Before and After - A Great Bedroom for a Young Girl

I wanted to share with you one of my favorite projects.  This wonderful client's daughter had very clear ideas and opinions of what she wanted for her room's decor.

She had lovely handpainted furniture throughout her bedroom that they did not want to replace, but wanted to update the look for her changing preferences.  We decided to keep slipcover some of the furniture to coordinate with the new look, beginning with the vanity skirt and vanity chair.

The photo below shows the soft pink paint and fabrics on the vanity and chair (before).  The doors below the vanity top open and are functional for storage.

The fabrics the clients selected were a fun chocolate brown, teal, green and white paisley, along with several coordinating solids and smaller scale patterns and textures.

Below is the rendering I presented for the bedding project.

This was such a fun project!  I loved having this young girl select her fabrics and trims and her enthusiasm was infectious!

The photo below shows the vanity skirt in a gathered iridescent polyester topped with a scalloped overlay with chocolate brown covered buttons and a tassel tie in the center.

Below is the "before" photo of the adorable sweetheart vanity chair.  I loved the shape of it and the full skirt.  We only needed to update the colors and fabrics to coordinate with the new look of the room.

The slipcover below has a velcro closure at the back laced-up placket.  The quilted chocolate brown fabric on the upper portion of the chair coordinates well with the gathered crushed pleated skirting.  The heart shape of the upper chair is accented with teal cording.  A green sash circles the "waist" and features a ribbon bow above the scalloped green overlay on the skirt.

Teal cording also accentuates the vertical lines of the back centerpiece, and a bright green double faced satin ribbon laces up the back with a bow at the very top.

The headboard and footboard had been beautifully decoratively painted, but in keeping with the new look for the room, we slipcovered both pieces in a textured solid lime green fabric accented with teal cording.  We selected fabric pattern components and had them custom embroidered in specific sizes and thread colors to tie in with the other fabrics in thsi project.  The smaller emblems are embroidered on the top of the headboard slipcover, following the shape of the headboard.  

The crinkle gathered dust ruffle is perfect in this room!  The paisley fabric used on the comforter was quilted on the fabric pattern design, to accent the paisley and swirl designs.

Pillows were made to coordinate, using striped, swirled and solid fabrics and adding ribbon ties and embroidery on the neckroll, along with a fun Kravet square beaded trim.

A mirror image embroidery design was created for the centerpiece of the footboard slipcover (below).

The photo below shows the completed bedding project - so fresh and cute!

The photo below shows one of the window areas in the room.  Stationary silk panels are topped with a shaped hem and draping valance, accented with lime green microcord above and below the brown band and a wonderful teal and lime green tassel trim.

This was one of my favorite projects and the clients were terrific too!

Hope you enjoyed the "tour" of this project!

Susan

And the (Gorgeous) (Velvet) (Embellished) Stockings were hung by the chimney with care....

Earlier this year a neighbor client of mine asked me to be thinking about some ideas for Christmas stockings for their family.  Their home has some Renaissance accents (and even a knight in shining armor!) and I knew they would want to continue that theme with their stockings.

They actually own Sherwood Forest faire, a Renaissance style festival outside of Austin, Texas.  You can learn more about their event at http://www.sherwoodforestfaire.com/

Below are a few pillows I made for them last year, including an ultrasuede fleur de lis and an embroidered castle motif.

Keeping in mind the Renaissance accents and the existing gold, deep burgundy and bright blue accents, I designed coordinating stockings that would work well with their existing furnishings.

I made a trip to High Fashion Fabrics, a fabric store here in Houston.  They have a four story building full of designer interior fabrics, and another adjacent one story building for apparel fabrics.  In the apparel building, I found the perfect combination of fabrics, ribbons, trim and China silk for lining the stockings.

First, I stabilized the bright blue and burgundy silk fabrics to add a little body.

We wanted to differentiate the male stockings from the female stockings.  Opting not to incorporate embroidered names, we decided to use blue pleated cuffs for the male stockings and burgundy rouched cuffs for the girls.  The toe areas and microcorded seams would contrast with the cuffs.

Additionally, we wanted the adult stockings to be about 25% larger than the children's stockings.

I used my handy-dandy Clotilde pleater to get perfect pleats for the cuffs.  The stabilized fabric added a little bit of fullness to the pleats also, allowing them to have a bit of heft to them, which I loved!.

In the photo below, I have two cuff sections pleated onto one pleating template.

In addition to differentiating the stockings by gender, we wanted to identify each person's stocking in another way.  All of the stockings had a grouping of sheer blue ribbon loops, double faced satin ribbon loops in burgundy and also gold, and bright blue rattail cord as a fun accent. 

I sewed blown glass accents to the ribbon of each stocking:  the first born girl had one glass accent on several ribbons; the second born girl had two glass accents on several ribbons. 

Each stocking had several jingle bells attached to the rattail cord and one bell at the pointed and curled-up toe.

The foot and toe sections of each stocking are stuffed with batting for fullness and to ensure a nice shape.  The matching China silk lining fills the body of the stocking down to the heel area, so that the batting is not disturbed and cannot shift out of the designated area.

I love the sheen of the crushed gold velvet, don't you?

Below is a photo of the beautifully decorated mantle, underneath a tapestry wall hanging that I had applied banding and backing to and had installed above the fireplace.

I hope you have enjoyed this project as much as I have!

Happy Holidays -

Susan

Holiday Home Tour in Houston

For the first time ever, the elegant Southampton area of Houston is having 6 homes on tour.  This Sunday only, these homes will be decorated for the holidays and open to visitors.



Tickets are $25 for the six homes, and tickets can be purchased at any of the tour homes:

1754 Rice Boulevard
1907 Albans Road
2103 Albans Road
1902 Sunset Boulevard
2115 Sunset Boulevard
2231 Wroxton Road

In the next day or two, I will post photos of the gorgeous holiday stockings I made for a growing family...I will deliver them tomorrow and take photos of them and post them soon!

Susan