Mary McDonald at the Houston Decorative Center

I went to the Houston Decorative Center (HDC) yesterday to pull some fabric samples for a client who is updating her childrens' playroom to become more of a "teen room".  Luckily for me, I discovered the night before that HDC was hosting their Spring Market 2013 yesterday also.  It was lucky that I found that out ahead of time because 1) the parking situation was going to be challenging and 2) I might be able to see a bit of the presentations.

I arrived at the Dec Center at 9 a.m., well before the scheduled presentations which began at 10:30.  I was able to score a great parking spot and head into the showrooms to start selecting fabric for my client.  I walked into the Schumacher showroom, and there was lovely Mary McDonald, sitting two feet away from me and happily signing copies of her new book.  She was also going to showcasing her new fabric and trim lines there later in the day.

Mary McDonald is one of the featured designers on the hit Bravo TV show "Million Dollar Decorators".  She is very funny and irreverent and has great style and design ideas.  My husband and I watch the show and she is our favorite designer and personality on the show.

Here are some of Mary's new fabrics and trims created for Schumacher (photos courtesy of Schumacher fabrics).  Aren't they gorgeous?  I love the specialty details and fresh colors.

All of Mary's fabrics can be seen at www.fschumacher.com.  They are all wonderful!

I had planned to quickly visit several showrooms for my client and make my getaway before the crowds began arriving.  However, when I walked out of the Kravet showroom and saw all of the chairs set up in the open lobby area for the panel presentation scheduled for 10:30, I decided to snag a chair and stay for a bit.

There were about 125 chairs set up, which filled up quickly.  The event site staff brought out about another 30-40 chairs for the additional attendees streaming in to participate.

The topic was "Building Your Brand" and was a panel discussion by Bill Stubbs (AD 100 interior designer, author and host of the TV show Moment of Luxury), Mary McDonald, Charles Pavarini III (Founder and President of Charles Pavarini Design Associates) and John Robshaw (product designer and author of John Robshaw Prints).

It was a great discussion with industry leaders.  Mary is funny and outgoing and willing to share stories of her experiences.   The audience was laughing many times at her comments and enjoyed her input along with the other panel members.

I was glad that I stayed to watch the discussion!

Later in the afternoon I met with my client and we narrowed down two groupings of potential fabrics for her project room.  Her project will consist of valances, window seat cushions and pillows, along with some new shutters. 

One fabric grouping is brighter and livelier, but the other group has some interesting textures and patterns as well.  Which do you prefer?

Hope to see you soon!

Susan

Bedding and Window Treatment Project

Yesterday we installed a large window treatment project for a long-time client.  Here is the evolution of the project:

My client called saying that she was ready to update her master bedroom's bedding and add window treatments.  You can see from the photo below that the window area is a large expanse which included a 13 foot long main wall and about 4 feet on each side wall.  The right side wall includes a functioning door which would need to remain in use.

 At the time of our original appointment, the walls were a light peach tone.  After all of the fabrics and trims were selected, my client had some remodeling work done and also had the bedroom freshly painted in a neutral taupe tone.

Because the door needed to remain functional, we elected to use the Operable Door Valance system, which I have featured in this blog previously.  We installed the bedding last month and did a "dry fit" of the ODV to make sure the dimensions worked well since we would be adding many linear feet of connecting valances and the measurements and sizing needed to work perfectly.

The photo below shows the bedding, which was planned to coordinate with the existing oriental rug in the room.  We choose rich inky blue matelasse for the coverlet, featuring a self cord and scallopped hem.  Tone on tone Euro pillows add height at the back of the bed and rectangular pillows in an embroidered fabric with contrast twist cord are placed at the front. 

 The foot of the bed features a scaldino, which is a long rectangular fabric piece, filled with layers of heavy interlining for weight and softness, and backed in the same fabric.  The scaldino is trimmed in gold silk cording and features a beautiful Robert Allen red and gold silk tassel trim on the ends, which overhang the sides of the bed and end above the edge of the coverlet so that the trim shows nicely on the ink blue fabric.

The scaldino is made using a gorgeous Schumacher fabric.  This fabric was very expensive but worked perfectly in the project and served to "marry" all of the fabrics together.  We very carefully planned how we would use the fabric, in which direction and which motifs would be centered.  This allowed us to use the same fabric and motif on the back, and you can see the matching patterns on the edge of the scaldino.  We had just enough fabric left over to use a remnant for the centerpiece of a feature pillow which you will see below.

The gathered silk bedskirt is a red Kravet fabric with gold embroidered accent details and is lined and interlined for fullness and softness.

This above photo also shows the ends of the scaldino and the tassel trim accents.  This photo also shows the addition of a gorgeous neckroll pillow that we added at yesterday's installation.  We utilized the medallion motif from the scaldino fabric for the neckroll's centerpiece, added blue silk cording on the centerpiece's sides and rouched gold silk fabric on each end.  Blue silk cording was added on the ends, and self lined gathered gold silk forms the end pieces which are tied with gold and navy tassel ties. 

Doesn't this one pillow add so much to the bed?  It is a wonderful unifier and adds softness and more detail to the project.  I love this pillow!



 Above you can see a closeup of the pillows on the bed - a lovely combination!

For the window treatments, we wanted to break up the long linear wall to provide some movement and shape, so we lifted the center swagged sections.  Here is a rendering of the proposed project, which is shown to scale and in the fabrics and colors chosen for the room:

And here is the completed project:

Backdrop cornices in a solid dark blue fabric add contrast and interest to the overlay valances.  The valances are self lined in the gold silk fabric and interlined for weight and softness.  The gold silk can be seen in the cuffs, inside of the horns and on the cascades on the ends of the treatment.  The main fabric is the embroidered gold/dark red fabric.  We used the solid blue fabric for microcording at the edge of the cuffs and above the tassel trim. 

Many times the tassel trim has a pretty edge on the top and is applied on top of the fabric.  In this case, we felt using that method would add too much gold to the treatment, so I applied the blue microcording to the top of the tassel trim's top edge, thereby covering some of the gold and showing only the fan shape of the edge and the tassels.  The trim was inserted into the seam...and it looks beautiful!  I love the weight that tassel trim adds to the hem of treatments like this.

The photo below shows a perspective of the room with the window treatments and the bedding.  We will be adding a decorative fabric throw and some pillows to the chaise lounge in the next couple of weeks.  As you might notice the chaise and plant are out of place in this photo; there were painters and other contractors at the home yesterday while we were working, so those items had been moved to accomodate their projects.

Hope you enjoy this finished project as much as I did!

Susan