Benjamin Moore paint Trio Design needed for our spaces.  They are extremely knowledgeable, helpful, and have a huge selection of paint and painting supplies.

My SCREAMIN' GREEN needed a little valium, so we choose a green with a tad more blue in it to balance all those acid-y yellow tones.

Here is a little before shot:

Of course what you are seeing is only as true as your computer screen, but trust me, sunglasses were needed!  Benjamin Moore's Stem Green added the right amount of "calm" to the paint.  Two more  coats later, (that makes 5 including the primer), I am finally finished painting!  Woo Hoo!!!! (Did I say that out loud?)  My hands won't move, but I am very satisfied with the results!

I'm NOT going to show you how the paint came out just yet, but I can't resist a little "tease"...

Stay tuned!

"If I keep a green bough in my heart, then the singing bird will come".  Chinese Proverb

SHOWHOUSE - THE GREEN IS GONE!

Another beautiful day up at Kittery Point, Maine.  Sun is shining, flowers are blooming, and I'm covered in paint!

Before we go inside, I just want to give you a peek at the beautiful grounds just outside my space.

So peaceful!  The ladies of Trio Design love to come out here for lunch and just take in all the lushness!

Ok, break is over....back to the room!

The past two days there were spent priming and painting!  That dark, flat green is now a thing of the past!  Of course, all I have to do is walk into the kitchen area, and its back again!  But not for long!

Before

After

One of the most difficult aspects of doing a showhouse is trying to beg, borrow or steal (in a legal way, of course!) all the items you need for your design.  We have been very lucky in getting most of the items either donated or consigned to us.  In this and future posts, I will give a shout-out to all the fabulous businesses that have helped us out.

The trim and ceiling color I'm using is from a wonderful selection of paints from Farrow-Ball.com  Farrow & Ball has graciously donated any paint and wallpaper we needed for our spaces.  Jess Ritchie and her team at the Farrow & Ball Showroom in the Boston Design Center were wonderful to work with and they quickly dispatched our order.  I'm using Strong White on the ceiling, doors and mouldings.  Yvonne is using several of their products in the bathrooms.  Can't wait to see how it all turns out!

So that's it for now.  Hands are killing me and brain is fried.

For now, the Green is Gone.....but stay tuned!  Another may take its place!

"I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them." - Pablo Picasso

SHOWHOUSE - DAY 2!!

Another beautiful day!  The Trio started out the day all gussied up for our photo shoot with Jay Goldsmith of Portsmouth, NH!  Three women getting their photos taken at 10 am.....he is a very brave man!!  We all had our turn being the "featured" subject and he had us pose in many "moods" - thoughtful, artsy, haughty, fun and interesting!  I can't wait to see how these came out!!  Hopefully looking 30 years younger!!!  A girl can dream, can't she??

Pretty work is over.  Now back to the nitty gritty.

Last week, I uncovered some linoleum under the carpet.  Have you ever removed linoleum??  Me neither.  I should have Googled "linoleum removal", but I thought it was old and dried out and would be a snap to pull up.  WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Armed with a scraper and a utility knife, I went to work.  The edges were easy.  Snapped right off!  And then the fun began!!  132 square feet of linoleum was coming off one inch at a time.  Slow, tedious and painful!! (The old "Rheumatiz" was acting up).  This clearly was not working.  What to do......what to do.......CAKE BREAK!!  The lovely volunteers from the Old York Museum put out goodies for us everyday.  Thank you!!!

Break over.  Hands not working.  Tried a pair of needle nose pliers to grip the pieces I couldn't pull up.  Wow, now it was coming off two inches at a time instead of one!!  I just doubled my speed!

                                                                                              Slow and tedious!!!

                                                                                                Getting there!!

By the end of the day, all the linoleum had been pulled up and those pliers are now my best friend!!

Next week I get to paint!!  Yippee!  (Did I say that out loud?)  Oh my aching body......

Stay tuned for Day 3!

"Nature often holds up a mirror so we can see more clearly the ongoing processes of growth, renewal and transformation in our lives." - Author Unknown

SHOWHOUSE...DAY ONE!!!

Day One...the work has begun!!  Yvonne and I set out on this beautiful day to Kittery Point, Maine, to start work on our spaces for the Old York Museum's Decorator Showhouse.  Along with our friend Katherine, we are working on a "mudroom", two bathrooms, and a bedroom.  I started on the mudroom and Yvonne hit the bathrooms.

Mudroom...such a strange name for this space.  There is neither "mud", nor "room".  Let's call it like it is - it's a back entryway and hallway.

And just for kicks, there is the refrigerator back that juts out into my closet space!  A total design challenge!

So armed with drills, crowbars and assorted tools, I unscrewed, unglued, un-stapled and un-nailed!  And that was just the closet!  Out came all the shelving, brackets, and wall mollies.  Next up, the rug!

The rug was industrial grade and brown....need I say more...??  It also had a mat that was screwed down to it to within an inch of its life!  The question of the day was.....WHAT WILL I FIND UNDER THE RUG??  After giving the top mat a decent burial, I pulled up a corner of the rug and saw pad and underlayment!  Ok, not so bad...  I pulled out my trusty utility knife and cut away a large piece.  Cut like butter!!  "This is going to be a breeze!" I thought.  Silly me.   The next section was more like tough meat.  When I finally got it cut away and pulled up the pad, I found.............LINOLEUM????    Really????  And not just linoleum.  Linoleum that had the pad stapled to it.  Linoleum that was coming up and cracking at the edges.  Let's leave the linoleum alone for today - plenty of pad and rug to rip up.  Oh, and did I mention the rug tack strips???  Thank the good lord for flatbars and hammers! Whack...pry...whack...pry....the music of the day.

