A decorator's workroom weekly activities

 On any given day there could be a number of things going on in my workroom. 

 This week I had four projects going at the same time, which is not unusual.

  Fair warning~these pictures show the workroom in its busy state of affairs,

 not a pretty portfoilio of it all being neat and orderly.

  In this  first picture you can see a trunk full of fabrics, curtains, 

and pillows and a french chair and some green high density foam slabs.

One of the projects I am doing is making

 a matching pair of window seat cushions for a kitchen. 

 Do you know how to cut foam so it is all 

nice and neat and not hacked up with shredded edges? 

 The answer is~use an electric knife, 

the kind that everyone in the 1970s used to carve the Thanksgiving turkey!

After using a straight edge and a sharpie pen to make my cutting lines,

 I use the electric knife and slice right through the marked line. 

It gives you a nice clean edge everytime! 

 Behind the foam you can see my antique Louis XVI chair

 with a piece of pink fabric over the original tapestry.

 With plans to redo this chair myself, I just couldn't look 

at that bright cranberry tapestry a minute longer,

 so I covered it up with pink to see how I liked the color.

  I liked it, but I don't think this chair will be pink~

however this is part of the process for me when I am undecided 

about how I want to make something over.

 So while the chair gets ready to be ripped apart it sits here in this limbo state.

Tobey is always trailing behind me and never gets a minutes rest. 

 If I am moving, Tobey is moving.  

He just has to be where ever I am, and never will sit down until I sit down. 

This beautiful big chest is an old one that I fixed up.

I use it now for holding tons of remnants and curtains and pillows.  

I have to show you what it used to look like~

 I found it at a roadside barn sale in New Hampshire last summer.

 It got a spray paint job and an interior makeover too~

 I painted all the wood strapping and buckles with Ben Moore pearlized paint. 

Want to know how to get rid of that musty smell that seemingly every old chest has?

You can read how I finished the chest by clicking here. 

Now, back to this weeks action in the workroom~

 I finished up the last of some custom alterations

 to some Pottery Barn panels for a client.

 Long ruffles and trim were added to lengthen

 and jazz up some standard blue silk panels. 

I hope to share pictures with you once

 they are installed in their new home in Pennsylvania.

This week also included this chandelier getting all 

of its crystals in order so it can be hung in the living room.

I hang chandeliers by using big S hooks 

that you can buy in the plant hanger section at Lowes.

You can hang anything off of these big hooks. 

 I can hang one end of the hook 

over any doorway or off of my desk like I did here.

The other really exciting project I had 

going on this week was digging into this chair. 

 The underside shows the jute webbing and 

this chair is complete with 100 year old spider nests in the corners.

This is the most exciting thing I have done in a long time~seriously!!

 I learned so much just taking apart the layers of this chair. 

 There is so much to share so I will do a dedicated post on this soon.  

A lot of people told me I should not touch the original upholstery. 

 I can tell you that it is in my Etsy shop now

 if you have any interest in this old tapestry~

it would make one heck of a Mary Poppins Bag!

Click here to see what I am charging for this ancient rosey red fabric

 depicting star crossed lovers in a wreath of yellow roses.
~~~~~
Don't forget to enter the Transferware Giveaway!

Click on the platter to enter!