House Tour-Part 2

Yesterday I showed on my blog my friend Lorraine's House Tour Part 1, and explained how she had started to dislike her house because she felt that nothing worked.  No rooms were finished and all had disparate furnishings, and nothing melded.  She mentioned that she wanted me to just come over and pull things from one room to another and do what I wanted.  It can be difficult decorating with client  interference input, so I leaped at the chance to help her out. I often feel like re-arranging peoples houses, but being the restrained polite person that I am, I never do unless they insist.

See this couch?.....Two weeks ago Lorraine wanted to be rid of it.....A gorgeous tufted leather Chesterfield that had come all the way from England with her.  It looks great, but not an easy item with it's burgundy leather and rather flat back.  It was actually quite bossy. Not in the budget to replace, this feisty, creased old Brit was a bit like Mick Jagger.  It had had it's hey day, but still had a lot of spunk and charm left. I knew we could make it work and look like the collectors piece that it is. With a little bit of work tightening the web and coil construction and a leather polish it was renewed. 

We hauled a teak table from her patio inside to use as the coffee table.  A little Mineral Oil and it looks great. A rustic and natural Juxtaposition from the tufted leather sofa.  The existing wall colour is Benjamin Moore Elephant Gray.

With doors and windows and a fireplace or opening on every wall, the only place for the sofa was in front of the window.  However, it looked small and lost in the Bay.  Lorraine and I sell Vintage Furnishings and we had this farm table (literally hauled out of a Farmers field) that we had tried and tried, but could NOT SELL.  Because it was so beautiful and perfect for behind the sofa. I am so glad we couldn't sell it because it would be hard to find another piece so lovely here.  The cream woolen blanket is another natural piece to cozy things up, and came from my Closet of Woolly Blankets.

Tip. If a sofa seems small, lost and insignificant, beef it up by adding a desk, console or table behind it, and load that table up with bits that reflect your personality.  Here we added dried hydrangeas, books and will add a big dish to house the TV remotes. It makes a nice vignette from the street view as well (keep this in mind that people can see this from outside, you need to dress it both ways) 

And, if ya Daddy never bought you a pony so you can win yourself a Silver Cup, you can buy yourself one and any flea market. I love this cup here. It adds just the right amount of sparkle to keep this table from being too rustic...BALANCE..that's what they teach us in Design School. 

Awarded to Lorraine R_______ for wishing she had a pony when she was a little girl...............And to TAMARAH  who wishes she had won it. 

Looking the other way into the Dining Room.  Another tufted chair.

A Beautiful Welder's Urn (can anyone explain that?) in a soft honey colour that picks up the floor colour and the faded hydrangeas.  REPETITION.....repeating elements to tie things together.  Because the fireplace is quite formal, we picked crude, hand made pottery Bits. 

The chair has a very low back, making the proportions look a bit odd.  Simply adding a taller white cushion altered the lines and the tall cabinet now serves as a backdrop for the chair. This antique cabinet beside the fireplace was a piece also brought from England, and Lorraine was disliking it so much she tried to sell it as well. (Unsuccessfully) Again, the colour was perfect in here, and against the gray walls, it became a feature. It had been sitting unused in the basement.

We cozied up the sofa with some cream velvet Ikea pillows and some Mongolian Lamb cushions to add texture and warmth.  I love this room now, and she is finding her family are using it all the time. Other than the cup and the 2 pottery pieces, NOTHING was purchased for this room.  All we did was pull together things that were disconglobulated in other areas of the house.

And a quick peek at her daughter's room.  I traded that black Spooled Table for a piece of art that her husband hated........There's a well worn path between our two houses. A focal wall of Flocked Wallpaper, black mirror and white painted floor boards.

And when you have 4 kids, you need a glamorous laundry room....silver and pineapple wallpaper and decent lighting.



You still have time to enter my giveaway of a 4' x 6' or 2.5' x 8' Dash and Albert Runner. Click HERE to enter, and see part one of Lorraine's house tour.