Enough exertion!  I needed some lunch!  Yvonne and I went to a charming bakery/sandwich shop called the Beach Pea.  After purchasing two delectable sandwiches, we came back to the house and sat outside in the lovely garden by the "ce-ment pond".  (Anyone who ever saw the "Beverly Hillbillies" on tv will know what I am talking about!)  Beautiful setting overlooking the cove...sunny day...soft breeze...just the rejuvenation we needed before heading back to work!

                Here is Yvonne saying "bye, bye birdies" to the bird themed wall stencil.

And this is what the "non-mud", "non-room" looked like by the end of the day.  And the linoleum?  That's a story for next time!

And so the transformation starts.  By the end of June, this mudroom will have a new coat of paint, a new flooring, a new purpose and a new name!  Stay tuned for Day 2!

"First comes thought; then organizations of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality.  The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination." - Napoleon Hill (American author 1883-1970)

Focused Again!

Well, its been quite a long time since my last post.  For the past year, I have been slowly working my way out of the design field, while at the same time, holding onto it with a death grip!  Still working for businesses in the field, but more on the administrative and bookkeeping side than the design side.

My friend Yvonne, who is always looking for the next adventure, suggested we go to Kittery Maine to preview the house they are using for the Museums of Old York Annual Decorator Show House.  My first response was "Are you crazy??"  I don't have the time or energy to devote to a Show House.  My second response was "When are we going?" So Yvonne, myself, and another friend and designer, Katherine, took a field trip.

The house was lovely, the design "bug" took hold, and after some midnight brainstorming, a few quick strategy meetings and a couple of proposals later, TRIO DESIGN was born and we are doing 4 areas in the Show House! All three of us have busy schedules, so the idea of doing the work as a collaborative was very appealing!  We all have our strengths, and together, as a TRIO, (hence, the name!) we can do justice to the York Show House legacy!

So save the dates!  The Show House begins on July 13th and ends on August 16th.  In the upcoming weeks, we will give you some "peeks" into the areas we are doing and the progress of our projects, and some links to the show and the fun things to do around Kittery and York in the summer!

                                               So here is just a tease....!  Stay tuned!

"His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all."  JRR Tolkien

Under The Snow....

Snow??  What Snow??   We had no snow this year.  I could have told you it was going to be a snow-less winter back in August.  Why?  Because we inherited a big, new snow blower from my in-law's!  Same thing happened a few years back when my husband put new snow tires on his car....nuthin'!!   Now if I can only get him to buy a new snow removal tool every year....!  It would be cheaper than having the driveway plowed once a week!  Hey, I may be on to something here...

We are having unseasonably warm temperatures up here in New England.  This past weekend I decided it was time to work on my New Year's Resolution - to exercise more.  (Only took me two months...)  With a veritable heat wave of 49, I grabbed my husband and said "Husband, we are going walking.".  The look he shot me was something akin to "I'd rather clean the toilet."  But he was a good sport and we bundled up to walk "The Path".  http://thefocusondesign.blogspot.com/2011/07/path-less-traveled.html  (See my post from July).

The path looks totally different in the winter.  What was totally lush and green (and oh so buggy) in the summer, was now spare and stark and brown.  BUT, as we started walking, we took note of the different patterns and color (yes, color!) winter has to offer.

Marshland with dormant grasses (Photography by R. Palazola)

 

(Photography by R.Palazola)

The blue sky was reflected in the marshwater.  A nice contrast with the neutral tans and browns of the dormant grass.  The thin tree trunks poking up added their own pattern to the landscape.

(Photography by R. Palazola)

 Look at this beautiful apple green color of the flora just below the water's surface!  Looks like some chemical boiling, but it was only the camera angle!

A Moss Covered "Something or Other"!  (Photography by R. Palazola)

 

More apple green!  Looks like a moldy fur coat!  Not sure what this was because it was too far away, but the color caught my eye!







                                                  And on we trekked.....through fields......

My husband - "Wilderness Man"

                                                                  .....down trails.........

"The Path"

                                                             ....until we came upon.......

Ugh!!!

GARBAGE?????  Really people????  It takes a lot more effort to dump your junk in the middle of nowhere, than it does to bring it to the local transfer station.  Yuk, yuk and more yuk!!!  We also saw a rusted dishwasher and a broken window pane.  Some humans can really use a beating...especially the dog walker on my block who leaves the dog's little hot pink bags of crap all down the street.  DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING US A FAVOR BECAUSE IT'S BAGGED IN A PRETTY COLOR????  PICK UP YOUR GARBAGE!!!!!

Sorry for the rant....I have no tolerance for careless people who ruin our gift of nature.

So back to the hike...

(Photography by R. Palazola)

         This pretty shingle-like growth on a tree adds an interesting pattern.  I'll have to Google it to see what it is.  Where is my brother - "Mr Nature Noggin" when you need him???  He can identify any flora, fauna or fungus and then tell you the best wines to serve with them!                                     

(Photography by R. Palazola)

Rusty floors of pine needles and pine cones.

(Photography by R. Palazola)

The only red berry left in the forest!

"Beaver Damage" - (Photography by R. Palazola)

Most of the marshy areas around here are caused by beaver damage. Besides toppling perfectly good trees,  when building their damns, they divert water to areas which were not supposed to be wet.  Trees and foliage cannot survive being submerged, so they die, leaving an area of grey, lifeless limbs.  If this keeps up, my backyard will soon be waterfront property!  But they do create some interesting "sculptures"!

(Photography by R. Palazola)

While winter doesn't have the freshness of spring, the lushness and warmth of summer, or the blaze of color of autumn, it does have its own unique beauty and form.  And the best part about winter...?  Spring is just around the corner!!

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.  Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show. "  Andrew Wyeth