5 Fascinating Timeless Interior Facts

Hi Everyone,

I don't know about you all, but I am always thinking of ways to create a comfortable yet timeless home with interiors.  Let's be honest decorating can be very costly,  so I believe its important to focus your search on items for your home that will stand the test of time.  Sure sprinkling in bits of trends will ultimately give your home a bit more personality, but keeping most of your items classic will give you the biggest bang for your buck.  I think it's important take a look at images from the past and really study them and hopefully apply some of the designers techniques in our modern homes. The below images are all about 20 years old appealing to both traditionalists aswell as minimalists. All these images tend to be-:

1.  Neutral Furniture:  The large pieces of furniture are white or off white with some texture. I believe rugs and couches should be investment pieces.  So buy the best quality you can within your budget. Try to stay away from intricate wood work on large pieces of  seating furniture, clean and simple lines, I believe will have the best staying power.  Try to stay away from huge, oversized chairs  and couches that are so popular now.   Smaller chairs, eg wingbacks will always be a classic along with tufting.

2.) Antiques: Scour the Internet for antique pieces, but also visit estate sales, consignment stores. flea markets.  Look at Craigslist every so often or Ebay.

3.)Neutral Wallcolor: Visit your local paint stores and pick neutral wall colors for most of your rooms.  For smaller more intimate rooms, library or powder room,  choose interesting wallpapers or go bold with paint.  Dark  blues and  moody greens always pair well with neutrals in the taupe or white families.

4.)Moldings: Add character to your home with moldings.  It doesn't need to be fussy, just a bit will add  a little interest especially in living rooms,  dining rooms and master bedrooms.

5.)Finishes: In the kitchen and bathroom try to stay with natural finishes, wood and stone and fabrics,   cotton, silk and  linen.  A guilded mirror is always a nice touch along with simple chandeliers    whether crystal or simple pendants in aged metals.

This image below  I pulled from Traditional Homes 1996

Dan Carithers Design

This Old House

If minimalistic interiors is more your style, take a look at this image from the House & Garden 1996 edition.

Below are more recent images that I believe will have staying power.  The rooms are mostly neutral with small pops of color.  Some trends are carefully layered  in the rooms, but are not overwhelming.  Antiques are in every room, but when paired with a contemporary piece of art or modern accessory they seem to elevate the space.   Take a look below...

Barbara Barry

Barbara Barry

Ginger Barber

Axel Vervoordt- An icon!

Roger Higgin and Ann Shipp

Tammy Conner

Stripes are timeless

Tammy Conner

In summary, I plan to keep my home mostly neutral, splurging on a few keys items of furniture and layering with trends to add interest.  Most of the furniture will have simple lines and not too taste specific to have the greatest lasting power.  How about you, do you have any other thoughts on creating timeless design?

Hope you all have a wonderful week.  Thanks for making me a small part of your day.

Fondly,

Sarah

 On a side note...I was able to finish one of my daughter's bedroom this past week.  Painting the ceiling was difficult and tiring, but it is so pretty in person.

The Linen Slipcover for an Old Chair

Hi Everyone,

*I apologize for the "Valentines Post" that was erroneously sent this morning.  I cannot explain, either my error or google.  Either way it is far to early for Valentine Posts.*

I may have hinted at a slipcover for my worn chair several weeks ago.  I had  completed the ruffled ottoman, but several other easier projects had taken precedence.  Well, now I can finally say the chair looks, I think fabulous.  The old chair had several "fittings" lots of ripping out thread and starting over, but it was well worth it, the best part being, a mere  one hundred dollar makeover with a gorgeous slub linen fabric.  I did learn alot from this project, which I will be sure to fill you  in on later, but at this point I wanted to show you all the finished product.  I opted to use no piping for this slipcover, but I did need to reinforce my stitches with a decorative Zig-Zag pictured below. (See the other slipcover project~that one had piping).  I guess I wanted the Restoration Hardware look for the chair and ottoman~Look below for a picture of their product.  The fabric may not be the most practical.  I guess I am not sure how well it will wear and obviously it is not a slipcover I can throw in the wash and put back on the chair...So Dry Cleaning may be the way to go although I could probably just dab with a wet cloth and coat the fabric with a stain resistant spray.

The arm of the chair was probably the most challenging to slipcover and fit perfectly. I just could not get the correct curve of the arm.  I must of tried least two times, before I sewed a decent curve.  Slipcovers, my friends are time consuming.  



 

Below is a picture of the arm detail with the  decorative stitch, that really serves more as a binder than a pretty detail.

My home looks nothing like Restoration Hardware.  We really don't have much industrial elements to our home and I do like a little color splashed here and there.  I do, however, love the linen fabrics and tufted furniture they offer.   It looks very comfortable, inviting and casual, don't you think?
It was this comfortable, neutral look that I wanted for our chair and  I think I achieved it.

 

 

This was  my small pile of linen scraps.  I think I might need to use them for my next bunting project.

 

 

Thanks, my friends for reading this blog today and following along.  Have a fabulous rest of the weekend.

 

 

XOXO,

 

SK

 

Linking up with http://piecedpastimes.blogspot.com/,  http://freshideastudio.com/, http://too-much-time.com/, http://www.itsoverflowing.com/, http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/





Vintage, Girlie Bedroom-Part 1

Hi Everyone,

 Sorry for the long absence. Between school functions, Spring Break and preparing for Montessori Night this Mom hasn't had much time to dedicate to the blog. So today I started thinking of Jordan's big girl bedroom. I recently, infact way to fast, sold her crib. I have yet to purchase her bed, so for now she is sleeping in the guest bedroom. I recently spotted a headboard which I am thinking I will reupholster and paint, but haven't yet decided...

So this is what I know for sure will be in her bedroom. This vintage wing chair, which I reupholstered here in a cream linen fabric.



 

This little distressed footstool with handmade pillow.  Please see this post of my distressed furniture piece.

  This dresser, which I will probably leave untouched...

I think these are the fabrics and colors I will use in the room.  I love all neutrals, white, cream, gray but also loving the yellow and gray combination.  By the way, these chevron/ikat fabric pillows are available in my Etsy Store.

So at this point I have the basic color scheme/style and most of the furniture pieces.  I am still undecided about the headboard, paint on walls and rug. All fun stuff to mull over.  Please check in with me tomorrow for the painted mirror reveal, using Miss Mustard paint.

As always, Thanks for reading this blog.  Hope your weekend was wonderful and your Spring Break.

XOXO

I linked up with

SK

www.missmustardseed.com

DIY Upholstered Wing Chair

Hi Everyone,

I recently walked through a thrift/secondhand store looking for treasures for my daughters big girl room and saw these wing chairs sitting in a corner, obviously in the store for quite some time, since they had been marked down several times.  The chairs were in pretty good condition, except for the fabric which has been completely worn through.  The chair was hand crafted and made of solid wood.  So I picked it up and thought why not I can reupholster this chair and give it a completely custom look.

The before Chair

Ripping off the fabric and making sure I took pics of process

I pulled all the yucky fabric off, tacks and all, probably the worst part of the job for me...it really was so dirty!

Now came the job of putting it all back together.  I took photos of each step when pulling off the fabric, so I could reassemble in the correct order and saved the dirty fabric for templates.

I ripped off the back first, so I knew this would be the last piece to assemble

I threw away all the old batting and replaced with new.  This is a view of the side of the chair.

So I started with the arm of the chair, wrapping batting around and pulling the fabric over the arm and tucking it under completely concealing the staples.  I used a combination of upholstery tacks, staples and also hot glue.

The side piece, staples on the outer edge and fabric pulled tight below the arm piece

Saved all the pieces and used as a template

I added piping by stapling separately around the wing and also the back piece and pulling the fabric tightly around all the batting.

For the finishing touch I added the trim with hot glue and a nailhead detail. So here is the finished product and I would have to say it is a comfy chair with all my favorite fabrics, colors and details.

Honestly, I would have to say this was not my favorite decor project, super yucky for one and quite time consuming.  I will have to say though, it was interesting taking it apart and understanding the process of putting it all back together again.  So I hope this inspires you all to reupholster a chair with good bones that just needs a little TLC.

Over the weekend Dad and the girls had a little snow fun!  They built a huge fort to protect the girlies from Dads wicked aim with the snow balls and also the biggest snow man ever!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend and thanks for checking out my blog.

XOXO
SK

I linked up with 


http://designdecortuesday.blogspot.com
http://missmustardseed.com
 http://www.jenniferrizzo.com
 www.craftyscrappyhappy.net


Sassy Little Lady

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